tommys ascender build

[rs10man]

Gday guys, my names Tom and i hail from brisbane, Australia. I bought a K5 ascender kit a few days ago. I currently have a long term constantly evolving scx10ii and building a CC01 unimog for the young fella as he loves trucks. He's only 2yrs old but he'll get the hang of it.

Im in contact to get some awesome diff and steering mods done when it is possible for him to do so to my latest build.

i bought a killer bodies VDJ79 Landcruiser body when they first came out and im unsure but it could make its way onto the vaterra chassis with either the stock tub or a sweet custom home made tray of some sort.

no pictures yet as its still in the box, but ive bought some hobbywing gear, brushed and brushless for when i get stuck into it.

if there are any tips and tricks for when i start, id love to hear and will take it on board.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by rs10man

Gday guys, my names Tom and i hail from brisbane, Australia. I bought a K5 ascender kit a few days ago. I currently have a long term constantly evolving scx10ii and building a CC01 unimog for the young fella as he loves trucks. He's only 2yrs old but he'll get the hang of it.

Im in contact to get some awesome diff and steering mods done when it is possible for him to do so to my latest build.

i bought a killer bodies VDJ79 Landcruiser body when they first came out and im unsure but it could make its way onto the vaterra chassis with either the stock tub or a sweet custom home made tray of some sort.

no pictures yet as its still in the box, but ive bought some hobbywing gear, brushed and brushless for when i get stuck into it.

if there are any tips and tricks for when i start, id love to hear and will take it on board.

Hey Tom, I started this morning on the set up we have been talking about, and if you change your mind, no big deal, I have been getting more requests for it lately so it will sell. I also plan on taking some to the RPP Jamboree the end of October.
Ernie

Just take the time to read through Natedogs thread, has some great tricks in there.

[rs10man]

Thanks Ernie, appreciate it, I definitely want them, that's for sure. If you can put a photo up of my setup when your finished that'd be great.

I'm still making my way through natedogs build thread, but it has some good stuff in it...

[CODYBOY]

Hey Tommy, Here are some photos you asked for.







They are ready to make the trip down under.

I will send you a PM with my info.
Ernie.

[rs10man]

Absolute work of art, payment has been made as per PM.

Thank you very much once again. Ill start piecing it together one day soon and get this thread going

[rs10man]

Couldn't be happier, Thanks Ernie, they are bloody awesome, guess ill have to start building it now...

Been waiting on parts to get the scx10ii travelling properly but I think the ascender box will be opened and started now.

[Shinchu]

SWEET! I officially want a pair for my ascender. looking forward to your build!

[Ascender'nMN84]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

SWEET! I officially want a pair for my ascender. looking forward to your build!

Do it!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[rs10man]

yea do it, they are sweet! I wasn't expecting to do this mod when I got the ascender but as soon as I seen some of these other builds with codyboy axles I knew I had too.

I will be using my killerbodies landcruiser body on this build, unsure if ill use the tub or just make a tray.

will have a cantilever rear setup, I have this on my scx10ii and love the movement and space it provides.

I have an X car 120amp sensored brushless esc and either a 17.5T or a 21.5T sensored motor to play with, cant remember what kv either of them are atm.

already have a mate lined up who wants my original axle housings, the K5 body and the swamper tyres and wheels as I'm personally not a fan.
so ill make a little back disposing of those parts.

Any suggestions or tips, feel free to chime in as I'm an ascender newbie.

[rs10man]

It has been unboxed, and those beautiful axles just waiting for assembly, after seeing another thread about the upper rear link mount bolt snapping, I will be ordering the STRC link mounts and tapping into the brass tubes for that extra piece of mind.



Not ascender related but this is my scx10ii which is currently shitting me and will probably get robbed of its servo for this build if it doesn't play nice.
Not bad being 200m from the ocean, and being off work with injury, its about as far as I can last walking.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by rs10man

It has been unboxed, and those beautiful axles just waiting for assembly, after seeing another thread about the upper rear link mount bolt snapping, I will be ordering the STRC link mounts and tapping into the brass tubes for that extra piece of mind.



Not ascender related but this is my scx10ii which is currently shitting me and will probably get robbed of its servo for this build if it doesn't play nice.
Not bad being 200m from the ocean, and being off work with injury, its about as far as I can last walking.

Now the fun begins. On the rear mount I drilled mine for a 4-40 screw, but 3mm would work. Wish we would have thought of this sooner, I could have done it for you.

