'68 Ford Shortbed build

[dr frankenstyle]

I won some $$$ in a radio contest last month, so I decided to build another TRX-4. If you've seen my other builds you know I tend to do things a little differently. And on a lower budget mostly too. Well, this time I wanna use up some left-overs from my Bronco and a body that I bought, as a spare for my Pro-streeter back in '16, and never used. Anyway .... here's a hint.



I bought a Defender "slider" on eBay ....



.... mounted my 4.19 BFG's on some new "old-s'cool" style beadlocks ... and started making some new short-wheelbase links from 4mm SS all-thread. The new wheelbase will end up right at 282mm.



I'm gonna put some new parts in the Bronco and swap the old stuff over to this truck. New upgrade parts are also gettin' here in the mail. So it'll be a bit of a slow build. I don't plan to upgrade it as far as the Bronc' .... don't need a clone .... so it'll get some different stuff. But it needs to at least try to keep up, so it should be fun.

Thanks for lookin'..... tune in next time for "I like 'em short and wide. " or "Where did my rear-end go! "



jim

[high plains drifter]

What body is that exactly? Really looking fwd to watching this one. Looks like you're off to a good start.

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

What body is that exactly? Really looking fwd to watching this one. Looks like you're off to a good start.

Thank ya, sir. It's a Vaterra body for their drift chassis. It's like the Ascender F-100 with a bed and small wheel openings. I bought it back in 2016 because I flipped my Pro-street truck and scarred the crap out of the roof. But I ended up just fixing the roof and never used the "spare" body. It comes with a "hard" chrome grill and bumper. I plan to use the left-over color-change paint (for the Bronco's flames) and slap some rubber fender flares on it to open up the fenders.
Like the nickname implies (and like my other rigs ) .... it'll be a chopped up mixture of graveyard parts and new parts .... with a little mad-science thrown in too. More parts should get here next week, so I should make a little progress to post up.
Here's how that body looks with some paint and "accessories".







jim

[MaX-D]

Nice looking truck. I like the color choice!

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[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by MaX-D

Nice looking truck. I like the color choice!

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Thank you, Sir. I built that truck and trailer a while back to go with the boat. The boat came that color, so I can only take credit for likin' it and tryin' to match it. The local auto parts store got as close as they could and it turned out to be "Phantom Purple" for an 2011 Mazda. It's hard to see in the pic's, but it has a lot of "metallic" sparkle in it. Only downside is the purple is enamel and the white is lacquer, so it won't take much abuse. Luckily, that one doesn't GET a lot of abuse.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

I got a bit more done on the shorty this weekend. Tore the slider down and chopped off the rear end of the frame rails and cut the back corners off of the floor pans.



It needs a little more refining, but it fits in the body now.



I'm gonna try the stock battery tray for now, but with some modifyin'. I cut the sides out of the upper level to open up the lower level for my 1800 size packs. I chopped the end off too, since I'll use a velcro strap.




If it doesn't lower it enough I'll get a BowHouse tray for it too. Got a set of cheap heavy portal covers in and got them shot with self-etching primer and satin black.




Got metal c-hubs for both ends. That'll get the shocks mounted better too. Speakin' of shocks .... I swapped the oil for 10-wt and the springs for the new 22's. This rig will be lighter than the Bronco so I went with the lightest springs.



Did the teflon tape trick to the lower caps (like the Bronco) to free up the stiction. A new full set of Xtra Speed shock mounts should get here in the next few days. Then I'll tear down the Bronco to put new parts in it and rob the old parts for this truck. That'll be a bit of a job, but then I can get the shorty farther along. Should get my SS tubing to finish up the links soon too.

Thanks for watching. Tune in for our next episode ..... "Hittin' the Skids" or "Stand up and take a BowHouse" ....


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Well, I'm still waiting on the shock mounts to tear down the Bronco so I decided to get the axles rebuilt. I used the old alloy c-hubs from the Bronco and put the new brass portal covers on, then I decided to try the alloy diff' covers too. Something inside the diff' covers makes the locker mechanism bind up, so I dremel'd on the inside a little and got it to work ..... I think. It's still kinda tight, but it should work. The metal cover also hit the drag-link at full lock, so I bent the link a little and got it some space. Anyway, the front started out at ....



.... and ended up at ....



I read moguy's thread about less positive caster helping the steering and I figured this will be the perfect time to try it out and compare it to the Bronco. So I put the c-hubs on their r and l sides as marked. That gives even less positive caster than stock, but .... it put the shock mounting holes on the front side of the axle. THAT won't work with the steering, so I drilled and tapped a couple of holes in the back side and now I can mount the shocks with the spread stance. Takes the shock load off of the link mounts too.



Meanwhile, the rear just got alloy c-hubs and brass portal covers. I swapped sides so the shock holes are on the back of the axle. That'll help the shock angle with the short links. It went from stock weight ....



.... to ....



I didn't put the metal diff' cover on yet, but I have a set of under-drive gears comin' next week so I may work it over and put it on when I swap the gears. Maybe the Xtra Speed shock mounts will get here next week too.
Thanks for lookin'. Tune in next time.



jim

[Jeff6x6]

Meet Project. I am finding there is a lot of talented people, that think outside the box here.

[Benp]

I agree Jeff

[high plains drifter]

Forgot to mention the boat and matching body came out great! Gotta ask does that body come pre-drilled with the body mounting holes or did you ream those yourself? I continue to enjoy seeing this come together. Again... nice job!

[mr_alister]

Can't believe i never thought of that battery tray mod. That's an awesome idea! I run a genace adventurer 4300mah shorty and that would drop right down in there with that mod. Awesome I'm excited to try it!!

