Jato The Ascender

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by rag6

Cool idea with the meat stick! Would it be possible to mount it under the tray?


Btw, are ya near Pittsburgh? I'd love to find some of those spots your trailing at....

You could mount it under, but then you'd have to worry about making sure the sharp end of the screw doesn't protrude through to the battery.

I live far from Pittsburgh. I'm actually only about an hour from Philly or else I'd show you my spots.

Originally Posted by CODYBOY

Way to think outside the box!
Ernie

Thank you!

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[Natedog]

Very nice battery tray "meat stick" mod! If you mount it under, you could countersink the plastic tray so that the smooth screw head is next to the battery.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Very nice battery tray "meat stick" mod! If you mount it under, you could countersink the plastic tray so that the smooth screw head is next to the battery.

Thanks. That's true. I'm just not sure if the battery tray plastic is thick enough to swallow the entire head of the screw. Definitely something to think about.

[Natedog]

Maybe use several smaller countersunk screws, 2mm or 3mm because the heads will be thinner.

Edit: Or encase it in styrene box lid that can be screwed underneath through the sides?

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Maybe use several smaller countersunk screws, 2mm or 3mm because the heads will be thinner.

Edit: Or encase it in styrene box lid that can be screwed underneath through the sides?

Yep there are definitely other options. Honestly, I never even though about putting it on the bottom. I'm lazy and don't like to take things apart unless I have to. Putting the meat stick on top was easiest. Putting it on the bottom will lower it by less than a 1/8", but I know everything counts.

I know I've seen a substantial improvement in performance with the addition of the meat stick.

[rag6]

Looking at the bottom of the tray, the supports on the bottom would have to be removed. Not very worth it I'd say. But.... Look closely at those supports... There is a rectangular area in the center about 3/8" below your meat stick where you could glue in a sizeable "chunk-0_meat" to add a bit more weight onto the front axle....

[JatoTheRipper]

My Ascender is getting CODYBOY weighted axle housings. So I'm also doing a "rebuild" of the axles. I am using Fast Eddy bearings. They have always served me well and are reasonably priced. Shipping is pretty fast too. I'm also trying marine grease for the first time. When I opened the old housings the bearings were extremely rusty. My SCX10 bearings never seemed to get that rusty so I'm not sure if the Ascender housings don't seal as well as the Axial SCX10's.



The weight of the stock axle housing is 0.95 ounces compared to the CODYBOY axle housing which is 3 ounces. This should help keep the truck a little more planted which will counteract the big, Blazer body on top.

[JatoTheRipper]

Here's the finished rear axle. It looks good. I'm going to have to paint or even put black tape over the brass though.


Rear CODYBOY axle installed with the SSD titanium links. I really hope these links hold up.


Stock front links. These are also pretzeled. I just can't get over how badly these links bent with little effort.


Stock front axle housing weight vs CODYBOY front axle housing weight. Again, a nice addition of weight.


Completed front axle.


Front CODYBOY axle installed with SSD titanium links. Again, I need to paint or tape the brass. I finished this up around midnight because I want to take it on a trail run tomorrow morning.


To those that suggested putting my Meat Stick on the bottom of the battery tray, this would take an awful amount of work to cut the brass plate or cut off the plastic support webs.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Here's the finished rear axle. It looks good. I'm going to have to paint or even put black tape over the brass though.


Rear CODYBOY axle installed with the SSD titanium links. I really hope these links hold up.


Stock front links. These are also pretzeled. I just can't get over how badly these links bent with little effort.


Stock front axle housing weight vs CODYBOY front axle housing weight. Again, a nice addition of weight.


Completed front axle.


Front CODYBOY axle installed with SSD titanium links. Again, I need to paint or tape the brass. I finished this up around midnight because I want to take it on a trail run tomorrow morning.


To those that suggested putting my Meat Stick on the bottom of the battery tray, this would take an awful amount of work to cut the brass plate or cut off the plastic support webs.

I will be waiting to hear how you like them!

[JatoTheRipper]

My Ascender is dialed now. It easily out performed anything on the trail today. It made easy work of hills that even an SCX10 II struggled on.

[rag6]

Lookin good

The side mirrors on the brown blazer... Would they be in scale on the vaterra body? They look killer.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by rag6

Lookin good

The side mirrors on the brown blazer... Would they be in scale on the vaterra body? They look killer.

Great question! They probably would be close enough size-wise. Before the trail run we lined up the Vaterra against the RC4WD and the Ascender wasn't all that much bigger. But the K5's have different mirrors than the older Blazers like the RC4WD if I remember correctly.

I don't use mirrors though because they wouldn't even last one trail run with the way I drive. I treat my RCs like they owe me money.

[Killerbyrd14]

Those are the same mirrors that would be on a squarebody.


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[rag6]

They sure look like the 85 mirrors I see in pics. I figure I can make them fold when rubbing stuff

[JatoTheRipper]

I thought one of the older gen Blazers had mirrors with the 3 legs/tri-mount? Maybe that was older. I don't know. But anybody except the absolute snobbiest of scale snobs will probably be happy with the RC4WD Blazer mirrors on the Vaterra Blazer body.

[Killerbyrd14]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

I thought one of the older gen Blazers had mirrors with the 3 legs/tri-mount? Maybe that was older. I don't know. But anybody except the absolute snobbiest of scale snobs will probably be happy with the RC4WD Blazer mirrors on the Vaterra Blazer body.

As far as half tons go I'm pretty sure they all have the depicted mirrors above. All squarebody a I've seen in person including the two we have have those mirrors. 85&87 Silverado.



This is the first I've seen the tri leg ones. Maybe rc4wd has the wrong ones ?


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[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Killerbyrd14

As far as half tons go I'm pretty sure they all have the depicted mirrors above. All squarebody a I've seen in person including the two we have have those mirrors. 85&87 Silverado.

This is the first I've seen the tri leg ones. Maybe rc4wd has the wrong ones ?

I remember trucks in the family having those tri mounts.

[Killerbyrd14]

What I am wondering is did they only come on the single headlight trucks like the pic I posted? I've never seen the tri pod ones on the 85-88 bodies


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[JatoTheRipper]

We went on a long trail run today. My Ascender continues to surpass my expectations and the performance is down right impressive. I think the tires are the only thing holding it back at this point. I'd like a stickier compound. I hope Pitbull decides to release the Rock Beasts in the new compound used in the Rock Beast XLs.

The HobbyWing ESC seems to be failing. There's a severe stutter in reverse. Time to replace it. I'll probably use the new HobbyWing WP1080 I just received.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

We went on a long trail run today. My Ascender continues to surpass my expectations and the performance is down right impressive. I think the tires are the only thing holding it back at this point. I'd like a stickier compound. I hope Pitbull decides to release the Rock Beasts in the new compound used in the Rock Beast XLs.

The HobbyWing ESC seems to be failing. There's a severe stutter in reverse. Time to replace it. I'll probably use the new HobbyWing WP1080 I just received.

Looking good Bud, was just wondering if you ever decided to use the rear weighted axle I sent you?
Ernie