My new TLT...build that is takin too long...

[Natedog]

Got my AE shocks mounted upside down with enough room in there for flex without the caps rubbing and causing my shock shafts to bind during suspension flex travel. Also put some stiffer AE blue springs on the rear only to help with chassis twist...pics to come.

What have you all used to machine down the Pede wheels thickness at the wheel nut area to get full nylock thread engagement?

EDIT: I remember a tool at the hardware store that is used for drilling dowel plug holes or something like that...going to check it out tomorrow. Thinking about using my Dremel with a heavy duty cut-off wheel and kinda sand down the wheel center, but I don't know if that might cause a wheel wobble due to not keeping the surface exactly parallel to the backside mounting surface.

[Natedog]

Outside pics...gettin better as I try different photo editing and lighting.

Actual wheeling pics too come...

[ILoveRCRockCrawlin]

Looks very nice!

[SWFLCrawler15]

truck looks good bud...hey think of it this way. anything worth doing takes longer then you think.

[Natedog]

Had a great time at Beel's point today and twisted the end off my first inner axle...broke so easily...I'd bound it up like that before but not with the lathe motor. Loosened my slipper a bit more and watch my tires closer now. Also my Robinson Racing 12 tooth pinion spread apart and fell off my motor...apparently they don't like to be nice and tight. I tightened it down and thought the grub screw stripped, but it was the pinion! The hole in the gear spread apart and almost broke out the end of the pinion!?!?!! Never seen that before especially on RRP pinion.

Last night I built a hinged battery tray out of a plastick tackle box divider and used a velcro strap with it to hold the battery just above the front links and almost touching the motor. The front of the battery floats on the steering servo and is kept in check with another velcro strap. When it was allowed to fully float in front it would flop up and roll me over at the worst times...so did a quick field mod today and now working great. Seen a similiar tray out of aluminum here but cant' remember who made it...great idea though!

Swapped my right rear blue (stiffer) spring back to the softer green, so that only my left rear spring is the stiffer...was losing a little flex travel. Now I have the flex back and it doesn't torque roll too much. Compressed my suspension and re-measured, turns out my truck is only at 11.75 inch wheelbase...but works well and fits my Ford F100 body perfectly. Musta been a late night when I was building and ended up at less than 12" that I was aiming for...lol. I like the looks of this body, but it's square and wide front end does NOT lend itself to rock crawling. Going to look into a Rock Pleazer or something similiar. Truck is working pretty well overall and continuing to get better as I dial it in and I'm hooked! LOL...My Kimbrough black nitro servo saver is way too weak and hurting my steering though. Pics to come.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by Natedog

...What have you all used to machine down the Pede wheels thickness at the wheel nut area to get full nylock thread engagement?

EDIT: I remember a tool at the hardware store that is used for drilling dowel plug holes or something like that...going to check it out tomorrow. Thinking about using my Dremel with a heavy duty cut-off wheel and kinda sand down the wheel center, but I don't know if that might cause a wheel wobble due to not keeping the surface exactly parallel to the backside mounting surface.

Looked and didn't see the tool that I remembered, oh well. Tried the Dremel with the cut-off wheel inserted from the front of the wheel and then into the Dremel chuck. Worked like crap, the wheel bounces around too much and then when I got it under control, it melted itself to the wheel before I could pull it away a bit. Had to break the cut-off wheel to pieces to get it unstuck from my wheel and it didn't remove much plastic in the process, so I don't recommend this method...lol.

Anyhow, here's a few wheeling pics from last Sunday at Beal's Point:

[Natedog]

Got a new chassis that I'm in the process of transferring all my parts to!

[Manwhalo]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Got a new chassis that I'm in the process of transferring all my parts to!

What did you get?
We will have to go to Beals for some testing.

[Natedog]

My wheelbase is now just under 12.5", getting ready to moun the same body and plan to keep the rear wheel cut-outs the same...but cut more around the front bumper area...any suggestions? Or is it better to keep the body centered and cut around the front and rear bumper areas???

EDIT: How many of those automotive stickon weights (0.25 oz. squares) fit inside a pede wheel if you wrap them around the backside of the wheel (not inside the tire)?

[rockhugger]

Originally Posted by Natedog

My wheelbase is now just under 12.5", getting ready to moun the same body and plan to keep the rear wheel cut-outs the same...but cut more around the front bumper area...any suggestions? Or is it better to keep the body centered and cut around the front and rear bumper areas???

EDIT: How many of those automotive stickon weights (0.25 oz. squares) fit inside a pede wheel if you wrap them around the backside of the wheel (not inside the tire)?

I tried to center my body as much as possible, but with the rockpleazer there is lots of room to cut in the front. I wanted to keep the wheelwell in tact for looks. If you cut to much from the front on that body, it might look funny.
I would compress the susp. to dial in where the wheels will center also.
I think manwhalo has or had some weights on the inner bead of his wheels, but if I remember correctly, he cut them in halves so they would fit.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by Manwhalo

What did you get?
We will have to go to Beals for some testing.

Got a Kuala, only had time to go out in the front yard to test today...but it works great! This thing went anywhere I pointed it in my yard. Mounted my electronics and was about to head to Beals this afternoon, but fortunately decided to check it out at home first. I had an intermittent power problem that turned out to be my Novak esc on/off switch. It was not repairable so I just cut it off and soldered the ends of the wires together...at least for now. In addition to the switch, my motor was running backwards...soldered my wires on backwards...LOL! Tried to keep the body centered and hacked it with the scissors...need to finalize it and smooth it with the Dremel. Maybe I need to cut my wheelwells up higher, what do you guys think? Maybe I should just raise the body, but I want to keep the cg low and still have it look decent.

