jebster's mud truck

[jebster]

Got a package in the mail today. Since the stock tranny outputs are 8mm I decided to have a custom shaft made, or two! So, got in touch with a vendor. Creeper Bob did great work. Can't wait to getting this installed!

[jebster]

My power plant arrived today. I don't have any experience with this system so we'll see how it does.

[jebster]

She is a runner! Installed all the electronics and a set of wheels just to try it out. Wow! This thing is a beast. Crashed it a couple times in my workshop already. Motor is reasonably smooth after startup but the startup speed is a little more than I would like. Need to do some punch control adjustments and radio tuning. Glad I went with the 3000kv because a 4000kv would be uncontrollable. I may need to gear down a little too.

The servo is very responsive and seems to have good power. Need to get some bigger tires on before I make a real judgement.

Still waiting on my trailing & upper arms from China to get in. Once I have the wheelbase set I'll look into bodies.

I have a feeling this is going to be a fun runner!

[jebster]

Got my trailing arms, upper links and shocks from China today. For $45 all together this is really an experiment as my expectations are low for durability. They will be helpful for gauging wheelbase and helping decide on a body.

I also picked up also set of smt10 tires/wheels for a good price. While my plan is a 2.2 mud truck I wanted to have the option of a monster truck setup.

[jebster]

Got the links and shocks installed. Haven't even put oil in the shocks yet. Overall it brings the wheelbase out to just over 13" and I'm liking it. Ride height is good. Suspension cycles pretty smoothly. One issue is the slop in the balls in the ends of the links. It is enough that things rattle! I'm going to insert some o-rings around the balls to tighten things up.

All in all I'm satisfied with the parts.

[jebster]

Looking for opinions. If I'm running these smt10 tires should I run with open diff? I know for a mud truck I would want them locked but with the monster truck tires is being locked going to stress the diff too much?

[Sch1tz0fr3nik]

I personally locked the rear, and am leaving the front open. So far through some bashing with a Castle 3800 on 3 cell its been good.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by Sch1tz0fr3nik

I personally locked the rear, and am leaving the front open. So far through some bashing with a Castle 3800 on 3 cell its been good.

I was thinking of trying that combo first to see if it worked out.

[jebster]

Short video of the truck running in my snowy and icy driveway.

https://youtu.be/3jNt9a-UzGg

[jebster]

Decided to go with the Proline topkick body and I'm glad I did. It is big, which looks good on a rig this size. I think I'm going to have to trim out the wheel wells more to give the tires more clearance.
To mount the body I didn't want 4" long body posts that would be swaying in the wind. I wanted something solid and close to the body to provide support. I found some aluminum T rails I had from some type of door tracks I believe. Cut them to length, lightened them up and made a delrin cross member for support and provide a body post mounting point. I'm thinking this will also provide a solid mount for any bumpers I may add in the future (I'm thinking about a pushbar type bumper up front).

Next step is painting the body, which is usually one of my least favorite parts of a build!

[jebster]

Got the body painted and mounted. For a rattle can paint job it came out pretty good. Decided to give it a color scheme similar to all my other rigs. I'm thinking about added a pushbar up front and rear bumper but they would have to be plastic or delrin to keep the weight down.
Now I just need my new shocks to arrive from China and she is back to a running rig. That and getting some rc4wd mud basher tires.

[WesleyRoy]

Almost to nice to get muddy

[jebster]

Originally Posted by WesleyRoy

Almost to nice to get muddy

I know. It is going to be a tough first run in the dirt but I didn't plan on this being a shelf queen.

[JatoTheRipper]

Good looking truck. How's the Kinexsis system treating you?

[jebster]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Good looking truck. How's the Kinexsis system treating you?

Really haven't had enough run time yet to say with confidence. For the couple runs I made it appears to have plenty of power and the low end control seems to be pretty smooth.

[monster 550]

Originally Posted by jebster

I know. It is going to be a tough first run in the dirt but I didn't plan on this being a shelf queen.

It took me a good year to finally get my mud truck dirty. Now I wish I would've sooner.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by alexleblanc

This is making me want to build a mud bashed, yours looks awesome!

Thanks man. Hoping to get it out and dirty for the first time soon. Need the snow outside to melt.

[jebster]

Got the truck out for a spin on the driveway. I wanted high traction to see how much body roll I had. It was a lot, which is not unexpected since I have all the electronics up high.

I decided on get some sway bars installed. I didn't want to fab up a lot of parts so I used mounting points already available. Since my setup isn't symmetric I had different configs front and rear. To balance them out the rear bar is the strongest and the one in the front is a step down.

Took it for another run and it was much better.

[jebster]

Got tired of messing with the leaky cheap chinese shocks. Had another set that work fine but these act as if there isn't a seal in them so I went with some trusty losi shocks. Much better. I think I need to put in some lighter oil and softer springs as these are a little stiff.

Also picked up a set of axles that came with some nice vp upgrades (chubs, knuckles, lockouts, lockers, link mounts) and beef tubes.

More exciting was finally getting my mudding tires. Slapped them on some axial beadlocks I had. These tires are nice. Tall and a soft compound.