A swedish Venture...

[M1tch]

If you look on my SBK build thread there are 2 screws that go through the axle housing to stop the brass weights hitting the diff bearings. I'm not toally sure why they are there, but must be some reason.

Also wide hexes put more strain on the bearings, but if you can live with that and the truck drives better carry on.

[MartinKyx]

Really apreciate the input and feedback guys!

@Natedog Thanks! I like the idea of making it look a bit wider but I get what you mean! I have HPI's own inner fenders on back order so that is happening as soon as they arrive (even though "soon" might be another 2 months acording to the scsndinavian supplier...).

@M1tch Had a another look on your build now, nerver noticed those screws on mine :/ going for a drive today so I'll look into that when I do the maintanence after that!
Makes sense with wideners causing more strain too, will have to see if it's worth it after the first test with them today Bearings are easy to come by at work if so at least

[MartinKyx]

So I got to drive quite a bit yesterday at two different locations. One of them (the forest-looking one in he pictures) I have been to quite alot in the past with my SCX10 gen 1 and Kyx (scx10 gen 1 clone) so this served as a very good "reference" on how the truck performed compared to my other two. And I must say, I'm super impressed with the HPI! Everything the Kyx and SCX10 could do the HPI did better as well as being able to pass some obstacles the other two never managed.

Also, the few upgrades I did seems to have been good to with the truck being less keen on falling over backwards on the slopes, being a bit more stable when tilting sideways. All in all, very happy so far! Looking forward to getting the metal links (or if I end up making some myself) and the CVD's. Might be adding a bit more weight to the axles or wheels at some point to get a little lower center of gravity too.

As usual I realize I should have taken more/better photos but here's some atleast

[MartinKyx]

Took the venture out today and created an "event" for local crawlers, pretty decent turnout with 11 trucks in total!
Truck worked great as always right up till when I broke the front axle housing Mostly my own fault though I would say. Car ended up on the side and I tried to get it back on the wheels by using the throttle. So big power (brushless 1800kv on 3s) and decent amount of power combined with a stupid driver... Already ordered them in brass from Amain now which I hope will hold up better for my sometimes wreckless driving along with providing more LCG (also ordered some other "fun stuff", more on that once I get it).
Some pics from today

[HumboldtEF]

Awe no pics of the carnage, shucks.

What Brass axles are you referring to, I couldn't find any on Amain.

I would just add regarding running a wider wheel hex it does make steering harder as the path the widened wheel takes is longer which i believe relates to scrub radius. The other thing with this is it may be swinging the wheel into the body work hitting the fenders.

You also mentioned this truck being geared a bit high which I can attest to, I made a new motor mount to get lower gearing options (down to a 10T pinion) Venture Max Gear down Motor Mount

[RotnWays]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Awe no pics of the carnage, shucks.

What Brass axles are you referring to, I couldn't find any on Amain.

I would just add regarding running a wider wheel hex it does make steering harder as the path the widened wheel takes is longer which i believe relates to scrub radius. The other thing with this is it may be swinging the wheel into the body work hitting the fenders.

You also mentioned this truck being geared a bit high which I can attest to, I made a new motor mount to get lower gearing options (down to a 10T pinion) Venture Max Gear down Motor Mount

That is scrub radius, draw a line between the two screws holding knuckle to the ground, then drop a line where wheel center is, that distance between the two lines is your scrub radius, the larger it is the worse/harder it is to steer especially on a locked axle as the inside tire of a turn wants to rotate in reverse while the outside gained speed from what ever speed it was already traveling

[MartinKyx]

Have no pictures of the wreckage right now, but the parts that broke were this (sorry if you got me wrong, might be that english is not my first language)

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/116868

So I've ordered them in brass from Amain

Another question, do anyone know how the bowhouse skidplate "work"? Does it simply raise the gearbox a bit higher up to get rid of the "hump" underneath the car? Thing is that if I were to order one from ebay the shipping to Sweden would be more expensive than the part itself and that feels kinda stupid. I'm have some experience with 3d modelling in Autodesk inventor so I'm thinking that maybe I could just take all the measurements from the stock transmission plate and draw up something similar and have my friend print it for me.

[M1tch]

The bowhouse skid is flat bottom so does raise the transfer case a bit. It has the upper link mounts built in, so the stock mounts are redundant. Problem is although it's a bit more clearance, being flat it can bottom out sometimes. A V shape may actually be better. The only photo I have is this one from above.

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[M1tch]

Add to that. If you did come up with something, I would be interested, but can't 3D print. A slight 'V' in the bottom might be a good idea to help the truck tilt if bottomed out.

[M1tch]

Found a pic of the bottom of the skid, but only as a 'group' photo of all the chassis parts. It's top left. If you want some more photos let me know.

