starting another 1/6th Willys

[brandonwalsh420]

bummer on the 550 with the gru, it all fit in there really nice and it was cool to see something a bit different....very nice chassis work by the way

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by brandonwalsh420

bummer on the 550 with the gru, it all fit in there really nice and it was cool to see something a bit different....very nice chassis work by the way

Thanks! There's a few other 550's out there, Traxxas has a 21T and Venom has a 35T, none of them have adjustable timing or are rebuildable. I've seen on the webz that there are a few 600 size motors for heli's and Traxxas has a 775 motor for their boats. HH mentioned a new 'TorqueMonster' on the horizon, but I couldn't find any info about it.

This motor I'm trying could just be a voltage issue- it was rated to run at 12V-18V, the 3s LiPo is a bit short on the voltage for this motor. I don't have any 4s packs or a ESC that can handle 4s so I have no way of testing.

[BigSki]

I got to looking at the Hennkwell motor that came w/ the GRU and compared it to the Johnson Industries 550 drill motor that I had on hand. I swapped the pinions and put the JI motor on to the GRU and put it back in the Jeep-

Holy Crap! The Jeep is almost stupid fast now, at least as fast as a stock Honcho. I don't know how to accurately describe the increase in power and speed, it's just a HUGE difference. I'll drive it the yard tomorrow to get a real feel for it, but now I'm thinking I'm gonna have to slow it down a bit, maybe run on a 2s or drop the UD gears back into the axles.

[SlownSteady]

Great build, those leafs will work just fine once all the weight is applied. Oh and not a big fan of the Navy blue. I think I have apic of my grandpa in that jeep

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by SlownSteady

Great build, those leafs will work just fine once all the weight is applied. Oh and not a big fan of the Navy blue. I think I have apic of my grandpa in that jeep

Thanks for looking!

[BigSki]

I was encouraged by someone on scale4x4rc to do a better job on the steering. I knew in my heart that the CMS style setup that I made was just an easy cop out, but I wasn't sure how to get the steering to look like the old bell crank setup, until last weekend. I was at a buddies house running the orange Jeep in the ravine on his property. He gave me a purple aluminum bell crank upgrade for a WK, I knew I could make it work on the blue Jeep.

The bell crank has two small bearings in it. I took a piece of 1/4" solid rod, counter bored a #40 hole then tapped it for M3. I "frenched" in the steering arm mount into the round cross member and brazed it together. Once I sand blast it clean and paint it, it should look the way I wanted it to.

I just finished this tonight, I need to dial in the drag link length and get a better servo horn, but I'm on the right track. It looks much more like the Willys style steering system and this seems to function better on the model compared to the first attempt at the steering.

[BigSki]

I needed to get started on a windshield frame for the body but I wasn't too sure on the best way to accomplish this, I didn't want to spend a bunch of time making a completely scratch built part that would be fragile, I'm positive that this Jeep will end up on the roof more than once. I found my answer when I made a scale drawing of a CJ3A windshield frame on some velum then held that drawing over top of the stock frame, the stock frame was close enough to the correct size that I knew I could make it work.

I carefully cut out the folding windshield section, then heated the remaining frame with a heat gun and gently reshaped the top section of the frame. I then put some carbon paper between the velum and a piece of styrene, tracing out the design which left a carbon copy of the design on the stryene. I cut that out and epoxied it to the stock frame. It's drying right now so I won't know until tomorrow if it's gonna work but I think it will be ok.

[Big Mike]

Damn that body is looking good!!! All the detail work is really worth it.

Nice job on the bellcrank. That is good thinking (all the work I did moving the servo here and there trying to get it right, I'm smackin' myself in the forehead right now) If you can spot that in the right spot it opens up so many options for mounting the servo itself. Outstanding.

Hell the whole chassis is good thinking dude! I really want to see this one for myself when its complete...

We still need to run these Jeeps somewhere nearby both of us now that summer is back. Like Sugarloaf Mt. or Gambrill, someplace around there I'm sure we can find some good spots to shoot some video...

