first real crawler starts to get moving

[hairba11]

This is the first real solid axle crawler I have ever built. I bought everything here as somebody's unfinished project. today I made servo brackets, and got everything wired up and threw a 55 turn integy motor in it. I have some 10th scale drift wheels on it now, no truck wheels came with it. I have some 2.2 moabs i'll throw on it later, but the pics will just look goofy for now.

I turned the chassis around by swapping the axles and body nounts, and reversing the leads on the motor. this puts the battery box over the front end. I made servo mounts out of .090" aluminum and I am using towerpro 995MG BB servos for steering front and rear. i think it should be enough to throw around the 2.2's.

I made steering links out of random turnbuckles I already had (nearest HS is 1 hour away) so the axels turn a little beter one way than the other. so one direction kicks the back out a little more, and one turns the front in a little more, but the turning circles are about the same.

This thing came with two integy 55 turn motors. one should be enough, but I have thought about making a dual motor mount.

the bronko body it came with is too short for the links, but with the current links there is a 15.25" wheel base which may be a little long for the 2.2's

flex is ok with about 1/2 - 3/4" over the top of a 12oz can

I have all the parts I need to make this 4wd with the exception of the axle shafts and the diff case for the bevel gears, and the bearings.

I want to get a new body that will fit the truck a little better, and longer steering links to center up the steering, and gearing down to 13/96.

right now the front is about 50% sprung, and the rear is about 75%. you have to get to about a 45* angle before the front starts to unload, but that is not under power.

Any suggestions and critisisim will be taken well.
Thanks.
H

[hairba11]

threw some foamless moabs on narrowed traxass rimms on it. I am going to need a new body, and the torque lean is pretty substantial.

[gravelcrawler]

i bet it does some awsome drifting. it looks pretty sweet

[Cslax06]

When you say torque lean you mean when the axles twist right?

[dittohead]

Turn your lower links around the other way, the bend should be towards the axle. I would also shorten the front links at least an inch, but leave the rear links longer, but i prefer 60/40 suspension setups. Getting the WB closer to 12.5" is to your advantage since the belly gets hung up too much with the 2.2 tires and long WB. Truck looks good otherwise.

I just ordered a 4x4 WK last night and i am looking forward to turning it into a trail runner. Dont need another dedicated crawler.

[eric113]

So your the bastard that bought this rig,I was trying too also. I would swap the front links to back and back links to front. Then you have 60/40 setup and just hack back of the body.

[lohocla]

looks good so far. great looking body you should get a k2-3S chassis and shorter links and make a scale trail rig. It is too long for 2.2 tires you wil be getting hung up on the belly. if you do decide to get a new body I woudlnt mind taking that bronco off your hands, you know if you dont need it anymore;)

I cant wait till my wk4x4 gets here already, damn backorder.

[hairba11]

csl... yeah, when I goose the throttle, the whole truck sways to the right.

dit... yeah, i like the revese the lower links, right now the driveshaft is the lowest point.

right now the wheels castor blocks sit like /------\ front to back. the diffs sit level, and the wheel blocks are clocked back toward center. shortening the Lower links would stand the castor blocks up more like |------|

would the wheelbase make more sence switching to savage sized tires? I can't immagine the climbing ability of low profile moabs for the 40 series, but getting something 6.5 inches instead fo 5 inches might help it out some?
or would I then be taxing the capabilities of the drivetrain?

Sorry eric, I was working night shift and managed to be in the right place at the right time. What dou you mean front links to back? I measured and the links and the bottom 4 are all 6.5 inches. the body mount holes are ofcenter on the bronco bod, the chassis sits pretty square, but the bod is pushed back.

thinking of going for either
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...3&I=LXDEN7&P=K
or
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...3&I=LXDA41&P=K
or
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...3&I=LXDKZ5&P=K

when i make the gearing and shaft and bearing order. I have a friend with a graphics shop who want's to play with painting bodies, so I may get a couple

I figure the digger bod is long enough to cover the truck as is
the 34 A truck has open front fenders and the front end can stick out as far as it likes
the elcamino just looks sweet.
or maybe I can make a mold of my 77 LTD. that would be sweet.

[dittohead]

Im no WK expert, since i have only ran my buddies 2wd WK once, but i would say the driveline is not up to the abuse of maxx size tires. Like i said, i would shorten the links down and get it to around 12.5" An aftermarket chassis would be ideal.

[lohocla]

Originally Posted by dittohead

Im no WK expert, since i have only ran my buddies 2wd WK once, but i would say the driveline is not up to the abuse of maxx size tires. Like i said, i would shorten the links down and get it to around 12.5" An aftermarket chassis would be ideal.

can you run maxx size tires on any shafty? I dont recall ever seeing it done.
My friend played with my super clod and loved it compared to my 2.2. he asked me to build him one on a budget and immediately I thought of wk4x4 but I know he doesnt want 2.2's. I actualyl had 40 series big joes in mind for his build but then thought to myself, can a shafty hold up to larger tires?