Here's a few pics, need to add some stick on weights to my wheels and rebuild my leaky shocks.

Can't wait to get out for some real testing!

[The turtle]

The rig looks good bro! Keep us informed on how the testing goes. As for the wheel weights its a trial thing to find what you like for your driving style. The body looks pretty good as it is ,maybe just trim the fenders up a little more so you can keep the cool old school ford looking like a truck!

[Natedog]

Thanks bro! I've been sick with the Flu for the past two weeks...finally feel decent just the other day...this was a bad one!

Anyways bought parts and some different shock oil weights, going to rebuild these leakers. Also got som longer body mounts for the front so I can raise the body a little bit...the rest is going to be trimmed up like ya said...sometimes you just gotta trim. :-) Need a set of those new Axial 2.2 beadlock wheels...not going to mount new tires again until I have these babies in hand! Tired of baking tires.

Somebody needs to release some good new crawler bodies...stopped at lhs on the way home from work last night and nobody has ANYTHING good in stock!!! I hear that Axial is supposed to be releasing a body callled the B17 Betty or something like that...a nice single cab 1940's Dodge Power Wagon with modded hood line and fenders....can't wait for this too! Not a damn Rock Pleazer in site at any lhs.

[SnailMail]

looks good, and i dropped you PM

[rubiconkid3]

so far so sweet

[loanshark]

In case if you need an extra chassis ( stock TLT ), you can have mine as I have no use for it.

Originally Posted by Natedog

My new TLT...build that is takin too long...too many projects and not enough time...lol! Anyways been working on this longer than I want to tell.

This madness began one Wednesday evening (weeks ago, LOL!)...got a pile of extra parts to mod onto it. Decided to skip the stock configuration and started cuttin and hackin right away...lol...

Got my Stampede tranny all built up...shimmed all the bearings and gears, JB Welded the diff into a spool, used my 4.5" Milwaukee angle grinder to smooth the bottom as their was a good bit to remove from the tranny (Dremel woulda taken alot longer!) also cut off the rear suspension hingepin mounts.

Both axles are built with bearings and JB Welded diffs, suspension link mounts are relocated, rear upper link mount is fabricated and attached, front servo mount/upper suspension link mount is cut out but needs the holes marked and drilled.

Drilled several new holes in the stock (for now anyways) chassis for my lower suspension links, marked up where it needs cut out for the Stampede tranny to fit. Time to assemble the chassis and setup the wheelbase...then make my upper links and drill mounting holes in the chassis for em. Once that is done, need some chassis cuttin and test fittin'...then more cutting until the tranny fits.

Bought Proline's new 70 Ford F100 pickup body (for the Savage, T-Maxx, etc.), Some Pactra Bright Yellow paint that looks like it'll be pretty close to Caterpillar yellow (after my 1:1 Toyota...just wont be makin a tube frame rear and bed area.)

Also bought Pro-Lines new Moab 2.2" tires/foams...undecided on wheels still...need to get suspension dialed in and then see how much wheel offset I'll need for sure...I've got a couple different wheels in mind.

More to come later...gotta get back to work now!

Here's a few pics:









...yeah I know some of my pics could be better, I'm still learning this digicam and it's only a 2 megapixel...

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by loanshark

In case if you need an extra chassis ( stock TLT ), you can have mine as I have no use for it.

Why would I need it? I have a KL-1 chassis now! But thanks anyways.

Also I received a pm from somebody asking about my Traxxas lower links and pm'ed them back, but wanted to answer here too so that everybody can benefit from the answer.

Just measured and my front lower links and they are about 108mm eye to eye and my rear lowers are about 118mm eye to eye. I used a Dremel to trim the ends of the rod threads to that the plastic eyes screw on all the way (no threads visible) because it looks better and I was able to do this and still get the wheelbase that I wanted...just a hair under 12.5"

Don't remember which Traxxas part numbers though, I bought 2 sets of like every length close to what I wanted and then trimmed them to fit...seems Traxxas' way of labelling the lenth was not consistent as I recall...some measured eye to eye and some measured overall length. :?

[venom*one]

Looks good Nate!!! Like the new chassie!!! Just got my axles together and the frames together... Need to find the camera and start a thread!!!

[Natedog]

Venom*one,

Thanks! Here's a few updates....first I broke another inner axle a couple weeks ago. It seems the short side always breaks, just like 1:1 Toyotas...lol.

Baked the CA off my dang wheels again because I still wasn't happy with my tire foams. While I was at it, I narrowed the inner bead of all four wheels about 0.25" and now see why it is recommended. You get more steering with less rubbing, the tires suck in just a bit for better crawling (and looks better! ), it's easy to do. Also drilled out all the holes in my pede rims to 3/8" and they look even better!

Rim width comparison...in the back is stock width Stampede rear wheel, then inside narrowed rear wheel, and in front on my new axles is the outside narrowed rear wheel:

To the left side in both pics is the stack of four donuts and little semi-circles that I cut off of each foam after narrowing my wheels. On the right side are two of my newly cut foams. It sits really nice with these in the tires when I test fitted and drove it around inside.

[Natedog]

WTF, why can't I get this one pic to work???