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Old 10-28-2011, 11:46 PM   #21
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I think you just hit the crux of this build. Can you get some good closeups?

can't you just re-fab the bracket so the motor can slide or pivot into the correct orientation???

Last edited by crawl-o-matic; 10-28-2011 at 11:52 PM.
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Old 10-28-2011, 11:56 PM   #22
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Sweet tlt rig! We need some video crawling with a XR10 or bully and see how it does. It would be kick butt if it could hang.
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Old 11-01-2011, 07:58 AM   #23
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way to think outside the box, lots of good ideas.
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Old 11-01-2011, 08:27 AM   #24
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Small update...

I was able to hammer out a solution to the spur/pinion mesh issue. I ended up putting in a 28-tooth HPI Blitz/Firestorm idler gear between the two and it works perfect (pics to follow soon). Now, I'm having the issue that I had a feeling I was going to have. The Mini Revo/Summit driveshafts and yolks just can't take the torque that the Revolver gives out. I have upgraded the driveline from the tranny to the carrier bearing with Stampede shafts. I'm still battling the driveline from the tranny to the front axle. There isn't a whole lot of room between the two shafts, so I can't go with 'Pede stuff due to the driveline angle. I am currently working up a possible solution to this by creating a portal/transfer case to transfer the power directly from the transmission output shaft to the axle's input shaft. It will be a 3-gear unit and I will need to work through mounting ideas in order to keep it in one place . If I can get this worked out, then I should be ready to go. I do have a bit of movement with the carrier bearing assembly in high torque situations, but it should be an easy fix.

While I hoped that this would be a "put together and drive" build, I knew in the back of my mind that I was probably going to run into some issues. Innovation generally doesn't come without a couple of setbacks. All of the issues that I've experienced so far should be easily remedied.

I definitely want to get a couple of videos of it with an XR10. I have a good friend of mine that has an XR10 and plan to play some "follow the leader" with him. I will be really interested to see how the two compare.

Thanks for all of the interest on this. Sorry I haven't been updating recently. Hopefully I'll have some new pics and an actual running video soon.
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Old 11-22-2011, 08:31 PM   #25
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any good news?
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Old 11-22-2011, 11:31 PM   #26
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Thanks for reminding me to post on this, crawl-o-matic. My wife had gall bladder removal surgery last week, so I forgot all about updating this. Also, as a result of the surgery, I haven't had a lot of time to do a lot of crawling with it. I did do SOME and as a result have determined that the drivetrain is now solid. But, I have a bit of torque twist that I'm going to need to see if I can work through. Might just have to deal with it.

To backtrack some, here's what I've done to get it into a full-on runner. As I mentioned earlier, I was able to get the issue of pinion/spur mesh figured out by using an idler gear from a Blitz/Firestorm. Here's a couple of pics showing what I came up with.





That setup is working perfectly. From what I can tell, the final gearing and torque availability is almost the same with this combo (3.94:1 internal, 14-tooth pinion, 55-tooth spur) as it was previously (2.20:1 internal, 14-tooth pinion, 87-tooth spur)

Now, to the drivetrain. As mentioned earlier, I was having a LOT of issues with the Mini Revo yolks popping off with very little torque being applied. I went through all different combos of Mini Revo and Stampede shafts and yolks. Then, one day I had what I like to refer to as a "happy accident" . I was messing around with the transmission outside of the vehicle and just nonchalantly put my steel Stampede ends on the transmission's output shafts. The grub screw holes lined up perfectly and didn't get into the mounting arms of the transmission. Granted, the output shafts are 4mm and the steel yolks are 5mm. So, I made a trip to my local Ace Hardware and grabbed a section of 5mm OD, 4mm ID brass K&S tubing and made a pair of sleeves. I drilled a hole in each sleeve for the grub screw to pass through and VOILA!! I am now able to run all Stampede driveline. Add to that my deciding to move the transmission back some, thus reducing the driveline angle in the front and it all worked perfectly!





Notice in the following picture the distance between the motor plate and the "body" side as compared to previous pictures.



The last thing I did to button up the driveline was to redo the carrier bearing assembly. I purchased new steering knuckles for a Traxxas vehicle (can't remember right now which one) and mounted it into the body assembly in two locations. I also decided to use a stub axle with Stampede-style yolk (I believe from a 1/10 Revo) for the carrier shaft. All of this combined for a very solid assembly.





