TXT mods - with pics

[badger]

I am picking up most of the parts I need today to almost finish adding the custom links from Dirk.

So I asked my wife for my nuts back (just for the night) so I can cut the chassis and move the tranny up. It went well, I don't think I made any major mistakes but I will know for sure when I put it back together.

Here are some pics of the new/old links, chassis mods, and new servos mounts.

http://rc.badgerracing.com/modules.p...view_album.php

Thanks again Dirk!

-Badger

[DirkDigler]

YES!!!!!!!
Everything looks awesome! Can't wait to see it all buttoned up!!!

[schlabinski]

Awesome, I can't wait to see it all put together. I am getting really close to making drastic changes like that, but first I must work out my steering again.

Did you mod the top of the gear cases at all in order for your servo mount to work? Or just cut the servo mount to work around all of the curves of the gear case?

Again, please post up more pics and your impressions when it's all done!

[DirkDigler]

The servo mount is a flat piece that mounts to only two or three screws. You don't need to mod anything, it's very strong and works perfect.

[badger]

Yes Dirk did a fine job fabbing the servo mounts. No modification were nessesary. But I cut away a little plastic on top of the gear case so that I could push the servo as far back as possible and still be able to install the top links. That way the servo does not stick out quite as far.

I added yellow arrows to this picture to try and point out where.
http://rc.badgerracing.com/modules.p...view_photo.php

If you follow the link to my pictures you can click on any picture again (once you are already viewing one) and it will blow up to the original size pic to give great detail.

-Badger

[schlabinski]

Wow, talk about zooming in! Thanks, I can easily picture what parts you trimmed on the gear case.

As for the materials, do you think 1/16" aluminum would do the trick?

[badger]

The ones I have from dirk are not aluminum, I thnk they are steel (correct me if I'm wrong Dirk). And they are very rigid, no flex at all. I am not sure why he did not use aluminum, maybe to keep costs down? or maybe these are stonger then the same thinkness of aluminum?

-Badger

[DirkDigler]

I forgot about the small amount of material you do have to remove so the plates fit flat on the housing.

Nope.....those are aluminum. 7076 I believe. They are just sooooooper strong and stiff...perfect for mounting a servo.

[badger]

Damn! I was fooled! I guess I got the bling bling ones!

[DirkDigler]

Hmmmmm. I wouldn't call them bling bling, as they are pretty ugly...but they work incredibly well!

[jugg_crawler]

How did you secure the bottom of the tranny after you took the bottom monting plate off? I want to do that with my Juggy but am unsure how I can secure the bottom.

jugg_crawler

[DirkDigler]

You have to make a skid plate. The plate will "sandwich" the tranny in place at the bottom.

[toyofast]

Looks good... and clean too!

Way better than my hack job on my Juggy... I need a skid plate on the underside of my tranny as you can tell by this picture:

[badger]

Originally Posted by jugg_crawler

How did you secure the bottom of the tranny after you took the bottom monting plate off? I want to do that with my Juggy but am unsure how I can secure the bottom.

jugg_crawler

I have a plan for the skid plate so that it also secures the tranny from moving from front to back. I am going to see my friend that does custom aluminum stuff for harleys on Monday. I will let you know how it turns out.

-Badger

[simtechray]

My solution was to coat the bottom of tranny with oil, then make a small puddle of jb weld at the center of skid and reassemble. Idea is to just have it come up a bit on the side to stabilize the tranny. Mine held up great. I have removed it since and the tranny was clean, jb weld stuck to the skid plate( luck maybe). I'm made a new skid plate and have used this method again. I think I have a pic if your interested.

[jordanator62]

yes a pic would be very nice, and i am incredibly interested!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[badger]

FINALLY... I made my skid plate and it is mounted to my hacked TXT chassis. I used "simtechray's" jb-weld method on the skid plate to act as a lower tranny mount and it worked really well. Just don't use the spray on oil, for some reason that shit dried up on me so I had to run to the kitchen and get some olive oil (tastes better) before the jb-weld hardened up. Worked like a charm! Thanks for the idea "simtechray".

The bottom does not look pretty and I don't think I will spend the time to buff it out since it will just get beat up again.

Now for the pictures.

[rckjeep]

Looks like it will hold fine Badg. So how much clearance did you gain? I figure I can get a good 1/2-3/4" without cutting up the tranny but if the JB weld tranny mount works I may just do that. But I think I'll get it running good first.

[badger]

I cut just about 1 inch off of the chassis. See these pics.
http://rc.badgerracing.com/modules.p...php&page=2

I attached the skid plate and tested to see if there was any forward/backward movement, and there was verry little. After I made the jb-weld mold the tranny does not budge at all.

I would deffinitly play with yours first before you hack it up. The TXT is a whole lot of fun right out of the box. Some things I did right away to improve was:

1. lock both diffs
2. glued the tires
3. removed the bump stops in the shocks (I do not plan to do any jumping)

Then I met Dirk, via this web site and all hell broke loose!

[badger]

My new and improved TXT is finally DONE! Thanks to Dirk for all the help! I did not have time to take pictures this weekend due to the fact that I redid my rubicon trail in my side yard and sratched the shit out of my new links and skid plate while having SO MUCH fun with the improved setup! Man it is incredible how much better this thing crawls. Here is a list of what I did.

1. Installed new links (lengthened the wheel base)
2. Relocated the lower links and used one mount location on the chassis to mount both the lower and upper links.
3. cut about 1 inch off of the chassis where the tranny is.
4. cut as much plastic off of the bottom of the tranny as possible and moved it up in the chassis for more center ground clearance.
5. made a skid plate and used JB-Kwick to make a lower tranny mount.
6. flipped the chassis around so the battery is up front.
7. used Dirks axel servo mounts to relocate the steering servos on top of the axels.
8. lowered the ride hieght little for a lower COG.
9. made a custom aluminum electronics tray.
10. wired the two stock motors in reverse
11. mounted the reciever pack down low next to the tranny

Some things that were done before.
1. cut the tires and glued them
2. jb-welded both diffs.
3. 9 tooth pinion
4. removed the bump stops in the shocks

The only problem with the current setup is the stock motors running in reverse. They get Hot! but until I can get a reverse Mag Mayhem motor I will have to keep an close eye on temps so I don't ruin my other electronics.