M1tchy's No 2 Ascender

[M1tch]

Well as i said in the WDYDT/WYAT? thread, I bought another Ascender off eBay UK as It had Vanquish Currie axles on it. I basically got the rest of the truck free as the axles would have cost me as much as I paid for the whole truck. The Curries are unused, not a mark on them.

This is how it started.



I had bought a K10 body and cage a while ago, but never used it, just keeping it for spare. Dug it out and painted the body orange. (Fastrax Orange Power)



New Ascender 2,1

The wheels came with the truck, but I swapped tyres to the Deep Woods I had on my Sawback/Komodo as they work really well in wet muddy conditions as this truck is to be a winter basher.

SSD brass knuckels installed and removed everything from the rear of the chassis ans I want to put the battery, ESC and Rx under the body.

Battery ESC tray made from 3mm abs.

K10 battery tray





And mounted.

K10 battery tray mounted


Then I decide to put the battery Across the chassis as it gave more room for esc , so cut 2 more slots for the battery as 90 degrees to the other slots.

ESC RX and battery in.

K10 battery tray ESC RX mounted

The Esc is an old mamba max pro I had laying around and decided to try this build brushless, but if I dont like it i can always changed to brushed. Everything is set up now so a shakedown run sometime soon.

[Natedog]

Great score, are you using the sweet TF2 Toyota hardbody on it? Very clean battery/electronics tray layout that you made!

[M1tch]

Thanks. i wont be using the Toyota body. Its size make the Deep Woods look stupidly oversize. Those tires actually suit the Gmade Komodo really well as its a big body. The new truck came with some super swampers, so will also get a try out sometime. They are a bit smaller than the Deep Woodsand i want to get some decent clearance under this truck.

The battery tray is 3mm abs I got off ebay. A piece of plastic rod between the battery mounts with 2 countersunk screws and 1 screw at the front onto the servo mount.

[Natedog]

The DeepWoods are huge tires and definitely wouldn't go with the Toyota, definitely more appropriate on the Komodo.

Very cleanly done.

[M1tch]

Thanks. I really want to build a flat bed for the back, but at the moment just want to get it running..

[M1tch]

Well I got out today. Cold here now though. Near 0C in the early morning and 4C in the afternoon. Very muddy as you can see, but the tyres did good in that and on wet grass and moss covered rock Post drive its overgeared, needs less drag brake and more weight low down especially at the back. Some pics and later a short video.

[M1tch]

The video. Crap editing but thats me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP52oA67yIA&feature

[M1tch]

I'm going to look at lowering it a bit. The shocks are about 100mm long and I will see if I have any about 90mm. Also find a way to put some weight on the rear axle. I have the SSD brass knuckles on the front. At least nothing broke today.

[M1tch]

Well I alreadty decided to change the battery tray setup. It was too high and affecting the cog. A stock battery tray wont fit as i have moved the skid forward, so made my own up. I also decided change to brushed as I want to use the motor in another truck. Found as working 550 motor and will set the MMP esc up brushed. If the 550 is no good then I have a few cheap 540 35 turn motoors laying around.

A couple of 3mm rod ends on each side of the chassis to act as pivots. Because the upper link rod was in the way I spaced it out to clear the bolts.





Tray from top.



Side view showing the rod end.







Installed but still need to attach to the axle.

[M1tch]

Well it was cold out in the garage, so came back in. Hope to finish this off and solder up motor wires sometime. My indoor workshop needs a tidy up.

[smog]

Originally Posted by M1tch

Well I got out today. Cold here now though. Near 0C in the early morning and 4C in the afternoon. Very muddy as you can see, but the tyres did good in that and on wet grass and moss covered rock Post drive its overgeared, needs less drag brake and more weight low down especially at the back. Some pics and later a short video.

Beautiful country

[M1tch]

Thanks. It is beautiful, but that area is usually wet and boggy even in the summer. When I get time I'm going to do a better video, hopefully more views of where I go. It's a complete contrast compared to Natedog's or Yeti.Stealth's and others, where it seems to be sunny and dry all the time lol.

[M1tch]

Some more mods done to fit a larger battery (2700mah 3s). Cut the end off the shift servo mount and the pins below.



When I stripped the transmission down to check it was good (it was) I drilled the output shafts to take an Axial drive pin. This is more secure than grubscrews as a couple of times I have had the shafts loosen off.



Ground the end of the driveshafts as they were rubbing on the trans casing and causing drag.



Battery in position, but I still have to cut slots for the strap.

[Natedog]

Nicely done, you'll want to carefully fill/cover the hole left at top of tranny case to keep dirt out. I used E6000 to seal mine after cutting off all that stuff on my K10, little peice of plastic and CA would work too just be careful not to let it run down into the gears or bearings inside the trans.

Edit: I also used a Dremel to trim the motor shaft down and side cutters to trim about 2-3mm off the length of wire solder tabs.

[M1tch]

Thanks. Still a work in progress, but i'm off work for a week now. More mods to come, but little by little.

[M1tch]

Well I got out yesterday. Misty weather, but I dont mind that. Got to the top of a hill with no views. Truck ran fine with the Traxxas 21 turn 550 motor on 3s. A 2700mah battery last almost 2 hours.
Could do with a bit more wheelspeed sometimes. I have a 14T pinion on it, so might try a 15T. I have smoothed out the throttle curve on the MMP the power is fairly steady until almost 3/4 throttle which helps a lot with low speed control.

I want to put thinner oil in the shocks now as they are too slow. As most of my driving is trail rather than crawling it could do with faster compression and rebound.

I need to make up some inner fenders to keep the muck out as you can see. Also need to improve side hilling with some weight lower down, but that's something for next week as i'm off work until Saturday.

[M1tch]

A few pics from yesterday (Thursday) I have swapped the foams from 4.75 to 4.5 inch CI Lil Novas. This gives a good bit more tyre flex as I found the 4.75's a bit stiff. Grip has increased a lot and makes some climbs a lot easier.

Also swapped the 14T pinion to a 15T. Still crawls well and had a touch better wheelspeed. I might try a 16T next time, but will be at work for a few days, so plenty of time to sort thing s out.

[Natedog]

16t pinion is probably too much, keep an eye on motor temperature. Beautiful pictures, is that the ocean in the distance?

[M1tch]

Thanks Nate. I will try a 16T pinion just because i can. Motor temps should be ok as it's pretty cold here at 5C . That or dunk it in a river as everything is waterproof. I need to sort out the sidehilling as thats not to good, but I got at least a couple of weeks before I can get out again due to work.

Yes, thats the ocean in the photo. It's big bay called Plymouth Sound and has an old breakwater across for ships to shelter from bad weather. The whole arera is hilly, but not too high. Where I was is about 220 metres above sea level.

[M1tch]

Thanks Scolac. Yep there are plenty of places to go. I still have an old Clod stick crawler I haven't used for ages. I used to take it to the coast and drive on the rocks, or near where i take the other trucks has plenty of big rock. 1/10 scale sometimes seems small at times.