HumboldtEF's Ascender Reassembled

[HumboldtEF]

I decided It was time to refresh my Ascender K10 after finding out my bumper mounted winch was too weak to be useful. Ditching the winch (bumper mounted) meant that I could make a much lower profile front bumper for a better approach angle. And with the bumper going I need to change up the sliders too

The original bumper stuck out a fair bit and it was often getting hung up, it was also wider than the body. (from RC4WD called rock armor I believe)

The rock sliders that I made to match this bumper were wider too.


I decided I still want a winch but went for a servo winch. I picked up a KMS servo winch and made some brackets that mount to the steering servo and extend up and forward for the servo winch.





My bracket placed the servo winch a bit too far forward so instead of remaking it I used a few spacers to tilt it in the right direction.



For the front bumper I made a little pipe roller in order to make the front curve of the body match the bumper.





I ended up cutting off 1/4"-3/8" (right to the end of the first bumper mount hole) or so off the front of the chassis rails so that I could get a nice angle on the plate on the underside of the bumper. This plate also extends just below the servo horn and linkage protecting it.

I added an inset area for the fairlead to go.







I modified my original sliders cutting them flush with the body and adding in a new runner (3/16" rod) so they only stick out the thickness of the rod. Oh and if you're wondering what the little nub in the slider is it a bump stop of sorts for the bodies roll cage. On roll overs the body used to slam into the sliders and it caused a fair amount of damage to the first body, so these cradle the roll cage on a roll over and prevent the body from hitting the sliders.





I also added some raised upper rear link mounts to the sliders



After that I had to move the sway bar down a bit to clear the links as well as driveshaft (I forgot about the driveshaft the first time and had to try again)

the raise upper rear links were likely to hit the bottom of the electronics mount (the arms)



So I made a new electronics mount plate that was wider



And then I heated and bent the mount arms out, but really the new wider plate and hole spacing will push these mount arms out of the way

Now theres much more clearance to the links



I was also trying to shave some weight off where I could and I ended up removing a bit of aluminum that I had made a license plate and brake light mount out of and i widdled it down to being just the light mounts. I had also made a trailer hitch mount that was pretty heavy so I took it off as well. I also added some SSD rear axle weights a while back and I removed them, I already have enough weight down low and I dont need any extra weight in the rear.

Depending on the wheels I use its anywhere from 7lb 6 oz to 8lb 3oz, I forget the old weight but it was in the 9lb range.

The black wheels are SSD steel slots with the Proline KM3 (4.19's) the silver wheels are Slot mag V2's with vintage finish (sandblasted) from GearHead with Proline Super Swampers. The SSD wheels have a much narrower stance while the Gearhead wheels stick way out.



new vs old bumper weight






I got to test it out last night and its still as good as its always been (its always been one of my best 1.9 crawlers), I hardly even scraped the front bumper which is awesome its providing much more clearance and improved approach angle. The servo winch is much stronger that the old bumper mounted version. I'm not sure I can tell the difference from the RURL mounts yet.
Oh and I'm really pleased with the new narrower/sleeker metalwork. I also used some different paint, Tamiya TS matte black, I used to use a gloss black and this one looks much better.

I very stoked to have this rig back together as its still my favorite.

The last tiny hurdle is to come up with some red leds to run off of the receiver, I used to have a axial simple light kit in it but I'm trying to free up space. Anyway I plugged in a few straight to the receiver to test this out and burned up like 3 sets just testing..... ok I know theres a right way to do this but I just wanted this last step done and I bullheadedly kept pushing and burning up leds. I must have spent 3 hours on this fruitless exercise.
So I've ordered some more red LEDs along with resisters so I can actually do this properly.
at one point I ran out of red LEDs and only had white so I decided to paint the light buckets red and I also added a light coat of black to smoke the lens a bit, it turned out great...... but turn on the LEDs which are white but really come off as blue-ish combined with red= Purple......I should have just quit earlier.

[soze]

Those sliders and bumper look awesome! I'd rock them!

[smog]

Agree with Soze. Your design sense and execution are spot on. Simple, elegant, functional. Really nice work man!

[mgputer]

Looks great. Very nice Fab skills

Sent from my Vivo XI+ using Tapatalk

[Itali83]

That front bumper and mount is the defitntion of clean and purposeful. Love it. Very nice. Glad to see some of these ascenders getting love and refreshes. Love how you don’t see us needing to replace power train parts, just revamp bodies and change up bumpers and sliders to our liking. I know I’ve been kind of dumping on Vaterra lately but I do love out OG ascenders for their style, reliability and function for sure.

Ben

[M1tch]

I really like the look of that bumper. I don't have any welding brazing kit though as I would build something like that myself.

[Shinchu]

REALLY NICE!
hope you can get her dialed in time for proline? ;)

really makes me want to try my own brazing... and that pipe bender is fantastic!
let me know how you end up controlling that KMS winch. i still have mine currently unemployed due to lack of controller :(

[JatoTheRipper]

So you're re-Ascendering?

