Southern Scale Towing International CXT Rollback Wrecker Build

[TheManCave]

First off I have to thank FATBOYrs10 for hooking me up with this amazing truck. Only a few people know this truck exists/existed and its going to get a full build thread and be heavy on pictures. Based on a custom steel 3 foot frame with a fully functional screw drive roll back bed powered by a second motor and GRU this truck is going to be the most sinister looking truck I have built to date. Due to the length I will be going one of two routes. Plan A: Tamiya 3 spd highlift tranny with custom shafts or Plan B: Axial/rc4wd tranny with Transfercase and custom shafts. I really want to do a leaf sprung chassis on this one but TLT axles are not going to fit without wheel wideners and I don't think the cases are wide enough to bolt to the frame. That being said I might try to mount some springs on a set of AR60 axles set my wheelbase and go from there. ANY tips, tricks, and advice along the way is highly appreciated since I do not want to take something so badass and ruin it by not going all the way on everything.

[Diesel-tech]

Damn you beat me to it... I'm looking forward to this one.

deffinatly the ar60's they look awesome with leafs and u-bolts. you can check my 1/6th F250 thread for some pics.

And as far as the gearbox, save yourself some time and money and get the most heavy duty one out there. I made a custom t-case for mine and the gears are bulletproof but the rc4wd 5mm shafts they ride on are snaping and twisting like crazy. just the shear size and weight of a rig like this needs heavy duty parts to compensate

[savagebeast]

Right on, you have to post a video of the bed action, super cool

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by Diesel-tech

Damn you beat me to it... I'm looking forward to this one.

deffinatly the ar60's they look awesome with leafs and u-bolts. you can check my 1/6th F250 thread for some pics.

And as far as the gearbox, save yourself some time and money and get the most heavy duty one out there. I made a custom t-case for mine and the gears are bulletproof but the rc4wd 5mm shafts they ride on are snaping and twisting like crazy. just the shear size and weight of a rig like this needs heavy duty parts to compensate

I figured the gearbox would be the first thing that would have to be addressed after setting my wheelbase and at least getting the axles mounted. I do have a 3:1 rc4wd GRU laying around that might make a great candidate for it and I know im gonna have to build some phatty spring stacks for when all the weight is focused on the rear axle

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by savagebeast

Right on, you have to post a video of the bed action, super cool

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

As soon as I get my electronics and test my theory of how this could work I will post a short clip of it extending and retracting. Im hoping that by plugging a second esc into my aux port on my sr300 and using the aux channel middle will have no pwer up will retract and down will extend the bed

[johnnyh66]

ohh man, I can't wait!
I have one of these sitting on the shelf... for whenever I figure out wtf I'm doing!

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by johnnyh66

ohh man, I can't wait!
I have one of these sitting on the shelf... for whenever I figure out wtf I'm doing!

Haha im trying to make it 3 CXT's since I have two shells

[c0bra]

Originally Posted by TheManCave

As soon as I get my electronics and test my theory of how this could work I will post a short clip of it extending and retracting. Im hoping that by plugging a second esc into my aux port on my sr300 and using the aux channel middle will have no pwer up will retract and down will extend the bed

it should work. ive had a esc and motor plugged into the aux on a sr300 with a dx3c, and it worked


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[FATBOYrs10]

just for the record, i did not build this rig. all the chassis, bed/screwdrive, and paint was done by CBR (brent).

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by FATBOYrs10

just for the record, i did not build this rig. all the chassis, bed/screwdrive, and paint was done by CBR (brent).

there you go guys mystery solved on its origins!

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by c0bra

it should work. ive had a esc and motor plugged into the aux on a sr300 with a dx3c, and it worked


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Right on I found an ae-1 speedo that going to be dedicated for the rollback drive along with a 60t motor

[TheManCave]

Here comes some pics, I got to play around with it some tonight. I figured out the wiring for the screw drive works like a champ with my DX3C and i'm not even gonna lie. I was like a kid standing in front of a big shiny red button that said " Do Not Touch" watching the bed go back and forth pivoting down and back up and retracting. I'm using a Venom Firebolt 60t with an rc4wd 3:1 GRU powered by an ancient Axial AE-1 speedo and a 4600 nimh stick pack which slows it down to a realistic scale speed. As for the rest of the driveline I got the AR60's with my rc4wd 2.2 Rockstars with Rock Crusher XT's mocked up under the chassis along with an rc4wd transfer case tucked in front of the bed motor. I will be using an Axial tranny with full RR internals and coincidentally red VP case. I plan on using a HH 35t torquemaster motor with a junfac shaft running from the tranny to t-case then fabricating my own driveshafts, finding a sweet set of scale ones, or modifying a few sets of highlift shafts. Im also going to make a styrene electronics box and dual battery box that will sit high enough to let the truck go through just about anything without having to epoxy my electronics. Im going to hit up Diesel-Tech's F-250 thread to see how he did the leaf springs on the AR's. Enought talk lets see some progress!

