My little Jimmy... lol

[Itali83]

BAAAAAMMMMMMMMMM!



That's some serious steering angle

Built my new axle today, glued brass tubes, tapped and bolted them to the plastic housing too. Oiled pinion and carrier bearings. Shimmed carried bearings, and put it all together.

Nate, here's a picture of the tie rod and ends. Not too offset and I don't think it'll have any issue of being strong enough. Not 100% ideal, but I like these better than a bent tie rod. This tie rod is 5mm and the 4mm titanium ones wouldn't give me enough with straight ends.



I also added some solid turn stops because the fact that I'm using u-joints instead of the cv joints makes me nervous to get them in a bind. I do get slight binding at max steering angle so I adjust these in to make a solid stop just before max steering to keep the stress on the u-joints down. Just drilled a hole and threaded a piece of threaded rod in and adjusted it. Will use loctite once everything is really set up.





Here you can see my newly set pinion angle and caster angle. Also I've got shocks mocked up too. 10mm internal spacers and 6mm external to keep axle from hitting motor. The 6mm sounds like much, but, without the lower spring cups there which are 2mm, it's only a loss of 4mm up travel. Price I'm willing to pay to be this cool lol. Haven't fooled with piston holes or oil. They're still dry for mock up stage.



Tons of room now with the spindles tipped back for good caster angle. I like how the tire lays a little over when turned to get a little sidewall bite like Natedog said.



Here it is straight on not compressed. I have very little bump steer. Virtually none when compressed straight down. If only the passenger side is compressed, there is a little but not much at all. Must be because the arc of travel the leaf springs make moves the axle a little. I was thinking of spacing the drag link down just a bit on from the servo horn (pitman arm) but at full compression like it is, the tie rod actually is a tiny bit above drag link so I'll leave it as is.



Compressed,



Full lock turn clearance of tie rod to diff cover. I did trim the top ever so slightly so make more room. I'll end up putting a metal diff cover on but can't use the SSD or Hot racing since this axle is upside down and the taper won't work or look right. I found another brand that's metal but looks the same either way. I might leave the plastic one too. Who knows!?







Everything is still just in mock up stage but I'm happy with 99% of the front end. Few little tweaks then I can take it all apart again to make everything permanent. What do you guys think? Thanks!
Ben

[Chris81]

Looks awsome!! Love the whole set-up! If you don't like the chrome you could always strip that off and paint the diff covers

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[rag6]

Super badass

[Kaler]

Lookin good Ben. That should be a good Reid truck with that steering angle! Are you planning on making this truck all torque like my black Toyota or a wheel speed truck?

[Itali83]

Originally Posted by Kaler

Lookin good Ben. That should be a good Reid truck with that steering angle! Are you planning on making this truck all torque like my black Toyota or a wheel speed truck?

Slow as possible. Just got my 12t pinion and have an 87t spur. I did get a Holmes hobbies 16t 5 slot crawlmaster Motor which is supposed to be equivalent to 35-40 turn. They don't make a higher turn in the motor so it will probably have higher top end with the 2 speed than your black truck but should have stupid smooth and slow bottom end. That's my hopes anyway. I will be running 3s. Possibly 4s but not sure yet. Still a long long ways to go but I'm very happy with the front end.
Ben

[thebuilder]

So might be a dumb question but how is it that you're getting all that steering out of relatively stock Parts? Is it the style of axles stubs you're Using? Or is it the knuckles and stubs? That thing turns like crazy! Great build btw.

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[Itali83]

You need to look up Codyboy's posts. I stole his idea of mixing axial wraith knuckles and ascender chubs, and using axial u-joint style axles to get that much steering. Read back a few posts and I talk about fitting them together and the work involved. I can rotate the wheels at that much steering with no binding so I'm happy.
Ben

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Itali83

You need to look up Codyboy's posts. I stole his idea of mixing axial wraith knuckles and ascender chubs, and using axial u-joint style axles to get that much steering. Read back a few posts and I talk about fitting them together and the work involved. I can rotate the wheels at that much steering with no binding so I'm happy.
Ben

Hey Ben, stole sounds to sinister for you! Let's just say you and I shared some info!! I like that better!
Ernie

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by Disco Stu III

I wish my rig had even half that angle. Mint.


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I can make that happen for you!
Ernie

[Natedog]

Ben, looks awesome on the front end setup, only thing might change would be slightly longer servo horn so that it has better time powering the steering back to center from full left/right lock. Great job combining Ernie and your ideas!

