First time crawler build E-Maxx (with pics!)

[MaXX_CrAWlER7]

wow amazing work cant wait till its done

[S1NN3R]

The upper link mount is the end from an Associated TC4 hingepin brace. I'm not sure I'n going to keep it, there's a 6mm hole under where that flathead screw is, so there's no a lot of material holding everything together there, which might normally be ok, but since I'm making this truck rest on the upper links instead of on fully compressed shocks like most droop trucks, I might need a little extra strength. Plus if I make a mount from some aluminum T stock, it'll get the upper links closer together which I think will be beneficial to my geometry.

The tranny is still two speed. As you can probably tell, most of this truck is a "figure it out as I go" type deal. If I drive the truck and see that the tranny needs to be locked, I'll do it but given that there aren't any comps around here that I'm aware of and I'll mostly be playing with it just for fun, I think the extra top end of the two-speed might be worth a little bit of slop.

And by the way, thanks for the kind words guys. I feel like quite the noob building this thing, having to figure everything out for the first time, but hearing experienced people who are supportive of my experiments makes it nice.

[sabo_traxxas]

Yeah...that sounds good too me...keepin her opened up for top end...im the same as you, no comps around my place. ill just be bashin around with some other guys that are makin rock crawlers so that slop wont hurt a thing.

[toy4crawlin]

You have some great detail and engineering on the steering.
that is a very nice max crawler, but the one thing that you need to do is upgrade the tranny !!.
From dealing with my first max crawler The tranny funtions well, but the problem is the high cog !
You will Crawl up and over obsticle a million times better if you swap in a RC4WD tranny R2 only $80. so Worth the money. if you do not have the $$ right now Please At least rotate your tranny so one motor is on the belly pan and ditch the 2nd motor.
get your weight low
You'll thank me
check out my link below

let us know
and keep up the nice work

[ALUMOUT]

Man that maxx looks awesome.I agree with toy4crawlin to get a better tranny

[S1NN3R]

I don't know yet. I'm pretty sure that the expense of a new tranny or the time involved in laying down the stock one isn't going to be worth it to me. May on the next truck, I can design it around a new tranny configuration, but as is, the truck is made to work with the stock one in the stock location. Changing it out to a different position would probably entail widening the distance between my link mount plates, which would change the entire geometry of the suspension, thus requiring new links and possibly new link mount positions on the axle to get the suspension back to acting like it does now. If I do that, I might as well just start a new truck. This is my second E-Maxx, and so far, I've never been disappointed in the stock tranny, though granted I've not been putting it in the situations this one will be in, though unless the tranny is just absolutely horrendous, I can't see myself changing it out. At most I might do the lock out mod to fix the slop and a single motor/GD-600 mod to lose some of the high weight.

[-MD- Maxx]

Man my build is going to be very close to yours. Got any more pics?
:-P

[S1NN3R]

Naw, no more decent pics than the ones that are up here. I've been concentrating my time on a Wheely King, plus an upcoming sedan race followed by a big truggy race. The Maxx is pretty much in the same state of completion as in these pics. Work on the Maxx really slowed down when I go tthe Wheely King going and was able to make it over around nearly all the terrain around here, and I started wondering what I need a super for when my basic 2.2 can handle the roughest stuff around here.

[xr100]

Man thats NICE. I like how nice and neat it is. no ghetto stuff

[Bronco]

dang dude. thats realy clean! . i love that u used 4 lowe -A- arm for the top and bottom. and the carbon fiber realy sets it off. were did you get that upper link mount? its sweet

[S1NN3R]

I need to work on this thing sometime, I'm itching to have 4 inches of diff clearance....

The blue upper link mount that so many expressed interest in REALLY sucked. It only had a single bolt hole, and it wasn't possible to get the one bolt tight enough to prevent the whole thing rotating and throwing everything off. So for now I'm going with mounting the links in the rear most holes of the bulkheads. I may change that later with a two bolt link mount.

I'm also working on engineering a system that will allow two brushless motors to be independantly operated for dig Clod style while still being shaft driven with centrally located motors. It involves eliminating the tranny entirely and using gearboxes with input straight from the motor and outputting directly to the driveshaft. This will not only get a fully controllable dig system but will also get the CG as low as is physically possible by having the shafts of the motors and the shafts of the gearboxes all level with each other in a line nearly level to the chassis. It's a work in progress, but here's a quick sketch of my initial idea.

[S1NN3R]

Well, it looks like space constraints will prevent me from being able to lay them down perfectly flat, but I might still be able to mount them in a 90 degree "V" with the gearbox outputs in line at the bottom.

[PEDEcrawlerguy]

where did you get your on the link shock mounts?

[S1NN3R]

The lower shock mount was made from some Dubro airplane bolt-on wing mounts. I cut off one of the ears, modded the opposite side to clear the shock cap and drilled it to fit the arrow shaft. It works pretty well and it's a lot more sturdy than the typical cable clamp part.

However.... It's gone now. So are the links. And the tranny. And driveshafts. And chassis. All that's left is the axle and the steering. I decided to go with a complete redesign. I've been wanting to update the thread to show some stuff, but I think I'll wait until it's done, so it can be seen completed and in action.

[themerc64]

Interesting variation on a Maxx build Keep the thread going...

[toy4crawlin]

Great PICs
Nice Links
good job on steering, how well does it work ?
I too was thinking of using just gear reductions and no tranny, Great thinkin
Man that it looks Heavy, Weight ?

[toy4crawlin]

Originally Posted by S1NN3R

However.... It's gone now. So are the links. And the tranny. And driveshafts. And chassis. All that's left is the axle and the steering. I decided to go with a complete redesign. I've been wanting to update the thread to show some stuff, but I think I'll wait until it's done, so it can be seen completed and in action.

That's against the rules

Show us Pics Now

[S1NN3R]

Originally Posted by toy4crawlin

Great PICs

Thankee.

Originally Posted by toy4crawlin

good job on steering, how well does it work ?

Like a champ. The only things I'm going to have to work on are 1) the funky angles needed to get the steering servo where it is puts a rearward load on the link, which makes it pop out of it's little skidplate cradle. Right now, I have a loose zip-tie holding it in close proximity to the arm, but I'll need to work out something better than that. Perhaps make a longer skidplate set-up with locator posts to guide the steering link.

Originally Posted by toy4crawlin

I too was thinking of using just gear reductions and no tranny, Great thinkin

A tranny-less gear reduction system has been implemented, though not in the way I initially planned. I'm still working on how to get a low enough ratio on my system.

Originally Posted by toy4crawlin

Man that it looks Heavy, Weight ?

Never had both axles and all the equipment together, so I can't really say, though given the ratio of junk that's come off compared to junk that's gone on, I'd say it's no heavier than a stock Maxx, probably less.

[gtxracer]

Looks good, any updated pics?

[sabo_traxxas]

So why did you take everything apart and redo it? Did somethin not work?