Ummm...

[durok]

Budget alternate wheel/tire set - stock TSL tires boiled/baked off and installed on Injora cheapie beadlock wheels with Integy 3-stage super cheap ($4.99!) "3-stage" (all 3 layers feel the same to me) foams... :

[mgputer]

Originally Posted by durok

Budget alternate wheel/tire set - stock TSL tires boiled/baked off and installed on Injora cheapie beadlock wheels with Integy 3-stage super cheap ($4.99!) "3-stage" (all 3 layers feel the same to me) foams... :

Those are nice looking wheels! I might have to get a set

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

[mewalsh100]

Seems like a lot of us Moontain Bike in this hobby. I find it’s good for scouting locations too!

[Shinchu]

For cleaning my chassis i use a 2 inch cheapo paint brush.
I dont mind some grime but i get most of the nasty stuff off, dont want to give the impression i dont care for my rig.
My yeti i just blast it with the garden hose like the filthy creature it is lol

[durok]

I usually just use my Metro DataVac corded air blaster, I only use a cleaning brush as well if I'm about to work on it - the rest of the time it's about to go back out and get dirty again!

[mewalsh100]

I always wait for the mud/grime to dry. Then, I use tooth brush, bicycle sprocket and cassette cleaner brush to knock it off. Then a quick blast with the air nozzle all around and generally good to go. I just don’t care for the idea of saturating my rigs with water to clean them. Electronics issues aside, that water finds its way in to bearings, axles, basically everything. No bueno.

[JatoTheRipper]

Those wheels are SSD clones. The cool thing about SSD is that they provide scale hardware with the wheels.

[smog]

Originally Posted by durok

Budget alternate wheel/tire set - stock TSL tires boiled/baked off and installed on Injora cheapie beadlock wheels with Integy 3-stage super cheap ($4.99!) "3-stage" (all 3 layers feel the same to me) foams... :

I have a set of these kicking around as well, though I have yet to wrap them. I couldn’t say no to the price when I came across them. The quality is there.

[durok]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Those wheels are SSD clones. The cool thing about SSD is that they provide scale hardware with the wheels.

Yes, I was aware that they were Assassin clones - and while it would be nice to buy the originals, SSD has loads of my money already.

I have bought nearly everything they make for the Bomber as well as loads of Ascender upgrades.

I don't like gold beadlock hardware, I prefer black, and sometimes silver.

If I get SSD wheels in the future, I'll replace the hardware.

These were just inexpensive wheels to mount my original Vaterra tires to.

[durok]

I'm very pleasantly exhausted from a great day of crawling WITH my best-bud and his new TRX-4 Bronco Sunrise Special.

My Ascender K10 did great, even with the temporary "rigged" steering link, TRX-4 take-off shocks on the rear only, stock shocks up front, 1.7" RC4WD MT/R tires on Raceline 1.7" beadlocks.

I am sticking with this wheel/tire combo - I love the combination of scale appearance and crawling ability.

I'm currently holding off on further mods to the ol' Chevy because... (a temporary situation, fingers-crossed)... unemployment.

A while back I posted pics from a looong and STEEP ridge in my neighborhood park area that I nicknamed "The Devil's Backbone".

Austin hit 97deg today (a record) and we had warmed up on a limestone and gravel bluff, both slow-crawling and going full-throttle up those sections that would allow it.

When we were good and overheated from being out on that bluff with zero shade, we both decided to hit Devil's Backbone with a vengeance!

It's a real physical workout initially clambering down the narrow path without falling off the vertical drop-offs on the sides of the massively-eroded finger of limestone ledges.

Then, we turned around at the base and slow-crawled up the whole thing, an extremely technical climb with many decisions needing to be made as to which line would result in a successful "Ascent"!

This was made all the more anxiety-provoking by the possibility of the rig cartwheeling completely off the ridge itself, likely destroying the body and possibly ripping a wheel clean off...

But, the challenge was made ultimately more rewarding by all this drama.

Best time crawling EVER!

I could make some lines my friend couldn't and he likewise made others I couldn't - the many differences between the vehicles were abundantly clear.

He had more tire (height AND width), more weight, and 3S power with all the techno-wizardry that comes standard on a TRX-4.

I had a modded vehicle on skinny 4.19" tires with all my weight moved up front and brass at all 4 corners courtesy of SSD, and a upgrade to a transverse-mounted 3S LiPo / HW 1080 ESC / HH Trailmaster Sport 550 21t electronics (and let's not forget my "magic" little cheapo DS3218 servo plugging away!) and a caged-back instead of a large (and admittedly gorgeous) Bronco shell with scale-accurate low-hangin bumpers front and rear.

It was an education for both of us.

And, in the end - a day that made me forget that I could not make it out to the Pro-line "By the Fire" event wearing my kick-ass "Ascenders Assemble" t-shirt this year.

