OS's Ascender #3

[2mtech]

Moving along now! The sliders look really good. I like the axles at that width, especially with that body.

[OSRC]

May be the slowest build ever. Finally got the body painted - a little flashier than my usual paint schemes...but what's more American than a Jeep? (I know, I know, owned now by FCA...let's not go there!)

Pretty much a Proline Jeep - body, rack and interior. Rebuilt my first Ascender the same way and sold it before I even ran it. I really liked it though so decided to redo it. Just waiting on the driver figure and it's good to go. Not quite sold on the wheels, I think some 1.55's would look much better though these will do for now. I should have this out on the trail sometime by 2021.

[Shinchu]

Funny how many iterations a build goes through before it sets in to just use the K.I.S.S. method, right? ;)

Looks great now bring it to proline by the fire 2019!
Those wheels actually look awesome combined with the ride height its at now. I dig it!

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by Shinchu

Looks great now bring it to proline by the fire 2019!

If they ever come to the east coast, I'd be there!

[kincer]

This thing looks great! I just bought one and waiting it's arrival.

[OSRC]

This poor Ascender...built, modded, and never run. It's quite sad when your truck has more dust on it than dirt. I'm on track for 2021 though!

I got word that GCM is coming with another batch of kits to move the motor/trans up front, which is what I'm waiting for! Hopefully this truck gets some run time in this season.

In the meantime, addressed some issues I needed to take care of. Since I shortened the shocks quite a bit to get a lower stance, the front axle had very little up-travel -the drag link was hitting the servo arm well before the wheels stuffed into the wheel well. I moved the drag link under the steering knuckles and just added some 5mm spacers to the steering link. Problem solved! Can't they all be this easy?



Now for the rear... my fantastic contraption shock towers worked great....until I put the interior in. Way too tall. I could either dremel out the interior for clearance, or come up with a plan B. Decided to go Plan B! Originally I had planned a cantilever setup, but I don't care for all the slop that eventually comes with adding extra pivot points. So I went with a laydown shock instead.

Took some Axial shocks and cut them down about 15mm or so. Stole some shafts from a set of Tamiya mini CVA's and boom - 70mm Axial shocks. Perfect size now for touring car springs, of which I have tons to tune with. Started with 50wt. oil.


Working off eye measurements and fortified by a pot of eye watering strong coffee, I made a small set of standoffs out of some scrap aluminum and they dropped right on. I did outboard them at the bottom mount though the pic does not show it very well.



And drawing off previous Ascender experience, I knew the rear would benefit from a swaybar. My usual HR swaybar set to the rescue! Trimmed down the arms as they were a bit long, otherwise they fit very well. Drilled out some old nitro linkage collars to 2.5mm to keep it centered. Works like a charm, not sure why I've never tried this before.


Full compression (sorta...has a bit more in there):


Full extension:


The travel of the rear now matches the front perfectly! I did swap out the springs for something softer after installing the swaybar and it feels pretty even front/rear. Always good to land in the ballpark! The swabar itself feels a bit stiff - I'll wait until I get it all loaded down and test driven before making any changes.


Plenty of room under the interior now! In fact, I probably need some wheel wells to cover up that gaping hole.


Proline interior fit perfect of course, but won't drop over the transmission. It's close, but not quite there. Note how high the body sits up front. I'm not going to slice up the interior, so now it's just shelf time until GCM re-releases the trans relocation kit. I'm not even sure that will 100% fit - the motor mount is up pretty high and I have the body as low as it can go. We'll see!

[JatoTheRipper]

That looks bad ass! Also looks like it's going to be a performer.

I should get in on some of that GCM stuff before it's gone for good.

[M1tch]

Mitch 'Likes'.


Nice work and looks great. I still have my #3 Ascender in bits, but got ideas now. Still building my Venture SBK, but got a lot of Ascender love.

[mgputer]

Nice looking rig.

[soze]

Nice swaybar mount!

[Natedog]

Nate likes too. Nice truck, very scale looking with interior and wheel/tire combo!

[Yeti.stealth]

Looks great! Can't believe you haven't taken it out yet! Body looks cool.

[OSRC]

Thanks fellas! Going for a C1 rig, think it fits the bill. The Ascender platform is so flexible for just about any build, it's a great truck.

[OSRC]

Got an e-mail from GCM that their Ascender relocation kit was back in stock! Ordered and here in 2 days - very nice!

Truck was torn down in anticipation, and the kit arrived on Monday. Came with a few stickers and some candy. Very nice! This is my first order from GCM and though I thought it was a bit pricey for what it is, the quality and fit and finish was spot on. Very happy with my purchase! Time to spin some wrenches..


I prefer a heavier rig over a light one, and to that effect I added some lead in the cavity under the t-case. Plenty of room under there to sandwich in about 3 ounces of fishing lead, and figured the weight at the bottom of the chassis would help offset the motor moving up. Fixed in securely with some hot glue to keep it from rattling around.


T-case installed and ready to go! The stock rear driveshaft does not have a lot of engagement, not sure how long it's going to last. I do have an output converter to run pin through shafts, I'll swap it over eventually. Just didn't feel like taking the axles apart just yet.


