Ok, so I will start my noob build thread.

[Offroader5]

Well, I have begun my own Clod based crawler.

I started out by assembling some new Clod axles, threw on some axle stays from RC4WD, installed the Integy 55t lathes w/8 tooth pinions, and am now in the stages of mocking up the chassis and wheelbase. The plan is to have between 16" & 17" of wheelbase and should end up with around 5" to 5.5" under the belly. The rest of the plan includes Hi-Tech servos, Tekin 2 ESC, a 7 cell 2300 mah AA pack, and a DX3 radio/receiver, and custom built solid alum. susp. links w/male rod ends & jamb nuts . It may even end up with real tubular upper shock towers like what you'd see on a pre-runner truck or truggy. This would get rid of alot of shock placement adjustability though, so I would have to be real sure about the size and placement of the shock towers.....so we'll see.

I am going to give credit where it's due to the folks at JunFac who market the "R-1 Stealth Conversion" kit on their website. As soon as I saw this chassis kit, I loved it, but alas...they evidently don't produce it anymore. So I am doing the next best thing...build my own based off it, with some changes to make it my own. I started by laying the chassis out in CAD. Once I had it how I wanted it, I printed it out in full scale on some "sticky back" clear label sheets. Then I simply stuck the printed templates to a piece of thin balsa wood and proceeded to cut it out with the trusty X-Acto. Using some 1/4" dowel, I cut them to length as the spreaders to screw the side chassis pieces to. I have the chassis pretty much mocked up to be able to view the scale and try visualizing everything at the wheelbase I am shooting for. I like the chassis because it almost looks like a tube chassis due to it's shape (without the tube bending and brazing), I won't have to run a body, and it fabs and goes together fairly simply. The finished chassis will be 1/8" 6061 T6 and 1/4" solid alum. spreader bars.

The plan for the suspension links is to use some male shanked #6-32 sized rod ends and 5/16" solid alum. complete with itty bitty jamb nuts. I figured I would throw a little bit of the scale realism into this thing

Here are some pics to get you started...and I'll keep ya posted as I progress. Click them to get biggun's.





So....any opinions...suggestions?

[kerosinek]

That is going to be bad *** once you finish it.

[clod booster]

sweet, im gonna be watching this build.

[swamp_rat]

dude...this will be nice when your finish, ill be watching it for sure

[cartronicshn]

nice.. , keep the pics coming

[run2jeepn]

Looks like you know what your doing. Good Job. Keep the wood maybe it will float better

[Offroader5]

Thanks for the compliments. Believe it or not, this will be my first RC build ever. Up to this point I have bought all RTR kits and just haven't taken them into the custom end of the scale. This time around I figured I might as well just build what I want from scratch, rather than buy a RTR Maxx or Clod and use it as a starting point.

If it looks as though I know what I am doing...it's only by chance . I just do my research and I am real anal about details. I like finding different ways to do things and then do them right. That's why when I found out the chassis wasn't available any longer, it was almost a no-brainer to just build it myself. When it's done, the chassis will be black anodized and the spreader bars & links will be polished to give a 2 tone paint scheme look. My intention is to have everything on the truck be either blacked out or polished so there isn't a rainbow of colors. I like the "stealth" look.

Another possible detail of the chassis I was thinking of was to "bevel" the chassis itself, kinda shaping it like a cut diamond. If any of you guys are familiar with 1:1 rock buggies...alot of them have the "boat-tailed" rocker panels and then they use delrin or UHMW plastic as skids on these rockers. Something like http://crosscountryjourney.com/images/Buggy.jpg . I was thinking of doing the same thing to the lower portion of the chassis, just not as severe. This would give the chassis a 3 dimensional look so it's not so linear. Also to go along with that, angle the side "windows" inward too, to again get closer to the cut diamond shape. I am going to mock these changes up in some poster board just to see if I like the angles.

One thing in hindsight though, if I were to do this mock up again...I would not use the balsa. It wasn't bad to work with, but it just doesn't like to cut cleanly across the grain even with a very sharp X-Acto. I may use some 1/8" or 3/16" foamcore board to mock up the next rendition since it will cut much easier and wil lend more to relief cuts which will help in making the boat tailed rockers and leaning the side window areas in. I'll keep everyone up to date.

