Opinions on the next steps

[swell searcher]

i bought this clod crawler from repobud a week or two ago. now, i'm planning on modifying the chassis some and wanted to hear your opinions. btw, cshe rawls fine at the moment.

redo the links to a 60/40 link setup and may shorten the wheelbase from 16" to 14"
narrow the chassis to 2 1/2" wide
move the upper link mounts on chassis about an 1" away from the lower link mounts
move the lower link mounts on the axles to the upper mount of the c-hub
fabricate a battery, ESC, and RX trays
setup the rear axle with behind the axle steer
narrow stock Clod wheels

i figure this would be cheaper than buying a new chassis aka the crawler store's NN chassis. i just need to make the links and drill a few new holes in the current chassis.

here are some current pics:
http://members.cox.net/rccrawler/images/rc1.jpg
http://members.cox.net/rccrawler/images/rc2.jpg
http://members.cox.net/rccrawler/images/rc3.jpg

[4RnrRick]

I really don't think a chassis forward deisgn is all that important on a clod. the most import thing is probably to place the battery forward of center on the chassis. So if you just fabricate a battery into a skid plate placing the battery so it just barely clears the front motor, you should be fine.

16" wheel base is good. If of anything lengthen it a touch more..... but probably not worth it. 16.50", 17.00" but not shorter. You are going to loose a lot of climbing ability if you shorten it!

As for link geometry - mount the axle side of the lower links to the top of the C-hubs. and then lower the chassis mounting location on the upper links probably to the middle of the chassis.and then tweak with the shock mounts to get the lower links close to level.

After that I would do nothing to it other than start playing with it. see what it can actually do and then set that as your baseline and try to improve on it.

I really think you are going to make a mistake by shortening it!

Oh and get some real tires (LST, BFT, GT, Moab) and rear steer.

[swell searcher]

thanks for the suggestions rick. i was planning on doing what exactly said for the links. the only problem about mounting the axle side links to the top of the c-hub is my behind the axle setup. it's going to rub against the drag link. i may switch it back to the front and use RCGuy's steering kit.

[4RnrRick]

Originally Posted by swell searcher

...... the only problem about mounting the axle side links to the top of the c-hub is my behind the axle setup. .....

I don't have that problem... So maybe you can just tweak your steering some.