RCCrawler Forums

dieselfuel · 02-27-2007, 11:33 PM

well after competing with the bmv2, i wasnt impressed... for a torsion its a great design, my favorite of them. but my driving style and that chassis didnt mesh well. im more used to higher breakover clearance and more articulation...

so ive got this K2-3S laying around for a couple weeks that i got from kaetwo... (www.reignrc.com, best rc crawling **** out there!) and i thought, ive never seen a 2.2 copmp K2-3S... after watching the gimbal tubers whoop *** at the WEROCK event i learned some stuff about their suspension setups. theyve got droop travel, something most comp rigs have none of. (except the hustlers theyre all droop) because most of them run short springs on a longer shock, making for some "dead space" there the spring is just floating. i got a stupid idea and decided to try it out. mix a 3S chassis and suspension ideas from winning gimbal tubers and droop travel of a hustler.. i ended up with a zero preload kinda setup which, just crawling on the steps here at my house, works pretty well. yopu can add spacers to the shocks and all it affects is ride height. it climbs just as well as my SW2 used to.

K2-3S chassis
links are traxxas part numbers spec'd in the k2-3x build doc.
shocks are traxxas rustler fronts, aluminum body
locked TLTs with bearings and fat-rock Cs
erickson straight six beadlocks
msd shop wideners
R2 tranny
revolver/quark brushless
novak xxtra rx with mx-3s radio
hs645mg servo, "diesel mod" steering (as its being called)

anyway, onto the pics.

dieselfuel · 02-27-2007, 11:37 PM

WB is 12 1/16"
GC is 2 3/4" - 3" depending on setup
width is 10 3/4"

i kept the wiring as clean as possible, i think i did alright... just need to redo the battery packs now to make all 8 cells fit on there... or i might go lipo... not sure.

Cloak · 02-27-2007, 11:40 PM

Are you going to tie a fulcrum point in the middle so the axle doesn't sway back and forth as much like the last picture is showing?

dieselfuel · 02-27-2007, 11:50 PM

no, the pic kinda looks funny.. it doesnt really have any more sway or axle steer than any other chassis ive used... actually less than my old SW2. the links are all the same as what you'll find on any K2-3L or S... it works pretty well...

i ziptied a battery pack to it and ran it around the house. suprisingly, even with all the droop it doesnt torque twist anymore than my J2-TT, which is VERY minimal, almost none...

PaloAltoK5 · 02-28-2007, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieselfuel

theyve got droop travel, something most comp rigs have none of. (except the hustlers theyre all droop) because most of them run short springs on a longer shock, making for some "dead space" there the spring is just floating. i got a stupid idea and decided to try it out. mix a 3S chassis and suspension ideas from winning gimbal tubers and droop travel of a hustler.. i ended up with a zero preload kinda setup which, just crawling on the steps here at my house, works pretty well. yopu can add spacers to the shocks and all it affects is ride height. it climbs just as well as my SW2 used to.

Yeah, I have been running this setup with my K2-3L for about a year. Mine is engineered to only about .5" or less of upward travel, and the rest is droop. The only tricky part about it is dealing with the Torque twist. With no downward resistance on the right front and right rear, it will tend to "lift" the right side of the truck and give you some wicked torque twist. I got around it by running tlt shocks with no springs, and then max coils attached to the frame rails and axle at each corner. After some fine tuning, I now have very little if any torque twist.

Good luck!!
Rear:

Front:

At rest:

Articulated:

sean_lv_crawler · 02-28-2007, 03:19 PM

Good idea scott. Maybe we can go out this weekend and see how she does.

what is this "diesel mod" steering?

dieselfuel · 02-28-2007, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_lv_crawler

what is this "diesel mod" steering?

Oh a few guys around the boards have called it that... My steering setup, instead of a draglink and tierod, I use two draglinks straight from the servo arm to the knuckles.

FrankyRizzo · 03-01-2007, 07:58 AM

Looks nice. Let's see what it can do this weekend.

BTW nice wiring. I am impressed.

RockSurfer · 03-01-2007, 02:10 PM

Hay I tryed that idea with the short shock. My problem was that when sidehilling it unloaded to fast and tiped my rig right over. Mabe it will work for you. I like your new steering idea kina like the 1.1 comp buggys at the the comp. Let me know how she does. It looks good first k2-3s I have seen in a comp form.