[51WillysJeep]

Your windshield frame looks great so far Walter Did you still need me to snap a few pics of my 1:1's frame from the backside ? ( drivers perspective) I can't wait to see this one finished..!

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by 51WillysJeep

Your windshield frame looks great so far Walter Did you still need me to snap a few pics of my 1:1's frame from the backside ? ( drivers perspective) I can't wait to see this one finished..!

Thanks, I have one good one that I found on the webz but another pic or 2 sure would help!

I found a source for 26mm diameter glass optical lenses that look like headlights, I'll post a pic when they arrive.

[reddevildemo]

Lookin awesome Big, love it all.

Quick question for you. How wide is your frame/chassis (outside-outside) ? I can not get a decent measurement off of the one I made, yours looks more on the stock scale side then mine.

Be sure to post up those lenses as well.

[ZoSo]

amazing ....love the leaf spring set up and custom frame work

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by reddevildemo

Lookin awesome Big, love it all.

Quick question for you. How wide is your frame/chassis (outside-outside) ? I can not get a decent measurement off of the one I made, yours looks more on the stock scale side then mine.

Be sure to post up those lenses as well.

Darin, I got 117mm ( 4.6") of width on the chassis. I tried to model it after the stock plastic chassis.

Originally Posted by ZoSo

amazing ....love the leaf spring set up and custom frame work

Thanks Dave. The front leafs are proving to be a huge PIA, the shackles get snagged on rocks way too much for my liking. I'm seriously considering reworking the front end to have the shackles on the rear of the springs and then a u-bolt flip, those pesky u-bolts keep getting snagged on everything.

After a small amount of running the blue Jeep, I can honestly say that the leaf spring setup is more of a visual treat, the performance just isn't there. I'll be hanging on to the orange Jeep for a long time, it's much more capable on the trails then this blue Jeep will ever be,

[reddevildemo]

4.6, thank you very much. I thought mine was off a bit. I got 4.75" on mine.

[Die-Laughing]

That bell crank setup is killer

I just ordered an aluminum bell crank. I'm thinking about mounting the bell crank to the axle. Do you think that would virtually eliminate torque steer/bump steer?

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Die-Laughing

That bell crank setup is killer

I just ordered an aluminum bell crank. I'm thinking about mounting the bell crank to the axle. Do you think that would virtually eliminate torque steer/bump steer?

You would still need a drag link that goes from the servo to the bell crank and with the suspension cycling I could see where you still might get a bit of bump steer, but you will never know unless you try it!

I've found that the best way to keep bump steer at a minimum is to have the drag link parallel to the ground when the vehicle has it's full weight on the tires. (static ride height)

[BigSki]

Almost another month and nothing was getting done until today. I've been making myself slowly get back to work on this thing. I got a driver off of fleabay 2 weeks ago for $14 shipped, he finally showed up for work!

The first thing I needed to do was to set the seat height. I have a set of those beautiful aluminum seats from Norm @ Team 3 six . I'm still not 100% I'm going to use these seats, but for now I could at least get started on a seat frame so that I can orientate the driver then start bending some roll cage tubing around him.






I also need to find a better epoxy for the windshield frame, my attempt to make styrene stick to the injected molded plastic failed miserably.

[BigSki]

progress is slow right now, here's a little update on the cage. I wanted something different from the one that is in the orange Jeep. Now I need to start making some triangulating for strength.




It's taken a year of practice but I'm finally getting very comfortable w/ my brazing skills, the joints just look cleaner than anything else I've done. I can even get the bronze 'wet' and make it flow where I want it to go.

[BigSki]

The cage is finished, as far as the fab goes. I shot it in etching primer today, I'll let it cure for a day then spray it in a color. I'm thinking about using something besides satin black, any suggestions?






Next up is the seats. I've decided against the aluminum seats I mocked up earlier. I realized that they aren't 1/6th scale so they aren't going to do it. I can either use some seats from a Nylint Jeep or fab something out of styrene and brass.

[Jeepin-Paul]

I think the gray compliments the light blue body. I would do all the trim and details in gray.