Bully BWD Super Wedge with a little Kiss

[MystRacing]

This is my second attempt at building a super. First time around there were a lot of things I didn't like and hopefully I will correct them this time around.

For those that don't know "KISS" is an acronym for "Keep It Simple Stupid".

So here's the basics list.
65:1 Lightweight Super Bully axles.
Super Wedge Chassis Kit
Losi 4" shocks
2 - FXR Speed Controls
Airtronics 94780 servo (423oz) (2 now with rear steer)
Castle BEC (2 Now with rear steer)
Narrowed Blast Wheels
Super Rovers (7.25")
7.25" Nova Foams
Losi 8T 17mm wheel hexes
Custom Knuckle Weights (7 ounces each in current configuration)
Custom BTA Steering
1300 3S Battery
Wheelbase 17.4"
Weight RTR 8.40 Pounds (3814 grams)

And the parts pile I started with.



The biggest problem I had with my first super was breaking servos / servo horns. I did 2 things to hopefully solve that issue. First I narrowed it up by using blast wheels instead of axial wheels and using the Losi wheel adapters instead of the rc4wd adapters. The second is making it as light as I could, my previous truck weighed in at about 11 1/2 pounds, with this one just barely meeting my sub 8 pound target.

Probably the most controversial thing about this truck is the lack of rear steering. There a several reasons for that, for one I didn't want to add the weight, I could also claim that I can't afford a 4PK, people probably wouldn't believe that being as I just paid about $1,500 for the stuff to build the truck. The real reason though is I suck at driving with rear steering. For every time I got out of a mess with rear steering on my last super I got into 3 or 4 messes with it. IMO it makes the trucks handling unpredictable if driving a forklift doesn't come natural to you. For now I'm sticking with my 3PK and dealing with it. So no need to tell me I have to put rear steering on it. This will also show how few people actually read the text in a thread and instead just make a comment from the pictures. I did grind out the knuckles so it turns very well with the increased steering and dig.

I cut and shut a set of super rovers. I decided to go 7.25" instead of larger because it'll be easier on the steering and motors etc. It also keeps the cg down a little. Not to mention I had the 7.25" foams.



Now for the KISS part. I was going to narrow the blast wheels and glue them together like is the norm. Then I thought about my previous failures with gluing wheels back together, so I ordered the aluminum to make bead locks. I successfully made bead locks for my MRC it just took forever and I didn't really have the time rite now with my manual lathe and mill. The next morning I was mulling over the whole wheel issue when the following question occurred to me. "What do I need a groove in the wheel for?"

If you're gluing the tire to the rim all the groove does is align the tire to the outside of the wheel. If I was just gluing the tire in spots I'd need the groove; however, the only reason to only glue it in spots is so you can get it off. If the wheel isn't glued together it isn't going to split apart so there isn't any reason to spot glue it. So I just cut the wheel to the width I wanted (1.75 inches) and glued the tires on. Solves the wheel splitting problem and it's simple. Here's a picture of the wheel with the tire lined up on the edge.



The next modification I made was to mill the top off of the Losi shocks and drill and tap for a 3mm screw so I could mount the shocks upside down. Lowers the weight a bit but mostly having a ball end at each end insures the shocks won't be binding up through the travel.



I bolted up the super wedge. This is a really nice well thought out chassis. Very light and lots of clearance.



Next for the steering. I went through quite a bit of thought and going back and forth on the steering and finally decided the BTA would be just as easy and cleaner than most of the over the top styles. My first Super had the standard front tie rod that hit about everything, and I don't like the way most over the top tie rods look.

The servo mount is from my berg kit I just drilled a few extra holes and added some washers. The plate under the servo should help protect it.



I flipped the knuckles over backward to make the low steer behind the axle instead of high steer in front of it. The only thing that was in the way of the tie rods was the lower link mount. You could actually put a 1/4" rod and clear the links but getting a drag link to work with that would be really hard. I re-drilled the mount with a hole about 1/4" higher and them milled the lower portion of the mount off. Anyone with a dremel could just cut the lower part of the mount off. This left enough room for a 5/16 aluminum tie rod. I used stronger 7075 aluminum and the larger 5/16 rod instead of 1/4" because I knew it would weaken it some to drill and tap it for the drag link.



I just used a 3mm threaded rod and axial rod ends for the drag link. Using an offset rod end lowered the drag link a little to clear the chassis link mount, this is hopefully also a weak link if the truck takes a bad fall onto one front tire. If it works the link will give out instead of the gears in the servo.





The bottom of the tie rod sits about 3/16" below the axle tubes, but still above the bottom of the transmission. I drove it for about an hour and a half Sunday and never got hung up on the tie rod so I don't think that will be an issue.



Next step was to dremel the knuckles to increase the steering and make the knuckle weights. At this point I liked the look of the truck to the point I didn't want some hacked up chunk of metal for knuckle weights. I had 12 extra brass weights I made when I was making weights for my DH's so I decided a 1/4" delrin holder and some brass weights would look nice. So more in the interest of appearance than necessity I made the knuckle weights on the truck. I could have put the weights closer together and had room for another one, I may make another one down the road that will hold more weights. Though after my testing I'm very happy with the weight of the truck as is so I may leave it alone.




