xkill's 2013 build

[Charel]

Great looking bully there mate.
Have you had it out to test yet?

[xkill]

Thanks!
I slacked off a bit and forgot to post here...

So this is what I did.

The electronics goes like this:
2x FXR
1x CC BEC
1x flysky 6ch receiver
18ga wires with small connectors

It was very hard work to make this and when everything was done....
I burned the BEC and had to do it again!





I had a new BEC so When I installed it I decided not to put the voltage of the BEC on the receiver and feed the servo directly.
Like this I hope I can extend the receiver life, even if I never had any problem before.





RTR weight with nanotec 850 (4lb 7.6oz), Gens Ace 800 (4lb 7.3oz) and Gens Ace 450 (4lb 6.5oz).
I am really happy with this weight ( >2Kg RTR )
It's not a hyper light rig, I know, still it's about 1Kg lighter than it was when I started and that is a great improvement on my book!







And finally on the rocks!!!!







After this first time my impressions were:
- Totally different car with with this weight!!
- With the new motor the radio setup had to be changed (and I'm still not happy with it...)
- The under body had to be changed
- Limit the rear shocks a bit more.
-Practice like crazy!

[xkill]

On my second test run I continue to struggle to fix the electronics...
The double side tape and/or the velcro were not attaching to the shrink wrap causing the electronic to be loose occasionally.

When I was descending the shit hit the fan....
The + BEC wire got broken from the board!



I went back home and manage to fix it.



So far, after some more packs, it is still working!

I shot this video and in the end of it you can see that the wheels are not moving, that was when I broke it.

Bully v.2013 - 2º test - YouTube

I also cut a bit of the bottom of the chassis, changed the underbody and limited the rear shocks.
It helped!
I'm using soft 5.5 double douce foams front and rear and I'm have a bit more bouncing than what I would like.
I'll try some medium in the rear to see how they go.

So far the chassis has been working great and I very happy to see that all my hard work is paying off.

[bastard jr]

looks great keep it up

[xkill]

Here's a video of my latest trips.
Nothing special and my video skills suck!
I think the wide angle of a go pro should also help, maybe it should go to my "wish list"

Bully v.2013 on 3 different locations - YouTube

Now the only thing that it's lacking is some more steering angle....

[boadazofa]

that thing looks fantastic! This is a super class bully?

[boadazofa]

That goes great! they look like a great crawling location!

[pajey]

Originally Posted by boadazofa

that thing looks fantastic! This is a super class bully?

All bullies in this section are 2.2. Any superclass rigs go under the super class section.

[xkill]

The bully had some updates lately.

First was the lower back links.
I quit on my "straight" links and went to a more conventional approach.

From this:


To this:


And also change my skids:


When I was driving with guys on XR10 the thing that I was missing out was in the steering department...
After some PM with Erik D-Lux these arrived to my door.



After a little work, and some adjustments, they were going in.


It went from this:




To this:




What I didn't like so much (and I didn't know about it), was that they make the axle a few millimeters wider... That will increase a bit my scrub.
I think I will try the 225 hubs in stead of the 350 that I'm using.



Still it's no too wide...
11.2 in the front
and 10.6 in the back

Now I think I have the front a bit lighter but I don't have a scale with me right now. I might go with some knuckle weights... Time to test!

[xkill]

Here some videos of the bully in action.
I almost don't have any experience in competition and I made a lot of mistakes... And also got to practice more.









I'm very happy with the steering angle!
After these videos I noticed that I had some binding on the steering.
That's solved now

[Charel]

great stuff dude, looking great.
I think the crawlers weight is about what i would aim for also.

[xkill]

Does anybody still remember the Bully v1?! I do!

Some time ago I made some more changes to my car so here it goes.

1st the weight RTR:



I bought a set of brand new set of LW axles. If they only knew what was going to happen to them they would have get lost in the mail!



It didn't last more than 5 minutes of contemplation...
Starting point


This won't hurt a thing!




A couple more hours..


Final result...


So I could finally get rid of the last cast part that I had, the front axle.

Before weight:


After:


The box in the back was, from the outside at least, still looking "in one piece". Not for long....
Before:


After:


I also changed the back part of the chassis so I could get all of the compression from the shocks, especially important when upside down...
It's still not 100% but for it to be 100% I'll have to lose the aluminum links, that have to be strait, and go to some bend Ti...



I the end this was my RTR weight:


Not bad for a V1 bully with mostly stainless links and normal 540 motors...