[Offroader5]

Alright, so to go along with my neverending anal thoughts of how nothings ever good enough ......I remade the mock up chassis after making some very slight changes in the original design, and this time through, decided to use the 3/16" foamcore instead of balsa. I was able to find foamcore in black as luck would have it, in a local craft store (aww man, I admitted to going into a craft store...that one will cost me ) Actually after this mock up session, I may be thinking of using either black Delrin or even carbon fiber to make the sides of the final chassis...we will see.

After remaking the chassis sides, I thought that it would truely be a crime to install the same 'ol plain hardwood dowel cross bars, so I decided to wrap them in some foil tape I had that gave it the real look of the polished alum. which will give me a better feel of the final product.

I also spent some time in CAD today plugging in dimensions so I could figure out rough link lengths and positions and see what kind of arcs they would be traveling through.

One question....let's call it a poll. In the pics you can see that I used black screws to hold it together to keep the "blacked out" stealth look on the sides. Does anyone think that polished/chrome/stainless hardware would look good and give it a utilitarian or more of a mechanical look since it will be a 2 tone clash with the black sides??? I am kind of 50/50 on it...but there is still some time before I need to make that decision.

Man........listen to me, it feels like this should almost be a "scale" thread cause I am so worried about esthetics Well anyway here's the pics. Click 'Em

[clod booster]

sweet, id buy one if you started making them

[Kamikaze]

Originally Posted by clod booster

sweet, nice metal work.

Read the post right above you, he just said that is a prototype made of black foamcore and wooden dowels.

[Offroader5]

Well, I ordered up the ESC (Tekin Rebel 2), the radio (Spektrum DX6), motor mounts, tires (HPI GT's), wheels (Maximizer locks), 1/4 scale servos (Hi-Tec), and all the rod ends this weekend, so I should have those by next weekend I would hope.

I am still in the research stage on the chassis. Getting prices for both milling the pieces out of 3/16" black Delrin and for waterjetting out of 1/8" aluminum. I've even had some OTHER ideas now it terms of the chassis design itself....I don't know, it's all still up in the air.

I was going to use male 6-32 alloy rod ends with PTFE liners and realistic jamb nuts....but when I realized how much I would be spending on just rod ends at $7 a piece...I was forced to rethink that move

[CLODZIRRA]

It's looking good...Keep up the great work

[Offroader5]

Got a little bit more done. Got the 1/4" solid aluminum chassis cross braces drilled and tapped and installed in the mock up chassis. Made the belly skid, with cuts at the corners to allow clearance for the nut at the backside of the lower link mounts, and slightly bent the leading and trailing edges of the skid up a tad.

Mounted up the Maximizer beadlocks and gray outer rings to the HPI GT tires. I left the foams uncut for now to see how these tires perform before I go cuttin' them up. Also, I haven't added weight inside yet, but that will come later with the stick on wheel weights.

As it sits mocked up in the pic it is at 17" of wheelbase, about 12 1/2" wide out-to-out, and 5" under the belly. It will end up another 1 1/2" wider overall when I get the wheel adapters/wideners. The last pic is another chassis I am building for it also, plus I am going to build a stick chassis too....so I will have three different choices in chassis so I can find which one suits my driving the best.

One of my goals on this build is to have looks AND function. When it is all finished, everything will be one of three colors...black....gray/silver....or dark blue? or purple? anodized aluminum as an accent color. Even the hardware will end up meeting this color scheme.

Click The Pics For Big Versions





Should be getting my motor mounts & rod ends early this week, then I can get the links built. Think I am going to have the "black rail" chassis milled out of Black Delrin next week, so I should finally have a chassis to mount all this stuff to.

Alright, anyone want to give up where they have found 1/4 scale servo mounts for the Clod axles?? I don't want to have yet another thing I have to fabricate.

[swamp_rat]

its looking real good, im building a better chassis for mine as soon as i get material..keep up the good work!

[Offroader5]

As always...Click the thumbs for bigger pics.

Got all the links fabricated and mocked up on chassis #2 (the backup chassis if the other one doesn't come out like I want it). Chassis #1 should be milled this week. Chassis #2 is a TAD long at 20" of wheelbase . The links themselves are 8" long from eye-to-eye....and they work great with chassis #1 which has a shorter belly pan, but when you mount the same links up to the longer chassis....watch out!!

