Hardbody TJ 6x6 Propane Style

[chino63]

Nice, looks better now, I hope to see it in action sometime soon!

[Propane]

Picked up some styrene for my first time. Easy to work with and light. Here is the bed I put together.

[Propane]

Pulled the GR7 and Split Skid today and put in all the steel RRP gears. Also decided to try some more styrene work.
Here are some inner fenders.




Also started on a hardtop.



I hope I can run a few packs through it this week.

[Propane]

Made some front suspension changes to take care of the steering issues I was having with the CMS. Steering is great now and suspension travel is spot on.


Painted the inner bed.


Picked up some 2/56x3/8 buttonhead screws for the beadlocks. Looks damn good with the custom MThead beadlocks all painted up. Also tuned the weights and foams in all 6 wheels.



I ran it outside for 20min today. All seems to be fitted properly and working well. The 21t rock racer motor is a monster, tons of wheelspeed but lacks the low end I like when running the divorced setup. I think I will try a quality 35t handwound to see if I am happy with the overall speed.

[Fingonunny]

Looks awesome! I'm glad I found this thread, it will help me a lot with the 6x6 build I'm gathering parts for. Great work!

[Propane]

Did the driveshaft mod to help with strength. Used a female shaft on both yolks with a male glued in on one side. I use an axial aluminum link cut down to stuff in the center of the male driveshaft so it can't twist or collapse.

[Peli]

Vey unique build

Never would have thought that a 6x6 TJ would look any good
Must crawl pretty good with its weight low,and being long.

[Propane]

Since this will become my fun to drive rig I just assume I will need tunes. I took apart a portable battery powered IHome speaker system I found and packed it into the dash. It runs on 6v and has a small amp board. I had to build the dash out about a 1/4 inch to fit it all. It has a slide switch on top to turn on and off and an indicator light in the dash.

[rcmedic]

Originally Posted by Propane

Did the driveshaft mod to help with strength. Used a female shaft on both yolks with a male glued in on one side. I use an axial aluminum link cut down to stuff in the center of the male driveshaft so it can't twist or collapse.Attachment 229115

Glad i could help with with you truck, their MUCH stronger huh?

[godofcable]

what material did you use to form the outside shell of the bed?

[Propane]

The outside of the bed is made from 2"x12" brass sheets from the hobby shop.

[godofcable]

Originally Posted by Propane

The outside of the bed is made from 2"x12" brass sheets from the hobby shop.

thanks man. fantastic build.

[rcmedic]

If you looking for speed and lowend and tons of top end, go brushless!
You can pm me about a Tekin Rs, and you can find novak 13.5-18.5's sensored for like $40 on the fs section all the time! Brushless is like a crazy addition! My wraith is running a castle Mamba Max Pro with a tekin 7.5 t scx4x and it hauls butt! And still has way more lowend than any brushed motor!

[Propane]

I built this around a brushed setup because of the G6 running I like to do. I have plenty of crawling low speed resolution on the 35t and it still has more wheelspeed than I need.

[Propane]

Decided to build a hard cab using styrene with a hybrid 3/16 brakeline cage inside. It just didn't look right to me topless with a cage.




The rear window is a piece of clear lexan that I cut to shape.

[Propane]

Went out for the first trail run out at the gorge. Lasted 10 minutes and had a pinion/spur failure in the GR7. This was the second pinion I toasted. I am using a RRP steel diff gear(spur gear in GR7) and RRP 12 tooth pinions. Gear mesh was perfect both times but something causes an issue when running. Ends up chewing up the pinion and thirsting the teeth. Not sure what to do.

[chino63]

Originally Posted by Propane

Went out for the first trail run out at the gorge. Lasted 10 minutes and had a pinion/spur failure in the GR7. This was the second pinion I toasted. I am using a RRP steel diff gear(spur gear in GR7) and RRP 12 tooth pinions. Gear mesh was perfect both times but something causes an issue when running. Ends up chewing up the pinion and thirsting the teeth. Not sure what to do.

That's a bummer.

How does it feel with the motor out? Does it spin free or is there some excessive resistance in the driveline? If so, disconnect things one by one till free. Also articulate the axles one by one and see if there is any binding (I had this issue on one of my 6x6 trucks.

Also, is your pinion steel or aluminum? Lubed?

[Propane]

Originally Posted by chino63

That's a bummer.

How does it feel with the motor out? Does it spin free or is there some excessive resistance in the driveline? If so, disconnect things one by one till free. Also articulate the axles one by one and see if there is any binding (I had this issue on one of my 6x6 trucks.

Also, is your pinion steel or aluminum? Lubed?

Everything rolls good with no motor. What I notice is that the GR7 output shaft that is connected to the Spur(diff) moves about 1mm to 1.5mm in and out. I have lube in the split skid but not the GR7. It sounds great for the first few minutes. Doesn't sound like the gear mesh is tight or too much play. Then all of a sudden you hear it get a little clacky then the sound of a pinion slipping a spur gear. Can the forward back sliding of the spur cause me this issue?

[Propane]

It looks like the GR7 I got was slightly out of spec. This was an issue that came up on some of the first released units. The bearing on the flat plate of the GR7 will fall out and slide due to the seat being slightly too big, it doesn't allow the bearing to wobble around but just free enough that it will fall out if you turn it upside down. My solution was to shim the bearing and remove the play in the output shaft/bearing. It's all back together and seems to be working well. Only time will tell!!!

[chino63]

Cool, I hope that fixes it. I'd lube the gears too since they are metal on metal.