dentonmac's LCC Shaftsman - Pic Heavy

[dentonmac]

Well, I have been lurking (I think its called trolling) for quite awhile and absorbing all the info that I could. So I thought that it is about time that I put up my own build…er…BUILT thread. It is nothing too fancy, just a conglomeration of all the cool stuff that I have learned from here and people at local comps.

I am very pleased with how it is performing, so I thought I would share my current setup. Please note, I am VERY function over form. So I prefer it to perform better than it looks, any day of the week.

It is a little dirty, just came off a comp on Saturday. So, I thought that I would share pix before my teardown, because I am always changing things.

Chassis
Chassis – Stock LCC, hacked up…err…lightened
LNC tranny (Stock gears…for now)
- Bottom mounting brace shaved off for clearance of lowers
‘Rubba’ driveline centering mod
Ti upper links
DLux ti bent rear lower – reversed
Lundsford ti front lower

Front Axle
Losi 20 deg Al C-hubs
Losi Al Spindle Carrier
Losi HD CVDs
Losi HD spool and worm
Losi LNC Drive shaft
RC Bros tie rod – ‘precision’ bend with hammer to work with 20 deg hubs.
BWD servo/battery plate
Home brew ESC/BEC mount

Rear Axle
Stock spool and worm
Losi LCC Drive shaft
Losi Al hub carriers
Stock axle
Losi adjustable rear link mount – raised 10mm

Shocks
Traxxas Bog bores – 4” - #2662
Rod end cap mod -
Front: 4.5”
Rear: 4.75” - externally limited 12mm – Fuel tubing
Losi mini T springs (front – Pink; rear – Red)
Hacked up (sensing a theme here) Traxxas spring cups
35 wt oil – front and rear. May go thicker, but it is running awful good.
Skid plate height: 2.6” ish

Wheels/Tires
SMW hub mod DE Losi wheels
Lattice Inno. Shift Hubs

Sedonas – shaved – Old, rock worn
foams: Front - Home brew, Memory
Rear – Old VP Pro Blue Foam 5500
Width: 11”

Rovers – shaved and (front) siped – Grinder worn
foams: Front – CI – Narrow 5.25, Med outer, soft tuning ring
Rear – CI – Narrow 5.25, Med outer, soft tuning ring
Width: 10.825”

Note: I very recently changed to this wheel set up, from a set of stock Losi wheels (6oz front, 3oz rear) that served me very well. So far, they are performing very nicely on my test rocks. So, I am tinkering with weight placement (if needed). Will keep you posted on that.

Electronics
Tekin RS
Losi 17.5 Crawler – 20T pinion
Hitec HS-7945TH
CC BEC @ 7.4V
800mah 3s 40c
Futaba 4pk – FS604 - antenna pulled inside case.
Shoo Goo and Zipties in heavy use!

Yes, I need to spend some time shortening wires.

RTR weight: currently 4lbs, but I will be adding weight where needed. Shooting for ~4.5lbs with no weight on wheels.

Now for the Pix....enjoy.







The only reason I am running 6 screws in the front wheels and 3 in the rear is to tell the front from the rear. One thing that I did with the wheels is run a spacer/washer in between the screws and wheel to sandwich the wheel. This gave it a little firmer feel and a little piece of mind if I take a tumble.




Up Skirt - Nothing Fancy!




Wiring Birds nest in full effect! Can you count how many zip ties were used in this picture? Bet you can't!




Rubba band battery hold down mod, with velcro...works great! Kind of ugly though. The servo horn is blue!




Notice the ball cups on the rear shock ends at the chassis. That was a field fix that stuck. I blew a rod end during a practice and no extras. I had 2 of those as a temporary fix. They are actually working great. We'll see.




The rear mount conglomeration! Not pretty, but plenty functional. I really need to rethink that. Also notice the zip tie (bet you missed that one) on the driver side shock at the bottom of the spring. I needed just a little more preload on that side because of the motor hanging our so far. is working great.



I would of gotten some body on pix, but it started raining on my photo booth...err....driveway.

[Tgreer]

Looks awsome! I think your ready for a TAG kit!

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by Tgreer

Looks awsome! I think your ready for a TAG kit!

Thanks. Saying that the TAG kit is under heavy consideration, is a gross understatement.

[pajey]

I think your wheels are the wong way round. Nah, nice build simple and sleek.

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by pajey

I think your wheels are the wong way round. Nah, nice build simple and sleek.

Thanks, It's either this way or over 1.5 inches of spacers to get them to the width I am trying to hit.

They work just fine. Agreed, don't look as good, but remember I am function over form. I am taking that stress off my outer bearings and hub carriers.

