Natedog's Trail Findering TF2 Tiny Truck

[Shinchu]

I love when a plan comes together...

;)

[Natedog]

Thanks Chris, me three!

Swapped stock 14T pinion for an Axial 11T (very nice quality and larger set screw), should be much better crawling low speed and not get the motor as hot.
http://www.axialracing.com/products/ax30722

Trimmed the front valance yesterday, broke several threads, 100% polyester heavy duty seems to work best, anything with cotton even mixed in is not nearly as strong. Thread is slow and the finished cut is kinda meh, finished the job with X-Acto fine tooth saw, way faster, easier to cut straight and nicer finish! Smoothed last little bit with a course mill bastard file.

Edit: I'll be cutting more off later, prolly just above the stock chromed plastic bumper, to install a much nice bumper.

[Shinchu]

much better!!! I've always wondered about cutting with thread. i don't think i would have the patience. i think i'd break the thread maybe twice and OK DREMEL TIME lol we shall see very soon *hint hint wink wink*

[Natedog]

Thanks, I like it too! Never Dremel, it usually turns plastic into a melted mess and can end up taking off more than you intended, ask me how I know. Several threads kept breaking even though I was feeding more thread, they were cotton covered polyester and cotton button/carpet thread. The 100% polyester spool labeled as heavy duty didn't break, but it was too slow for me. Looking forward to your cutting too.

[AnimalHippie]

I cut the back off my truck using a thin string line like for doing form work it is nylon I believe. Was the only string I could get not to break. Everything else I have used a razor knife or exacto knife.

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[Natedog]

Measured both frames and marked the bed to drill new rear mounts holes. Cab will utilize four holes like New2rocks did, buttonhead screws through cab holes, thin locknut inside to secure screws, remove excess threads from screws shaft, trim plastic mounts on frame shorter by thickness of locknuts and the smooth screws shanks will slide into plastic mounts.

After testing, I settled on 80mm Marlin shocks up front with the taller towers from Gelande (also used on Marlin version) with top of shocks bolted in the lower of the two holes. Only on front left shock I replaced stock lower 2mm thick spacer with 1mm spacer and left shock slightly loose so as not to bind the ball joint mount. I’ll run it a bit and then carefully Dremel the axle housing where there are paint/wear marks, it’s difficult to see exactly where to grind and I don’t want to take too much off the housing and weaken it. This will allow room for steering rod ends to just clear the shock on compression.

I’m going to cut the tranny output shaft and transfer case input shafts shorter like I did all the others, hopefully this should allow a bit more wiggle for alignment of the solid shaft that connects them. I’ve got couple ideas to make lighter weight shaft that would also handle slight misalignment better too. Perhaps steel tubing with fuel line inside to allow slight movement at the ends? Driveshafts with joints at each end are best suited to applications with more angle at both ends, otherwise they tend to wear more quickly, but I’ve not ruled it out yet.

[HumboldtEF]

I'm interested to see that body mount setup, and my Brother would be too.

My Brother is now getting back to his Trailfinder 2 after shelving it for a while, at first he planned to link it and that worked poorly so he's back to leafs (the Land Cruiser effect ) and he's looking into what shocks to get, so are the Marlin shocks any better at holding oil? or do you know the differences?

And back to the thread conversation, I've never done it but I would assume its more suited to cutting a hood or door loose so that you aren't losing a ton of material in the cut itself.

[Natedog]

I’ll get pictures when it’s done.

Leafs are where it’s at imo, yes Land Cruiser effect. These shocks are designed much better, have to see durability, part number z-d0012.
https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Superl...rs_p_3530.html

Edit: Silver shocks 0.341” body od (shaft 0.118” thick), white Superlift shocks body 0.396” od (shaft 0.136”)

Yes, you’re correct cutting out hood and doors etc is probably where thread cutting method shines.

[AnimalHippie]

Don't know if you guys have tried it before, but kite string. Ran across a pen tied to a counter top with it at a business today. BING! Light came on! Lmao! That'd be perfect for cutting plastic! It's worth a shot. If I had cutting with string to do I'd be picking up some to try.

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[Natedog]

Stuff keeps falling off my old wheeler!




Parts! Tamiya headlight lenses are clearer, much cheaper and look like better mounting tabs than the CCHand.




Chucked up four 3x10mm screws with an Axial spacer and locknut, filed in slow turning drill press finished with coarse sandpaper, and voila! Cab mounts bolt through body, then Axial thin 3mm locknuts on the inside just snugged up. Cut corresponding length (locknut thickness) off plastic body posts on frame rails, turned out to be 3mm. Rotated stock bed mounts 90* so that body pins run fore/aft which reduces the amount that they were pulling rear of bed down slightly. Body sits better and less likely to get stress cracks between bed and cab. Figured out how to separately mount bed and cab, going to glue in part of cab back, then maybe styrene for front of bed?



I could see that transfer case input shaft and tranny output weren’t quite round and straight where they protrude from their respective cases. This was highlighted by the polished wear marks on the shafts made by the chrome driveshaft connecting them. Cut off excess transfer case input shaft and transmission output shafts so that TRX4 driveshafts fit, reinstalled stock solid silver driveshaft from tranny to tcase, but left screwpins slightly short of snug, now the drivetrain seems to turn more freely and I can install any driveshaft at a later date.

