Messing around with my Trekker Chevy k10

[clm]

Hello there

I guess I should start off with I am horrible at completing projects... I am much better at hoarding them. But anyways...

I have been messing around with my trail trekker a bit, many years back I had purchased a leaf spring chassis kit for it and a Chevy C10 model.

I had planned to put them together but ran into several problems. The options tire wise was either too small (the Losi Desert Truck Wheels) or far too big (the stock Trekker tires), the chassis kit is a bit flaky and the springs are too loose, I was not looking forward to extending the driveshaft with metal tubing, and I am somewhat bad at putting a decent finish on plastic models... But primarily, I missed driving the Trail Trekker around while I was building it so I went and reassembled the trekker and have driven it on and off for may years now. It is a very reliable little thing.

Well, as I stated somewhat in my vague Mini Crawler thread, I have become smitten by trail trucks as of late and along with the TRX-4 I have on order, I have decided to actually make the tiny scale truck I had planned to make. Although I may end up swapping the Trekker parts for HSP/ECX/Redcat/etc.. micro crawler parts and also have the Trekker built, We will see.

The driveshaft actually turned out to be much easier fix then I had planned after seeing some new trucks for the first time. I ended up cutting the splined section off of the old rear driveshaft, super glued a shock o-ring in the middle of it, and then used two female ends on the driveshaft... driveshaft problem handled!

As for the wheels, I am still not happy at all with either the stock Trekker or the modded Desert Truck wheels. I want to find some that are somewhat in the middle of those sizes but the smaller ones will likely have to work for now. Also.. if you spin the Desert truck wheels up to full speed on a dremel by accident instead of pushing the slider to off... the tires fall off intact Oops!

I need to make some track rods for the axles as the light leafs allow them to wrap all over the place, not good.

I should be able to keep the interior of the model almost completely intact, minus a small amount of clearancing for the motor. At this point the plan is to have a micro servo on the front axle, the esc stowed under the hood and probably fab up a bed box out of 1/24 diamond plate to hide the battery in. That is if I use the bed...

If I decide to go with the stock sized tires I may just ditch the bed all together and fab up a miniature version of the Vaterra K10 rear frame and just turn it into a Micro Ascender clone... ? Who knows, it will turn into what it turns into.

Chris

[stopmojim]

What kind of ground clearance do you get with the desert wheels on Trekker axles? They are more scale.


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[clm]

I am getting a buck fifty at the pumpkin and 85 cents under the c hub kingpin, a countersunk or flat head in the lower king pin would give more but it is about right for the scale.

Also a couple pics on how I butchered (err modded ) the wheels.

I would also like to come up with a way to lower the leaf spring mounts closer to the axle, but I also don't want to mess up the stock Losi axles to the point where I can't put them back on the trekker chassis. A Micro Crawler Clone might be required soon.

Chris

[clm]

I managed to find a solution for the steering link, I used a body clip as the link... Not to often you get to do that heh.

I think I need a longer servo horn however as I need more throw, the wheels can turn further then the servo can.

I also connected up the esc and tried the truck once that was done, I had to reverse the throttle channel with the motor in the orientation it is in but that's fine. I did however find that the crawling prowess of micro desert truck tires leave a lot to be desired ;)

Here is a youtube link to a short video showing it driving over a couple 2/3 aa cell mini packs as well as the limited steering :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhpOAGdrIbg

Chris

[clm]

Third try on the steering link, I can now get full lock... but I need to dip it down a bit below the leaf spring as it hits on full compression.

This is probably going to become an even harder linkage to set up if I can find a way to drop the springs lower on the axles to drop the ride height somehow. But that will only happen after I get a new donor micro as I still don't want to mod the Trekker stock parts.

I am also hoping for an email back from the person with all the Losi Micro parts in regards to a stock body, the hacked up one that came with my Trekker keeps looking worse and worse heh.

Chris

Edit: Oh yeah, I also had a friend driving it around on the front sidewalk this afternoon and was surprised to see it driving through the grass even with the tiny little Desert truck tires! lol

[doubler]

Very nice. Keep the build rollin!

[irvan105]

been wanting to watch someone with a k10 body. looking at a few different options. love the pics of the servo setup too. my new one should be in friday after mine took crap yesterday i ordered 4 more lol. cant wait to get it going again

[Pinte-Size]

Originally Posted by clm

Hello there

I guess I should start off with I am horrible at completing projects... I am much better at hoarding them. But anyways...

I have been messing around with my trail trekker a bit, many years back I had purchased a leaf spring chassis kit for it and a Chevy C10 model.

I had planned to put them together but ran into several problems. The options tire wise was either too small (the Losi Desert Truck Wheels) or far too big (the stock Trekker tires), the chassis kit is a bit flaky and the springs are too loose, I was not looking forward to extending the driveshaft with metal tubing, and I am somewhat bad at putting a decent finish on plastic models... But primarily, I missed driving the Trail Trekker around while I was building it so I went and reassembled the trekker and have driven it on and off for may years now. It is a very reliable little thing.

Well, as I stated somewhat in my vague Mini Crawler thread, I have become smitten by trail trucks as of late and along with the TRX-4 I have on order, I have decided to actually make the tiny scale truck I had planned to make. Although I may end up swapping the Trekker parts for HSP/ECX/Redcat/etc.. micro crawler parts and also have the Trekker built, We will see.

The driveshaft actually turned out to be much easier fix then I had planned after seeing some new trucks for the first time. I ended up cutting the splined section off of the old rear driveshaft, super glued a shock o-ring in the middle of it, and then used two female ends on the driveshaft... driveshaft problem handled!

As for the wheels, I am still not happy at all with either the stock Trekker or the modded Desert Truck wheels. I want to find some that are somewhat in the middle of those sizes but the smaller ones will likely have to work for now. Also.. if you spin the Desert truck wheels up to full speed on a dremel by accident instead of pushing the slider to off... the tires fall off intact Oops!

I need to make some track rods for the axles as the light leafs allow them to wrap all over the place, not good.

I should be able to keep the interior of the model almost completely intact, minus a small amount of clearancing for the motor. At this point the plan is to have a micro servo on the front axle, the esc stowed under the hood and probably fab up a bed box out of 1/24 diamond plate to hide the battery in. That is if I use the bed...

If I decide to go with the stock sized tires I may just ditch the bed all together and fab up a miniature version of the Vaterra K10 rear frame and just turn it into a Micro Ascender clone... ? Who knows, it will turn into what it turns into.

Chris

I like the desert wheels better also.
where did you find that chevy body?