Dr. F's Kit Bronco

[dr frankenstyle]

I took the "tiny" tires down to the road-side rocks today. Actually, I took Pumkinstein too, but that's for another thread.



I'm impressed with the 4.19 BF Goodys! They get around REALLY well.





The skid and axles DO drag a bit more, and it takes a little different lines at times ....




... but it goes up most of the climbs that the bigger tires go, just not quite as easily.




The grip of the predators is fantastic. If the tires touch, they climb.



And, as long as the rock doesn't break away .....



.... they ride the edge nice an' snug.



Thanks for lookin' (and I still miss the "like" button )

jim

[B-MOW71]

Like!

Them tires look good on there. They fit the body well. I have the same set, but haven't had a chance to try them out. I like how scale they look.

Oh, and I still love that sweet little spot you found to crawl on!

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Like!

Them tires look good on there. They fit the body well. I have the same set, but haven't had a chance to try them out. I like how scale they look.

Oh, and I still love that sweet little spot you found to crawl on!

"Like!" and Thanks. You'll have to give 'em a try. They perform as well as their bigger brothers (sisters? ) with the expected issues of smaller tires. It's a nice change, and adds a bit of difficulty. I think you'll like 'em too.
And yep, that little spot is like an oasis in the desert.

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Last Friday was super nice so I loaded up for an afternoon of RC fun. We hadn't been boatin' since last fall, so I had thrown my River Jet in the truck and I met my buddy at Fellows lake. He has an M-41 cat' that's crazy fast and I've added some ballast and power-trim for the nozzle on mine. The lake was like glass and both boats were flyin' across the cove. We both killed our packs in about 45 minutes, then we headed to Fassnight park for some rock crawlin'. I still had the tiny tires on and was anxious to see how they did against his Krawler TAs.



I'm damned impressed! BF Goodrich is killin' it.



The Bronco was able to lead or follow and go wherever his Jeep would go.




The set-up seemed to make almost as much difference as the tires. Some places were easier for mine, others were easier for his. And some neither of our trucks could go through. I call this spot the turtle bowl. It's just too steep for our approach angles.



You can get down one side, maybe back out, but so far we can't go thru it. And one false move and ....



.... THAT's why I call it the "turtle" bowl.

Thanks for lookin' and to whoever did it ... Thanks for the 5-star.

jim

[Topher Builds]

haha the turtle bowl looks fun.

Nice pics Jim. Have you started a thread for pumkinstein? Looks like a cool build.

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

haha the turtle bowl looks fun.

Nice pics Jim. Have you started a thread for pumkinstein? Looks like a cool build.

Thanks PD. Nope, the turtle bowl is a bitch.
Yep, it's in the 1.9 Scale section. It's been asleep for awhile, but I'm about to blow the dust off of the thread. I'll get it updated in a bit and it'll be easier to find.
Just updated Pumkinstein's thread.

[dr frankenstyle]

I got a couple of short videos of the bronco loaded onto youtube, so let's try this .... first is a slick rock at Fassnight Park, with the "tiny" tires.

https://youtu.be/2HVg8TzqIQc

Then at the road-side rocks with the big Krawlers back on.

https://youtu.be/BwD3oplGVcc

And here's one of Dave's Jeep at Fassnight.

https://youtu.be/x3WX5OXF0aQ

Hopefully I'll get better at the vid's, now that I can upload some.

jim

[B-MOW71]

"Like"

Cool videos Jim! Liked and subsribed on YT!

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

"Like"

Cool videos Jim! Liked and subsribed on YT!

Thanks Brian. I haven't been very lucky with my video efforts so far.
I actually shot 7 at the road-side rocks, but when I tried to view 'em at home, most of them got an unknown error and wouldn't play.
Now that I'm trying YT, maybe I can get better at it. We'll see.
Thanks for lookin', everybody. (I still miss the like button )


jim

[Topher Builds]

Originally Posted by dr frankenstyle

Thanks Brian. I haven't been very lucky with my video efforts so far.
I actually shot 7 at the road-side rocks, but when I tried to view 'em at home, most of them got an unknown error and wouldn't play.
Now that I'm trying YT, maybe I can get better at it. We'll see.
Thanks for lookin', everybody. (I still miss the like button )


jim

Lol me too, I’ve at least broken the habit of trying to like posts all the time.