STEEL_CITY_CRAWLER · 03-01-2007, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieselfuel

Oh a few guys around the boards have called it that... My steering setup, instead of a draglink and tierod, I use two draglinks straight from the servo arm to the knuckles.

ohhh, that's actually a good idea. eliminates one more thing to get hung up on...

dieselfuel · 03-01-2007, 02:56 PM

This weekend will be the test run, I've got 50wt in all 4 right now... Ill probably go up to 80wt

Yeah I've been doing that steering setup for a while now. Its higher clearance.

braceysdad · 03-01-2007, 02:58 PM

looks good

EeePee · 03-01-2007, 03:38 PM

Last summer I ran my K2-3S at a TSC comp and had a negative 3 on the first course. I was either in first, or tied for first. But I lost wheel hexes and pointed out, and ended up in 4th. So there!

But yeah, sidehilling will unload the one side and it'll flop. What would be sweet is if you can fit a small spring inside the shock that is short enough that it doesn't become effective until the shock is half extended. It would have some resistance to unloading.

dieselfuel · 03-01-2007, 06:15 PM

thats what im looking for right now. mini-t springs are too large diameter but i have some here at the house that might work... ill try them after the first test run to get a baseline performance.

VegasJim · 03-01-2007, 08:28 PM

Deisel....get with me so we can hook up.....may have idea

PaloAltoK5 · 03-01-2007, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieselfuel

thats what im looking for right now. mini-t springs are too large diameter but i have some here at the house that might work... ill try them after the first test run to get a baseline performance.

The mini t springs are a bit soft for the weight of a crawler, I tried them all, front and rear springs (they're different lengths), and they allowed too much torque flex. I am STILL playing with my suspension setup, and I have been competing with it for almost a year now!!

Tanis · 03-01-2007, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieselfuel

instead of a draglink and tierod, I use two draglinks straight from the servo arm to the knuckles.

It works good too. Thanks Diesel.

dieselfuel · 03-02-2007, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tanis

It works good too. Thanks Diesel.

no problem

dieselfuel · 03-02-2007, 11:52 PM

tonight i got the body mounted up and made a battery mount plate. and i soldered up 8 cells last night. im thinking about going lipo for the small size, not sure yet though. i just used an old body i had sitting on a shelf, ill be getting something diffeent for it soon as i dont wanna destroy this one, its a classic. lol. this thing crawls pretty nicely so far, it'll be going with me to St. George, UT tomorrow along with all my other rigs. we'll get a good test run then.

JohnRobHolmes · 03-03-2007, 12:01 AM

That looks like a really tight riding build, especially when you get the right internal springs. I found mine at the local hardware store where the nuts and bolts were.

02-27-2007, 11:33 PM	#1
dieselfuel I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Henderson/Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,032	update on PROJECT CETANE.. torsion out, k2-3s in... well after competing with the bmv2, i wasnt impressed... for a torsion its a great design, my favorite of them. but my driving style and that chassis didnt mesh well. im more used to higher breakover clearance and more articulation... so ive got this K2-3S laying around for a couple weeks that i got from kaetwo... (www.reignrc.com, best rc crawling ** out there!) and i thought, ive never seen a 2.2 copmp K2-3S... after watching the gimbal tubers whoop * at the WEROCK event i learned some stuff about their suspension setups. theyve got droop travel, something most comp rigs have none of. (except the hustlers theyre all droop) because most of them run short springs on a longer shock, making for some "dead space" there the spring is just floating. i got a stupid idea and decided to try it out. mix a 3S chassis and suspension ideas from winning gimbal tubers and droop travel of a hustler.. i ended up with a zero preload kinda setup which, just crawling on the steps here at my house, works pretty well. yopu can add spacers to the shocks and all it affects is ride height. it climbs just as well as my SW2 used to. K2-3S chassis links are traxxas part numbers spec'd in the k2-3x build doc. shocks are traxxas rustler fronts, aluminum body locked TLTs with bearings and fat-rock Cs erickson straight six beadlocks msd shop wideners R2 tranny revolver/quark brushless novak xxtra rx with mx-3s radio hs645mg servo, "diesel mod" steering (as its being called) anyway, onto the pics. Attached Images

