Renting to own... My son's first ASCENDER!

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

... i heard something brilliant from one of medic's RC Sparks videos...

Huh...some form of sarcastic clarification usually follows that statement...

At this rate by the time he's 15 he'll be crawling circles around you! That's a good thing.

[Shinchu]

yeah he already does with the tire size difference hahaha (i may have taken his truck later and was crawling things i could only DREAM of in my truck lol)

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Cool! Its nice to see thats up and running again. I'm still impressed with the amount of control Andrew has, he's doing great!

Casey i will be sure to tell him that, he still thinks your FJ40 is the coolest thing (maybe dad does too) ;)

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

Casey i will be sure to tell him that, he still thinks your FJ40 is the coolest thing (maybe dad does too) ;)

Nice, I just finished up the sliders and skid this weekend so now I can finally drive it without worrying about scraping and banging the rockers and transfer case. Not that I worried about damage too much, and I have to say going with a beat up paint job was the best decision, if it were pristine I dont think I'd enjoy it half as much.

I can see foresee a "medium tire" truck in your future just so you can keep up with Andrew!

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Huh...some form of sarcastic clarification usually follows that statement...

Well the saving grace was likely the fact that the statement comes from someone else, lol

[Shinchu]

Haha I have slightly larger tiny tires on the way, courtesy of another ascender "cool cat" who happens to be a dog ;)

Just showed Andrew all of the comments. So humble... He said thanks and I could tell he was pretty surprised by all the comments and he asked if anyone thought it was me (dad) driving.
Yup he is a pretty good crawlin partner. Can't wait til we get some winches going!

[Shinchu]

ok i seriously need to get this truck on the bench. haven't refilled/inspected the rear shocks. and another potentially ugly problem has reared its head...

right after i got that vid, Andrew was making his way up another rock pile and said "Dad... can you look at my truck?" ruh-roh. "the front wheels aren't spinning" hmm. i have seen the front jun-fac let go at the axle, normally i just slap it back on and tighten as best i can and he's off and running again.
this time, the driveshaft was still solidly attached.
RUH-ROH.

with he truck in the air, give it some throttle and fronts spin with rears. finger against front tire for a little resistance and they stop almost like an open diff. but the front drive shaft is stopping too.

my suspicion is, he has his dad's ability to destroy gears. (i have grenaded several 1:1 transmissions in my lifetime) and i think Ernie's custom t-case may be the victim. i need to open it up to inspect but im preparing for the worst.
i'll try to open it up tonight if i have time. its on the top of my "terk maintenance stuff" list, along with his shocks and my tires. oh and my steering linkage. just been so dang hot in my garage! (90's all week in san diego = 105+ garage)

[Itali83]

Loose grub screw on the driveshaft to transfer case output shaft.

Ben

[svt923]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

ok i seriously need to get this truck on the bench. haven't refilled/inspected the rear shocks. and another potentially ugly problem has reared its head...

right after i got that vid, Andrew was making his way up another rock pile and said "Dad... can you look at my truck?" ruh-roh. "the front wheels aren't spinning" hmm. i have seen the front jun-fac let go at the axle, normally i just slap it back on and tighten as best i can and he's off and running again.
this time, the driveshaft was still solidly attached.
RUH-ROH.

with he truck in the air, give it some throttle and fronts spin with rears. finger against front tire for a little resistance and they stop almost like an open diff. but the front drive shaft is stopping too.

my suspicion is, he has his dad's ability to destroy gears. (i have grenaded several 1:1 transmissions in my lifetime) and i think Ernie's custom t-case may be the victim. i need to open it up to inspect but im preparing for the worst.
i'll try to open it up tonight if i have time. its on the top of my "terk maintenance stuff" list, along with his shocks and my tires. oh and my steering linkage. just been so dang hot in my garage! (90's all week in san diego = 105+ garage)

From what I remember, Ernie used pinions on shafts to create the t-case. Check to see if the grub screw on the t-case pinion driving the front output has loosened up. That was the problem when my Ascender had a similar power delivery issue.

[Shinchu]

yup i am using the original build thread for reference.
i hope its a simple solution like that. thanks!

[durok]

I had the exact opposite happen, I only had front drive one day, 5min into my arrival at a new trail location - and it was simply the grub screw - to make it more annoying, I didn't figure it out until I drove home from the crawl spot... I could have fixed it then and there!

[Shinchu]

Okay it was VERY close to what you all guessed.
But instead of the drive shaft coming off the t case output shaft...

The output shaft slid out of the t case!

Gonna pull it maybe tomorrow.

