Wrangler TJ Locked & Loaded 1:1 (Build)

[Hal]

I was just looking at some of my pics of some scaler comps I went to and found some with a scale winch very similar to the one you have on your 1:1. I would deff recomend a winch controller for that extra chanel in stead of the hand held remote one, I must have dropped mine a 100 times trying to drive and use it at the same time. Lighting is another issue you may want to consider, I use a seperate battery for mine, a 9 volt. But I only run a 850 in my scaler because of my setup. It a short wheelbas leafsprung TF2 with a Yj body with custom grill to make it look like my 1:1 CJ5. I also like to give my LHS my buisness when possible. Keeps them around for help and racing ( crawling) kinda tuff to crawl online if they close. They will get most anything for me if I ask. CI foams are probably the only thing they didnt get.

[Browneye]

Gear head wheels...





Locked-Up RC iconic




1:10 scale Warn 8274

[Itali83]

For motor and esc I can offer a little insight. I have two ascenders. One rtr that was running stock electronics for 2.5 years on 2s. The second is a completely custom build with a Holmes hobbies brushed esc and crawlmaster pro 16t motor on 3s. The Holmes setup is buttery smooth and silent! Super tunability and amazing. That complete setup was just shy of $200 with shipping and the governor's cut.

My rtr truck with stock electronics on 2s was quite smooth. I ran a 12t pinion to help with low end power and smoothness. The motor finally died after 2.5 years and I got a Holmes hobbies trail master 55t sealed can motor. It is super slow on 2s but perfect for me on 3s. Stock esc is still doing well. I seem to have a much smoother start off now with new motor. Could be because it's a Holmes or could be because It's a 55t and not 35t. Moral or the story, Holmes stuff is great. But for my level of experience and ability, my next build will be using the hobbywing 1080wp esc and a HH trailmaster for a total of about $80. Only reason I'd go with a big dollar esc is if I wanted to go to 4s or higher power as the 1080 is only rated for 3s. Hope this helps.

Ben

[Browneye]

Helps a lot Ben - thanks!

Hobby wing esc is in my cart somewhere... Lol
So now to pick a motor for 2s and 3s...thinking of HH Trailmaster 35T.

[Itali83]

35t will be your best bet. The 55t is really slow even on 3s if you don't have the 2speed. I'm a slow and technical guy so I love it but most hate super slow trucks. I've got the 2speed to help so I love it.

Ben

[Browneye]

Originally Posted by Itali83

35t will be your best bet. The 55t is really slow even on 3s if you don't have the 2speed. I'm a slow and technical guy so I love it but most hate super slow trucks. I've got the 2speed to help so I love it.

Ben

Exactly what I was thinking. 35T is plenty fast on 2s for comp/rock crawling and and will give me the wheel speed I'm looking for on trails and walking in the forest on 3s.

I was going to try 30T or even 27, but I think 30 or 35 will be a good compromise for what I want.

I'm going can-motor this time since I'm going to end up with hundreds in this build - can always get a nicer motor down the road. Being able to run 3s will be the ticket for me I think.

As HH says, power up and gear down.

[Natedog]

35T or 550 can 21T both with 3S and Hobbywing wp1080.

[Browneye]

Originally Posted by Natedog

35T or 550 can 21T both with 3S and Hobbywing wp1080.

That's it Natedog. AMain had a site-wide 10% off today so the HW 1080, HH Trailmaster 35T, a 3800 3S lipo shorty, and Savox 0231 servo is on the way. I thought I would try the lighter (reads: cheaper) servo with the built in BEC and see if I can stand it. If I need more servo power I'll get a stronger servo, a CC BEC, and HH splitter.


Body will be here this week - got a killer deal from Tower - the Proline Rubicon 2-door Wrangler with 300mm WB. So I'll build the Ascender chassis to WB3 which is 302mm - I only gotta find a silly millimeter on each wheel well on the Jeep Wrangler body. Should be close enough. K5 Kit is on the bench.


I checked my paint shelf and sure enough, I have some left over automotive acrylic enamel in 'BRONZE MIST' from another paint project. It will be so close to the khaki metallic as to be indiscernible from the full size. Can't wait. I want to tint the windows, or black them out, I'm not building a hard-body or an interior - it's all about the crawl.

And since it has a hardtop but my 1:1 was a soft, I'll make up a black canvas convertible top fabric and glue it to the proline body. Will make a good representation of the original.



