My baby blazer

[Itali83]

I figure I should start a thread to show the stages of my vaterra blazer as things progress. I got it as a gift and it was the RTR version so I could just put a battery in and enjoy it. My last rc vehicle was probably 25 years ago so things have changed for sure!

My truck is basically stock. The only thing I've done is dropped the body 2 holes and took the small spacer out of the rear bumper mount to tuck it in close to the body. I've greased everything as it was pretty dry as shipped. I've got the HD pinions already in it. I do need to shim the differentials as the is a little more slop than I'd like. I've got a realistic light on order, heyok's remote light switch, dx4c controller to control the lights and either a winch or 2 speed down the road some day.

I'd like to make some better rock sliders at some point, going to get new 1.9 beadlock wheels and either another set of stock tires or another not sure yet. The tsl's do work well on the terrain I run.

I'm lucky to hav a working gravel pit for a backyard so I don't have to go far for several different types of terrain but really like the hard surfaces. I'm not a mud bogger by any means really.

Here's a few pictures of it as I've been playing with it so far. I had to get a picture of it with my '82 pickup. I also have 3 full size Jimmy's and a suburban all that style so when I saw the little truck it was perfect for me!

[Natedog]

Looking good and sounds like good future plans, stock tires work really well imo. Nice to have the woods and gravel/dirt playground right out back! 1:1 looks good too!

[Itali83]

Got my lights installed today. I have a set on order from common sense but they keep pushing the unavailable date back farther and farther so I got fed up and bought an ebay special set. Brand new comes with 4 5mm white, 4 3mm yellow, 2 3mm white and 2 5mm red LEDs. Plus controller two Y cables to tie into steering and throttle and a bunch of ties and sticky holders.

I had to lengthen a few wires just because the body is so big but it was easy plug and play. This was half the price of the common sense one but I'll still get that one and put it on the jeep I'm building and see which one really is better.

I tried getting a video of it in the dark but my phone wouldn't take a good one. It's fairly bright but not enough for a night time trail ride. I'm going to be installing rock lights and possibly some a cape KC lights on the bumper for night time use. Still have my heyok lighting controller but haven't gotten it yet.

[Dan232]

Show the lights on in the dark.

[Itali83]

Just had to brag a little. I just sold one of my many 1:1 square bodies but i treated myself to a 2 speed tranny. It was a complete kit from ebay with metal gears and I couldn't help myself! I'll get pictures of it when I get it and while putting it all together.
Ben

[Itali83]

Here's a few poor pictures of the lights in my completely dark basement. First is low beam headlights. Second is high beam and third is brake lights.

[Natedog]

Those look pretty good, high beam headlights is good to crawl by, tail lights are bright enough too, but yes you need rock lights. What you going to use? I saw those wiring clips at Fry's Electronics, looked good, but I went for the ziptie anchor type instead just in case the wires don't get bounced out.

[Itali83]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Those look pretty good, high beam headlights is good to crawl by, tail lights are bright enough too, but yes you need rock lights. What you going to use? I saw those wiring clips at Fry's Electronics, looked good, but I went for the ziptie anchor type instead just in case the wires don't get bounced out.

I'll end up getting the red lights like you got for underneath, I think I'll put lights in the bumpers where there are already holes and I think I want to get some lights to put on the front bumper like old school K/C lights to be period correct but haven't found any really. I want the brightness of the rectangle LED light bars but the look of the round lights. I know I can get the axial light buckets and that's the style I ant but don't know what led bulb to use so they'll be bright enough.

I'm going to be running the rock and bumper lights off my heyok remote light switch and possibly off battery power not rx power but have to see what I get for bulbs first I guess.
Ben

[Natedog]

Sounds good. The pre-wired CommonSenseRC white 5mm LEDs work great for headlights, KC's, rocklights etc. even off lower voltages like the rx. I used these for my Blazer headlights, ten pack for $10 at LHS with resistors and lead wires all soldered and shrinkwrapped connections, can't beat it and saves me time:
https://www.commonsenserc.com/produc...oducts_id=4723

Might buy the red 5mm and use some Axial light buckets to mount for rocklights on mine.

Just looked at their site more and I'l probably buy the JST-HX balance plug adapter with 8" harness for my waterproof peel and stick red led strips that I already have mounted up!
https://www.commonsenserc.com/produc...oducts_id=2430

[Itali83]

Those are good ideas. I like that balance plug tap harness. Hurry up and get your lights up and running, I'm interested to see how all of them will effect battery run time since you're running 2s like me. If those common sense lights are really that bright I may just get the axial round light kit, use two for headlight buckets on my jeep body and put the other two on the bumper on my blazer.

