Kmrunner's Axial Chassis Conversion

[kmrunner]

Following the suit of a few others on here (Thanks!), I decided to convert the CR-01 chassis into an Axial Chassis.

I am still waiting on my Junfac order. I ordered the straight axle conversion, heavy duty steering and servo mount. I am also waiting on a few misc items and my beadlocks from Mayhem.

First things first...tearing apart the CR-01. At this point I was wondering if I had made the right decision.



Made pretty good progress. I tinkered with the 4link and shocks a pretty good bit and think I am in the ballpark. Needs some fine tuning but I will get it once the rest of my parts come in.



With the Losi 2.2 crawler body





Still need to figure out electronics. I am really hoping to mount the battery above the front axle. Looks kind of tight. If not, i will have to go to Plan B.

[kmrunner]

Still waiting on my Junfac order and my beadlocks so I decided I would paint the losi crawler body. Not perfect but much better than my attempt at painting the FJ body

Can't wait to get this thing finished and get it on the rocks. Guess I could have bought an AX10 but this has been a fun build.

[fatwoul]

Looking good. I do like the look of these CR0AX hybrids (I wonder if that name will stick). If I hadn't already bought myself an AX-10 anyway, I'd give it a go.

I have a different conversion in mind. Since people are always saying how the transmission plates of both seem to line up with all the right holes, I'm wondering if an AX-10 trans plate (and so transmission as well) would fit straight into my Lizard chassis. Might be a cool alternative, and it would allow me to use R2D boxes more easily too.

So what brand/colour paint is that, km? It looks great. A colour like that might actually make some of the blue metal hop-ups look nicer (complimentary colours and all that stuff).

[kmrunner]

Thanks. I like the CRAOX hybrid name!

My chassis came with the AX10 trans plate but I didn't really pay that much attention to it. I'm sure it would fit into the Lizard chassis. I didn't have to drill any new holes to mount the CR plate into the AX chassis.

The paint color is Copper made by Tamiya. It looks really good in person. Not so much in the pictures. I wanted to try something a little different and I think it came out great. Can't wait to get the few remaining pieces so I can finish this conversion.

[kmrunner]

Got some more parts in today



Mounted the STRC plate on the rear links for the ESC



Still waiting on the Junfac straight axle conversion but I figured I would go ahead and put her back together for the time being. I don't think there is anyway I am going to get the battery relocated over the front axle so I went ahead and mocked up something so I could finish my electronics for now.



Flexes pretty good



Still need to finish the following-

Junfac Rear Straight axle conversion
Junfac heavy duty steering; redrill the Futaba steering horn
Work on the droop setup
Mount the Mayhem beadlocks on ProLine Hammer Tires
Figure out a way to get the antenna outside the body

[iwantoffroad]

looks pretty good.

[jmosley]

diggin the burnt orange

[iwantoffroad]

check out how I mounted my battery.
Im also thinking of getting a sub c cell size battery pack and it will fit between the servo and the motor and the chassis plates.

[kmrunner]

I think I can get it in there if I put some fuel tubing on the shock shafts so it doesn't sit quite as low when resting. Should give me enough room if I mount the battery a little forward like you did.

I noticed your BTA setup on the other thread. I changed mine over to BTA tonight and it turns much better. I believe anyone with a CR-01 should do this simple mod to get a better turning radius.

This forum is great. I'm not quite finished with the conversion but I am already much happier with the setup and lower COG that I achieved. It isn't anywhere near as tippy as before. It seems glued to the rocks.

[kmrunner]

Done for now Still want to get the rooster crawler and 2.4gh transmitter/receiver.

BIG thanks to Iwantoffroad and Liferacer. I followed their builds and it was a great help seeing what others have done.

Got to crawl on the rocks for a little bit and it does pretty well.

Junfac heavy duty steering rod with BTA setup. Pieced together some leftover pieces from the CR to make a little protection for the battery since it sticks a little forward.



Junfac straight axle conversion



Mayhem beadlocks with proline Flat Iron M3 tires. Still need to finish putting the screws in the beadlocks but 16 per wheel holds the bead well enough. I ordered the 32 screws per wheels simply for the looks. The Mayhem beadlocks are awesome and I would highly recommend them.



Picture without body



Picture with body

[iwantoffroad]

awesome improvement from the previous pictures.

The new parts look great.
you are treating your new rig great with all of the new parts.
if this were my comp rig I would do the same.
I have the same set of mayhem bead locks in black and they are a great product

your totally right on the battery protection.
My plan was to get a smaller battery but for the time being I should build something similar.

Is that the g made battery mount as well?

Did you have to open the hole on the aluminum servo horn
that servo horn with the Junfac heavy duty steering rod with BTA setup
is pretty strong.

