VS4 Chassis: Double Mutt Build

[hibbs]

Building two trucks using VS4 chassis. SCX10.2 based built entirely with upgrade parts. Parts are as follows:

VS4 Chassis
Axial Jeep Wrangler Race G6 (comp cut style body)
Mamba X
CC BEC
Savor 1210SG (now with 440oz/in!!)
Novak 18.5 brushless crawler motor
Enduro Trans (upgraded to all metal gears, alum slipper plates, Axial 32p Spur) OD ~11%
Vanquish grey wheels/Aluminum wheels
Pitbull XL Alien RB/Pitbull RB
Crawler Innovations lil nova dual foams (soft F/med R)
Incision driveshafts
Incision scale shocks/proline scaler shocks
SSD diamond axles
SSD Alum link mounts
SSD rear shafts
SSD pro CVDs
SSD Lockers
Hot racing overdrive front diff
Vanquish machined rear diff
Beef Tubes brass c hubs/Yeah racing brass c hubs
SSD brass heavy knuckles
SSD knuckle bushings
Fast Eddy axle bearing set
Beef Tubes beef tips shock bottoms

So I sent RPP a formidable amount of US dollars for which they sent me the biggest pile of RC parts I've ever received, dubbed "RC Christmas"





The story if you're interested is thus. I fell out of scaling but my neighbor is into RC. I sold him an old SCX-10 and he got me back into it worse than ever. We went to two comps put on by our local group (outstanding bunch of guys). I explained that while I am competitve (usually in the top 5 or so) I build my trucks for looks first, performance second. He said we should build a lexan bodied truck to be more competitive as that's what he feels takes the podium more often. I've never built purely for competitiveness, the scale modeling aspect draws me in too much. So here we go!

[MaX-D]

DAAAANG! I can't wait to see this truck. I'm curious though, with the Enduro trans over driven at 11%, plus overdrive gears in the front axle, what is your overdrive percentage at now?

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

[hibbs]

Originally Posted by MaX-D

DAAAANG! I can't wait to see this truck. I'm curious though, with the Enduro trans over driven at 11%, plus overdrive gears in the front axle, what is your overdrive percentage at now?

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

I calculated it before but I can’t remember exactly. It should be in the neighborhood of 20% which is a sweet spot imo. Most say about 10-20% for trailing and 30% or so for comps.

I’d have gone for 30% but that’s all I can get with this setup. I didn’t want to do a front mount motor with a t case but the Rc4wd overdrive case let’s you pick from 30-65 or so.

I’m got SSD portals coming so I should be able to further overdrive it with those. I think that’ll put it at 25-30%. I’m going to go against their advice and put the front portal knuckles on their axle but I plan to drill and tap to bolt it to the axle housing to keep it from stripping. If it fails I’m only out the tubes which are like $12. Worth a try I say.

We’re about to mount the bodies soon. I’m making electronics boxes and battery trays on the side sliders. Then we’re gonna make cages, bumpers and side sliders. I’ll post progress as we get further along.

[B-MOW71]

Welcome back to RC! That's the way to jump back in with a nice load of parts from RPP! Gotta love "RC Christmas"!

Looking forward to following your build!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[GA Dawg]

That's funny. I'm about to rebuild my Trail Honcho and I've been calling it the mutt. It'll end up with a Vanquish chassis, Enduro trans, Axial axles and Traxxas shocks.

[JatoTheRipper]

I'm anxious to see this build progress!

Oh and next time you want to get rid of a formidable amount of US dollars my mailbox is always open.

[indybama]

This is goina b a sweet build. Im slowly gettin my parts piled up that big for this winters build.

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

[Brandon]

Great start. So cool to see parts from so many brands come together in 1 build.

[hibbs]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Welcome back to RC! That's the way to jump back in with a nice load of parts from RPP! Gotta love "RC Christmas"!

Looking forward to following your build!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Thank you, I'm stoked!

Originally Posted by GA Dawg

That's funny. I'm about to rebuild my Trail Honcho and I've been calling it the mutt. It'll end up with a Vanquish chassis, Enduro trans, Axial axles and Traxxas shocks.

