Learning curve.... Trail, hillclimb, and crawling

[crawler_king]

Ok so I have made my stretch, swapped out the original shocks.. and just reswapped in the stock ones.. I was using integrity shocks with red tmaxx springs, but seemed to loose a bit of travel, so i just got done remounting the stock ones (inboard on the stock mount locations) and hope that this will allow me to do a bit more travel, but am afraid that I am going to regain the chassis twist...

Lately I have been running off the rocks, and doing what could best be described as trail and trial.. running over a varying terrain that ranges from decomposing slate, forest mulch, hard pack that hides under the mulch, loose rocks, and so on, also wet and dry conditions, seems a bit more challenging than just creeping the rocks, (well ascending natural terrain to get to the rocks) hardest thing is figuring out what tires to use, Seems the ones that will give me the bite on the dirt and loose stuff wont grab the rock surfaces, and if I just flip the MAsher 2000s around it only really benifits crawling or trail driving...

Anyone else who build rigs for multiple terrains, or is planning to I would love to hear from you and what you may have done or are working on..

[SACCO]

Its like they say, "you cant have your cake and eat it too."

Try the Losi Rock claws when they are available. I think JIA has a set. There is a review of em on the front page. Look like they might be pretty good all around tire.

I just got some new compound axial rock lizzards today. Dont think they are gonna do to good in mud, but look promising otherwise.

[crawler_king]

Thanks Sacco, I am going to head over to the THS to see what all they might have in.
Oh BTW I ran into the same flex/twist problem once I put the stock shocks on again, and I get a little bit of the droop effect while still having an active suspension.
Its amazing how much I have already done to this little truck, The last RC vehicle that I purchased was the Clodbuster when it first came out.. (that old girl went the way of the dodo on me 8 years ago) and had never modified a thing on it...

[Calderwood]

How much flex are you trying to get? More isn't always better.

[SACCO]

put up a pic if you want some help with the suspension. that will help a ton.

[crawler_king]

Im not trying to gain flex.... The reason I went back to the stock shocks was to regain about a 1/4 inch of travel, The flex that I was refering to was the way that the stock shocks would compress to one side under a load, and the truck would twist..I have kinda solved the problem to a degree using the shock collars that came with the WK.

I did get out crawling on the course at AB CHarles and it seemed to preform better, on the rocks and such. I will probably try and replace the shocks again later once I have gained a bit more knowledge instead of trying to jump in with both feet. I'll get a photo up later today.
Thanks guys...

[crawler_king]

Ok the latest, I just picked up a set of the Axial Rock Lizards, man do they grip! I do have to go and recut some foams for them, as I threw in a set that I "star" cut... I think that it gives me to much traction and folding of the tires... They seem to want to suck the wheel and tire into every hole that I drop one of them into.... So Its back to the drawing board, I have a set of gear cut foams in my masher 2000s, and that seems to give me the right bite for most purposes.
I also started to mess around with relocating the link setup, and found that the driveshafts that I originally installed are two short to allow that. (great, time to buy another set of shafts! LOL)
I am also looking to install some led lights on my rig, I tore apart a crank up handheld flashlight that doesnt want to hold a charge, and have been trying to figure out how to use that and wire it into my system. As well as how to move the lights off the circut board and mount them on the bug....
I'll repost later with pics and updates. THanks for reading! (any and all suggestions are welcome.

[crazydave]

Well I went with the M2ks because I was told they were good all around tires for most surfaces. Does this mean I'm gonna be disappointed when I get them mounted up, or are you just looking for something better?

I'll mostly be running around my apartment on loose sandy soil, and beds of smooth round river rocks.

[crawler_king]

Hey Crazy Dave,
I have mine on axial beadlocks, and love them, For crawling I run them reversed, and they climb just about everything, for the loose stuff you might want to put them on the "corect way", so far it seems like a double edge sword, I also have cut the foams in half, and then put a gear looking cut into them, and that seems like the best cut that I have found, Ive read about using arisoft bbs but havent given it a try yet... good luck!
I am going to restuff the rock lizards that I picked up and see how they preform here in the woods later today.

[crawler_king]

went crawling today over at the LHS, heres the pics of my WK with the rock lizards, and the headlight system I installed... may have to post some night pics to show them off.. LOL



No pics were posed by manual means, LOL! Got to get in and do it via radio!

[scrooloose]

Nice WK. What Body is that you have on there?

[crawler_king]

It is a Parma Baja Bug, but I left the goofy wing off... I figured if I put it on it would have torn off almost imediatly

[crawler_king]

Update on my rig...
I just eliminated the stock rear stearing lockout, I flipped the steering knuckles inboard and installed a pair of "Rustler" Toe Links, I used the screw hole in the rear link setup as the tie in point, (the lower of the two center holes)... Now I no longer have to deal with one of the rear wheels "steering" itself and making the stock brace fold when it encounters an oddly angled rock or surface.
I dont think the stock one would have broken but the flexing of it was a royal pain.
I am also starting to encounter some ESC glitching, I have been planning to upgrade it shortly, maybe after I get my link mounts from Kreepy I will start messing around with that..
I think I may also gear down my trans, as they did in the HPI crawler build... that combined with my motor upgrade augh to let me crawl everything.. I will post up some pics of the new rear setup shortly along with the new parma bug body....

[coolkidjf7]

you gonna flip the chassis? i read everywhere that this helps alot. i did that today on mine and it looks like the hot setup. lookin good man

[LEWIS]

hay what up crawler king. so it sound like ur doing the right work. we need to meet up. what are u doing this sat the 4th? aid run ? also i give u that servo plate. well i made some changes my self check it. o wait u haven't even seen it:-(. crawlmaster with a mambamax. 3/8th links. every thing flipped around. bell tuck. and more.

[crawler_king]

ok here are the pics as promised, showing the redone rear lockouts and flip.. lights and body.. enjoy lemme know what ya think.

[DRCMAN]

Originally Posted by crawler_king

also starting to encounter some ESC glitching.

Hey CK, If you were getting glitching at LHS it may be the powerlines/transformers. When we built the course we actually had crazy glitching enen from FM radios

[crawler_king]

ok so I have gotten sick of having to reverse on the rocks to get the stock servo to react to what I wanted it to do in high stress or load conditions, so I went and upgraded the stock servo to a HiTech HS-645MG ultra torque servo. WOW even tho it is still in the stock position and using pretty much the stock linkage there is a HUGE improvment.
I do plan on going to an OTA setup and running the steering linkage inboard.
Well thats it for now.
CK

[rocresq]

That is the best looking bug body out bar none, hpi's has a better cog but parma's kill it on looks, clean paint also

[crawler_king]

Yep the chassis flip is in the future, it seems however that with it in the stock position you can still get in alot of crawling on most surfaces. JUst nothing to extreme.
I also just got my Kreepy Lock Jaw links... and wow do the clean up the axles!! My wheelbase is now at 12' on the button. I am going to have to put in longer drive shafts (again ) but thats what I get for just jumping into a modification process without alot of research....Hopefully this week I will have the upper links reattached and my ota servo mount installed, then I will be set to head back to the rocks...

that pre Kreepy links and then here is the after

and a shot of the rear