Crawler Innovations Ascending1

[Nova's Ark]

I picked this up in a trade, making me the third owner. I don't know why, but it looked like it hardly ever been driven.

Here's some pictures of what it looked like when I received it:












It's not too often that a mostly stock or original crawler comes through the shop. I'm happy it was because it allowed for some cheap modding.


..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[Nova's Ark]

I don't know if this was a RTR or a kit. I do know that the stock front shocks were way too hard. I removed one, disassembled it, and learned that the e clip covers at least one of the piston holes, there are two, severely limiting piston travel.
Stock piston;


This is a simple mod, with a razor blade, or exacto knife, etc, cut out the plastic from the piston hole out towards the piston edge:


By removing material and allowing oil to flow around the e clip, the shocks perform like shocks.
Bad picture, but you can see the size of the eclip compared to the shock piston:


Next change was springs; I installed Losi Mini T Rear Soft springs in the front.


I used Associated 20W oil in front:





..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[Nova's Ark]

Next I made a front electronics tray made from 1/16" delrin sheet:


After I installed the electronics and got it tuned and running, I did a body drop on it. I got a little lazy with pics as I was anxious to go drive. Here's a few pics on the rocks this morning on its first battery pack:









..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[Nova's Ark]

I am amazed at how well this crawler performs with a few mods. The steering and front geometry alone blows away any Axial vehicle ever produced in stock form. Vaterra did their homework on this crawler and it's well designed. I have driven two full 4S Lipo battery packs (16volts) that yield about 45 minutes of drive time each, so I have a good feel for it and I'm impressed. I was totally expecting junk like the first Losi comp crawler.

The rear shocks are still stock and unmodified.
The drive shafts and gears are stock as well, but I'll be ordering the HD parts soon.

Specs:
Hitec Servo programmed
Castle ESC
Tekin 27T Motor
Futaba TX & RX
3s or 4s lipo

Wheels / Tires \ Foams

Wheels
Vanquish Products 2.2 SSZ discontinued wheels

Tires
Pitbull 1.9 Rock Beasts

Foams
Front: Deuces Wild for 1.9 Tires 4.0-3.95" tall for the inner with a Soft Lil Nova Outer

Rear: Deuces Wild for 1.9 Rock Beast














..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[Nova's Ark]

I mentioned the body drop earlier, it's super easy. Lower the body stands, then file or Dremel the blazer body to clear the frame rails. Pic shows:




More random pics:








..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[CBurwinkle]

Lookin' good. I like the rolled down rear window-nice touch

[PHATBOB]

Sweet ride man gotta love those blazer body's got one for my deadbolt but paint job sucks plus that mod with the shocks looks like great articulation now

[professorcake]

looking good i like those vp wheels. do your rock beasts rub at all?

[M1tch]

Really nice job. I am thinking of getting some of those rock beasts once I get paid at the end of the month.

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by CBurwinkle

Lookin' good. I like the rolled down rear window-nice touch

Thank you very much :-D

Originally Posted by PHATBOB

Sweet ride man gotta love those blazer body's got one for my deadbolt but paint job sucks plus that mod with the shocks looks like great articulation now

Thank you.
Whomever painted the body tried to go back and remove the paint after it had been backed in black. The pics don't show it and the stickers help hide it. Get creative with the mistakes on your paint job. Besides once it's on the rocks, scratches add character.
The shock mod is super easy and it will articulate so much smoother.

Originally Posted by professorcake

looking good i like those vp wheels. do your rock beasts rub at all?

Thank you.
It took me a while to track these wheels down used after they had been discontinued and then waiting for the rig to put them on.
My rock beast tires do not rub overall. Every once in a while, at full articulation, the fronts with the steering at max turn, they can get into the lower back corner of the fender, but it hasn't been problem.
I'm using VP 350 SLW hubs front and rear.

Originally Posted by M1tch

Really nice job. I am thinking of getting some of those rock beasts once I get paid at the end of the month.

Thank you.
The 1.9 Pitbull Rock Beast tire is the best performing and most consistent 1.9 tire on the market IMO. The 1.9 RB has been proven over and over again in competition. Give them a try, you won't be disappointed.