But....
Since I had lost most of the weight in the front the car was now unbalanced...
So I add these:



In the end this is my RTR weight:



I went up a few grams but the car as a lower CG and optimized weight distribution.
The car is now more predictable a more competent.

So much so that, on my first competition EVER I got 3º place out of 14 drivers.
I was stoked with the result!!



This is me on the second course. Some mistakes but I managed.

[josh6575]

I still like my B1 axles. I am working on a B2 and still trying to get it to work as good as my B1. Its getting closer. Those are some nice crawling areas.

[DiKey]

Congrats for 3rd place.
I'm wondering with my bully.It is very similar with yours.I have a problem with one of d'lux axle shafts..



It was my fault but for now my car is useless and maybe need to sell this to go with bully 2.I don't know.


Did you use any shims between knuckles and driveshafts?
Which vp hubs do you use front and rear?

[Navtrtl]

Great looking rig. Congrats on you podium finish. I may have to try and shave some weight from my bully now. I don't comp but I enjoy crawlers from scalers to comp rigs and just acquired a bully setup so I've been checking out custom rigs like yours. Did you purchase the carbon fiber wheels or have them made?

[xkill]

Thanks guys.

DiKey, that was bad....
Since you live in Greece, what you can do is take it to a professional with a lathe (one that has the patience and time to work with small stuff) and he'll be able to fix that. Or you can talk with Erik and send it back to him.
I'm using some shims to take some slop out and also to make sure that the wheels turn without any bind.
I made a shim out of lexan (1.5mm) and I bought some thinner shims for fine tuning.
You have to take your time... Measure 20x and cut 1 time, every time a small amount.
There's no point to sell a broken car for cheap just because of that... But if you do sell the axles, let me know! Even the way they are.

I'm using VP 350 hubs in the front and 225 in the rear. I'm with reversed wheels in the rear.

The CF wheels with the round holes were made by me.

[DiKey]

Originally Posted by xkill

Thanks guys.

DiKey, that was bad....
Since you live in Greece, what you can do is take it to a professional with a lathe (one that has the patience and time to work with small stuff) and he'll be able to fix that. Or you can talk with Erik and send it back to him.
I'm using some shims to take some slop out and also to make sure that the wheels turn without any bind.
I made a shim out of lexan (1.5mm) and I bought some thinner shims for fine tuning.
You have to take your time... Measure 20x and cut 1 time, every time a small amount.
There's no point to sell a broken car for cheap just because of that... But if you do sell the axles, let me know! Even the way they are.

I'm using VP 350 hubs in the front and 225 in the rear. I'm with reversed wheels in the rear.

The CF wheels with the round holes were made by me.

I tried to fix the shaft to my local metalworker.The result was on #11 post here.

Rc4wd Bully BUiLD

After some batteries the weld cracked.
I will contact Erik but I believe that shipping cost will be most expensive than his work.I hate that shipping cost,even for tiny stuff are huge amount.Also I need a locker for my front diff to make sure that all work well after that.Do you have any extra locker to sell me?I will give one more try to this bully.

Those hubs you have have small difference in length. My rear axle is tooooo narrow than front. If I run wheels with vp hubs I believe I need .725 rear and .225 at front.
In yours I suppose that because of place your wheel reverse you are close to wider front axle.

[Master Basher]

you are imposing undue pain on yourself by obsessing over the all-in-one smashes. The Rx doesn't need to be in the smash for heat soak, and the best way to do bec and esc smashes is to allow some type of air space between them for heat purposes. My esc's and bec are all together in one smash, but that's because i bought them that way. I have another set up to go in and they won't be that way after. The tekin esc's may be just fine, but I play with mine too long for my castle sidewinders, and they have overheated a time or two. I would not recommend the all-in-one smash.

You pictures and write up are awesome though. Great video too. Great work.

[xkill]

Man, you really butchered that shaft...
Even on the tubes an servo mount... You had to take your time.
Mounting the D-Lux shafts and tubes were the best mod I've done, but they are far from plug and play!
You really have to take your time to set them up.

Yes, I use small hubs in the rear because I have the wheels reversed
I have some extra locker but it has some slop. I don't want to sell because it's my spare, sorry...

I'm not obsessing about the all in one smash, but this way It works as one block and it was easy to mount.
The RX and BEC have breathing space, for sure and the don't get a lot of heat from the ESC.
I'll grant you that the ESC has one layer of shrink tube too much, but so far they had no problems at all.
As far as I read the FXR handle heat better than the CC and Holmes ESC...

[josh6575]

I do not care for any smashing. I like the security of knowing if one of my components lets out magic smoke. It will not take out what is next to it also.