bilinvic's Ascender

[bilinvic]

Lot's of changes today!

I decided I wanted to use my '79 Ford F150 body. Originally this body was for my decked out SCX10 that I ended up parting out and the body was retired to the shelf. The wheelbase is longer than the Bronco body, so I extended the rear suspension to accommodate (11 3/8"). I used Gmade R1 high clearance lower links with Revo & Jato link ends. I added two Axial 6mm aluminum spacers (green) to each side of the upper stock links. With the high clearance links on the rear only, the break over clearance should be improved since it's still a relatively short wheelbase.

I wasn't satisfied with the slop in the front steering links, so I replaced the tie-rod with a Vanquish Ti link w/ Jato link ends. The drag link is from the Gmade R1. It's a little bulky for my taste, but it fits great. I will eventually order the Vaterra Ascender front spindle set, front carrier set and brass brake discs/weights.

The shocks were all replaced with Proline SC Powerstroke shocks. The rear actually uses the shorter front shocks and the fronts are the longer rears! I did add longer lower shock mounts to the rear shocks (front SC). The rear end doesn't require as much travel as the front in order to keep the rig "planted". I also mounted the rear lowers outboard of the axle mount.

It took lots of trial and error to get the correct stance and body height, but I believe it will be good now.

I added spacers to the front bumper to clear the body and also cut the bumper ends since the F150 body is narrower than the Bronco body. I will eventually get a better front bumper...and perhaps some rock sliders/nerf bars.

[kournikova462]

Nice man I may do the same steering upgrade I have the same body


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[pete959]

Very nice rig

LIFE IS GOOD

[Natedog]

NIce change, looking good! I thought about changing steering linkage like that too, but so far stock is doing well...that may change when I go to a better servo. Has anybody successfully cut and glued these bumpers back together? OSRC's Bronco build (with HPI body) looks like he did this, but I don't know what glue is going to hold the nylon together during hard use?

Good call on shocks too, very tuneable do you have the spring kits for them? Most good crawlers have at least a little more travel in the front axle flex than the rear, makes it more stable too. Nice job with rear lower bent links too, looking forward to more trail report and pics! Or your backyard test is better than most.

[bilinvic]

Thanxs Natedog. The only two things I can think of the bond the bumper would be JB Weld or possibly filling the rear cavities with a glue gun.

I just did about 15 minutes of backyard testing....what a MAJOR improvement this set-up is. The Ascender likes to be sprung quite stiff. I was accomplishing lines that the stock Bronco couldn't even think about doing. Side hilling was drastically improved. The torque twist is essential gone now

Yes, I have a lots of springs (short and long) to tune the shocks. Right now the front shocks (which are actually SC rears) have the blue stripe springs on the top and bottom; these are the softest. The rear shocks (which are actually SC fronts) have the green stripe lowers spring and a blue stripe upper springs; green stripe is one spring rate up from blue.

It's so nice to have a tuneable drag brake compared to stock.

I'm quite excited to get out with guys now to see how she performs in a day of crawling.

[Natedog]

Yes, or ShoeGoo to bond bumper at least it's flexible and strong. Hot glue and JBWeld are both less flexible than the nylon bumpers, so should hold but high impact rolls might knock it loose.

Nice, would be interesting to compare actual spring rate numbers of these to the Vaterra springs. The short (upper) Vaterra spring kit I bought just says, soft, medium and firm. I don't recall what stock Ascender springs are.

[bilinvic]

I'm sure the Powerstroke spring rates would be much firmer than the Vaterra springs.

[bilinvic]

The '79 Ford F150 Ascender was introduced to it's first major outing in the mountains of British Columbia.....and it was 5.5 hr climb from the bottom to the Summit and back down.

The majority of this trek involves hard core crawling and the Ascender blew my mind on how good it performed. I was very impressed with how I have set it up and only very minor tuning is required. The 11.5" wheelbase worked really well; a 12" WB would likely have been a bit more useful, but that's OK, it made for a tougher challenge in some circumstances. The balance is also very good, including side-hilling. The SC shocks are perfect and I won't be changing them at all.

The only mechanical issue I experienced (twice) today was the driveshaft grub screws backing off on the transmission outputs, causing the output to spin within the driveshaft coupling. A little bit of blue Loctite should take care of this, and I may indent the flat sections of the output shafts so the grub screw can "bite".

I also want to add just a tiny amount of low front end weight and this will be accomplished by getting some new metal beadlock wheels. The stock Super Swamper tires performed incredibly well.

I mentioned before that I might have to lower my expectations compared to what I am used to with my 2.2 rigs performance...but quite honestly, I barely had to, this rig really kicked ass crawling today.

[bilinvic]

....and the torque twist is completely gone without having to use a swaybar.

[pete959]

Very nice

LIFE IS GOOD

[pete959]

Jealous of ur view

LIFE IS GOOD

[md666]

Looks awesome my friend, great job with this build so far.

[Bmxreeves]

Didn't you just build a bomber??? lol

Looking good though!
__________________________
1.9 ibex tuber

Slash that got run over by reindeer

R.I.P Dave Mirra
Cheers Jacob

[bilinvic]

Although my electronics are waterproofed, the Swampers sure like to throw a lot of mud all over them. For the guys that know me, they know I'm pretty OCD keeping my rigs detailed after their day of crawling. To make life a little easier with the Ascender, I fabbed up two ABS panels that screw into the slider mounts to hopefully keep the majority of the mud and dirt from collecting on the motor, trans and ESC.

I also noticed I bent a stock front link....I see some SSD Ti links in my near future!

[bilinvic]

Here's the improvements that will be coming from RPP....

SSD 1.9” Steel Trail Beadlock Wheels (Silver)
Crawler Innovations Lil' Nova Dual Stage 4.50” Standard Inner / Soft Outer (2)
Team Ottsix Racing 1.9 Voodoo KLR Tire - Silver Compound (2)
Gear Head RC 1/10 Scale Six Shooter LED Light Bar - White and Blue

[Sammy J.]

Bill, here's an idea for some DIY inner fenders that might help with that mud slinging.

Paint suggestions for plastic inner fenders?


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[Alexander_0_1]

It looks good! Your going to make me wanna start working on my ascender again. I shelved it before I worked out a battery tray, I had a thought to make one out of lexan, and have it bend up over the motor, and is held in place by the front body posts since I've move my motor and transmission under the hood with the GCM kit.

I never got as far as changing the links, but I have no mountains to bend them on.

[bilinvic]

Here's some footage of it's maiden run:

[pete959]

Nice spot

LIFE IS GOOD

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by bilinvic

Although my electronics are waterproofed, the Swampers sure like to throw a lot of mud all over them. For the guys that know me, they know I'm pretty OCD keeping my rigs detailed after their day of crawling. To make life a little easier with the Ascender, I fabbed up two ABS panels that screw into the slider mounts to hopefully keep the majority of the mud and dirt from collecting on the motor, trans and ESC.

I also noticed I bent a stock front link....I see some SSD Ti links in my near future!

Nice side mud guards, I still need to do inner fenders.

SSD Ti links will be nice.

Originally Posted by bilinvic

Here's some footage of it's maiden run:

Great high quality video, with some good slow motion on the one climb and great terrain!

Got any video of your truck climbing a steep high traction surface?