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[odomandr]

Break over angle in the chassis with weight forward should be beneficial to have flat smooth skir

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by MartinKyx

Have no pictures of the wreckage right now, but the parts that broke were this (sorry if you got me wrong, might be that english is not my first language)

https://www.hpiracing.com/en/part/116868

So I've ordered them in brass from Amain

Another question, do anyone know how the bowhouse skidplate "work"? Does it simply raise the gearbox a bit higher up to get rid of the "hump" underneath the car? Thing is that if I were to order one from ebay the shipping to Sweden would be more expensive than the part itself and that feels kinda stupid. I'm have some experience with 3d modelling in Autodesk inventor so I'm thinking that maybe I could just take all the measurements from the stock transmission plate and draw up something similar and have my friend print it for me.

Ah thats a C-hub and knuckles up front, lockouts for the rear.


I have both skids in front of me though the BowHouse skid is installed at the moment. I'd say that they are pretty much identical aside from the hump on the stock skid and the integrated link mounts on the BowHouse skid. Of course the BowHouse skid is flat on the bottom, and I think the only alteration you'll need to make is to raise the transfer case up high enough so you can have the flat bottom on the skid.
So it should be as easy as duplicating the stock skid dimensions then raising the mount point of the transfer case.


BowHouse didn't just raise the transfer case directly upwards, they rotated it a bit raising the passenger side more than the driver side (for left hand drive). I assume to keep it as low as possible.

Originally Posted by Natedog

X2, good mod Casey!

Thanks, I'm trying to bring it to peoples attention. I talked about making this a long while back and it seemed like folks were interested but now that I've made it I dont know I many really care, oh well. Oh and its free BTW I get nothing out of this.

[MartinKyx]

Sorry for late reply, been a busy weekend!
Ok so I might try to do a skidplate later on If I get a 3d program tog work on ny crappy laptop... thinking about either just raising the whole gearbox sligthtly (brass down low on the axles should compensate for this I think) or make it same as the stock one but making the bottom flat around The hump. Might take a while until I get around ro get into this though. Thanks for the ideas and input so far though

@HumboldtEF: correct c-hubs and knuckles broke. Rear was fine but got those in brass too.

Got my stuff from amain today and have it all installed on the car, Will try to get the pictures on herr tomorrow

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by MartinKyx

Ok so I might try to do a skidplate later on If I get a 3d program tog work on ny crappy laptop...

Some of the CAD programs are browser based which I assume takes much less processing power. Tinkercad is one that comes to mind, though if you've already learned one program I can understand if you'd want to stick with it.

[MartinKyx]

Never tried the browser based ones though, might be worth looking into at some point

First of, the wreckage




Then some (crappy) photos of the updates, my phone camera did not want to focus properly...











Now weighing in at close to 3.7kilos, though this is my least heavy set of wheels. (not sure how many pounds that is)

[M1tch]

Well at least it was a fairly easy fix. Not sure how much my Venture weighs. I will get it on the scales sometime soon now the body is finished.

3.68Kg is 8Lbs 2 ounces.

[Natedog]

Thanks for the carnage pics of knuckle and c-hub. Wow 3.68kg is a heavy Venture, aluminum c-hubs and knuckles would probably be more durable than brass.

[MartinKyx]

Yeah, big damage but easy fix
Aluminium might be durable but brass should be better than plastic (I hope).
Yeah it's pretty heavy! But I'm thinking about even more brass parts, like the lower suspension mounts and diff covers

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Wow 3.68kg is a heavy Venture

Originally Posted by MartinKyx

Yeah it's pretty heavy! But I'm thinking about even more brass parts, like the lower suspension mounts and diff covers

I tried to focus on lightweight with my Venture and its 6 lbs 10.6 oz (3.02 KG) but I have added weighted knuckles, beef tubes up front stock axle weights in back and heavier diff covers. Last night I was honestly looking over your build trying to figure out were all the extra weight came from.


If you do look into diff covers I would recommend trying to get a set with better contours, I found the stock ones were holding me back/getting hung up. I posted up a bit of commentary and some pictures in my build thread My Venture Power Wagon, 3d printed parts


I personally try not to add too much (brass) weight. At a certain point it becomes a penalty and gets more and more difficult for the truck to push itself up and over more difficult obstacles.
That said ultimate performance doesn't always matter, just do what you like.

[MartinKyx]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I tried to focus on lightweight with my Venture and its 6 lbs 10.6 oz (3.02 KG) but I have added weighted knuckles, beef tubes up front stock axle weights in back and heavier diff covers. Last night I was honestly looking over your build trying to figure out were all the extra weight came from.


If you do look into diff covers I would recommend trying to get a set with better contours, I found the stock ones were holding me back/getting hung up. I posted up a bit of commentary and some pictures in my build thread My Venture Power Wagon, 3d printed parts


I personally try not to add too much (brass) weight. At a certain point it becomes a penalty and gets more and more difficult for the truck to push itself up and over more difficult obstacles.
That said ultimate performance doesn't always matter, just do what you like.

Always fun with ideas and feedback

Regarding weight I guess the hobbywing combo is quite heavy too, as well my battery. I might be completely wrong with going for a heavy truck, though! Going to try it out this weekend hopefully


Never thought about the counters of the diff cover, that actually makes a lot of sense! Might have to look into that too