Getting positive caster

[suij]

I got some spare time at work today so decided to cut up a spare axle housing I had to try ang get some positive caster on the c hubs. I chopped the ends off the axle housing, then fixed some old scx10 c hubs to some stainless tubing. I then drilled and tapped the steel tube and bolted it to the housing. It feels pretty solid in my hands but only getting it out onto the rocks will really test it. I think once I get it on the car too see if everything will still fit, I will epoxy the steel tubes to the lower axle housing and possibly the c hubs too. I looks to me like enough caster but I can always drill tap more holes n the steel tubing if I need to adjust it. I also made up some brackets to mount the shocks in a better position also.












Unfortunatley I'm stuck at work for another 4 weeks so getting the parts onto the car for testing will have to wait until then.

[chopfather]

Nice, I'll have to keep watching this. I thought about doing something like this a few weeks ago but it never got out of the planning stage so it'll be interesting to see it when finished.

[MountainStorm]

That's a neat way to clock the knuckles and keep the motor up out of the rocks. My motor is getting beat up bad. I like those shock mounts. Seems like this could be the same way to get wider axles...just splice in another section...maybe even from an RS10 axle complete with link mounts....two sets of mounts side by side. I don't know about what's available but if there are longer drive shafts or dogbones out there maybe tailor a "cut n shut" axle to fit them?

[chopfather]

The traxxas slash cvd's from integy that B bolden first mentioned could be used with very little modification by doing this. I just modded a set for the front and had to shorten the shaft by 9/16 for each side but doing this would eliminate the need for that and just require a slight mod at the diff end to have wider axles and cvd's. I have a second set of axles that I need to start collecting parts for and I think some axial c hubs are going on the parts list.

[suij]

Originally Posted by chopfather

The traxxas slash cvd's from integy that B bolden first mentioned could be used with very little modification by doing this. I just modded a set for the front and had to shorten the shaft by 9/16 for each side but doing this would eliminate the need for that and just require a slight mod at the diff end to have wider axles and cvd's. I have a second set of axles that I need to start collecting parts for and I think some axial c hubs are going on the parts list.

You could use xr10/wraith chubs and knuckles for this as well, that way you could get 8* king pin inclination as well. My main concern is that the steel tube can't go very far into the axle housing due to the raised diff pumpkin, so it won't be as strong as a proper "beef tube".

[chopfather]

It may take me a few weeks to gather all of the parts but I think I'll give it a shot. The time frame depends on my ability to score good deals on all of the parts because I'm an incurable bargain shopper, mainly out of necessity though.

[chopfather]

If you get a chance , can you measure the I.D. and O.D. of the steel tubing that you used ? I just might have something in the scrap pile that will work for this.

[suij]

I used some 1/2 inch O.D stainless tubing that was laying around the workshop. The I.D is 0.396 by my measuing. It is a little loose in the axial chub but any bigger and it wouldn't go far enough into the ale tube to be able to drill and tap it.

[chopfather]

Thanks, I'll start looking for cheap parts and I'll post any progress but you might get finished before I get mine done.

[redcatkrawler]

I have quite a bit of 1/2 o.d. Stainless if anyone needs some. Let me know sizes, I can cut to length. Great idea.

[suij]

Well I finally made it home and found some time to install my modified housing.


You can see how the added caster gets the wheels tilting over nicely to help with the digging. Unfortunately I've had to do away with the behind the axle steering until I can come up with a workaround. As it is I'm going to have to dial back the caster some so I can get it to steer without fouling.

[iDC5]

awesome idea. opens up new worlds for other tweaks and mods.

[suij]

I finished up the final adjustments and steering link and got some more photos this evening. As you can see steering clearance is pretty tight on the servo side and with the new shock mounts on the axle BTA is out of the question.




I will hopefully get an hour or so tomorrow to get out and give it some drive time.

[cabron]

pretty sharp looking rig.

any issues with the brushless motors you are using? how many packs have you
run through them?

[suij]

I've probably had about 30-40 packs through the outrunners. To be honest they are not as good as brushed system but were a cheap way for me to get dual esc's. They do cog a little and the esc's just don't have the tuning options if the higher end systems.