How do you like the stance?


HAHAHA Just joking

For real at 5" under belly.
Close-up of chassis #2




The links look terrible cause they are not "finished" yet. They will end up wrapped in black shrink tube. The servo's I planned on using are not going to work...they are simply too big. I got a decent deal on 2 of the Hi-Tec 1/4 scales so I bought them, and even with the wheel adapter/wideners...the servo won't fit between the axle center section and the inner sidewall of the tire without rubbing on the tire. I am going to be narrowing the wheels/tires, but there still won't be enough room...so I am going to pick up a pair of HS-5645MG's and not headache trying to get those big bastards to fit If you guys know anyone who needs 2 HS-755MG 1/4 scale servo's...let me know, I will sell them for pretty cheap just to try and re-coup at least some of my cash from them.

Going to pick up some different upper link mounts because the one's I have are rotating in the housing...so I think I'll get the G-Made one's that have the extra mounts into the housing.

Still working on what shocks to run. I am leaning towards modifiying some dual rate Pro-Lines to be longer so I can use them with T-Maxx coils as the main coil so I can have even more adjustability in the rate. Being stupid , I thought too hard about not having too much torque twist and then realized I wasn't running a shafty.... duh.

It's coming along...but not as fast as I want it too. I want to crawl this thing!

[Offroader5]

So I got my shocks (Pro-Line dual rates), and started the process of figuring out the mounts for them as far as spacers and such for the top and "how" to mount them at the bottom. I bought some cable clamps to attach them to the links, but they didn't work worth a damn...so I got the rocks rolling in my head to think of something else.

Tell me what you think of this.....



I would drill and tap 2 mount holes in the top of the link (not all the way through) and just use some real short cap screws to mount them. Do you think these would hold up to the abuse?

Here's what I did with the top. I used some pretty stiff rubber hose as the spacer to the chassis so that the top of the shock has a little give to it if it needs to pivot at a weird angle. Why don't they put pivot balls on the top AND bottom of all shocks...that just dumbfounds me



One more....Check out the shock angle. Does this look like a pretty good starting point?



As far as the rest of the rig...the battery packs are on their way and if I get my shipment of Delrin this next week, I should be able to get the "rail" chassis milled.

[clod booster]

to get the cable clamps to work wrap som electrical tape around wher you want them, only two wraps though, any more than that is to tight.

[Offroader5]

Well, my links are 5/16" and I tried 1/4" cable clamps, which already made for a "force fit". I think the problem is that it was such a force fit that it distorted the clamp so much that it lost alot of it's clamping power.

I think I am going to try the little brackets. Worse case, they're not strong enough or it makes a weak point in the link cause of the holes and I get broken links. At that point it really only costs me a link which I can make no problem.

I was also thinking of the same type of tabbed bracket, but installing it like this for a cleaner look. A bit more work, but I think it will look better and be more secure.

[CRUSHER1]

lookin' good, i like the chassis, looks like a fun build

[Offroader5]

Got my battery packs today and a couple of other small things I was waiting on...and I mocked up the locations for all the electronics. I ended up getting (2) 7 cell 2500 mAh "A" packs. I won't be running both, I just picked up an extra for backup so I can have nice long run times. That way the truck won't be the one deciding when I have to quit

I still need to make the brackets that will mount to the axle stay and gearcase to mount the 1/4 scale servos upright. ( I am going to attempt ths before admitting defeat and buying smaller servos) I also still need to figure out the lower shock mounts.

Still in transit is my Delrin for the rail chassis...probably lost somewhere doing the UPS shuffle. I decided for the rail chassis to have the "complete" look, I am going to remake the links out of 3/8" black Delrin rod and remake the cross bars of the chassis itself out of 1/4" black Delrin also............you'll understand my vision once it's all finally assembled and everything is the color I want it Don't really know at this point if I even want to NAME it...no clue what I would either. Maybe I'll post a poll after it's done and it has it's "finished" scheme.

Well, here's the latest pics...and in case you forgot and are getting
upset that the pics are so small...click on them