My TLT Crawler

[gone_wheelin]

Well I finally got my crawler running, NOT COMPLETE, but running. Still need to sleeve the upper links, make a servo mount for the rear, make a skid plate for the bottom of the chassis, trim and paint the body and figure out something better for the battery pack. I threw the pack together so I could get it out on the rocks for testing. This thing is extremely front heavy, IMO. I'm thinking of switching to some 1200 cells that I will mount to the front axle. Anyway here are the specs:

12 1/8" WB
3 1/4" GC at chassis
10 1/4" track width

Chassis & Suspension:
TLT chassis plates
AE Maxx shocks
Green springs up front, Blue springs out back
30WT oil, #2 piston
Links - 3/16 brake line tapped to 6-32. 1" setscrews and Traxxas ends

Running Gear:
TLT Axles - locked
Pede Tranny - locked
93T Spur/16T Pinion (48 Pitch)
KC Racing 55T Lathe (pillaged from my comm lathe)
Pede sliders (had to lenghthen the rear)
Pro-Line Moabs - Foams narrowed to 1 7/8" cut with modified star pattern (looks more like a Sun)
Narrowed Pede front rims. Narrowed inner bead only. Measures 1" between inner edge of beads.

Electronics & Misc.:
LRP AI Pro ESC
JR XS3 Radio/RS310 Receiver
HiTec HS-5645 servo
Pro-Line Rock Pleazer body
HPI Nitro RS4 body mounts

I'm debating on installing the wider Blackfoot axles since I am not having any rubbing issues at the moment. I am also contemplating adding some weights to the rear wheels to help keep it planted, thinking of starting with 1 1/2 ounces. Still working out the setup. So far I am extremely pleased with the performance. The chassis has a good amount of flex. I had to move the rear shock to a more upright position to remove some of the flex that was causing it to get bound up on my first run. This seems to have helped a bunch.

This forum is a great place for information. I used the SEARCH feature to find everything I needed to know without having to ask questions that have already been answered.

I would like to thank a couple of individuals for taking the time to write there informative and helpful articles:
theformmccord - Pede tranny in stock chassis
Plays_with_Toys - FAQ TLT-1 to TLT-Crawler (lots of good info here)
rcgerrish - How-To build a TLT.

This is my first crawler so comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Here are some pics as it sits now:

[mike]

Looks like a great start.

[gone_wheelin]

Thanks.

I still have some fine tuning to do and I will post pics as I get them.

[Natedog]

Looks great GoneWheelin!!!

[Natedog]

Looks like you drilled a new hole just aft of the stock hole for your rear suspension links. Got a body off pic of the left and right sides?

[gone_wheelin]

I've made some changes so I'll get some pics tonight.

[gone_wheelin]

I built some servo/upper link/battery plates out of some 1/16" aluminum to replace the heavy galvanized steel one I had made previously.

I finally got some 1200's and assembled to replace the brick I had been using. I split the 6 cells into a 4/2 confoguration; 4 cells up front and 2 cells out back. I figured this would help balance things out a bit.

I also made my own beadlocks and mounted them. The front beadlocks use a large 1" washer on the inside bead. The washer weights 3 1/4 oz.

Splitting up the pack and adding the weight to the front seems to be helping out a bunch. I can side hill and climb at greater angles now.

I've been playing with shock springs and angles to get the most droop without sacrificing articulation. Right now I'm running white or grey AE buggy rear springs in the front and a custom dual spring setup (AE buggy and TC front springs). This is working real well at eliminating the torque wrap(?) that these shafty's have. I need to do some more testing on the fronts though cus they are not providing any spring rebound when compressed. I'll probably switch back to the green buggy springs and change the shock angle a bit.

Well enough talk...on to the pics.

[gone_wheelin]

Natedog: You asked for some close-up pics of the side plates. Here ya go.

[mikhail]

what kind of run time are you getting with that pack?

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by gone_wheelin

Natedog: You asked for some close-up pics of the side plates. Here ya go.

Thanks Gonewheelin,

I settled on a very similiar setup to yours as far as tranny mount and four link mounts on the chassis. Your tranny is up about an 0.125" more than mine and same with lower link mounts on the chassis. My upper link mounts are out at the little tab areas front and rear where the chassis gets wider/longer (whatever ya want to call it) resulting in my upper links being a little shorter than yours.