..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[Johnnysplits]

Originally Posted by Nova's Ark

The 1.9 Pitbull Rock Beast tire is the best performing and most consistent 1.9 tire on the market IMO. The 1.9 RB has been proven over and over again in competition. Give them a try, you won't be disappointed

Yeah, sold mine after using them for a few minutes.

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by Johnnysplits

Yeah, sold mine after using them for a few minutes.

So what did you replace them with?

Which foams were in the rock beasts when you tried them?


..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[Dhallmark]

I decided to do the same spring and piston treatment to my front shocks that you did. The losi mini t springs are too small so I'm guessing that you took the upper spring and spring retainer off and let the losi spring sit inside the lower spring cup and ran the preload collar down until it is on top of the spring which is pretty much all the way down at the bottom of the shock body if that makes sense. Am I correct? Is there maybe an axial soft spring for the scx that may work better fitment wise?

[Minirider82]

I like the truck but the upside down grill is kind of annoying lol.

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by Dhallmark

I decided to do the same spring and piston treatment to my front shocks that you did. The losi mini t springs are too small so I'm guessing that you took the upper spring and spring retainer off and let the losi spring sit inside the lower spring cup and ran the preload collar down until it is on top of the spring which is pretty much all the way down at the bottom of the shock body if that makes sense. Am I correct? Is there maybe an axial soft spring for the scx that may work better fitment wise?

You are correct.

I am unaware of another spring.

Originally Posted by Minirider82

I like the truck but the upside down grill is kind of annoying lol.

I never even noticed that.

[Dhallmark]

Thanks for the reply. I noticed the grill too. I thought you may have been starting a trend

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by Dhallmark

Thanks for the reply. I noticed the grill too. I thought you may have been starting a trend

LOL
No trend setting here .
As usual for me, I was too concerned with the function and performance, not the looks. It's been a long time since I had a box stock truck to upgrade and play with. The ascender took me by surprise. I finally broke my first parts a few weeks ago while filming at a park in the DFW metroplex. The front axle pinion and drive shaft broke. The upgrades have arrived though

[Dhallmark]

I'm with you on the function thing. I prefer comp crawlers but a couple of friends have scx10's and they talked me into trying a scaler. I like it and all but I'm more into trying to make it crawl good vs looking like the real thing. Ready for some companies to come out with some performance mods. Got any vids of yours crawling by any chance? Would like to see how it does with good foams and some shock tuning by somebody who knows what they're doing.

[Nova's Ark]

Originally Posted by Dhallmark

I'm with you on the function thing. I prefer comp crawlers but a couple of friends have scx10's and they talked me into trying a scaler. I like it and all but I'm more into trying to make it crawl good vs looking like the real thing. Ready for some companies to come out with some performance mods. Got any vids of yours crawling by any chance? Would like to see how it does with good foams and some shock tuning by somebody who knows what they're doing.

I'm in total agreement with you about the comp crawlers. I miss the entire comp crawler scene. It's too bad RC crawling has been reduced to it's current state.

I do wish the Vaterra Ascender was geared lower for rock crawling. I'm still running mine on 4S in order to gear down lower and still have some wheel speed. I have some limited video footage of the ascender on the rocks but have not had time to edit it yet. The upgrades parts are going to make an improvement in crawling and durability. For what it is out of the box, the ascender is still a better buy and vehicle out of the box over any axial scx. The front steering and link geometry kill any axial scx right out of the box.

I'm curious to see what other performance upgrades vendors within the crawler hobby come up with too. I still think some of them are afraid to give the ascender any respect. For a 1.9 scaler, I'm enjoying my ascender.


..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

[Nova's Ark]

I decided to gamble on the Vaterra Ascender upgrade aluminum shocks. I'm glad I did. They come pre-assembled, and feel like shocks. They hold oil with no leaking and no modifying, that's so nice. The included springs feel a little stiff to me for a stock ascender geared more for rock crawling, but I'm going to install them as is and try them first.





..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...