Project Land Cruiser (update 2005-03-19)

[ronbeck]

i can see the pics!!

he looks like he is healing well!

[outcastrc]

Daughters just don't understand!!! I needed a steering wheel and theres all these nice steering wheels on her barbie cars. But do you think she'd let me have one? NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

So I had to get creative. 10 points to the first person to figure out what I did:

[mike]

id guess, but i cant see the pic.

[BENDER]

I'm going to guess it's a front wheel off a model motorcycle.

[bigfoot]

stole it you stole it when they truned there heads!!!!!!!!!

[outcastrc]

Nope and nope! Keep guessing!

If you can't see the picture it shouldn't be my domain issues anymore. Everything seems to be up and running fine...

[Plays_with_Toys]

Model high speed olympic style wheelchair wheel?

It does look like a motorcycle wheel...

[TLTCrawlin]

I cant see?

[TylerV]

looks like a foam tire off of a micro car that has been cut in half with some of the spokes missing.

[ronbeck]

a cut hpi micro rim and tire.

[outcastrc]

Originally Posted by ronbeck

a cut hpi micro rim and tire.

We have a winner...

The foam tire was close. Its actually a rubber tire thats been shapped to form the steering wheel. I cut 3 spokes off the rim

[sean_lv_crawler]

looks scale. good job.

[rocpede]

looks sic and that thing should be in a mag when it gets done

[outcastrc]

Another update: The body is in the shop getting worked on. That wasn't going to stop me from having some fun! I decided to make the shifting servo part of the chassis instead of being attached to the body. Its a Hitec 81-MG. Makes taking the body off easier. Once that was done, a few chunks of wood, a couple pillows, couches, and chairs became a testing ground. I immediately found the springs were too low. I was bottoming out the shocks more then I would have liked. So I swaped the hangers around for 1/2 an inch of lift. Its still a lot lower then it was with the tall springs and now the suspension has full travel either way. Steering is still greatly improved, tho there is still a little bit of bump steer when its stopped on carpet. I think with a frame mounted design a person has to live with some bump steer. Then the shorter springs kept falling out so I whipped up some spring retainers. They are free at the axle and I kept checking to see if I would have to make some sort of cone to get the springs to remount. But they were always sitting on their perches so things are lined up close enought that I guess it doesn't matter. Gearing looks like its perfect. 2nd is still fast enough to get air off a jump. (scale air mind you) 1st is about a slow walking pace. :nice:

[crawlin_incolorado83]

makes me wanna buy a tlt and make a scale rig


Eric

[outcastrc]

Managed to get a few details cleaned up today. I redid the coil mounts so now they are better looking and lined up better. Added spring retainers to both ends of the springs. Drilled out the upper mount of the TLT shocks to allow me to use AE mounts. This mod got rid of all the play in the upper mount and allows the shock to articulate with the suspension. The rubber grommet in the floor is for the battery wires to come thru for the battery which will be mounted between the rear wheel wells. Mounted my new rims, which came in today. Much nicer and it added a bit more width to the truck. :nice: These pics show the truck at its new ride height. I think its a good compromise. Also replaced a zillion screws with RCScrewz Stainless and nylocks. Its amazing how many screws make up a project like this.

Seat mounts and the new cage are in progress...















If a pics worth a 1000 words. Then this thread must be a epic!

[schlabinski]

Great work Outcast...I have been enjoying this build and look forward to seeing it all the way through. I like your choice of wheel, but just in case you are looking for another option check out the rear wheel from the Tamiya Stadium Blitzer. I have them on the TLT that I am building now and I think they will work well. I don't know how the offset compares to other 2.2 wheels as I have nothing to compare it to. If you want, I would be happy to measure them.

Anyhow, here they are on tower:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGJ98&P=Z

And here is a 1:1 FJ40 with similar looking wheels:
http://store1.yimg.com/I/coolfj40_1844_10815276

Keep up the great work!
-Jeff

[microgoat]

Outcast, have you driven that thing yet? I tried a similar steering servo setup on my TLT for a better scale look, but instead of turning the wheels the servo just made the chassis lean (sort of like a torque roll). no steering action at all, the truck just ran in a straight line.

I'd be interested to know how you resolved this issue (or if you have).

but the servo location's not a total bust. it might make a good torque-roll control feature (y-harness with the esc)

[ronbeck]

microgoat

you have to go back and read the thread. he talks about the issues he has had with the chassis mounted servo. that is one of the reasons he has lowered it and limited flex. i think about page 4 he covers most of it.

[outcastrc]

There steering is about perfect. There is still some bump steer but hardly any...

I considered it a success when I was able to steer from a stopped position on carpet. About the hardest it would ever have to do. It still raises and lowers the chassis a tiny bit when it cycled, but not enough to be a problem anymore.

When I first started this steering setup, I would lose almost all steering to the chassis moving. Or links flexing the axle over instead of moving tires. Anything would flex rather then steer. So you could only steer a tiny bit when you were driving.

It's a proper combination of limiting ride height, locked upper arms (braised 3 link), limiting suspension droop and raise, to get the best results. It may have hurt me for articulation. But I would still get 1000 or better on a scale rti ramp.

If you want to make somthing scale, you have to deal with scale issues. And luckily there are scale answers to resolve them.