Initial test crawl the Braven Berserkers feel really good and the size is perfect!

DS3218 cheap servo hotness arrived in only couple days, looks decent. Hopefully it's worthy enough for now, probably try it direct to WP1080 without BEC for now (CCBEC standing by), gotta re-read I forget if this thing can take 7.4v?

[Natedog]

Braven Berserker 1.55s work great and are perfect size! The only place they don't do quite as well is loose dirt, but the tread pattern is tighter than TSLs, so that is to be expected. TF2 crawled up many spots that it struggled on with the stock Mud Thrashers, which are hard as rocks and little bit smaller. I checked out the sweet looking RC4WD Rock Stompers at LHS last week and while they look great, they too are hard compound, wish they'd update to latest compound on all their tires. Truck did really well as is, loving the leaf springs, it's super stable and predictable now, does not just unload and dump over.

Truck balance is excellent with battery just behind the transfer case! Standing up the rear shocks more to the outermost top mount holes helped sidehilling and especially when crossing crevices and uneven granite. I'm looking for some 4000wt diff fluid to swap out in the rears instead of the current 3000wt (which is perfect up front).

$20 servo hotness DS3218 is much improved over the stock Twister servo, but I had to space it up about 3mm so that the servo horn cleared axle pumpkin on compression. Lots of peeps saying no BEC needed with Hobbywing WP1080, but I stalled the servo several times on the rocks, CCBEC to be installed and should be good then. It swings the tiny tires plenty quick, just not enough at 3 amps to do it for me. We'll see how it does with BEC and 10 amps. The clamping servo horn that comes with this servo is almost exact duplicate of Robitronic red servo horn, held up side by side. The machined radius around the clamping screw heads it actually nicer than Robitronic, which is machined at 90* in the pocket and that is where some other horns (Racers Edge) cracked and failed.

Body mount screwpins worked great! Posts with pins through the bed gotta go, going to change things up to rid the truck of body pins! Lining them up is a pita and even though I turned them 90* so that pins insert fore/aft (less preload on body due to pins resting between ridges in bed floor) they are still pressing down on the body and annoying. Think I've figured a fix for the too long windshield that pushes dashboard and steering wheel down too.

Stock machined delrin spur gear and Axial 11T 32 pitch pinion did not want to quiet down no matter what the mesh! The spur gear has a little wobble to it, the pinion is larger diameter at the smooth end and therefore the pinion teeth end up against a flat so to speak. There's not room to move the pinion closer to the motor, so we improvised. Running full throttle with the body off, Rockhugger filed the spur teeth at a 45* angle on that side with a small flat granite rock chip, perfect file and mesh is much quieter now! Although it still could be better, gotta see if Kimbrough makes this size spur, they've always been some of the best quiet running spurgears ever. Biggest they make is 54, too bad. Maybe the wobble is in the slipper.

Oshkosh HEMMT enroute! BTW, it's particularly cloudy in any of the pictures, that's mostly smoke from all the fires. :/




Rockhugger's TRX4 and my TF2




Yes, TF2 made this climb with a little careful steering and light throttle, Berserkers rock! Edit: I have not soaked or specially prepped the tires in any way, trying stock single stage open cell foams that came with the tires. Did need to gently radius front of cut fenders to clear tires at full stuff.

[mgputer]

Looks like it works really well! I might have to try a set of those tires!

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[HumboldtEF]

I just picked up a set of the Berzerkers but the wheels I ordered to mount them on seem to have gotten lost in the mail

They do feel good and I use the simple green technique, which I watered down. Do you use straight undiluted simple green?

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by mgputer

Looks like it works really well! I might have to try a set of those tires!

Thanks, yes it does! Do it, they are very nice tires so far.

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I just picked up a set of the Berzerkers but the wheels I ordered to mount them on seem to have gotten lost in the mail

They do feel good and I use the simple green technique, which I watered down. Do you use straight undiluted simple green?

Nice! What wheels?

When I treat tires, I use about 1-2 cups Simple Green in about 2 gallons hot tap water, mix tires in, cover and let soak for 2-3 days, stirring couple times per day. Remove from soup base, rinse under clear tap water, towel dry and enjoy. I'm trying stock foams for now but some single stage closed cell could be in there future depending on how the foams do after more crawling.

[AnimalHippie]

How long does that treatment last? Do you do it often?

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[Natedog]

It seems to last at least a couple years the way I've been doing it. Only needed to do it once to my tires.

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Nice! What wheels?

they are The Yota LC Classic wheels From Boom Racing Not my favorite brand.

After I ordered them I started thinking about whether these wheels will clear the ssd front and rear weights, I'm guessing not. unless its extreme I might try trimming the brass weights to get clearance.

[mgputer]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

they are The Yota LC Classic wheels From Boom Racing Not my favorite brand.

After I ordered them I started thinking about whether these wheels will clear the ssd front and rear weights, I'm guessing not. unless its extreme I might try trimming the brass weights to get clearance.

Those are purty! Does the hubcap stay on?

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[Natedog]

Those Boom Racing Landy wheels look great on front side, but might have clearance problems as you said. They look rather heavy unfortunately, hope they work for you. I"m following your cool Land Cruiser thread too!

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by mgputer

Those are purty! Does the hubcap stay on?

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Yeah its an odd design but the hub threads into the wheel portion. It took seeing a video for me to get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q7yKCXm4uY