Finally starting my 1/6th Willys MB

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Big Mike

I didn't even think of the leaves. We might already be too late, it's been a dry summer so the leaves will turn quick this year.

How does this Sunday work for you? The forecast shows mid 70's w/ some sunshine.

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by BigSki

How does this Sunday work for you? The forecast shows mid 70's w/ some sunshine.

I'm pretty booked up already this weekend. I sorta have 2 jobs right now...

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Big Mike

I'm pretty booked up already this weekend. I sorta have 2 jobs right now...

No worries, I just found out that I'm working the weekend in Thurmont at the 'changing leaves' festival. Oh well, it's a paying gig so I can't turn it down.

[BigSki]

I didn't realize that this was buried for almost a year.... where the hell does the time go?

I've been driving the orange jeep a bit lately, it's been a pretty reliable vehicle and has really been low maintenance. I treated the Jeep to a new set of tires, the new Axial BFG Krawlers. I did a short review in the tire/wheel section so I'll won't repeat it in here.

I managed again to have a sidewall of a tire somehow spin the shock enough that the shaft un-threaded itself from the upper mount, allowing the shock to come apart and drop both springs, the collor and the upper retainer into the sand. 45 minutes of searching and I found the parts and got it rolling again.

Loctite doesn't seem to always work, this has happened before. I really don't want the tires sticking out past the fenders any more than they already are ( for sidewall/shock clearance ) and there's literally no more room to move the shock inboard unless I start cutting into the body, which is something I've been trying to avoid.

I'm going to have a vendor make a beautiful set of Uber scale axle housings, I'm hoping to either rebuild this on over the winter or dig out another body and do a fresh build. I have ideas for a new cage and a few new ideas for a drive line.

Here's a few pics from today.

[jeeper03]

Love those BFG's!!

[OllllO Fanatic]

Man your jeep is so BA. You and Mike have the 2 best Willys rigs there are.

[322]

Very nice, I was contemplating using them on my Willys build and wondered how they would look size wise. They look perfect. I think the Iroks I have will be too big.

[BigSki]

As an extra credit project for my CADD certificate, this semester I have Autodesk Inventor 2014. I've designed a CJ2A/3A grill , in a week or so I will be able to crank one out on the 3D printer. Once I get the dimensions tweaked, I plan on making a mold of the part then casting a dozen of them out of a styrene resin.

There may be a "blue" star in my future. I have quite a few parts I've been wanting to make for these Jeeps. Once I get the design software at a comprehensive level, I can shop around the designs and make some parts. The biggest things I have planned is a winch capable of doing a dead pull on one of these Jeeps that should cost around $100 and a transfer case that will be as tough as a NP 205 ! The Disruptor that most of us use is a tough ass component, Katan did a great job on these. I want to take it to the next level with the reduction, strength AND looks to match!

[Big Mike]

Originally Posted by BigSki

I've designed a CJ2A/3A grill , in a week or so I will be able to crank one out on the 3D printer. Once I get the dimensions tweaked, I plan on making a mold of the part then casting a dozen of them out of a styrene resin.

There may be a "blue" star in my future.

Oh yea. I am very intrigued. It would be a good excuse to pull Blue apart and do the other body mods I want to do (and the array of lights I've dreamed about for over a year now)

Here's another idea - a later model "windshield insert" made so you can cut out the frame of a stock Joe Jeep windshield and epoxy the new piece in it's place.

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Big Mike

Oh yea. I am very intrigued. It would be a good excuse to pull Blue apart and do the other body mods I want to do.

Here's another idea - a later model "windshield insert" made so you can cut out the frame of a stock Joe Jeep windshield and epoxy the new piece in it's place.

yeah, I basically have a CJ2A/3A "conversion" kit planned out in my head. Making it a reality is the big challenge.

[Fumbles]

Originally Posted by Big Mike

Here's another idea - a later model "windshield insert" made so you can cut out the frame of a stock Joe Jeep windshield and epoxy the new piece in it's place.