Good stuff here as always Jim!

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Pant Danza

Lol me too, I’ve at least broken the habit of trying to like posts all the time.

Good stuff here as always Jim!

Thanks PD. I still hover my cursor over the spot now and then.
"LIKE"


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

The Bronco got a good bit of exercise the past week. I met my buddy Dave at Dolling Park to check out the creek bed.




It's about a 100-ft. section of old dry creek-bed, about 10-ft. wide. Lots of open rock with cracks and holes, but the sides have a lot of vines and debris so if you leave the rock you get tangled fast.



Dave was driving his yellow Jeep to start with, but he got it hung up in a crevice and next thing .... I noticed one front tire not pulling with the other side. Turned out he had snapped a front axle, so he got the blue truck out.



Then on Monday Dave's son came along and we met at Fassnight Park. Dave robbed an axle from his Defender, so his Jeep was back on the rocks with his son at the wheel.




We had a great afternoon of crawlin' and I think we may have infected another one.




Then Tuesday I went down to the road-side rocks. I spent about 45 minutes moving some hunks of rock to add some more places to climb and drive. I even made a bridge from the monolith rock to the outer rim. ;)




I had Pumkinstein with me too, but most of the climbs were a little too much for it .... for now.




But the Bronco was on-point all week. Other than losing a wheel center-cap at Fassnight, a stick or something kinked the rear T-lock cable, right at the axle, at Dolling and the rear-end wouldn't un-lock. That and I lost my bungee off the back bumper that day too. The truck has held up really well, only needing a few repairs and minor maintenance. Gotta LOVE that!

Thanks for lookin' and .... any way.

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Spring usually means extra work and a little extra cash, and THAT means new toys. I liked the GearHead wheels that T-maxxed put on his Bronco, and when I saw their Slotted Mags I had to have some. I grew up with slot's and always liked 'em, and these definitely fill the order.




They're external beadlock, so I mounted a ring and test fit one first off. Even with the 8mm hexes the ring JUSt rubbed the top edge of the brass portal covers. SOoo I got out the Dremel and the files and took off about 3/4mm off each one, about 4mm in from the edge.



All four corners got shaved, then they fit NICELY, with about 1/2mm clearance to the rings.



The GearHead's have about 5 or 6mm more offset than the JazzRider's, so they stuck out too far with the 8mm hexes. But after the file treatment, I was able to go back to the stock hexes and still have clearance at the portals. After the re-work they tucked in a bit, still gained a little track over the old set-up, but not as gangly lookin'.




I used some G-made scale hubs that I had, and I've got some scale lug-nuts and ring hardware coming from LURC to finish them off. The classic style fits the '73 perfectly and the bling of the beadlock rings made me fall in LOVE.
I've got more goodies coming too, so tune in next time.....
Thanks for lookin'.

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Holy tummy tuck, Batman! I got a Bowhouse N2R skid for the pony.



Here's a shot of the oem skid set-up.....



... and the new, slimmer belly.



It's kinda hard to see in the pic's, but it definitely streamlines the underside a bit. Rain's been here since yesterday, but I'll get to some rocks in the next few days to give it a good test drive.
Thanks for lookin' and tune in next time .... more goodies are on the way.

Oh, and sorry for the humongo pic's. I'm loadin' 'em the same as always, but Photobungler or something is wacko. Not sure how to change that, maybe a mod' can fix it. thanx

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

AW NUTS .... and bolts. Scale mag-lugs and scale hex bolts from LockedUp RC to be exact.



They got here today so I got 'em installed and took it out in the yard to test run the new N2R skid. It's a bit noisier, but i think it's just resonating thru the new plastic more. And the one-piece design may be part of it too. The gear mesh seems right and it's nearly silent when it's coasting down hill, so I don't think the extra noise is a problem. Here's a little better pic' of the tummy tuck.