[jgrim]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Thanks, It's either this way or over 1.5 inches of spacers to get them to the width I am trying to hit.

What is your overall width? It looks really wide! Jerry

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by jgrim

What is your overall width? It looks really wide! Jerry

With the Sedonas it is just a hare below 11 at outer tire to tire. it is just a little wider than I like, I think the sweet spot is about 10.6 - 10.8 ish. I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens.

I was running the stock wheels with the Junfac extensions (13mm) and it put me at about 10.8 with those same Sedonas. Really liked how it felt, so I am not too far off...at least width wise.

[pajey]

I was only really messing with ya anyway but they do look pretty ugly. Haha. Interesting that you run a losi motor. Don't see too many of those anymore.

[JENS]

Originally Posted by Tgreer

Looks awsome! I think your ready for a TAG kit!

x2

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by pajey

I was only really messing with ya anyway but they do look pretty ugly. Haha. Interesting that you run a losi motor. Don't see too many of those anymore.

Oh, I know. I actually enjoyed it.

Was wondering when someone would mention that. I thought the same thing about the Losi Crawler motor when I received it in a used LCC that I purchased. Read mixed reviews and was discontinued, so I relegated it as a junk motor and sat it aside while I was trying different motors (D3 17.5, Tekin 21.5, Novak 18.5 crawler, Speedpassion 17.5....among others - always tinkering).

On a lark I put it in, and from the first pull I was like..."O.K.!, here we go." It was the first time I could feel the difference in torque of the motor, it didn't bog down a little when you meet an obstacle. And smoooooooth, the only other motor to compare to its smoothness is the Tekin. I keep adding a tooth on the pinion occasionally for a little more wheel speed, waiting for the low end torque to start to suffer and get hot, but it hasn't yet. It actually seems to get better and cooler. Maybe I just hit it on the programming on the ESC, or I just got a good one. I don't know, but it will be a very sad day when it gives up the ghost.

It has been rocking strong ever since. I am wanting to get another just to have on hand, but the prices are not dropping. So I keep it well cleaned and lubed, but I don't baby it.

Can you tell I am pleased with it? Sorry for the long reply.

Originally Posted by JENS

x2

I am sensing a theme here......thanks JENS

[rangercat23]

Looking good!
I like your upper shock placement. You shaved a lot of weight off the top removing all those extra pieces, I might give that a try!

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by rangercat23

Looking good!
I like your upper shock placement. You shaved a lot of weight off the top removing all those extra pieces, I might give that a try!

Thanks, I really like it. Especially the sprung weight savings up that high.

I wish I could claim it, but I saw Waggaclint do that in the rear of his. So, I said lets try both and see what happens.
Here is his build...Very nice rig.
Waggaclint's LCC

From his thread he has been having great success, but to me Wagga's rear shocks looked alittle short for the setup.

It took a little work to get the shocks right. They are long (front 4.5; rear 4.75) to make up the distance lost. I used rod end length to make the length. Front ends are the stock upper link ends and rears are some RPM Ball cups I had lying around. That was a field fix that stuck. I blew a shock end during a practice and only had these in my tool box.

It is a little limiting as far as adjustments go, but I was surprised by the amount of weight savings at the worst place to have weight. There is room on the chassis to put some more holes if I feel I need some adjustment.

Try it and let me know what you think. No mod necessary, whats the worst that can happen, put the mounts back on.

Keep on tinkering,
Dent

[Hardline]

Originally Posted by rangercat23

Looking good!
I like your upper shock placement. You shaved a lot of weight off the top removing all those extra pieces, I might give that a try!

That's funny because that's one of the few things I didn't like about the rig. Without the mount arms, the shocks lay back at quite an angle and they become even more horizontal when the chassis is compressed. It takes all the leverage away from the springs and shocks. But your external limiters will help by not letting the chassis get very compressed.

If you ever find yourself with a tire up in the air, waving at the crowd, you might want to experiment with getting the shocks back near 45 degrees or so. Otherwise if it works for you, great.

What's your skid height and front weight bias? I haven't found light front wheels/tires to be good performers on steep climbs.

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by Hardline

That's funny because that's one of the few things I didn't like about the rig. Without the mount arms, the shocks lay back at quite an angle and they become even more horizontal when the chassis is compressed. It takes all the leverage away from the springs and shocks. But your external limiters will help by not letting the chassis get very compressed.

If you ever find yourself with a tire up in the air, waving at the crowd, you might want to experiment with getting the shocks back near 45 degrees or so. Otherwise if it works for you, great.

What's your skid height and front weight bias? I haven't found light front wheels/tires to be good performers on steep climbs.

Thanks, you make excellent points. Your comments are hitting on all cylinders of what I am working on.