[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Jeff6x6

Meet Project. I am finding there is a lot of talented people, that think outside the box here.

Originally Posted by Benp

I agree Jeff

Thanks guys. I've had the "disease" for years.

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

Forgot to mention the boat and matching body came out great! Gotta ask does that body come pre-drilled with the body mounting holes or did you ream those yourself? I continue to enjoy seeing this come together. Again... nice job!

Thank you, Sir. Yeah, dang it, it does come pre-drilled. It wasn't a problem with the boat puller, since it was a scratch-built chassis. But this one might be a bit tricky. I have a couple of schemes in mind, but we'll see what it takes. Stay tuned.

Originally Posted by mr_alister

Can't believe i never thought of that battery tray mod. That's an awesome idea! I run a genace adventurer 4300mah shorty and that would drop right down in there with that mod. Awesome I'm excited to try it!!

Thanks, I just tried to look at it from the cheapo angle. I want to get some performance improvement, but tryin' to keep the dollar bottom'd out. And I want to use up some old parts. Glad you like the mod'. I've learned a LOT here, so I try to give back when I can.
I don't always build 'em fast ..... but I try to always build 'em FUN!

Y'all tune in next time ...... or chime in ANY time.


jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Since I got the Bronco rebuilt a couple weeks ago I had all of the pull-off parts ready for the Shorty, and with those and the handful of new parts she's now a loaded slider again.



The hand-me-down parts include .... the BowHouse V1 skid-plate, alloy driveshafts, OD and UD gears, alloy rear shock mounts and front c-hubs, 9T pinion, tires and all of the servos, and of course the body. I also got a shorter T-lock cable from Dave.



New parts include .... Holmes 45T Sport motor, Hobbywing 1080, metal motor mount (GRC copy), wheels, Xtra Speed front shock mounts, brass portal covers, metal rear c-hubs, and a new Traxxas radio set.



I chopped the ears off of a dead servo and shimmed the steering servo up like the Bronco, that keeps the arm up out of the way.



The F-100 body needs to sit pretty low, so I ended up cuttin' the top 2 rows of holes off of the tops of the rear shock mounts and that let it drop down where I want it.



It's sitting on top of the body post crossmembers at both ends, so it should be easy to fasten on with magnets or something.



Now the sliders will be easy to fit up.



I made a custom set of stainless links for the rear, and when I'm happy with the wheelbase, I'll make some fronts. To get the frame short enough I chopped off the back half of the rear crossmember and turned it around. Then I used what was the center hole to fasten the rear of the shock mounts, and fastened the front of the shock mnts into the battery tray screws. That let me chop the frame rails off and use the old holes for the rear of the crossmember for the rear (now a front) bumper mount.



I cut the rear driveshaft down to 86-mm. so it's shorter than the front shaft now.



Hopefully my plans will work out ... so far it's all lining up like I want.



Keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for lookin'. Tune in next time.

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

Well, I finally got the chassis all together. All of the electrics are in and workin'. My allen wrench rounded off and stripped 2 of the ring-gear screws when I was installing the UD gears. So I drilled the heads off, pulled all of the gears, and ordered a new carrier set. It came in last week so I got the axles together and the wheels and tires put on. Then I took 'er out in the yard for some topless trial runs.




So far, I'm happy with it. The 4.19 Mud Terrain's grab pretty well. I may have to get some of the new class 0 Krawler TA's for it.




The stubby wheelbase makes it a little back-flippy'er when the angle alarm goes off, so I might put some metal axle housings on it .... we'll see.





I guess it's time to mask some windows and such.

Thanks for lookin'. Tune in to our next exciting episode ...... "Color Me Badly" or "c'mon ..... Shake that Body!"

jim

[dr frankenstyle]

I had to go to town yesterday and I wanted to try Shorty on some bigger rocks .... only trouble is (gee whizz) the body still looks, and stays on, like Cinderella's dancin' shoes.



So I looked around for anything that was about the right size annd, with some quick trimming on some body posts ...... TA DA!

It's a Box-truck!



Hey, it kept the inards a bit safer while it was on the rocks.





There were a couple of kids nearby, the boy got a kick out of the "box" driving around on the rocks.




I'm happy, it did pretty well. The class 1 BF Goodies do a nice job, but I may try the big Krawlers just to compare. The stubby wheelbase helps with high-centering on the peaks, but it makes it a little tougher on ledges and stair-steps.




Bumpers will hurt the approach a little, but I think it'll be a decent little crawler when it's all together.

Thanks again for watchin'. Tune in next time for ... "What color IS that?" or "Air-brushes aren't for your hair."

jim

[Gramps]

The box is on backwards

[Benp]

I love it!!!! The box is great! Very ingenious.

Looks like an awesome spot to play!

[MaX-D]

Love the box truck! I think you should keep the box as a backup.

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[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Love the Cybertruck body! Very Highly detailed!

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[dr frankenstyle]

Originally Posted by Gramps

The box is on backwards

I'm not real good at thinkin' outside the box. Thanks

Originally Posted by Benp

I love it!!!! The box is great! Very ingenious.

Looks like an awesome spot to play!

Thanks Ben', The KISS method comes thru again.
Fassnight Park is a well-known crawl spot in the area. The local club runs their comp's there pretty regularly. The rocks run along a creek for a few hundred feet. Lots of fun to be had there.

Originally Posted by MaX-D

Love the box truck! I think you should keep the box as a backup.


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Originally Posted by ScaleLifeNewbie

Love the Cybertruck body! Very Highly detailed!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks guys. Like I told my buddy .... it'll always win 'cause it's got "priority"!

Glad you all liked it!

jim