[johnnyh66]

very cool setup, I was wondering if the screw drive was going to be a controllable speed... good job.

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by johnnyh66

very cool setup, I was wondering if the screw drive was going to be a controllable speed... good job.

Its a unique setup and even with the GRU the first few times I ran it back n forth I was a little jumpy but the aux channel on the dx3c you can run it wide open till it gets close then bump it like in real life till its retracted back

[TheManCave]

Went to Tractor Supply today and bought some more aluminum angle iron so I can mount the fuel/air tanks and what not. Getting ready to go back down there figure out a skid for the Axial tranny to bolt to and drill the holes for the t-case. I thought about making a ladder bar suspension for the front of the truck and mil wrap springs in the rear. Pics will be up shortly along with a quick video of the bed in action

[TheManCave]

Slammed out a lot more progress today. I got the skid mounted, shaft hooked up to the t-case, ran into a wall when it came down to driveshafts a quick Google search resulted in me modifying an idea done with round tube to which I made square shafts with some donor WB8 splined ends. I set the overall length first subtracted the length of the ends then cut my tube and drilled through the tube/shaft on both ends and ran a bolt/locknut through the hole. The splined male ends of the WB8's made a great tight fit inside the square tube so I don't anticipate any trouble out of them. After the driveshaft crisis was averted I moved onto the next item: beefing up the screw drive for the rollback. It originally had a plastic turnbuckle at the rear to connect two pieces of allthread that allows it to move, well the plastic wasnt going to be strong enough so yet again I went to TSC and picked up a piece of all thread and another metal turnbuckle replaced them, cut a new piece of allthread and welded them together for a nice smooth ride back n forth on the rails. Next I moved on to tackling the 4 link setup for the front suspension. I know the shock hoops look like shit but I had to improvise again to get the height and width I needed and I can always remove them since they are rivoted on. After several hours checking, double checking and more fittings than a fat girl shopping for a prom dress I finally got it all together and spaced correctly.I had to rob parts from Moldie Oldie to get the lengths I needed and used some highlift leaf spring parts so once again if it looks crappy this is just as easily removed and improved as the shock towers. I also now have a concern that the 35t torquemaster might not have enough power and I might have to swap over to a cobalt puller motor. I leave you tonight with these progress pics.

[hobolarry]

Awesome build! The heavy duty driveshafts are wicked...I really like these creative builds...I think a lot of that has been lost in this RTR world

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by hobolarry

Awesome build! The heavy duty driveshafts are wicked...I really like these creative builds...I think a lot of that has been lost in this RTR world

I agree, we've gotten a little too used to buying a RTR tossing parts and replacing them. The driveshafts I have actually made in 1:1 for a jeep rock crawler. 2 different sizes of DOM square tube so they are telescopic and HD yokes welded on at the ends. Super easy and cheap to build in bulk so if you break out on the trail you dont have to limp it back

[sickcivic95]

This is a sweet looking rig, what pitch all thread did you end up going with for the screw drive? Seemingly the 10-24 seems to be the smoothest for the ones I've built, but it tends to run a bit slower the 1/4-20 is beefy and may be god for the weight you'll have on the bed. Anyway keep the updates coming I'm anxiously waiting.

--Dan

[TheManCave]

Originally Posted by sickcivic95

This is a sweet looking rig, what pitch all thread did you end up going with for the screw drive? Seemingly the 10-24 seems to be the smoothest for the ones I've built, but it tends to run a bit slower the 1/4-20 is beefy and may be god for the weight you'll have on the bed. Anyway keep the updates coming I'm anxiously waiting.

--Dan

You nailed it, its 10-24 course thread and I tested last night with an all or nothing by hooking my 1/10 E-Revo to it and aside from lifting the front end up some it had the power to pull it up and on