[Itali83]

It's been a while but I finally got some time to make up the rear axle tubes for this guy. Now I can make some progress! Here's the rear axle with new brass tubes...



I left the inner ear on there so I can bolt the spring to the axle. Setting my pinion angle and keeping the axle from twisting in the spring mount.

Here is it all put together and in the truck for mock up and checking/setting pinion angle....







mmmmmmm..... flat belly gotta love it! It is doing a bit of a nose dive because of all the weight on the front end. I set up the springs and shocks so travel is the same and everything is level, just the front will be in more of a "droop" position because of the weight. I'm looking at mounting a small lipo out back for a little weight and ease of installation. I want to semi-permanently mounts the body on this one and only take it off for repairs, I'm thinking of ways to mount the battery so I can change it from underneath in the rear.



Got the body cut out. Need to start making my sliders, bumpers and floor pans to keep dirt out. I'm thinking just my simple round stock sliders which are working great on my other Jimmy and Ford ascenders. I'm also thinking of a simple tube front bumper with stinger to help with the low ride height and smaller tires this truck has. I love my stinger I made for the Ford, it works slick! For the rear I may use the SSD aluminum sock looking GM rear bumper to keep with the theme of this truck. I think the body height is going to stay right here. I'd like to go another hole lower but front tire rub will be too much and I don't want to hack the fenders on this one much at all. I will trim the front under the grill and bottom front of front fenders for approach angle but that's hopefully it.

Looks like I'll be able to squeeze a servo in front of the steering servo for a servo winch too. Thinking this truck will need a winch because of small tires and low ride and fat body lol.

I'm still on the fence but leaning on keeping the Growlers. I really love the new 1.55" rock beasts, but at only 3.85" tall, I think I won't like the looks and just be aggravated with ground clearance. I really want a tire at 4" height but can't find anything that actually has grip and isn't a rc3wd tire. So, I think I'll keep these tires for these wheels, and then someday get a set of steel rally wheels, and make my own set of BFG All Terrain T/A KO2's in 1.55 around the 4" mark.

Mad steering bruh! lol





Flexin'...







That's all for now, going to focus on making frame extensions/bumper mounts front and rear, sliders, and floor pans/inner fenders next. Then I'll be able to place electronics etc etc. Thanks!
Ben

[JatoTheRipper]

This is an amazing build!

I love those GCM wheels too.

[Itali83]

Thank you very much. This is my first kit and as you can tell, I don't follow directions ions very well lol. These are actually gear head wheels. Non bead lock which I'm bummed about but I LOVE the vintage finish and just didn't have the money for the gcm's. I have the 1.9" gcm slot wheels on my other jimmy and LOVE them, just wanted to save a few bucks and really do like the look of these wheels.

I'm having a lot of fun building this truck and am glad to have a little time back in my schedule.
Ben

[CODYBOY]

Great job Ben, nice and clean!!!! It is nice t see you back and building. Are you having to dig yourself out of your driveway. Stay safe with all that weather your having.
Ernie

[Itali83]

Thanks Ernie! Yes the weather sucks here! Just got 2' of snow Tuesday into Wednesday. Yes that's 2 FEET. I'm done with winter. Haven't been able to get out and crawl in over 3 months.
Ben

[Natedog]

Great job, this is how leaf springs on Ascender should be done!!! You made the transfer case too?

[Itali83]

Thanks Nate! The transfer case if from Italy. Crawler.it I think. I like the over drive on the front axle. It's a bit noisy spinning by hand with no way to shim but it's probably because of the 32p gears. No bad like anything is wrong, just a little more noisy compared to the ascender transmission.

[Natedog]

YOu're welcome, you earned it. OK, yes Guisseppe (sp?) makes sweet parts, straight cut 32 pitch gears make little more noise, little synthetic molybdenum or other good grease and running time will help quiet it. Love to see a short crawl video once it's done!

[Itali83]

You can bet on a video once it's done for sure! Still a long ways to go with very little spare time but I'm moving forward for sure. I've got to finish fabricating everything then completely take everything apart for final fit and assembly. Everything is loose, no loctite and no grease so I can change things easily since I'm just winging everything as I go.
Ben

[bigchimp]

In 1.55 you're limited. If you went up to 1.9 the Pitbull PBX I think is 4.05.