I may have to get a small 3s pack to power them though, I see they get brighter the more voltage they have up to 12 volts
Ben

[Itali83]

I got my axial light buckets in and mounted. I think they are the perfect size! I put 5mm 9 volt clear bulbs in there along with in the stock bumper mounts too. I'm running them right off 2s power. I like the yellow lenses for now and they cast a wide angle which is nice. I also out two 5mm red LEDs in the rear bumper too but not on in these pictures. It is really bring with the trucks high beams on and these new lights while driving. Couldn't get a good picture with it dark and the truck moving. I will be adding underbody rock lights at some point too.

Also, I tucked the bumper in by taking two of the thinner spacers I removed from the rear bumper and putting the in place of the thick spacers that were up front. I hated cutting the body but it was cracked anyway so I evened it up.

[SMFtwstdHICK]

Cool deal man. I am looking for a light setup for my rig. Be looking into the setup you got. Nice clean install.

[Itali83]

Thanks man! I'm real happy with it. I didn't want a light bar of either round or rectangle lights because I'm always crashing and didn't want to rip it off. Plus the new style rectangle led bars are awesome but not period correct to the 80's so I just couldn't do it. I can't wait until I get some rock lights like natedog has underneath. I'm thinking I'll get a small 3s pack and see how long these 9 volt bulbs last at battery voltage

Ben

[Itali83]

My man Natedog hooked me up with his old HR aluminum diff covers. I greased my diffs, decided I need to get some shims and shim it up before I have problems. It does have the HD pinions in it already. They look sweet and will hopefully be put to use this weekend if the weather holds out at a local crawling spot with some others on the forum. Thanks Nate!
Ben

[Natedog]

Lights and diff covers looks good man! The little Axial buckets on front bumper are perfect. You're welcome, glad to see the covers get some good use!

Better get your body ShoeGoo'd up before it's all cracked.

Shimming the front diff, my Blazer came with both shims on the wrong side in the front diff and the rear had one on each side, so I swapped both factory shims to the side to push the ring gear closer to the pinion. I read on here somewhere that somebody added a third shim to the same side. The stock shims are about 0.004" thick or just under, the CRC (Calandra Racing Concepts) 8mm shims I bought are about 0.006" thick, I added one to the stack for total of three shims about 0.014" total thickness. The diff still spun smoothly, but it barely had any backlash so I took one of the stock thinner shims and moved it to the opposite side (away from the ring gear) which gave me just the right amount of backlash imo. This ended up being 0.010" thick on the ring gear side and 0.004" on the side opposite the ring gear. Added a little extra grease to the gears too.

CRC (Calandra Racing Concepts) shims, IIRC I bought shims at LHS RC Country in Sacramento, but I see A-Main Hobbies has them online and they are good source. Shims for ring gear (spool) and pinion, I bought steel Calandra Racing 6mm shims for the pinion and 8mm for the ring gear...just in case they needed tightened up a little.
https://www.teamcrc.com/crc/modules....category_id=79

Cool, I'm looking forward to hearing about how you like the modded bumpers and more pics.

[Itali83]

Finally went on a group fun run. We went to a local hiking mountain and had a blast. My ascender did really well hanging with some pretty stout trucks. It's size hindered it a few times and it definately needs a sway bar but I had a blast. Tucking in the front bumper like I did made a huge difference on front departure angle. It took a few hard tumbles but nothing broke. I've got some play in my front driveshaft to transfer case universal. I've already loctited the set screw so I'm not sure what's going on there but hopefully nothing major.

It was very wet and tons of dead leaves so traction was not the best. The stock tsl tires did pretty good. Don't know if there is a better tire for a wet traction that would have some more bite but it would have been nice. Here are some pictures from the day.

[Natedog]

Looks like a great fun time! Rear swaybar will help lots on climbs and even on descents, so will internally limiting shocks 3/8" and lowering the spring adjusters until they touch the shock caps. I've found that the Vaterra TSLs are great tires, but Pro-Line and Pitbull rubber is stickier, maybe some Pitbull Rockbeasts, or something from ProLine just don't go bigger tires or they'll rub all over the place and not look very scale. Leaves are always difficult to get traction on, wet rocks, moss, loose dirt look for tie with open tread pattern like the TSLs.

[Itali83]

Got my red rock lights put on in the rear anyway. I put 3 strips of 3 led's out back. One on each frame rail and one under the electronics box. Probably overkill but it's bright as f@ck underneath now lol! I've got to find a good spot for one up front. My rock lights, front and rear bumper lights are all running straight off a little 400mah 3s lipo battery. I ran the truck for 3 hours the other day with just the front bumper lights and they worked fine. Now I can do some yard crawling after dark!

[Natedog]

Looks great! I might use some 1300mah 3s lips I have for lights, piggyback them on top of 2 hard case lipo.

[Itali83]

Finally put my mirrors on. They were my first purchase I think. Don't really know why I bothered because with my driving style they'll last about 5 minutes lol. They are rubber and flex, plus I e6000'd them plus drilled and screwed them from the backside with big flat washers and more e6000 so hopefully they'll last. I put a little tin foil to make the mirror shiny too.