Ernie

[Yeti.stealth]

Good to see another Aussie Ascender getting built, you will enjoy it.
As for Ernies axles, you got the full beans too, with the steering upgrades and hub weights, awesome..!
Beef up the rear upper link mounts for sure, I would even drill and install the third bolt that goes into the diff housing and do the metal putty spacer between mount and diff housing like Natedog did.

Another tip before you build it is to replace the stock driveshaft pins with home made piano wire pins, the stock ones are very soft and seem to wear out prematurely. I tried ground down drill bit shafts for pins ages ago, bad move! Pins never worn out, they just ground into the holes on the cups and slotted them out, and chewed away at the slot in the ball!

It's a pain to replace the pins in the diff pinion end, you gotta pull the axles to get the diff centre out to get to the pinion screw to get the driveshaft cup out. The fewer times you have to do that the better.

[rs10man]

Thanks ernie, I'm trying to get the alloy upgraded link mounts through a local hobby store, then ill do the mods, I do everything on the cars in 3mm so should hold up alright.

thanks yeti.stealth, where in Aus are you located?
where abouts is this right size piano wire bought from?

will definitely look into natedogs mod also,

a lot of knowledge and help in this vaterra group.

[Yeti.stealth]

NSW Tom, Hunter Valley. I got the piano wire from a local hobby shop that caters for RC planes, the plane guys use it to make elevator and rudder pull rods etc. I just took a driveshaft cup into the shop an got a rod that fitted nicely from the rack. I think the drill bits I used as pins early on we're 1.5mm, but not sure if the piano wire was in metric sizes...
The stock CVD pins seem to hold up OK and last a long time, but they are a bigger diameter pin than the driveshaft ones, luckily for me they are same size as the wire I used to make my sway bars.

Alternatively, you could install the aftermarket diff input shaft and use MIP driveshafts etc and eliminate having to pull the diff out to do driveshaft maintenance. That's my only beef with the vaterra driveshafts, having to pull the diff out to fix worn pins! The plastic driveshafts are plenty strong, you won't break them otherwise.

[rs10man]

cheers mate, will check out hobbyrama in Brisbane as they deal with planes etc.
Alternative input shafts? I'm new to vaterra, is the aftermarket setup a completely different setup?

ive more than opened the box tonight, bit of a play once the young fella goes down.
set it up on WB4, I think the longer wheelbase will look great with the cruiser body.

[CODYBOY]

Originally Posted by rs10man

cheers mate, will check out hobbyrama in Brisbane as they deal with planes etc.
Alternative input shafts? I'm new to vaterra, is the aftermarket setup a completely different setup?

ive more than opened the box tonight, bit of a play once the young fella goes down.
set it up on WB4, I think the longer wheelbase will look great with the cruiser body.

Hey Tom, one free upgrade, if your not going to do the axle mount battery is to reverse the slider/battery mount from left to right side and then mount your rear upper links in the battery mounts. You can see it in my "Bulldog Bronco" build, it will help with the torque twist!
Ernie

[Yeti.stealth]

The Ascender diff input shafts are unique and only compatable with the Ascender driveshafts, GCM make a replacement diff input shaft with the standard 5mm square drive end that allows you to use any standard after market driveshaft ( GCM recommend Junfac shafts )

[rs10man]

thanks for the help Ernie and Yeti, will take these tips on board. trying to see if my local store has the alloy parts I'm wanting.

[rs10man]

chassis a bit more complete tonight, numerous family outings so not much wrenching time.

Built the tranny, added the trackstar sensored brushless 17.5T. am lucky I did some research as these motors can only handle 2S where all my batteries are 3S, so have some on order.
Loving building this thing, the fit and finish on everything is so good.

[rs10man]

Well the ascender is almost together, put the diffs together today, ERNIE, once again, Brilliant work on these.

front suspension is all mounted up, just need to make the panhard the correct length.

Spewing though, I lost one of the shock pistons on the floor somewhere so have only built two shocks so far.
Kingmax 30kg servo mounted up. I bought a couple of these on good authority from a friend that whilst they're cheaper than the best, they hold up really well, even on comp rigs.

I have a set of chinese 5 spoke wheels that are a replica of the landcruiser alloy wheels, 5 stud and all, problem being they are a pin type mounted rim, which with weights etc are not going to work...
Not sure how I'm going to get around this as I want to run these rims.