Here's the obligatory articulation shot. I usually don't allow this much but when I was driving it handled pretty nice so I'm leaving it for now.




And a couple more poser shots. I made a mistake and glued one tire on the wheel the wrong direction but I've figured out how to fix it. All I need to do is win a big competition and then everyone will copy it





And last of all the fleet, looks like I need a mini wedge.

[Psychomonkey RC]

Sweet build!
Nice fleet too.

[xgerstandtx]

Keep us up to date as you build evolves. I am on the fence between dig or 4ws. I agree it takes awile to adapt to the 4ws and dig is more natural because of all the wheeltime with the 2.2.(proves I read the .dos text)

[gdhknives]

Looks good Jodie. I'm curious to see it on Sat.. Nice thought with the wheels.

[The Crawl Space]

Great set up, I'm all about the KISS mentality. I just ordered a super wedge chassis and can't wait to get started on a super. Thanks for posting this thread

[MystRacing]

Thanks for the compliments I'll report back on how it turns out Sat.

[MystRacing]

Well I ran a comp a few days after my last post and only once got into a situation that rear steering would have made much difference. Basically it cost me the win

So I ordered a Futaba 4PL and spent the day Saturday making a rear steering setup.






I really like the Futaba 4PL, but I couldn't program the dig to work on the push button on the grip like I could with my 3PK. After giving it quite a bit of thought I decided I'm going to get another receiver and switch the XR over to the 4PL. I'll be hitting the wrong buttons forever if they are different from truck to truck.

I thought the truck was 17 1/2 without spacers but when I checked it it was sitting at 17 inches at ride height. So I also lengthened the truck to 17 1/2" wheelbase at ride height by adding 1/2 inch of spacers to the rear links. This gives the truck a 17 7/8 inch wheel base compressed. This forced me to lengthen the rear shocks with a longer ball end to maintain my ride height.



Now I need to make some heavier wheel weights for the front to compensate for the added weight of the steering setup and extra BEC in the rear.

[TC09mini]

This is a great build thread! I read all of the text and was still thinking to myself, he won't go without rear steer for long. LOL tight courses and long wheel base makes having only dig just not quite enough. KISS seems to be working very well.

[The Crawl Space]

Gotta love the 4ws
So I finally got 1 axle from rc4wd and started to put everything together and I'm not getting a whole lot of articulation on the front end of the super wedge chassis with unmodded Losi shocks, which I will mod this weekend, but when you cut and redrilled the lower link mount for your steering set-up did it change up the geometry much or have you noticed any issues with articulation?

[MystRacing]

I think I'm really going to like the 4WS with the 4PL. Last super I was running with sticks and forgive me for saying this but I have too. I was all thumbs with it.

I haven't noticed any issue with the articulation or suspension binding. Once you mod the shocks it should free everything up.

I should mention that I put the upper links on wrong the first time. On mine 2 of the upper links are slightly longer than the other two and when I had one long and one short link I had some definite binding issues. They were close enough it wasn't obvious until I had them on both ends and I could see the axles weren't centered on the chassis. I put the long ones on the back once I figured out they weren't all the same. I don't know that it's correct but I'm really happy with how this truck handles.

[gdhknives]

Glad to hear about the radio. Now I just have to get ahold of you for some practice.

[MystRacing]

Originally Posted by gdhknives

Glad to hear about the radio. Now I just have to get ahold of you for some practice.

I'm working full time again it would probably have to be a weekend though an evening would maybe work other than Thursday if knew a day or two in advance.

[The Crawl Space]

Originally Posted by MystRacing

I think I'm really going to like the 4WS with the 4PL. Last super I was running with sticks and forgive me for saying this but I have too. I was all thumbs with it.

I haven't noticed any issue with the articulation or suspension binding. Once you mod the shocks it should free everything up.

I should mention that I put the upper links on wrong the first time. On mine 2 of the upper links are slightly longer than the other two and when I had one long and one short link I had some definite binding issues. They were close enough it wasn't obvious until I had them on both ends and I could see the axles weren't centered on the chassis. I put the long ones on the back once I figured out they weren't all the same. I don't know that it's correct but I'm really happy with how this truck handles.

Good deal, thanks for the info. I'll have to take a closer look at the uppers to see if I did it back asswards

[gdhknives]

Originally Posted by MystRacing

I'm working full time again it would probably have to be a weekend though an evening would maybe work other than Thursday if knew a day or two in advance.

Gotta' redo my links and shock first then I'll try to track you down. Good that work has picked back up for you.

[HARDKNOCKZ]

Nice build man. I just decided to pull the trigger on a super build for next season. Gotta get the SOCALRC super class growin. I dig the front bta steering setup...no pun intended. This is definitely an inspiring build so far. Gonna keep my eye on it. Look for the HARDKNOCKZ super build coming soon.