How did you like the fit in finish of the junfac steering setup. I have been looking to get that.

Were you able to fit the beefy drag link from junfac behind the axle the clearance is pretty tight, if you did do you have to have a huge spacer on the knuckles?

Is that full flex with 3 cr01 tires
do you have an fuel tubing limiting your articulation

Whats your wheelbase and skid clearance at ride height.
Why are your front shocks mounted inside the plates and the rear shocks mounted on the outside, whats the advantage of that.

i would agree on stepping up your electronics and when you do mount the esc on the rear axle and rx on the top of the rear links upgrade to dean connectors and clean up the wiring. Also ditch the top plate to loose some weight and gain some more

[kmrunner]

I ordered the battery mount from Junfac

http://www.junfac.com/shop/index.php...roducts_id=232

Yes, I had to open up the hole on the servo horn just a tad. Seems pretty strong.

I didn't put on the beefy drag link from Junfac. Clearance was already real tight as you mentioned. I may mess around with it later and see if I can figure something out. Overall, I am happy with the heavy duty steering rod up front and the rear drag link is pretty hidden so it shouldn't take a beating like the front.

That is pretty much full flex. I put pen springs on the inside and fuel tubing on the outside. I may go back and put fuel tubing on the inside like you did. Still need to sort that out. I had too much flex at the beginning which was causing some binding. Need a good day crawling on the rocks to get it dialed in.


I'll have to measure it the wheelbase and ride height.

It's hard to tell from the pics but both front and rear shocks are mounted inside the chassis plates. Kind of like / \ . No real advantage. I am going to play around and mount them on the outside to see if there is a difference. Just need some longer screws and spacers.

Updating electronics is on my to do list . I didn't have the top plate on at first and had the esc mounted low. Unfortunately, it caused alot of interference with my motor or speed control. It would surge and jerk pretty bad with no real warning. I had to mount it high for now but will look to change that in the future.

[iwantoffroad]

haha you have to much flex, I dont have enough. Im going to cut the piece of fuel tubing thats in the shock and give it a little more flex.

i like the idea of that battery mount but if I were to do i I would make my own and modify it.
Notice how your battery points to the sky.
If you were able to modify the mount you can get it to sit flat.
that would give you a better center of gravity.

the beefy tie rod looks good.
I didnt think the drag link could fit.

that gears will break in that servo before the servo horn and the tie rod.

I think your shocks would articulate smoother if they were more perpendicular to the ground and on the outside of the chassis plates.

earlier you mentioned that you wanted to get ...
rooster crawler and 2.4gh transmitter/receiver.

You could probably fit all of that on the rear axle

When you get a chance take a couple pictures of the battery mount
and measure your wheelbase and the skid plate clearance

[iwantoffroad]

update?

[Tacorunner]

Kmrunner sold it to me. I haven't done much to it as of yet but like he was doing I'm looking at a motor and ECS. The more I play with it I'm thinking about some bent links and coilovers also. Its got some serious toqure twist. Doing a hard right the front right will come off the ground.

[kmrunner]

Originally Posted by iwantoffroad

update?

Yep, I sold it to my buddy Tacorunner. It is a work in progress still. The battery above the front axle stuck out way too far and it was a rock magnet. Had to relocate it between the frame rails which made it top heavy again.

I think it can be made to work really well. just needs some tinkering with the links,shocks and battery mount.

[Tacorunner]

Originally Posted by kmrunner

Yep, I sold it to my buddy Tacorunner. It is a work in progress still. The battery above the front axle stuck out way too far and it was a rock magnet. Had to relocate it between the frame rails which made it top heavy again.

I think it can be made to work really well. just needs some tinkering with the links,shocks and battery mount.

Ive been thinking about this too. I could try and split the 6 cell batt and make 2 3cell packs one on each axle or just buy 2 3 cell packs. That would get the weight back where it needs to be.

[cyberdog]

Or get a 2s lipo if ur esc can handle it. Much lghter and smaller. U could get a 1500mah one or so and still have good runtimes.

[kmrunner]

Originally Posted by Tacorunner

Ive been thinking about this too. I could try and split the 6 cell batt and make 2 3cell packs one on each axle or just buy 2 3 cell packs. That would get the weight back where it needs to be.

I think if you got some shorter bolts and got rid of those orange pieces that connect to the top side of the frame rail you could push the battery back further and it wouldn't be a problem.

[Tacorunner]

Originally Posted by kmrunner

I think if you got some shorter bolts and got rid of those orange pieces that connect to the top side of the frame rail you could push the battery back further and it wouldn't be a problem.

Well I did this and now the battery is hitting the body. Its not too bad right now for the short term but it will have to be fixed somehow. It does climb better with the extra weight on the front axle though.