I was hoping to have some videos to show you guys of it doing it's thing on the rocks. Time and now weather have precluded me from doing so. BUT, I do have what I feel is the most important video of all. I had mentioned early on that one of my goals was to be able to crawl up my rock hearth, which is a 10"+ vertical. All of my previous crawlers have been unsuccessful in doing this. Well, the wait is now over.

New Torsion :: VID_20111109_212056.mp4 video by bugman72 - Photobucket

This climb can now be done at will with little preparation. Meaning, this wasn't a one-time-only climb.

So, that concludes the actual "build" portion of this thread. Still need to do some more R&D to see if I can either eliminate or at least reduce my torque twist when getting the rear into a bind. I've added 4oz into each rear tire to help with my downgrade descents. Not sure if adding a bit more weight to the fronts would help combat the TT, but I might give it a try, just in case.

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Old 11-23-2011, 06:50 PM   #27
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Your build is very uinique and interesting. Looking forward to more video when you get a chance.
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Old 03-19-2012, 12:01 AM   #28
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Very nice! When are the kits available.
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Old 11-20-2012, 01:34 PM   #29
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Bringing this back from the dead for a bit of an update. After having this thing shelved for about a year, I thought it was time to get it back out and look at it with a fresh set of eyes.

The one big thing that was plaguing me was some extreme torque twist. If I got the nose up and the rears were trying to grab traction, the entire front end would twist something fierce to the "passenger's side". That's the one main reason why I shelved it last year. I just couldn't figure out how to get rid of the TT. I had planned to try and fit in a rear dig unit, but space is at an ABSOLUTE premium on this chassis.

So, after pulling this off of the shelf and taking a look at it, I started to figure out why I was getting so much torque twist. One of the biggest problems was that there was just too much flex in the rear and nothing to keep that twist under control. While I had rear links, they weren't doing much other than keeping the rear axle from walking. First order of business was to shorten the rear links and tame the flex.

As you will see in the picture, the links are quite a bit shorter than before and are curved opposite of what they were before. Actually, I just cut the old links down and retained the section that was curved the most. Doing this helped quite a bit, but I still had more TT than I was comfortable with. The truck just didn't seem predictable. What I then noticed was that when I would manually flex the rear axle, the "backbone" would flex all the way from the tranny plate to the rear axle mount. When those flexed and twisted, so did the rear link mounts. In other words,when the backbone flexed, each piece didn't flex uniform and would actually be non-parallel at max flex, thus throwing off the link geometry.

So, grabbing the cutting board material, I was able to make a section that fits between the two backbone plates. This results in a two-fold benefit. First, it keeps the link mounts stationary. Meaning, that portion of the side plates don't flex...or don't flex hardly any at all. Second, by putting the section in, I have reduced my overall flex, making the truck a LOT more predictable. I can also somewhat "tune" my flex by loosening the screws/nuts holding the section in. By adding space between the section and the side plates, I can increase overall flex.

Now, with that LONG explanation here is a pic of the truck in it's semi-final state. I may get some lexan and create some clear or slightly smoked side plates. Need to remake the hood, as it cracked to pieces during my testing sessions. I'm also going to include some videos that I made of some basic crawling. Need to get to a good crawl spot soon to fully test it out.

I dearly love this truck and just couldn't put myself up to just leaving it on the shelf. Glad I didn't now.



New Torsion :: 20121119_164220.mp4 video by bugman72 - Photobucket

New Torsion :: 20121119_164432.mp4 video by bugman72 - Photobucket

New Torsion :: 20121119_165028.mp4 video by bugman72 - Photobucket
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Old 11-26-2012, 12:47 AM   #30
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glad you didnt shelf it either! my favorite build thread- so much innovation and ingenuity...
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Old 05-05-2013, 03:56 AM   #31
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very unique rig man good job!
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Old 05-05-2013, 06:11 AM   #32
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It looks like a tron cycle or something.

Lovin that stair shot.
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Old 05-05-2013, 11:05 AM   #33
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Very cool! Ingenious knuckle design.
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Old 08-06-2013, 09:53 AM   #34
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Back from the dead...at least a LITTLE bit. Forgot about a quick vid that I took a while back, after getting some of the torque twist taken care of and making some lexan side plates for the body. Not a GREAT video, but it shows a bit more of what its capable of. Going to pull this little bugger back out and see if I can tackle the rear dig. If I can get that hammered out, I will feel much more confident in its abilities.

20121207_153613_zps409e2d40.mp4 Video by bugman72 | Photobucket
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Old 08-08-2013, 12:06 PM   #35
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glad you didnt give up on it...this is still my favorite build on rccrawler...
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