02-27-2007, 11:37 PM	#2
dieselfuel I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Henderson/Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,032	WB is 12 1/16" GC is 2 3/4" - 3" depending on setup width is 10 3/4" i kept the wiring as clean as possible, i think i did alright... just need to redo the battery packs now to make all 8 cells fit on there... or i might go lipo... not sure. Attached Images

03-01-2007, 02:56 PM	#11
dieselfuel I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Henderson/Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,032	This weekend will be the test run, I've got 50wt in all 4 right now... Ill probably go up to 80wt Yeah I've been doing that steering setup for a while now. Its higher clearance. Last edited by dieselfuel; 03-01-2007 at 03:25 PM.

03-02-2007, 11:52 PM	#19
dieselfuel I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Henderson/Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,032	tonight i got the body mounted up and made a battery mount plate. and i soldered up 8 cells last night. im thinking about going lipo for the small size, not sure yet though. i just used an old body i had sitting on a shelf, ill be getting something diffeent for it soon as i dont wanna destroy this one, its a classic. lol. this thing crawls pretty nicely so far, it'll be going with me to St. George, UT tomorrow along with all my other rigs. we'll get a good test run then. Attached Images

02-27-2007, 11:40 PM	#3
Cloak I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Albuquerque Posts: 2,206	Are you going to tie a fulcrum point in the middle so the axle doesn't sway back and forth as much like the last picture is showing?

02-27-2007, 11:50 PM	#4
dieselfuel I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Henderson/Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,032	no, the pic kinda looks funny.. it doesnt really have any more sway or axle steer than any other chassis ive used... actually less than my old SW2. the links are all the same as what you'll find on any K2-3L or S... it works pretty well... i ziptied a battery pack to it and ran it around the house. suprisingly, even with all the droop it doesnt torque twist anymore than my J2-TT, which is VERY minimal, almost none...

02-28-2007, 03:19 PM	#6
sean_lv_crawler Quarry Creeper Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: vegas Posts: 310	Good idea scott. Maybe we can go out this weekend and see how she does. what is this "diesel mod" steering?

03-01-2007, 07:58 AM	#8
FrankyRizzo I wanna be Dave Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Vegas Posts: 7,172	Looks nice. Let's see what it can do this weekend. BTW nice wiring. I am impressed.

03-01-2007, 02:10 PM	#9
RockSurfer Quarry Creeper Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: salt lake city Posts: 252	Hay I tryed that idea with the short shock. My problem was that when sidehilling it unloaded to fast and tiped my rig right over. Mabe it will work for you. I like your new steering idea kina like the 1.1 comp buggys at the the comp. Let me know how she does. It looks good first k2-3s I have seen in a comp form.

03-01-2007, 02:58 PM	#12
braceysdad Adilynsdad too! Join Date: May 2004 Location: G ville Posts: 8,844	looks good

03-01-2007, 03:38 PM	#13
EeePee MODERATOR™ Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 18,928	Last summer I ran my K2-3S at a TSC comp and had a negative 3 on the first course. I was either in first, or tied for first. But I lost wheel hexes and pointed out, and ended up in 4th. So there! But yeah, sidehilling will unload the one side and it'll flop. What would be sweet is if you can fit a small spring inside the shock that is short enough that it doesn't become effective until the shock is half extended. It would have some resistance to unloading.

03-01-2007, 06:15 PM	#14
dieselfuel I wanna be Dave Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Henderson/Las Vegas, NV Posts: 5,032	thats what im looking for right now. mini-t springs are too large diameter but i have some here at the house that might work... ill try them after the first test run to get a baseline performance.

03-01-2007, 08:28 PM	#15
VegasJim Newbie Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Henderson Posts: 18	Deisel....get with me so we can hook up.....may have idea

03-03-2007, 12:01 AM	#20
JohnRobHolmes owner, Holmes Hobbies LLC Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Volt up! Gear down! Posts: 20,290	That looks like a really tight riding build, especially when you get the right internal springs. I found mine at the local hardware store where the nuts and bolts were.

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