MTVR 6x6 indy suspension.

[mjderstine]

hey guys. check this out. i got this truck for my brother a couple years back for christmas, and he played with it for a while, broke it, found out how hard it was to get parts, got a parts truck, and then put the thing on a shelf.

fast forward 2 years, and i see it sitting on his shelf in the shed, and tell him i have time to kill. i will make something cool with it.

why no put the two chassis together? its got some integy crawler motors. the front one drives the front four wheels, and the rear drives well the rear two wheels. all axles are locked, so its a trail rig. i need to get some smaller pinions. it might have a bit too much wheel speed.

i spent more time getting all the wiring to my liking more than anything (not making the wiring look good though, that will come tomorrow.) he had it all stock plugs, so i rewired it all with bullets. i also now ahve a home for my mamba max!

one thing it needs is some articulation. its got all of none. but its not a scaler for damn sure, and its just a fun truck. not a very technical build either. one thing it does need is a much bigger servo. the 645 barely cuts it.

anyway, on to the naked shots.

[Charlie-III]

Interesting use of misc parts.

Have you driven it yet??

[Reflection]

Do only 2 wheels steer? I'd make it 6WS, that'd be pretty sweet.

[mjderstine]

Originally Posted by Reflection

Do only 2 wheels steer? I'd make it 6WS, that'd be pretty sweet.

just the fronts now. i wanted to work the extr front axle into the rear of the chassis, but this was the easiest way to make it work for now. it actually turns pretty well.

i have only driven the thing in my apartment so far. it is works well. it needs much smaller pinions though.


any ideas on what to cover it with? i was thinkin of making a flatbed unimog style thing. obviously won't be super scale, but would look better that way.

probably needs some better wheels and tires as well.

[Reflection]

Originally Posted by mjderstine

any ideas on what to cover it with? i was thinkin of making a flatbed unimog style thing. obviously won't be super scale, but would look better that way.

[theinjected1]

I like it, but I dig anything with more than 2 axels. I would try to get my hands on a duce and a half body.

[mjderstine]

Originally Posted by theinjected1

I like it, but I dig anything with more than 2 axels. I would try to get my hands on a duce and a half body.

i like that body too. i was thinking something like the power wagon 6x6, or if i can't find that body, just use the B-17 body that axial has.

reflection:

that is an awesome rig too. first thing is replacing these crap tires with some more scale wheels, and tires.

[mjderstine]

here is some bad video of the thing driving. its hard to hold a cell phone and drive this thing at the same time. might have to hookup a stanf on my controller.

http://youtu.be/DEvVgGQhILg

[mjderstine]

hey anyone know anything about the mamba max, and using it on two motors. the drag break is set to the crawler setting and that abou 200%. but it only seems to work on the rear motor.

[Charlie-III]

Originally Posted by mjderstine

Hey, anyone know anything about the mamba max, and using it on two motors? The drag break is set to the crawler setting and that about 200%, but it only seems to work on the rear motor.

It could be that the other motor has weak magnets or brush springs. The gear mesh may also be looser on the motor that doesn't lock up.

[mjderstine]

if the gears are loser... are you speculating that they may be skipping when drag brake is applied? i can check that later, but my first thought is that is near impossible since it is mod 1 gears. getting the mesh wrong on those big teeth would require quite a sufficient amount of idiocy on my part. but i guess we have our spells of it.

both motors are pretty new. might have two packs through them total.

[Stregone]

The rear wheels probably have less weight on them, making them easier to lock up.

[Cordwood]

What's the WB from front to rear axle on that thing?

You should try and make the rear axle steer. I started with 6WS on my 6x6, then switched to just front/rear axle steer, and it is way better. Much more maneuverable.

[mjderstine]

the wheelbase is about 16" hair shorter probably. i can put steering on the back, but its gonna be a lot of work making a servo mount back there and getting the linkages correct.

so. would you recommend just using a Y harness for the steerin, or use a third channel

[Cordwood]

I don't have enough run time on my 6x6 to say for sure. I've only run it with the rear steer on it's own channel, which is momentary buttons on a TQ3. I'm leaning towards having the front and rear steer be on the same channel, only because as I was driving mine, I found myself looking to use the rear steer constantly. I also kept steering the rear in the wrong direction. More run time would mostly fix that, but I'm thinking that taking that factor out and having it be able to always turn as sharp as needed will work the best.

My axles are all locked. If you have diffs, it may turn sharp enough with just the front steer.

I'm currently rebuilding my axles, and am setting up the steering all on the same channel. I'll let you know what I think when I get it running again. Probably this weekend.

[mjderstine]

i can't wait for your report thanks man!

as i started the RC hobby in airplanes i am more used to a stick radio, i may switch over to that once i get my rigs going. i am more used to using my thumbs to control these things.

well on a third channel would be nice because then you could steer with the front axle and opposite of it. it would also be nice to have it on a stick radio because then you can control full lock or not on the steering.
i will start setting up the servo mount for the rear tonight when i get home from work. i am going to test it as a Y harness setup in order to steer opposite of the front axle, thus greatly reducing the steering radius. and because that's what i have the parts for right now!

[SlickRockSpider]

Originally Posted by mjderstine

i can't wait for your report thanks man!

as i started the RC hobby in airplanes i am more used to a stick radio, i may switch over to that once i get my rigs going. i am more used to using my thumbs to control these things.

well on a third channel would be nice because then you could steer with the front axle and opposite of it. it would also be nice to have it on a stick radio because then you can control full lock or not on the steering.
i will start setting up the servo mount for the rear tonight when i get home from work. i am going to test it as a Y harness setup in order to steer opposite of the front axle, thus greatly reducing the steering radius. and because that's what i have the parts for right now!

I did not read the whole thread but Damn cool rig. I am with you on the stick radio. How about a tow truck.


Evan

[mjderstine]

i like that idea too. i will keep that in mind when i start making it look less like a toy

i got the rear stear done, wow that took a while and ended up being really really really simple. hitec615 and 645 will NOT be enough for this thing, they can barely turn the wheels on the carpet, i'd hate to see what they do on a trail.

any one got any ideas how to lock up a servo saver that is built into the servo linkages like a 1/8th buggy?

[mjderstine]

here some pics of the steering. just used some little backets to mount it to the rear gearbox. it will need a better linkage setup, but this was a good way to test it.

the ackerman angle is all screwed up!

[ClodNutz]

Like somebody else said- Neat use of parts- Good job !