**while swapping wheels/tires on my rig, Andrew says "aw dad now you have bigger tires than me. can i have those?" i was like uhhhh... held up the mud thrasher (3.67" OD) next to his hyrax (4.19" OD). he says "oh nevermind" lol
i said "you're welcome to the traxxas canyon trails though!" he was like "uck no thanks those are huge" that's my boy!!!

[Shinchu]

okay i haven't tackled the t-case yet... but i got his birthday present ordered...

probably going to do a "found this old body, gonna restore it" kind of build. he wants at least one mismatched rusty body panel. that's my boy!


** there that's more accurate to what is really going on... ;)

[mgputer]

That's not a Ford!

Anyway should be a good build. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by mgputer

That's not a Ford!

Should be a good build then.

Fixed it for you.

[mgputer]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

Fixed it for you.

I figured you would chime in.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

[Shinchu]

kinda what we are going for... but with a cage on the back.


and if the ascender cage doesn't fit... and im seeing a couple threads would suggest that is the case... maybe something like this with a flat bed and gear...



*LOL Just noticed the ascender stock wheels on this 1:1 haha

[durok]

My RC4WD Raceline Monsters are 1.7" replicas of the stock Ascender wheel, and they make them in all silver, all black, silver center/black rings, and multiple sizes:

[Shinchu]

whoa... those look huge. this one is going to have to stick with the current wheel/tire combo for clearance reasons. the wheels perfectly clear Ernie's rear panhard bar setup. and the 4.19 hyrax just barely clear the fenders on the current 79 ford cab. and those are pretty generous openings, not sure how this will go when i put the blazer cab on there. we don't want to lose too much fender, trying to keep the square body square lol
he's a funny kid though, like i mentioned earlier when i put the mud thrashers on my ford he was like "hey your tires are bigger than mine now." like i was cheating or something and he wanted equal size. i held up the 3.65 mudders next to his 4.19 hyrax and he just goes "oh" lol

I've been going crazy trying to find mirrors for the blazer... the RC4WD mirrors are ENORMOUS and look way off scale. i remember somebody putting something else on there but i don't remember what. (***ok think i found them axial exterior parts tree AX80038 )
I've been scouring shapeways for what feels like days now and... nothing. (but seeing some really cool scale stuff!!! gonna have to nab a CB from leafspringmafia... ;) )
then i need some lexan for the cab wall. that mod19 on shapeways is awesome but FIFTY BUCKS?! nope.
oh and i have a plan C for a rear cage too. but we'll see if i don't need to CROSS that path... ;)

[mgputer]

That should be a cool build. I like those old square body chebby. Can't wait to see progress!

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

[Shinchu]

also crossing my fingers the doors fit between the custom CODYBOY sliders on there now... hopefully i can use them to cleverly attach the body with pins on the inside. haha its killing me his birthday isn't until August 13th hahaha
but even my wife said she is glad he is getting it for us both to work on together. i said YUP that was the idea!
and when little Tyler comes along he will be driving the barrage before he learns to walk haha CRAWLER indeed!!!

[durok]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

whoa... those look huge. this one is going to have to stick with the current wheel/tire combo for clearance reasons. the wheels perfectly clear Ernie's rear panhard bar setup. and the 4.19 hyrax just barely clear the fenders on the current 79 ford cab. and those are pretty generous openings, not sure how this will go when i put the blazer cab on there. we don't want to lose too much fender, trying to keep the square body square lol
he's a funny kid though, like i mentioned earlier when i put the mud thrashers on my ford he was like "hey your tires are bigger than mine now." like i was cheating or something and he wanted equal size. i held up the 3.65 mudders next to his 4.19 hyrax and he just goes "oh" lol

I've been going crazy trying to find mirrors for the blazer... the RC4WD mirrors are ENORMOUS and look way off scale. i remember somebody putting something else on there but i don't remember what. (***ok think i found them axial exterior parts tree AX80038 )
I've been scouring shapeways for what feels like days now and... nothing. (but seeing some really cool scale stuff!!! gonna have to nab a CB from leafspringmafia... ;) )
then i need some lexan for the cab wall. that mod19 on shapeways is awesome but FIFTY BUCKS?! nope.
oh and i have a plan C for a rear cage too. but we'll see if i don't need to CROSS that path... ;)

Just as an FYI, those RC4WD Goodyear MT/Rs in the pic are 1.7" with an OD of only 4.19", they only look large because they are mounted on 1.7" wheels instead of 1.9"...

Remember, this is my T-T-Truck!

(Tiny-Tire)

(My Bomber is running Losi Maxxis Creepy Crawlers that are a whopping 6" tall, when mounted on their Gearhead wheels!)