The new hardware really finishes out the wheels. I still plan to hit some rocks this weekend and I'll post a second impression of the skid then.
Tune in for the next exciting episode ..... "Knuckle Bustin' " or "Slidin' into Home".

Thanks for lookin'.

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

My buddy Dave drove up and joined me for some road-side crawlin' today. We were having so much fun driving that I didn't take many pic's, but I did take a few.




And I shot a short video. You might say it has a cliffhanger ending. I stopped shooting just in time to catch his truck about half-way down a 5-ft fall.

https://youtu.be/aWc1UHtyan0

I LIKE the Bowhouse skid! There were a couple of spots that his truck hung up on that my truck didn't. I was running my 1300 battery and just as it ran out, his last factory steering servo crapped out. So we went back to my house, he got his Jeep out, and we spent a couple more hours on the rock pile and the spike bridge.



Nothing showed up in the mail yesterday .... should get more goodys this week.
Thanks for lookin'.

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Got another order of "slim-fast" in the mail yesterday.



A set of GRC's new sliders. Of course I can't leave anything stock, so the first thing I did was cut off the lower set of holes and drill a new hole to tuck 'em in a little too. The rails are aluminum, but the hangers are hardened steel, so I broke 1 drill bit punching 4 holes. I ended up filing the holes a bit to get 'em even tighter. Here's an "old vs new look.






I cut notches in the edge of the chassis to recess the hangers, and used the brass bushings again to lift 'em up a little more. Now they're a little over 3/8-in higher and just over 3/4-in narrower on each side.



I really liked the old sliders, but we've been crawlin' some new spots and I've noticed it hangin' up every now and then. Now with the N2R skid and these new sliders it should do better.



And I'm kinda likin' the look of the silver .... matches the wheels.

Thanks for lookin', and tune in again .... there's still more in the mail.

jim

[B-MOW71]

I like the looks of them sliders. They do go well together with the wheels. I have been thinking about picking up a set of them, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I may have to get an order placed.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

I like the looks of them sliders. They do go well together with the wheels. I have been thinking about picking up a set of them, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I may have to get an order placed.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Thanks Brian, I really like GRC's quality. The hardened hangers are a bit tougher if you want to change things, but they should be pretty solid. I'm thinkin' about strippin' the bumpers and going silver with both ends too.
And I'm slowly strippin' the axles .... from the bottom up.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Last weekend my buddy Dave, his son Josh and I ran the comp' with the local club (SMRCRC) guys. I scored high, like usual, but had a lot of fun. We finished right in the middle of the pack, with me placing in front of Dave, but Josh edged me out for 7th with his newly built Axial builders kit. Damned punks are takin' over the world. It's great that he's gettin' into it that much already. Now I have a father/son team kickin' my butt, tho'. Anyway .... we've had rounds of rain and storms all week, but more goodies got here in the mail, so here goes. This set showed up Thursday and I wasted no time gettin' 'em masked, shot with self-etching primer, and then with a couple of coats of satin black lacquer.



I may be stripping and polishing the bumpers, but I like the axles black. Here's a comparison shot. By the way, if you don't recognize the parts, it's GRC's new high-clearance knuckles and c-hubs.



The new set-up makes the axle look longer, and definitely gains clearance at the wheels.



The new knuckles have the Ackerman option, and I have a new drag link on the way to set that up. When it works, I'll update with info and details. I've been reading the "long travel" threads and it makes sense, so I mounted the shocks in the top holes on the axles. I ordered 4 new 30 rate springs and a pair of 22's to soften things up and get my ride-height back down, and I got some 25-wt oil to free up the action a bit. We'll see how that goes and post up results. Sorry I didn't get any pic's from the comp ... I forgot to charge my ipod before going. Hopefully I can get the new parts on some rocks soon and get some fresh pic's and video.
Thanks for lookin', let me know what ya think.
Peace on ya.

jim