So I'm getting excited to start building. Have a list of more parts to get to finish it. I'm considering putting some Class-1 tires on it - for SORRCA scale rules since the rest of it will conform. What do you guys think about that? Or should I just go for Class 2 or 2.5, bigger tires - that seems to be the only difference for this build. I guess I'm not that clear about the sorrca classes.

I'll have to see what that body looks like once I get the chassis built and start mating it up. See how the tires fit and stuff.


On another note, I was tinkering on the K10 a bit and decided to try moving the front bumber in and up, and sure enough, by re-drilling the mounts and reversing them, I gained several mm in and up from stock. There's a pic of it mod'd in the pic above with the paint. The ones below I took before I changed the bumper. Oh, dropped the body a couple of holes on the front, and made some neoprene washers for the hood mounts so it doesn't rattle going over rough terrain.

Here are some close-ups with more detail of my flatbed with beer cask and crate - this is all scratch-built stuff just off the top of my head. I re-purposed some of the old cage when I cut it down to make the flatbed. They used to call this 'kit bashing'. [shrug]



I've added black Axial 8-holes and RockBeast tires, the scale ones - wished I'd have known to get the 'alien komp' version instead of the 'scale version' with 'komp' rubber. They're not very clear about all that when you go to order them. In any case, I think they work better than the RTR TSL's that come with it. And the cheesy chrome rims are, well, kinda cheesy.

I snapped these pics before I mod'd the front bumper. Really pleased with how that worked out.

[Natedog]

Looks good, how about try C1 first, some Pitbull Braven Ironside tires would be great! I also like the current Pitbull RockBeast look too, back the sthock preload collars off to lower the ride height will crawl better.

[Browneye]

Funny, those Bravens really caught my eye, I've been strongly considering them in C1. Think I'll do that with the Locked-up wheels - he just sent me an alternate for his alloy wheels - they are out of the plain beadlock rings, but the 'Demon' is in stock...will be close enough. Anyone running their wheels? I assume they work great.... a better scale look than most.

[Browneye]

I wish I could find this style wheel without beadlocks. My 1:1 had internal beadlocks from Australia - the Staun ones. I helped the guy get them launched here in the US, t-shirts and stickers, promote the product. They were kind of famous for their air-down valve stems - set them and forget them, they would air down to a pre-set PSI.
We would run about 8lbs in the GY MTR's with internal beadlocks. Talk about traction. I almost went over backwards on a crawl right before I sold it. They grabbed the bumper and pulled it back or it would have gone over.

[Browneye]

So, how do I get a better price on wheels and tires?? $170 for RC car wheels and tires? Geebus.

[Browneye]

What do you guys know about these?
on ebay, from china... https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Pcs-1-9-Al...-/222305084762

[M1tch]

They look similar to Gmade wheels. If so they are good.. The outer ring is probably fake bolts and the 6 centre bolts pull it all together. Only thing to watch is the threads on those bolts are only 2mm and can strip easily.

[Itali83]

Those eBay wheels are just fine. Everyone runs them with no problems. I've used them and enjoyed the price much more than the name brand ones. The only maker that makes those wheels in internal beadlock style is GCM. GCM USA Webstore - 8-Hole Scale Beadlock 1.9 Rim

But big money again.

Ben

[Natedog]

Locked Up, fleabay wheels should be fine, I know peeps who've used both. RC4WD has some nice wheels that don't look like beadlocks, are durable and look great, I've got several sets of them, love my wagon wheels!

1.9'' Wheels

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Browneye

What do you guys know about these?
on ebay, from china... https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Pcs-1-9-Al...-/222305084762

I have these. They look and work great. I prefer the newer, wider wheels though. I'm not sure about this style, but some of the Fanquish wheels are offered in the original narrow and the newer, wider sizes. Wider is a must in 2.2 IMO. The old Vanquish width 2.2s were silly skinny.

[Browneye]

Thanks guys. The 'tiny trucks' ones are nice, but the ones I like are out of stock and stupid expensive. LOL

@JatoTheRipper - that looks great! Really nice pic and love those wheels!

[Browneye]

Ordered...I think I'll get a set of those Braven Ironside comp tires.

[Browneye]

Some parts arrived today...reading up on the Hobbywing quicrun 1080 - very cool little piece of tech.

Motor, servo, and a 3600mah 3s shorty. This is a pretty cool little compact battery pack with decent capacity.

This ends up being a LOT more money than a RTR. Likely twice as much once I get it all done. Of course it will be vastly superior...so mission accomplished. [shrug]