65BAJA's non baja crawler.

[65BAJA]

About two weeks ago I bought a TLT-1. I quickly decided "stock" was not going to do it for me. So the ordering began. I bought a Pede tranny, Tamiya rims, and a Lathe motor from the LHS. Also ordered was an SW2 chassis and shocks from RCP crawlers, Fat Rock axle Cs from The Crawler Store, Moab tires, Blackfoot axles, and some spare axles from Tower. The Body I had from when I tried to make my Revo a crawler.

I like the way it turned out except the springs are to stiff. But that was to be expected. At first I tried Revo toe links for lower control arms but the wheelbase ended up at 15.5". Then I tried Revo short push rods. That made for 13.5". Better but still not short enough. Then I moved the lower control arms in to the chassis skid plate bolt holes. Presto! 12.375" Perfect!

I had bought a 12T Losi pinion but could not get it to work at first. So I made a spacer plate to go inbetween the motor and the tranny. The non splined portion was still hitting the back of the pinion but at least it would mesh now. To fix the problem I held the throttle on while holding a sanding block to the back side of the spur. Problem gone. The 12T pinion works a lot better than the 19T Robinson I had on there. I still think I want that 10T pinion that someone makes.

Thats all for now. I'll post some pics as soon as I can get them up loaded.

[BENDER]

What shocks/springs are you running?

[65BAJA]

Hot Bodies shocks from RCP Crawlers. I think they are for a Maxx. I'll pick up some of the Losi springs next week.

Question. Those hardened steel yokes from Traxxas. Do they give you more room for a bigger spur? I have an 87T now but someone mentioned something about running a 93T. I know I don't have room for that with the black yokes I'm running now.

[Natedog]

Are you running Pede or Maxx shafts? The steel yokes are for the Pede shafts and are smaller diameter than the Maxx yokes...I don't have a 93T spurgear to try for you. I'm running an 87.

[65BAJA]

I don't remember. I just bought what the guy at the LHS gave me. He said its what he was runnung. The yokes had the set screw hole all the way through. Not just on one side. Also there is no boot over the shaft itself.

[Natedog]

Probably pede shafts then. If they are white plastic yokes, then they are pede. The steel pede yokes are same diameter as the white nylon plastic ones. I'm running steel on my pinions (weight down low) and the white plastic stockers on my pede tranny outputs.

BTW: Robinson Racing makes 12 tooth standard and metric 48 pitch pinions.

[65BAJA]

They are black plastic. I had to grind them down to get the set screw hole close enough to grab the pinion. Also the hole in the yoke for the pinion had two flats. I think I'll go over to the LHS and ask what I have. I need to go down there and pick up some softer coils anyway. All I have now is Losi reds and oranges. I'm going to pick up some whites and yellows or greys.

[RYY]

How about some pics to help with your description?
RYY

[65BAJA]

Wow. 10 months later and I finally got around to glueing the tires to the wheels. Seems to work good in the living room but I still need to figure out how to mount the body. I'm using a HPI (i think) Wrangler body. I mounted the front of it with the stock TLT mounts but the rear mount isn't done yet. Could someone with this body post some pics of their rear body mount?

Also about wheel weights. I have seen people here are just putting large washers on the steering knuckles before the wheel goes on. I guess there is no problem with the washers moving around? Or is there some trick to mounting wheel weights this way.

I will try to post pics of my crawler tomorrow. I like the way it turned out.

[65BAJA]

Well I busted the drive shaft yokes on the axle end yesterday. I'm using the black plastic yokes (double D inside) that you have to shave down to get the pin close enough to the pinion to grab. Is there something better out there? Do I have to modify the white plastic yokes? How about the steel yokes? What else is available?

[65BAJA]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ki6hnb/4385527737/

Here are a couple of pics of my crawler. brought it with me down to King Of The Hammers and wheeled around Traxxas's rock pile while I wasn't working our booth. I did OK. I think I need lighter oil in the shocks. The suspension moves but its kinda slow.

[slow_goin]

i personally use the great planes stick on led weights there cheap and stick really well i use one package for 2 rims and i only weigh my front rims so it works out awsome for like 3.00 i just put them inbetween the beads inside the beadlock rim works great and makes it even all the way around

[65BAJA]

I'm having problems with the steering servo cutting out. I'm using a HS-625 servo and the ESC is a Novak XRS. The specs on the ESC for servo power are 5 volts and 1 amp. Is this enough? I have a leftover cap from my Tekin ESC for my Stadium Truck. I wonder if that would help?

Also solved the drive shaft problem after all these years. Bought the Axial wraith MIP shafts. They are a little shorter than I would like them to be but they work great.

[65BAJA]

Blew up my XRS speed control messing around with the motor timing. That dam thing let all it's magic smoke out and now it won't do anything. Time for a real crawler ESC I guess.