I bought a blazer kit....

[rag6]

OK. All of my balls in this system are kinda sticky, except for the Revo steering balls mounted to the shock/link screws. What would be the best way to free them up?

[Natedog]

Better a littel tight and sticky, than loose. This has had no ill effects on how it crawls ime and they will loosen as you drive it.

[rag6]

OK. I'll let them break in then

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by rag6

OK. All of my balls in this system are kinda sticky, except for the Revo steering balls mounted to the shock/link screws. What would be the best way to free them up?

Originally Posted by Natedog

Better a littel tight and sticky, than loose. This has had no ill effects on how it crawls ime and they will loosen as you drive it.

Originally Posted by rag6

OK. I'll let them break in then

I agree with Nate, but a trick I use if they don't loosen up is to take a small pair of channel locks and with the ball end in place, clamp down on the plastic and it stretches it little around the ball end. One other thing is, make sure your threads are not screwed so far that the are putting pressure on the ball end.
Ernie

[rag6]

Thanks for the tip

So went to my local trains only shop to look for piano wire. The biggest size they had was the same size I already had. Closest real hobby shop is 30 miles so wasn't going there.... So I came up with this:


The 2 .062 bars just fit through the ball clamp thingys. They get bolted down on both sides by the grubs and the helper bar almost stops the twist between those 2 points. Tested with and without the helper by stacking stuff under the tires on one side. With the helper, I was able to get the tires almost an inch higher before the truck toppled over. So the system is working. Now I haven't tested it in real world situations so whether or not it's too stiff remains to be seen. But.... If I buy a range of sizes of wire I think I can fine tune the setup by making and testing thinner helper bars. You guys think it will work???

[Yeti.stealth]

I like it, like it a lot. Those damn axial wraith sway bar kits are $60 here in Australia, and I only really used the arms and a couple of ball cups out of the kit, this would of be way cheaper. Always wondered if a front sway bar would help things too but the cost has stopped me from trying, might give it a go now thanks to your design.

[rag6]

All the balls and links were from a Traxxas 4x4 sway bar set that came on my platinum hcg if that helps ya any.

Man you guys weren't kidding about the difference with Nate s shock mod. Never noticed when building the kit but why on earth wouldn't vaterra include extra pistons with higher flow? Those little pin holes are redonkulous

Oh... And Earnie the plastic stretching trick did the job perfectly

[rag6]

Got to run this on 2s today(getting my ESC has turned into a nightmare), so torque twist was not really tested. The bar does work, but not well enough... Or soon enough would be a better way to put it.whilst the helper bar is doing its job, the rest of the bar (sides)just flexes too much. It works but it works too late. Side hilling, the truck still leans over. So, I either must get thicker wire, or get thinner wire and make a full helper bar to bolt through the balls from end to end. Im gonna try the latter first. Maybe it will give me more tuning options....

Limited and massaged shocks work brilliantly. Its going places it never could have gone before. Had so much fun. Too bad only had a short time to run it

[rag6]

Looks like my next test will be (2) .047 bars as the .062/.047 combo seems very stiff, and .062/.036 won't bolt down in the balls. The grub is not smugging up to the thin wire.

[Natedog]

Great testing, trying new stuff!

Edit: Deleted my comment about mounting swaybar to bottom of esc bracket, that was in regards to a different thread in Vaterra Ascender section.

[rag6]

Well, the full twin sways are a bust. Gonna just have to make that 30 mile drive of shame to the real not so lhs. The .078 should be just about right.

What part of the mount was bending? Looking at it, I think I can make a 1 piece L bracket to tie both ball end screws and the back of the mount all together. If its the ball ends that are flexing, I'll just have to live with that, but that mount will be solid

Wait... I'm not mounted to ESC mount... I'm mounted to the rear of the frame spacer/cage mount.

[rag6]

Anyone make a convertible with bed cover?

[rag6]

Did a little more with interior to. Need to touch some stuff up. Pics later this week

[rag6]

I need help with a bed cover. I know what I'm gonna do to build, support, and mount the rear bed. My craftsmanship is rough though, so I would like to put a cap over the whole thing to hide my hackings. Imagine a flat lexan panel that would wrap around the sides and rear corners overlapping about a 1/4" down from the top of the bed. It could be glued to the top of the bed, or velcroed on to hide body clips. Any ideas on how to achieve this? Does anyone pull custom lexan panels?

[rag6]

Maybe some kind of cloth or canvas?

[rag6]

OK searched for about 7 hours. My eyes and brain hurt. If anyone has done this, know of a how to, or a thread where this was done, please point me in the right direction. Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by rag6

Well, the full twin sways are a bust. Gonna just have to make that 30 mile drive of shame to the real not so lhs. The .078 should be just about right.

What part of the mount was bending? Looking at it, I think I can make a 1 piece L bracket to tie both ball end screws and the back of the mount all together. If its the ball ends that are flexing, I'll just have to live with that, but that mount will be solid

Wait... I'm not mounted to ESC mount... I'm mounted to the rear of the frame spacer/cage mount.

Edited my post above...Deleted my comment about mounting swaybar to bottom of esc bracket, that was in regards to a different thread in Vaterra Ascender section.

Originally Posted by rag6

I need help with a bed cover. I know what I'm gonna do to build, support, and mount the rear bed. My craftsmanship is rough though, so I would like to put a cap over the whole thing to hide my hackings. Imagine a flat lexan panel that would wrap around the sides and rear corners overlapping about a 1/4" down from the top of the bed. It could be glued to the top of the bed, or velcroed on to hide body clips. Any ideas on how to achieve this? Does anyone pull custom lexan panels?

Originally Posted by rag6

Maybe some kind of cloth or canvas?

Looks good, cut and fold some sheet lexan, attach with ShoeGoo or E6000, then paint or cover with peice of fabric to look like cloth or vinyl.

[rag6]

OK Ty Nate. I like the idea of cloth covering a lexan cap. I plan to glue the cloth(polyester I believe) to the inside lip of the lexan cap. Any suggestions what type of glue to use? The cloth will come from a new shirt I have that is the wrong size. Its black, semi shiny surface looks right when I stretch it over the bed. Its one of those form fitting moisture wicking workout shirts, Dont know what the style is called. There is a possibility I could do the cab top and back also. I would like to hide the seam where I shoogoo'd the stock back window to the back of the cab. Basically simulate a black landau top where the white is in the pic above. Then flat black the outside of the body....

[rag6]

More on the swaybar....

Now that I've added so much weight to the truck reinforcing the bed, building the frame mounted interior box, the body mounted firewall and dash, the truck is much heavier. Tried some sway bar combos on a quickie run today. What I thought was too stiff in the beginning was a little too soft. So I settled on 2 swaybars(.062/.047) and an .062 helper bar. Without the bars connected and the extra weight the torque twist was bad even on 2s as was side hilling. With the bars attached it was night and day. I also needed about 4mm of preload all around. But it is working better than ever, especially on loose stuff. Still need the 3s wheel speed back, but its just hooking up so much better being heavier I guess.

One more question... Where can I source some grey interior carpet????

Thanks so very much for everyone's research and help. I Dont feel like a crawldork anymore lol

[Natedog]

3M 777 automotive spray adhesive for upholstery.

Michaels arts and crafts for sheets of felt, foam and suede in all colors for interior.