TLT-1 "Beetlejuice"

[biggusditchus]

Spent some time, and money, on this.. decided to go a different route by sticking with stock chassis and transmission, not really got funds for diffrent chassis and transmission. Not with funding my CLods and other RC obsessions as well. But was intent on making a reasonable crawler out of a TLT with 90 degree articulation... came up with increased wheelbase from looking at mod clods, then found others had done same thing. The extended links are pretty unique though, came up with a design and Twinset improved it and had em made.

[Magic]

looks good, to much artic, just a thought

[biggusditchus]

Can you ever have too much articulation? If so why?

[rckjeep]

Originally Posted by biggusditchus

Can you ever have too much articulation? If so why?

yes and because when it flexs too much you lose stability. I have noticed that too much flex has gotten in to spots I could not get out of. When less flex my lift a tire but it keeps climbing anyway. Too much flexs is just a waste and it breaks stuff more often than not.

[Frkan]

you probably would have spent less buying a pede tranny and shoehorning it into the stock chassis than you did buying all that bling. If you did you would actually have a capable crawler...

oh, and get a bigger body!!!

[rbgerrish]

Too mcuh articulation can be bad. Imagine your climbing rocks, and you come across a DEEP tire-sized hole that you have to drive over. With 'good' amounts of articulation, you'll drop into the hole with your front tire, but not too far, and your tire will be able to drive out the other side. With too much, your tire will keep dropping, making it that much more difficult to get back out, if you dont roll over first.

That's just 1 example, run a search and you'll find lots of reasons to limit it. you'll notice the best performing trucks on this site have a reasonable amount of articulation, because that's what the experienced crawlers have found to work the best.

RYan

[biggusditchus]

Originally Posted by Frkan

you probably would have spent less buying a pede tranny and shoehorning it into the stock chassis than you did buying all that bling. If you did you would actually have a capable crawler...

oh, and get a bigger body!!!

This truck has cost me very little and it is a capable crawler, I appreciate al the other CONSTRUCTIVE critisism and help which will take into account, but find your post less than informative and less than constructive! The body is there to allow the articulation and I like it, fair enough you dont!

[radishkid]

OK, constructive... let's see...

1. Ditch the stock servo guard in the front and rear. It will help wth your approach angles.

2. Move the battery weight forward, running a weight bias towards the front.

3. Bling and all, it is a nice truck. A bigger body would make it look scale and less toy like, but once again, your preference. Many of us have chopped bodies to make them look like real trucks.

4. Limit the articulation to ~75 degrees by either switching your shock mounting positions or using limiting straps.

5. Try a 55t lathe motor or gear reduction if at all possible.

Nice job! But my prediction is that it will change. You'll be using a stampede tranny and modifying the chassis more likely than not

[biggusditchus]

Thanks very much most helpful, I will try relocating the shocks, but what would you use for straps?? It is running an LRP Truck Puller at the moment seems to have plenty of torque. Battery wise I have been thinking of this.

I can guarantee It wont be changing chassis or transmission I like the idea of it being standard, maybe me just being sick and stuck in my ways.

[fullmodtxt]

bigditch, you might get better results over on rcmt.net. That forum is a bit more, uh, shall we say "open mided" than rccrawler. Take a look around at what all the others are doing here and you'll notice that there is a basic list of guidelines that almost everybody is adhering to. It's for a good reason: Trail and error, and the process of elimination have already determined what works and what doesn't. Anybody that has been here for a while has gone thru all the stuff that you are now; and already parted with those ways. Watch some of the vids, read up on postings, and you'll see. If you're having fun with your truck, then it's cool. However, if you want to come into rccrawler and label it as a "capable crawler", then you have a boatload of work to do.

[SuperSancho]

Originally Posted by fullmodtxt

bigditch, you might get better results over on rcmt.net. That forum is a bit more, uh, shall we say "open mided" than rccrawler. .

although fullmodtxt might be a MORON most of the time,Ide have to say he is right on this one.

Aluminum piggys,90 deg artic,fancy anodized hardware and IMEX G/J hawgs have no place on a crawler.They may look good to you but rcCrawler is more of a no nonsense,one track minded,"death to the BLING" crawling forum. Aluminum gearboxes,rims and HardBodys mean nothing to these guys.....


If you havent noticed yet,a well executed home brew project gets more attention and RESPECT then a wallet draining, store bought Bling Bling shelfer

[badger]

Originally Posted by fullmodtxt

if you want to come into rccrawler and label it as a "capable crawler", then you have a boatload of work to do.