After a bit of dremel time on the chassis rail, the transmission bolted right up and dropped in. I used a Tamiya dogbone and drive cups to connect the trans to the t-case. Strong and reliable, and everything spins nice and smooth.


Well, that didn't take long! Moved the battery to the slider and put in the electronics. Temporary setup for now, I'll eventually drop in a WP1080.



Body and interior now fit perfectly! Definitely worth the wait. The front wheels are really stuffed in there - after getting the body on I realized the front springs were way too soft for the added weight of the motor and trans up front. I like the lower stance, but it's not quite going to work.



Dug in my box and found some yellow Axial springs. They seemed to be a good match on the bench, so on they went!


Finally after 10 months, it's time for a test drive!!

[OSRC]

I never did a "before" drive with this truck so I don't have a direct comparison. I've driven Ascenders before though, and they are plenty capable in stock form. I can say that the trans relocation puts quite a bit more weight up front and somewhat high, and I expected a truck that's a bit more tippy than stock.

First thing I do with any build is run a few rings around my huge maple tree. The roots at the bottom are a great sidehill test. I expected a higher COG with the motor relocated, but it's well counterbalanced by the SSD axle weights and the heaver chassis. Very stable as it climbed around the roots. Tires were doing some foldover though....stock foams aren't going to cut it.


And of course, out to the test course. Beautiful spring day, 72 and sunny. It can stay like this all year as far as I'm concerned! Quickly realized that the truck was much more capable than I expected. Rocked the 50 degree ramp no problem.


and the 60 degree! Made it look almost easy. The 4.19 Hyrax are great tires - plenty of grip, even on a somewhat slippery wooden ramp.


Climbed up the bitch without much drama. Sometimes I have to carefully pick my way up here, sometimes I can just pin it and hope for the best. With the grip from the tires and a somewhat heavy truck, I went slow and steady and just let the truck do it's thing. Picked and flexed it's way right up. It was almost boring.


Just as good out on the rock section as well. Crossing over my 1/2 finished bridge. The front bumper sometimes hangs up a bit, but it's all part of the fun.


Can really see the rear swaybar working here. The front does most of the flexing and the rear stays pretty stable. A little too stable sometimes.


Pretty tricky climb here, but the Ascender pulled it off pretty easily.


All in all, I'm stoked with how this truck performs. I wasn't building it as a top performance truck per-se, but it's far more capable than I expected. Can't wait to get it out on an actual trail run and put it through it's paces. Couple of things I need to address before the next trail run:

• Front springs are ok, but it's way underdamped and bouncy up front. Going to go up to 50wt oil and go from there. Should add some much needed stability up front.
• Rear swaybar works fine, but it's a bit too stiff. Going to soften it up a bit.
• This particular 35t motor seems a bit zippier than my others. Either that, or my gearing math is all wrong. Going to drop a few teeth on the pinion as the truck is a bit on the fast side overall.
• I'm running the stock foams in the tires, and they are folding over up front due to the weight. They are not terrible - especially for stock foams, but some CI foams are in order for sure.
• Needs a driver! I totally forgot to glue him in! Also the body needs a few details painted up. The lack of window trim is annoying the hell out of me. I'd also like some wheel wells out back, it's awful airy under there.

Totally worth the wait!

[JatoTheRipper]

Looks good. The motor is way high for my liking, but sacrifices have to be made because you can't shove 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag. I was thinking maybe I should pickup one of these kits for the future, but they are already out of stock again!

[smog]

Woohoo!

Truck is really well done OS! Look forward to hearing about he performance of the rear suspension.

How do you like the GCM kit for the forward mounted transmission? Been debating it for my Bronco..

Edit, never mind got the review. Your last post popped up before I finished mine. That’s what happens when you go make coffee mid post ...lol

[rkj__]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Climbed up the bitch without much drama.... Picked and flexed it's way right up. It was almost boring.

Well, it is an ASCENDER! LOL

[M1tch]

Very nice looking and driving truck! I wish I could be bothered to detail mine as much, but I just get to the point where it drives ok and I'm done.

[OSRC]

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Looks good. The motor is way high for my liking, but sacrifices have to be made because you can't shove 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag.

I was originally concerned about how high the motor is, but it's a non issue so far. Even with the narrowed axles!

Originally Posted by rkj__

Well, it is an ASCENDER! LOL

Very true!!


Front suspension...nothing a little shock therapy won't fix. Swapped from 30 to 50wt. Mucho better.


Dropped a few teeth on the pinion as well. Also ground the swaybar a bit to reduce the diameter - should soften it up a bit.


Decided to try out some new shoes. Had these 1.55 tires laying around and wonted to try them out. I reduced the preload to get the truck sitting at a bit lower stance.


Doing some testing. The Mud thrashers actually did ok. Hard not to with a somewhat heavy rig. They were struggling initially, though as I got them spinning they seemed to warm up a bit and find traction. Definitely a tire that needs some more wheelspeed than the Hyrax tires do. I think they look a bit small to my eyes too. If I hadn't trimmed the body to accommodate the larger tires, they would have looked better.




After testing, I put the Hyrax back on. I'd like to try out the Pitbull tires too, but I robbed the wheels for another project. So just waiting on a set of wheels to mount them on.