[theTman]

Originally Posted by lohocla

can you run maxx size tires on any shafty? I dont recall ever seeing it done.
My friend played with my super clod and loved it compared to my 2.2. he asked me to build him one on a budget and immediately I thought of wk4x4 but I know he doesnt want 2.2's. I actualyl had 40 series big joes in mind for his build but then thought to myself, can a shafty hold up to larger tires?

the txt can run 40 series tires no problem and it's a shafty.

[dittohead]

My TXT is a shafty and you can put whatever tires you want on it. I run maxx mashers usually but i have had 40 series MOABs and maxx size redrocks with no trouble. The axles are alot beefier.

[hairba11]

I flipped a link around to look at it. I definently think i need to flip the axles over. the whole u joint is hanging down waiting to get smacked. I do like the way the links sit better than the original layout, it make more sence.

I have som 3d cad software coming, i'll look at fabbing a chassis for this thing. I put myself on a tight budget to get this thing running, so if I get too crazy with it I'm going to have to do the modifications myself. I'm thinking of a slightly wider shock mounting points to put them at vertical for a drooped setup, then widening the center of the chassis and putting the motor off to the side of the WK tranny to lower the C.O.G. and with dual steering servos, and eventually lights, it may be good to put in a separate radio battery pack.

I don't have a lot of places to run a crawler hardcore, and as far as I know i'm the only person with a crawler for an hour in any direction, so this will be more of a crawler basher than crawler comp. that's why going to larger tires and 4 wheel steering works for me.
ultimately I only have to make one person happy, but to do it I like the help
Thanks for the comments keep 'em coming.

[neverupright]

Originally Posted by hairba11

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...3&I=LXDEN7&P=K

I like this one.

[NickRummy]

I'd say you are ok running maxx wheels. The WK even comes with 14mm hexes.

Looks pretty good. Flipping the axle won't make a difference. shorten your upper links and it will pull the pinion shaft back up.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by NickRummy

...Flipping the axle won't make a difference. shorten your upper links and it will pull the pinion shaft back up.

You mean shorten the lower links to get the pinions up. This will also get you closer to the 12.5" wheelbase. Lookin good otherwise and yes the WK comes with 14mm hexes besides the 12mm it uses for the stock wheels. After disassembling my WK, I think its' driveline will hold up to Maxx size tires.

[hairba11]

never, I like that one too and it is long enough to do the job, even once maxx wheels go on.

nick, there were 12mm's on this one. and if I shorten the upper links won't it twist the pinion further down?, i'd want to shorten the lower links right?

now front castor block /-----\ rear
shorten lower links front |-----| rear
I want more steering and less road grater lean right?

of course if I rotated the link mount blocks 90* back to original, I could put the lower links on the bottom which would shorten them effectively, and mount the shocks on the top of the axel instead of on the inside edge. or would that raise the center of gravity too much? even if i try and make it droopy?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEPB8&P=7
I'm thinking this for a wheel and tire combo. pull the tire and narrow the rim, cut the foam, reinstall

[swhenrik]

Dig some more in the stuff that came with the truck, you should find a little bag of parts... in it should be a set of 14mm hexes. Look close, it's sometimes taped in somewhere hard to see.

I personally think Maxx size looks too big on it....



And the ones in you link are bigger yet!

More pics in my old thread here: Wheely King, CXT, camper trailer

If you do run Maxx wheels, you'll likely want 1/2" offset wheels.

[hairba11]

the difference between your pick and my truck is the long links on mine. I have a 15 inch wheelbase right now. the 2.2 moabs look a little small with 5 inch overall, so the 6 inch overall might look and perform a little better. and with an 8th scale body on it, they should look right.
I got this truck off another forum, it was half taken apart with bags of future Front axle parts and new motors included. no wheels, only 12mm hexes, etc.

I was thinking of taking the wheels off the savage to see how they looked on the WK, then got the crazy idea to take apart one of the kongs and pull the foam out. that was 5 minutes of wrestling to get the foam out in one piece. It got me thinking, but I'm not going to try and turn those, that would be silly. and they don't feel grabby. never did get the wheels off the savage.

I was looking at the offset. it seems that all of the maxx wheels are offset toward the face of the wheel. would narrowing the rim be enough to get the back of the wheel and tire away from the links and steering? Its bad enough looking at narrowed beadlocks without having to remind yourself that that cost is PER axle

I looked at the links, I think it will be easy enough to cut about a 1/4 inch out of the length of the lower links to tighten up the whole thing andget the axles pointed in the right direction.

I rotated the pivot blocks around the axle, but the angle of the diff was up way too much, and mounting the shock was nigh impossible, so the pivot blocks are back to "normal"

:edit:

ok, i cut out about 5/16 inch total from the lower links, WB is now 14.8 inches. I got all the links turned around the right way. shortening the links helped with the pinion angle, and give the truck less of a steering road grater feel to it.

[hairba11]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqnIMwOQIm4

just back an forth on the pool table, tried to gt the torque lean on camera. any ideas on combating the lean?