Tommy's Beast II 6x6

[Tommy R]

Finally got some pics of the wiring. Now keep in mind everything is not installed in there at the moment. I sold my BRXL and am currently going to run a Tekin FXR (from my Green LJ now that it's for sale). The wiring is in a bit of a shambles. So sue me!

Here you can see the chassis area under the cab. I reamed a hole under the rearmost part of the cab's interior and all of the wires are routed through it. I also needed extensions for my servo leads. The Deans plug for the motor is inside the cab. Also, note the leads for the motor are on the bottom. The reason is if you solder them on top, they'll hit the body when it's lowered. I still need to secure the wiring. I think I'll use some "P" clips hot glued to the underside of the body.


And the rat's nest inside the cab. Call it the "sleeper" portion of the cab, if you will. Here's where the more sensitive electronics reside. The Tekin FXR, Castle BEC for the steering servo, 5000mah 3s battery (not shown), the receiver, etc. Eventually I hope to have a sound module in there, but that may go on the bed....hidden out of sight, of course! If you look in the top left corner you can see the hole I made for the wires.


I also did some more work on the truck this evening. I cleaned up all of the holes (and drilled new ones as needed) in order to accommodate the new, shorter wheelbase. I also hacked the bed's subframe for the upcoming shortening of the chassis. I'm going to shorten it for a near 90 degree departure angle.


And how the wheelbase looks now. I'll be able to eliminate several inches of length from the frame rails, too. Definitely looking much more like a trials truck than a Russian logging vehicle now.

[STANG KILLA SS]

russian logging vehicles FTW!

[Tommy R]

The truck has always had a pretty significant rake and really stiff springs. This all got even worse when I removed the cargo bed. So tonight I did a few things. First off, I swapped around a bunch of springs that I had bought for my Losi MRC back in 2009. It's now much softer all around and has usable up and down travel from the normal ride height.

But I noticed the front shock towers were higher than the rears. This resulted in a lower front ride height. So I popped a few new holes in the shock towers to address this.


Yes, it raised the ride height by doing this, but I then softened the springs so it came back down some. Then I softened the rear springs a LOT so it now sits nice and level even with a cab full of electronics and battery. I also swapped out the tires. I LOVED the look of the MIL-SPECs, but wanted the performance and looks that the Flashpoints offer. Much better for a trials truck!


It even has some articulation now!

[Tommy R]

I should also point out that with the amount of weight on the front wheels, the stock foams all but collapsed. So I installed some 4.25" tall Crawler Innovations Lil' Nova two stage foams with a firm outer. Much better and I can't wait to see how it crawls. The rears are currently running stock foams since there's so little weight back there.

[XSRCdesign]

Man these are so cool

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by XSRCdesign

Man these are so cool

I'd disagree if I could, but I can't. I've really enjoyed working on this thing and can't wait to finally get it on the trail and running again!

[Tommy R]

Far from "finished", but I finally got a chance to take it offroad today. It was not without problems, but overall it performed pretty well. As expected, the front overhang is a killer. In the ragged rocks and steep approaches, it was a.....challenging.....truck to drive to say the least. But it climbs like a mountain goat! Very impressive! Unfortunately, the middle axle has a lot of twist under load. The rear driveshaft came out a couple times. But the main problem was the front aluminum link mount that sheared!!

Here's some pics...




CI foams doing their job very well! This was a very off camber spot.






A familiar site today. Need to see if I can make a metal one with more spline engagement.

[Zukiiholic]

Beast is looking Beastly..
Weathering looks great with out over doing it..
Sorry about the breakage.

[Tommy R]

Been a while, but we may be doing some crawling tomorrow and I wanted to get the 6x6 up and going again.

First off, I ordered a "Hercules" metal rear driveshaft from AsiaTees.com. It looks cool, but is awfully small. I'm concerned about how strong it will be when subjected to the weight of this rig. The quality was also sketchy. You see, here's the "meat and potatoes" of the driveshaft. All metal. Looks decent enough.




But they have these black couplers that are solely for aesthetics. Well, they're aluminum and threaded. So the pins to attach to the axles don't slide through. I had to drill them out and now they work fine. A silly oversight by the manufacturer.


And installed...


I also replaced the lower link/track bar mount. Here's the damage from last time:


I should also point out that last time out I bent the drag link! I guess pushing 500 ounces of torque through it was enough to "boomerang" it! I just bent it back into shape, but am pretty sure it'll just happen again! No pics 'cause there really wasn't much to show.

[STANG KILLA SS]

regarding the front overhang, what about moving the bumper up to the bottom of the grill, and removing the side steps?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

regarding the front overhang, what about moving the bumper up to the bottom of the grill, and removing the side steps?

Not that easy. The cab hinges on the top of the bumper assembly. I think I just need to drive with it as-is. It's not designed to keep up with C1 or C2 rigs. I need to drive it accordingly....which is tough!

Originally Posted by Caswell

That shaft looks really short.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

It is. It needs to be since I shortened the distance between the rear 2 axles.

[Tommy R]

I haven't beaten on the truck too badly, but the rear driveshaft is holding up so far...and hasn't popped off, either. So far, so good. Now that it's running again I've decided to proceed with the build. Time to do something about the lack of a proper bed on this thing. I haven't yet decided exactly how I want the bed to look, but know I'll need to start with a flat bed.

First was to get some styrene and bond it to the substructure of the bed.


Next was to test fit it on the truck and put my drifter chassis on it.


No, it won't haul the drifter. I was just playin'. I wanted some texture on the bed so I got some diamond plate for it.


Liking it so far. Still needs some more details and eventually I'll build a cage for the bed and an exo-cage for the cab.

[Tommy R]

A little more bed detail...

[STANG KILLA SS]

interesting slope.
whats the idea?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

interesting slope.
whats the idea?

Well, basically I'm just trying to make it look more like a European trials truck and it seems like there are a variety of beds on them. Some are just empty flatbeds, but that's a bit boring. Some have exo-cages, as well as roll cages attached to the bed...both of which I plan on adding. Some have a standard cargo bed, but that's not the look I'm after, either. Some have sponsors and it seems they add small "billboards" to them for their sponsors' logos. That's kind of what I'm going for. Here's a couple examples of what I mean...well, except for the redneck sitting in the bed!

[Tommy R]

Every big diesel needs a stack, right?

[uclabruins89]

What shifters did you use inside the cab what kits were they from?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by uclabruins89

What shifters did you use inside the cab what kits were they from?

They're from an Axial kit...

[justinart24]

Looking good. Hmm....I have yet to see a video of this beast hauling anything. #6pack?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by justinart24

Looking good. Hmm....I have yet to see a video of this beast hauling anything. #6pack?

HA! Yeah, it could probably do that. Let me see what I can put together...