Still looks good. I've got a couple GP3300 nimh sub-c cell stick packs, a couple Mini LST 2/3A nimh packs and an RC18T 2/3A nimh pack to try out for batteries. I'm leaning more towards running the sub-c pack on top of the front links, but your distribution of cells should work really good.

[ColquittCustom405]

How many pounds are you pushing? Looks good man

[gone_wheelin]

Natedog: I was going to mount the tranny a little lower but settled with this so I would not run into any clearance issues with the drive shafts and so I can mount a skid plate I have in mind. I'm actually thinking of combining the skid plate and lower chassis brace.

Mikhail: I've only got one run through this pack so far and I'm going to be building another real soon. So far I'm getting about 30+ minutes so far. After my next charge I'm going to time how long til it dumps.

ColquittCustom405: I haven't weighed it yet but I have been meaning to. I'll weight it tonight and get back to you.

[Natedog]

Sounds good...I have a couple skidplate ideas in mind for mine too...just have to try em and see which one works best. Combining your skidplate and lower chassis braces sounds good...lookin good, keep the updates and pics coming.

30+ minutes out of a 2/3A 1200 pack???? W0W, my GP3300s are going to be way overkill...may save them for another project. If so, I'll go with the smaller packs to get lower CG.

Be interesting to see what your weight comes out to. I've been thinkin mine seems a bit light weight for a crawler, but that allows us to add weight where it benefits crawlers the most, down low.

[gone_wheelin]

Got a chance to weight it last night. Fully loaded RTR w/double bead locks at each tire, 3 1/4 oz. of weight at each front tire and rear steering it weights in at 5.4 pounds. I think that equates to 5lb 6.4 oz.

I could probably get it under 5lbs. if I removed the extra weight up front and the rear steering.

[gone_wheelin]

Got to do some more testing at lunch today.

Batteries: Put a fresh charge on the 1200's and I got 35 - 40 minutes of crawling on the pack before I had to stop. You know that old saying about using Loctite on metal to metal fasteners! Well I forgot and lost the nut for one of my front upper links. If not for that I probably would have gotten at least a hour out of the pack. It still had plenty of punch left in it.

Motor/Gearing: I had been noticing that I seemed to have more wheel speed in reverse than forward so I decided to investigate. Turns out that the lathe motor I had been using was retarded (not the drool cup, crash helmet type either). Set the timing to zero and got some forward speed back. I'm going to bump the pinion up a tooth or two to try to get a little more wheel speed. I noticed today that with a little more wheel speed I could have made it up some of the tougher obstacles.

Suspension: I tried some different spring configurations hoping to get some spring rebound back into my suspension. The rear seems to be okay it at least rebounds 1" - 1 1/2" from full compression but I think I went way to stiff in the front. The fronts are leaned back further than the rear so I figured I would need a stiffer spring configuration since you loose some due to the angle. I tried changing the dual spring setup to use a brown TC spring and a black buggy spring; both are AE springs. The black buggy spring is a rear spring and might just be a little to long though. Gonna try some different springs out this weekend, weather permitting.

Beadlocks: Checked and re-checked every few minutes to see if any of the beads pulled loose and I am happy to report that not a single one pulled loose and I had these things bound up plenty of times. I need to put some breather holes in my rear wheel though. These beadlocks work too well and actually hold air in the tire.

Balance: I need to figure out a way to bring the CoG down a bit. While testing it seemed like the rig was a little to top heavy. Just looking at a line that would require some side hilling made it topple onto it's lid. Part of the problem may have been my spring setup though.

Body: I like the Rock Pleazer body but it seems to be a little to big to be affective on the rocks I have been crawling on lately. I'm going to pick up a 1/10 Crowd /Pleazer body real soon and see how that does.

I'm hoping to get some action shots and maybe even try a video once the weather gets better.

[Eagle-Mark]

Nice looking truck.

Are these the body mounts you are useing for the rear?
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDHN0&P=Z

[gone_wheelin]

Thanks.

No, they are close but here are the mounts I am using: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXLV92&P=7