Keep in mind fullmod, "capable crawler" can mean many things to different people. If you are new to this site and have not seen some of the hardcore crawlers here then you too would think you have a very capable crawler.

You really get an idea of how capable your crawler is when you go to a get-together and drive with other's from site.

I don't think he needs to go to rcmt.net because he is actually asking for constuctive criticism on his rig. He also seems to have an open mind about learning with his question on why don't you need 90% articulation.

[Frkan]

sorry about that up there

what i mean is that kind of truck is the kind so often labled as a shelf queen on here and is the kind of "crawler" often found on clodtalk.

if you do want it to perform well on the rocks you will find that the suggestions made are by far the best

[microgoat]

very blingy, very cute, but...

as soon as you start crawling that thing, with the battery up top, you're gonna see a lot of "on the lid" time, 90* artic or not.

ditch the stock tranny, if you haven't blown it up already you will soon.

these guys may be dicks, but they know what they're talking about. i went thru a few permutations of the stock chassis til i finally caved in and built my own. and never regretted it. for the price of a cheeseburger, you can get the material you need to make a great crawling chassis. then just surf around here and steal some ideas, get out the Dremel and make that thing REALLY capable.

if you're gonna keep it "stock" where are the stubby links and tiny tires?

[fullmodtxt]

Badger, the guy did ask for constructive critisicm. I think I tried to offer some by mentioning that there is a basic list of proven guidelines that he can pick up on, just by looking around. Also mentioned that it's cool if he enjoys his truck like it is. Come one now badger, even I gave into the proven guideline thing and ditched my cantilevers!

And uh, Aggy: I'm only a moron most of the time and not all? When you type "moron" in red text, does that mean flaming moron, or just moron in general?

[pullstarter]

nothin wrong with bling, as long as it has many scratches and gouges from "actual" use

[SuperSancho]

Originally Posted by fullmodtxt

And uh, Aggy: I'm only a moron most of the time and not all? When you type "moron" in red text,

1. does that mean flaming moron,

2.or just moron in general?

Well,it all depends on whats on your left hand and who it belongs to

[flatfender]

it's your rig, do you like it? great!
nuff said.

[biggusditchus]

As I said before I was open to Constructive critisism and am gonna take alot of it on board, that after all is why i was here, but feel most of members here seem very closed off, and up themselves see something not exactly same way as theres and call it. New members here normally looking for help I bet.

As shelf goes it isnt, underneath it is full of scratches and gouges, it hasnt cost me the earth.. far from it. SuperSancho and fullmodtxt thankyou I will take that advice.

Thanks and goodbye

[MUD4FUN]

LOL, BiggusDitchus, I wouldn't take the comments too seriously. You and I are both in the UK and our interpretation of crawling is a little different from the US. We use our trucks for general bashing about more than outright crawling due to the lack of suitable terrain and we like mud!

Crawling is also in its infancy in the UK and there are few if any organised events where we can really test our trucks against each other. Once we get some crawling events sorted then I'm sure we'll learn the hard (proper) way.

You will find that this forum suffers from the 'insular' or even 'secular' attitude more than most because rock crawling is a very small area of the R/C hobby. However, I've found stacks of useful information and many of the guys here are extremely experienced and intelligent. It is sad that you'll always have the odd idiot who gets some perverted pleasure from flaming others.

Do remember too that the US and UK are worlds apart on sense of humour and culture. What is regarded as insulting in the UK is taken as innocent humour in the US and vice versa. Always tricky on a forum where you can't see peoples facial expressions to detemine if something is deliberately intended to insult.

As this site is labelled rccrawler and not rcrockcrawler then I would suggest any R/C vehicle designed to have fun at slow speeds qualifies for acceptance. I see no reason why crawling has to be limited to rocks. You can have loads of fun crawling in mud, up sand dunes, over piles of bricks in your back garden etc. I would simply ask those that are rock fiends to remember that not all of us live close to rocky terrain. Different types of terrain require different solutions. Even different varieties of rocks may require, at the very least, different tyres.

My own thoughts are that your track width is a tad too wide because personal experience has shown me that with 2.2" tyres you need to keep it as narrow as possible to clear rocks, bricks etc that otherwise catch the axle all the time. Obviously this is a fine compromise as go too narrow and your truck loses side slope stability.

PS. I think the body is too small too

PPS. I've nearly finalised discussion with our local council and should have access to a quarry by end of the summer. Thousands of tons of rocks of all sizes to play on then.