RCCrawler Forums - My SUPER Cheap Jeep

I don't really have any action shots yet, so I figured I'd post here. New to the site and love what I see so far. Just got back into the habit this past summer. Got my Clod Buster when I was in middle school, and my buddy and I (He was a Kyosho guy) would wheel the snot out of them at every opportunity.

Well, I grew up and got into real Jeeps. Bought one, lifted it, and continue to mod and wheel it to this day. This past summer, one of the guys in my Jeep club brought along his crawler (I think it's an Axial) to a trail cutting and we all got hooked as we took turns wheeling it over just about anything we could find. Well, one thing led to another, and soon guys were out buying crawlers and planning mini-events.

It was decided that during one of our annual wheeling trips, one of the campsite activities would be an R/C mini crawler competition. Now, I didn't want to be left out but with a mortgage, family, and Jeep addiction to support, I didn't have the cash to go buy a new crawler, either. So I dug my old Clod out of mothballs and the madness began!

A good friend from the club, who, as it turns out, was an R/C guru back in the day, donated an Axial chassis to the cause. He also loaned me a pair of 55T motors and some smaller tires. After a bunch of late nights in the garage, I came up with this beast.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w.../poserflex.jpg

Flexes okay for a homemade monstrosity, doesn't it? Sure, not as good as some of the rigs I've seen on here but it works! I Lincoln-locked (It sounds better than 'Liquid Nails locked') both diffs. It's four linked front and rear; I made the upper links and the upper link mounts myself. I fabbed the battery/body mount tray out of 1/8" mild steel.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...atterytray.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...eringsetup.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...uppermount.jpg

Of course, I HAD to top it off with a Jeep body. And that's how it's going to stay!

I'm running the stock manual speed controller (It's like running a carburetor compared to the high-zoot ESCs) and stock pinions. The radio is the same old school Futaba two channel that propelled the Clod back in the day.

How'd it work? Well, I was done just in time, but the "competition" was just a bunch of guys drinking beer and wheeling crawlers, which is much, much better to me! The Clod Jeep concoction held its own with all of the other high-dollar machines. I was extremely happy with it.

Future plans include smaller pinions and custom lower arms (Still gotta figure out how to mount them to the axle). I'd also like to add an ESC and a full cage, maybe get more into the scale end of building. It's a ton of fun and I'm constantly looking for more rocks in my backyard to play on! I'll post action shots when I get them.