EXACTLY what I needed!


Thanks to my pal with his Sunrise Special Bronco...



The ONLY bummer was that for the first time ever, I somehow lost the dozen or so pics I took with my Pixel XL.

WTF???

I MAY be saved from total embarrassment there because he had a POV setup courtesy of an interior-mounted GoPro as well as a tripod-mounted Sony video camera.

Maybe I can get a link up to the footage when he's got it ready, we will see.

You guys enjoy Apple Valley - I will make it out to a group event with RCCrawler.com presence one of these days!

[2mtech]

Sorry to hear about your employment setback...I hope it is in fact temporary!

And we're too old to be running around in 97° weather, but glad you had fun. Although, it probably didn't actually happen since you have no pics

[durok]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Sorry to hear about your employment setback...I hope it is in fact temporary!

And we're too old to be running around in 97° weather, but glad you had fun. Although, it probably didn't actually happen since you have no pics

Thanks, my man!

My fault for not having something lined up yet - I'm pressing on more urgently now that my mini-vacation is wrapping up!

And yeah, more attention paid to acclimatizing myself to yet ANOTHER typical beast of a Texas summer is needed as well.

It's not like I haven't lived though more than 3.5 decades of this heat!

It does at times make me wish I ended up living in one of the many milder locations that I grew up in...

And as for your last comment... D'oh!

(damn those hi-tech gadgets, making me look the fool...)

[durok]

Pic taken from the inside of the cab of my friend's TRX-4 Bronco - uphill on the Devil's Backbone - the narrowness and closed-in vegetation growth really makes for a lot of work physically getting to the bottom before you can start the vehicles crawling, but in the end makes for awesome pics and video:

[durok]

Ran at the Dinosaur Tracks in the San Gabriel Riverbed, super-hot and NO shade, met 4 guys from the Austin Crawler FaceBook page, nice people!

After nearly passing out from the heat and Miatardo using up his first LiPo pack in his TRX4 Bronco (my Ascender must get good fuel economy, I had a much smaller capacity pack and was still good),

the 2 of us got in an air-conditioned car and drove back towards my area and went to Balcones District Park...

Searching for shade in the nearly 100 degree heat - and some more technical crawling.

Put one of my bigger SMC packs in his TRX4, I went ahead and swapped my smallish Venom LiPo as well to make sure I didn't run out on the trail.

Hit the rocks with a vengeance, this was some serious "rip-rap" as they say, interspersed with larger smoother river rocks.

At least we had shade!

The terrain was so technical that we didn't remember to stop and take pics until the end.

We finally toasted his stock Traxxas steering servo and called it a day!

We will definitely return, it's very close to where I live and might be the most fun crawl spot for many miles.

Devil's Backbone is still the king, but it's a lot of work, actually a little dangerous to climb down to the base and then start the uphill crawl.

This spot has shade and a wide hike and bike trail leading right up to it, couldn't be easier to get to.

I will get much better pics next time!

[Shinchu]

nice!
i hear ya loud and clear about being too busy for pics. that was pretty much my entire proline trip lol
i also know about frying servos haha

love that pic, terrain looks awesome with the texture and moss.

[Shinchu]

Originally Posted by durok

Pic taken from the inside of the cab of my friend's TRX-4 Bronco - uphill on the Devil's Backbone - the narrowness and closed-in vegetation growth really makes for a lot of work physically getting to the bottom before you can start the vehicles crawling, but in the end makes for awesome pics and video:

if not for the body posts, i would swear these trucks are 1:1
also really makes me reconsider my wife's offer to get me a gopro for my b-day...

fun looking spots you guys have there!

[Miatardo]

Speaking for the great day, the location in the picture above has many hours of fun crawling in its future!

As for the server :( I feel ran the factory servo pretty hard on 4 or 5 days/trails. It deserves its permanent rest.

[Shinchu]

ironically i blew an old spectrum servo at proline, and a traxxas micro shift servo about a month ago. i got another full size traxxas that replaced the stock servo in my sons barrage, so far its still going! fingers crossed!

thanks for stopping by! and when can we see some pics in the 1:1 vehicle section of this turbo miata i heard about?

[Zombie76]

Where were you ordering for shock towers from? I wonder if they've updated both sets with all the extra mounting holes and body pin holes.

[durok]

Originally Posted by Zombie76

Where were you ordering for shock towers from? I wonder if they've updated both sets with all the extra mounting holes and body pin holes.

I'm pretty sure I got them on fleaBay, and will need to reach out to Boom Racing to let them know of the defective front set I got, and ask if they have functional fronts that have the holes - I'd like to have the ability to use the TRX-4 take-off shocks up front to match my rears!

Currently, this is all on the back burner, as I have to get myself a new job before spending any more cash on crawler stuff.

...and my first Bomber (of two Bomber-based builds) is finally complete!

Only took me 2 years!