To be honest it may have been you. I saw someone here on the forums mention a "mutt build" and I thought it was funny. When I put this together I stole that term.

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I'm anxious to see this build progress!

Oh and next time you want to get rid of a formidable amount of US dollars my mailbox is always open.

Thank you, I'm building the same truck for myself and my neighbor at the same time so it's a slow process. Everything has to be done twice. I'll keep you in mind next time I splurge XD

Originally Posted by indybama

This is goina b a sweet build. Im slowly gettin my parts piled up that big for this winters build.

Sent from my SM-J327VPP using Tapatalk

It's the best way to do it, order all the parts then sit down and enjoy the build! I'm not looking forward to it getting cold in the garage :/ I'm going to have to buy a big heater of some kind.

Originally Posted by Brandon

Great start. So cool to see parts from so many brands come together in 1 build.

Thank you Brandon! The VS-4 Chassis is soooo nice. I think everyone considers Vanquish top shelf. It makes the build so fun cause it feels super premium. Can't wait to run it!

[hibbs]

We built the chassis' first. Was quick and easy. As has been mentioned 1000 times, it's surpisingly rigid. I'm eager to see how the suspension will act given a nice solid platform to work from instead of a noodle.



I decided to make my own stainless links. It turned into quite a job. I've done them many times but it's been a while. I got the ends too hot when grinding to size and it made tapping a nightmare. I broke a couple taps and had to redo several links.




1/4" stainless rod. Drill and tap the ends for 8-32 threads. Cut segments of 8-32 all-thread. Assemble with rod end of choice (Revo ends here). I've never seen one break.



One of the first things we decided was to swap to all stainless steel hardware. I get scale hardware from McMaster-Carr. Good prices and good parts. We did stay with bigger socket head hardware instead of pan heads. They don't look as clean but I like the idea Vanquish had because the bigger hex is much easier to work with. I think it looks nice with stainless screws.



LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE these Vanquish wheels!!



One of my first big challenges was setting up panhard/CMS. It's my first go at it. It would be fairly simple but I wanted a nice long wheelbase (12.5" is where we ended up). This means a lot of moving and "adjusting" parts of the chassis. It is designed to allow for shifting shocks links around really well. My main problem was the panhard mount can only be placed so far forward. I will have to drill a hole in the chassis *GASP*




I had to shift the steering servo over a half a set of holes. There isn't a spot there so I used the dig/2 speed servo mount included with the chassis to act as a drill guide. I bolted it up half a set of holes off so the further set lined up my drill perfectly. I just had to carefully use a hacksaw to cut a small grove for the servo webbing to clear.




I ended up pretty happy with the front steering setup. The axle is clocked upward just a bit to allow for a slight bend in the front lower links. The panhard bar misses the upper link mounts on the axle by half-a-hair.



My last truck I brazed a bolt onto the steering link to avoid the need to stack the drag link and steering bar on the knuckle. It worked great but when the steering bar could rotate on the link ends it added a good bit of slop in the steering. This time around I'm having none of that.



I ground down the ball ends and boled them up with a washer on top so the steering bar can only pivot NOT rotate. It's nice and tight now!



Got tired of looking at the brass colored parts. Powder coated them smoke chrome in an attempt to match the SSD knuckles. Nowhere close but they look nice and the somewhat light color won't show scratches as bad (or so I hope).





WARNING: what you see next is pretty graphic. It may disturb younger viewers. Do not proceed if you are easily disturbed.

I'm kidding of course, but as much as I love this chassis, I want 90 degree approach and departure angles. The extra half inch of plastic supporting the fuel tank is in my way. Also it only has enough room for a reciever and maybe a BEC. I need something a little roomier. More on that later. I did my best to make the cut clean looking as I could.



I decided before I even finished building the transmission that I wanted the steel gears. Once they came in I went ahead and installed them. Got the aluminum spur plates too. When building it the first time I thought I could make an axial spur gear work and get the 32p teeth. It worked out perfectly and is the only axial part on this SCX10.2 build (aside from the body of course).