The limiters were a result of the rear links getting into the spur gear, because of all the compression (someone was talking about that....let's see...who was that again). The limitation you are talking about is a unintended side benefit.

One thing I found when I ran the shock mount arms is that the more I leaned them in (position 1) the better it performed. And the softer the springs I put on it, again, performed more to my liking.

I guarantee if I get myself in the position of 'waving at the crowd,' I know who I will think of first.

I ran a comp on Sat with my regular wheels (stock with 6oz front and 3 rear - everything else as you see here) and it truly amazed me. I put the 'new wheels' on on Sun and ran a few packs on my test rocks. I know I need some weight, but it performed much better than expected. Some areas much better than before, most areas equal to, no real negative areas. I need to test on a steep climb like you are talking about. I am still flushing all that out. Thanks.

Skid height is about 2.6 in the middle. Weight bias point is right at the middle of the rod ends on the front lowers. So, it is right at 60/40 (I think).

The weight placement is the thing that I am currently burning brain cells on. It sits at about 4lbs, but I am looking to knuckle/lockout weight it to about 1oz in the rear and 3ish oz up front.

Opinion on wheel weight vs knuckle weight.

Tinkering on Gentlemen,
Dent

[pajey]

Originally Posted by dentonmac

Thanks, I really like it. Especially the sprung weight savings up that high.

I wish I could claim it, but I saw Waggaclint do that in the rear of his. So, I said lets try both and see what happens.
Here is his build...Very nice rig.
Waggaclint's LCC

From his thread he has been having great success, but to me Wagga's rear shocks looked alittle short for the setup.

It took a little work to get the shocks right. They are long (front 4.5; rear 4.75) to make up the distance lost. I used rod end length to make the length. Front ends are the stock upper link ends and rears are some RPM Ball cups I had lying around. That was a field fix that stuck. I blew a shock end during a practice and only had these in my tool box.

It is a little limiting as far as adjustments go, but I was surprised by the amount of weight savings at the worst place to have weight. There is room on the chassis to put some more holes if I feel I need some adjustment.

Try it and let me know what you think. No mod necessary, whats the worst that can happen, put the mounts back on.

Keep on tinkering,
Dent

The funny thing is waggaclint got his rig off of Zeke on of our fellow queenslander and he came up with the upper link setup. Just interesting on how the world goes round.

[anuthabubba]

Nice, though a bit odd looking, rig you have there dent. :o) I like it. Mounted my front shocks raked like that after watching videos of "the Freak" and a couple other newer designs cleaning some pretty impossible looking transitions. Now I can refer to this thread instead of asking so many questions in PMs.

Heading out to try the DLux knuckle weights that came in yesterday.

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by pajey

The funny thing is waggaclint got his rig off of Zeke on of our fellow queenslander and he came up with the upper link setup. Just interesting on how the world goes round.

You are correct sir. My apologizes to Zeke.

Originally Posted by anuthabubba

Nice, though a bit odd looking, rig you have there dent. :o) I like it. Mounted my front shocks raked like that after watching videos of "the Freak" and a couple other newer designs cleaning some pretty impossible looking transitions. Now I can refer to this thread instead of asking so many questions in PMs.

Heading out to try the DLux knuckle weights that came in yesterday.

Hey! I like odd! Boy, you are getting in deep fast. I love it!

I'll have to check out the freak. Good to her from you bud.

[waggaclint]

Nice build im keen to try out a few of your ideas (shock lengths etc)...

[dentonmac]

Originally Posted by waggaclint

Nice build im keen to try out a few of your ideas (shock lengths etc)...

Thanks, I hope you like.

I tried the rear shocks at about the length you had and my skid was just under 2.5 with the shocks fully extended. I had to run stiff springs to keep them that way.

I like my suspension soft so it settles a little when you set it down (I know there is a name for that I just don't know it). So, it is...well..suspended. Other than just looking cool when you set it down, I feel it gives it a little droop for breakovers and ledges. As well as (IMO) allow the springs to more effectively do their job controlling the sprung weight.

It looks like you are running green (f) and orange (r) springs. IMO those are very stiff for such a light rig. But that is personal preference, and relative to driving style. When you get the length on try testing some softer springs and see what that does to your suspension. Would love to hear your results.

On the other hand, do not get my disease. When it is running great, start mucking with it till it ain't. I say this because it sounds like yours is running great.

Tinker till it breaks,
Dent

[dentonmac]

Not the best pix, but I have to take what I can get. I am usually the one behind the camera, so very few pix of my rigs in action.

This is from the comp on Sat. I was messing around after I ran my courses. I am running the old wheel setup.




Gotta have some scaler love!! Just after this pix I hit the lower gate. That gate is tougher than it looked.