Great idea !!!

[BigSki]

Long time since an update! I had the Jerp torn apart since last fall in hopes to do a rebuild over the winter, including a new cage. It never happened and the Jerp just sat in a duffle bag. Over the past spring I got a desire to make another attempt at more scale looking axles, so I took another shot at narrowing AR60's. I cut the long tube off at the pumpkin, enlarged the opening a bit and turned down the axle tube with a step at the end.

The result wasn't too bad, it definitely looks better that the AX-10/XR hybrids that I was running. I used the stock AR60 axle truss and made a simple upper link mount that attaches to the 2 posts on the stock truss. This allowed me to center the axles.





I was able to use STRC steering links with very minimal modification. These narrowed axles are the same overall width of the AX/XR-10 hybrids, but I seem to have a bit more steering throw. Overall, I'm ok with the results. I would have liked to move the pumpkin over more for a greater visual effect, but that would have cause more issues with shock mounts and drive shaft interference than I wanted to deal with. These are a good compromise.

I ran the Jerp last Sunday at BobRocks. They worked great and didn't seem to get a hung up as the old axles. Offset diffys FTW !

Here's the 3d printed upper link mount that I designed. I hope to get back to the model that I'm making which has the upper mounts designed into the truss.





I'm hoping to build a new cage and do some much needed re-wiring this winter.

[BigSki]

Another winter has come and gone (hopefully) and the Jerp still hasn't got the full blown "rebuild" that I've been wanting to do. I was working on a 3D model of a '3A style windshield frame when Nomadpsd offered to send me his version in a parasolid model, so I took him up on his offer ( Thanks again!) and did a few tweeks on the design and had it made at Shapeways.

I got the part a few days ago and just tried it on for an initial fit. I'm happy with the way everything fits. I basically tightened up the gap between the cowl and windshield frame, added the bars over the center vent that keep it permanently closed, added some "flats" on the interior cross bar where some wind shield wiper motors will fit and I added the external bracket that a softtop would attach to. I wanted to make that detail functional, but it looked so overly large on the 3D model that I just decided to go for looks.





I think that all this part is going to need is a few lights coats of filler/primer and a bit of sandpaper work before it gets painted. The quality of the laser sintered process that Shapeways uses is vastly superior in strength and overall finish quality to the parts I get from the makerbot printer that I have available to me.

[Nomadpsd]

It looks great. I like the details you added. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[BigSki]

Nomadpsd, I think you should offer your parts for sale on shapeways. There's lots of these Jerps that would love to have your parts.

[GraniteBandit]

Great thread guys. Huge thanks for sharing all your build pics and info. I've been itchen to build a new something based on a hard plastic body (Lexan meh) and found all yours and Zoso's vids - awesome stuff!

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by GraniteBandit

Great thread guys. Huge thanks for sharing all your build pics and info. I've been itchen to build a new something based on a hard plastic body (Lexan meh) and found all yours and Zoso's vids - awesome stuff!

Build one! The bodies are still easy to find and are reasonably priced, all of the basics on construction are covered within this large scale section. It's the most fun that you can have with a slow moving RC vehicle.

[GraniteBandit]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Build one! The bodies are still easy to find and are reasonably priced, all of the basics on construction are covered within this large scale section. It's the most fun that you can have with a slow moving RC vehicle.

yessir ... I'm excited to be building one.

[BigSki]

First print of a MB style grill. It fits decent, but there's some tweaking needed. I'll get to it eventually, but not anytime soon. I start my last semester of school tomorrow night, one last "full load" semester and I'm done!




center lines of the headlights are decent, the marker lights need help. It's odd though because I just did the geometry on one side and mirrored it along the center line of the grill. I'll figure it out eventually.

[twissted]

This was fun to read. I have one being shipped and it it the long term builds that I'm interested in.