Clearance on the newer scx 2 axles is much improved. The SSD diamonds are tucked way up there. Comparing my old faithful Toyota clearance to the new build. It's about 8mm higher.




At first I was going to mount the electronics on the side trays. I built a radio box but I hated it. It was huge heavy and in the way. Scrapped that idea. Biggest problem is the Mamba X is kind of big to fit on the side trays. Plan B was much nicer and I ended up with a fairly simple plate to mount the ESC. I absoultely HATE ugly messy wiring on a chassis. I'm going to work to make it as clean and tidy as I can. I used the dig bracket again to layout drill holes perfectly.








That takes care of only one component. So more space was needed. Now to build a box for the rest of the electrics. Wonder where I could find a beautifully designed lid for an electronics box...




Apply some styrene diamond plating



Paint it up



Decided to clear gloss over the primer so it won't be permanently dirty looking



Next I'm tackling a battery tray. The Vanquish chassis has a beautiful aluminum plate. Normally I'd roll with it, but I am trying my best to build for performance so I'll see if I can get the battery a bit lower and more forward.




Bent a teeny tiny bracket for on top of this mount on the chassis.



I zip-tied the suspension to full stuff so I could carefully position the tray as low as possible without hitting links or driveshaft. It's since been brazed but needs some love to make it look better. Once I get these all sorted, I'll powder coat them something beautiful. I plan on doing a blue metallic accents theme. My buddy's truck will have either red or gloss black metal work.



I'll update as I get more done, but as I mentioned doing everything twice takes.... well twice as long.

Thanks for looking

[durok]

Very interested in seeing this progress, good luck with the build!

I think a few of us have thought of "Mutt" builds, as Harley started throwing every axle made under the VS4-10 chassis and even bolted up the Element tranny to one.

Originally was going to build my Enduro up that way, ordered all the parts and then decided that I really would like to see how it runs with just the "standard" upgrades.

Still have the parts waiting for a later build, perhaps with the SSD rear portal option - and hoping for the MST Toyota "J45C" Land Cruiser body to be available soon.

[B-MOW71]

Wow! There is a lot of good stuff going on here!

Great job on the links and ESC tray! Receiver box looks great too!

I'm dying to see the rest of the build now!

[hibbs]

Thank you guys! Small update today. I did get the battery trays to work but I forgot to take pics. Honestly they're kinda ugly so it's probably for the better.

We got the bodies painted up. I went with Tamiya gun metal, my friend with classic bright red. It was late and we forgot to mask the headlights. It sucks but I have sanded inside and got them cleared but they're quite hazy. I bought a dremel polishing kit so I'll go at it at some point and get them crystal clear again.



Now on to the most fun part of all... metal work! First up is getting a cage on this body. It looks so bare without one. Doing my friend's truck first. I opted for 3/16 steel tubing. I weighed a 6 foot stick and it was about 6 oz so not too heavy. I hope to keep it light as possible but still look nice.

Started with the side runs front to back




He really liked the center brace in the middle of the windshield (not sure if that has a name).




Next is the top of the cage we tried to follow the same lines from the windshield back to the brace above the B pillar.


Got the rear trimmed up and brazed some feet onto them so they don't punch through the body.





This is my favorite shot, I mocked up the B pillar with a scrap of tubing


That's where I'm at for now. I'll update when I get the other cage going. I'm anxious to powder coat this cage gloss black. It's going to look incredible once it's painted! Thanks for looking.

[hibbs]

Been a long time since an update. Trucks are finished and we did fair in our comp. 7th and 12th out of about 30 people. We also had never driven the trucks as we finished them in a rush right before the comp.

Some pics from the cage builds:








Sliders:




Front bumpers had to have minimal interference with approach angle



I painted the straws black and you can't even tell.

First a big ugly box as a base to build upon.





From here not many pics were taken in the mad dash to finish the trucks up. Here are some from the comp:

[JatoTheRipper]

What was your reasoning for moving the servo over?

How do you like the performance of the truck?

Your first comp results are impessive.