Nice project. Your little tube bender is impressive! Nice work.

[HumboldtEF]

Thanks for all the kind words

Originally Posted by Shinchu

REALLY NICE!

let me know how you end up controlling that KMS winch. i still have mine currently unemployed due to lack of controller :(

I've used HeyOk's wireless controller (separate remote) in the past but ended up having range issues, it had to be within 6-12" from the controller or it would stutter.
For this one I'm using a RC4WD wired controller, its been working fine for years.

Originally Posted by Itali83

Glad to see some of these ascenders getting love and refreshes. Love how you don’t see us needing to replace power train parts, just revamp bodies and change up bumpers and sliders to our liking. I know I’ve been kind of dumping on Vaterra lately but I do love out OG ascenders for their style, reliability and function for sure.

Ben

Yeah the Ascender is still my favorite out of my fleet and its has been dead reliable. I think the only actual breakage I've had was the rear axle upper link mount.

Oh and these parts were mig welded not brazed BTW

I had kind of intended for this to be a build thread but in the past I've posted up little bits and pieces along the way so heres a few links to other parts of this build

Headlights and Wood bed

Proline Interior

Replaced the stock, links stretching the wheelbase, rear axle weights

[HumboldtEF]

I designed a 3D printed bracket to mount my light buckets and a rear sway bar. The spot I tried to run the sway bar through when facing forwards was hitting the drive shaft at 3/4 travel and there was no more room to move it. So this bracket orients the sway bar rearwards.



Light mount made for medium sized round Axial light bucket









I will be putting this up on Thingiverse very soon so anyone can print this. I'd also love it if other Ascender cats would test it out too. I'd be willing to make some prints and mail them out to folks. I'm curious to see what the different wheelbases require to clear the sway bar, the pumpkin is the only thing to worry about with clearance but I'd like to have either a couple of versions or one with multiple sway bar holes to choose from.

The sway bar for those wondering is a Wraith front sway bar kit slightly modified. (it needs to be shortened a bit and the flat spot on the end which is cut down needs to be re-made)




I also designed a little license plate frame. I gave it a little recess on the back side to give the laminated plate some space.
I considered making a license plate lighting shroud too, but that will wait.



Sorry for the blurry pic


The story behind the "Twuck" plate is that when I was a toddler and I spotted a truck I would exclaim "Twuck Twuck Twuck Twuck!" until I was acknowledged and someone said "yeah truck". I thought it may have been because my father had a truck but found out he didn't even have one at the time. So I guess I've had a love of Twucks since I was a little, though it took me a while to get back to it.

[soze]

Would the hot racing wraith sway bar set work?

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by soze

Would the hot racing wraith sway bar set work?

Yeah I believe others have used it and I think its cheaper than Axials.

[Natedog]

Great job man!

Yes HR swaybar set works but the aluminum is not as quality and the setscrews in the arms strip out much easier.

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Great job man!

Yes HR swaybar set works but the aluminum is not as quality and the setscrews in the arms strip out much easier.

Thanks



I'd avoid that HR kit just because of that. I've really had to ream down on the set screws to keep them from coming loose even with the loctite. I would have easily stripped the HR one by now because this need to be taken apart and re-assembled from time to time.

[druz]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I'd be willing to make some prints and mail them out to folks.

Have been eyeing the sway bar kit for a while now....

I would be happy to help you out with that... I would be willing to send something to cover the shipping...

[KMS]

Awesome job mounting your winch, you have skills ,,

[Shinchu]

Casey! Halp!!!
Those light brackets would be PERFECT for Andrews chebby!
We were doing some work I havent posted yet and he asked about brake lights.
We would love to test a set for ya! I already have those axial buckets too.

**on second look... I think they would hit the rear panhard bracket Ernie worked so hard prototyping on Andrews rig. I can most likely bolt the buckets straight to the frame rails.
Thanks Anyway!

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by KMS

Awesome job mounting your winch, you have skills ,,

Thank you

Originally Posted by Shinchu

Casey! Halp!!!
Those light brackets would be PERFECT for Andrews chebby!
We were doing some work I havent posted yet and he asked about brake lights.
We would love to test a set for ya! I already have those axial buckets too.

**on second look... I think they would hit the rear panhard bracket Ernie worked so hard prototyping on Andrews rig. I can most likely bolt the buckets straight to the frame rails.
Thanks Anyway!

I printed a few sets to give out at PLBTF so you can check them out then or take a set to try if you want.


I could remove the sway bar side of it if that would help it clear.

[Natedog]

Looks great, love the 1.9s too! Swaybar prints came out good too, thanks!

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by Natedog

Looks great, love the 1.9s too! Swaybar prints came out good too, thanks!

Thanks, I'll be bringing some more sway bar mounts to Proline BTF printed in a stronger material PETG. The PLA I printed initially doesn't do great with hotter temps, PETG does better.



I did a few little tweaks getting ready for Proline BTF. After swapping in a Mamba X micro into my venture I was really impressed with the low speed control so I decided my Ascender would also benefit greatly from a Micro X since its so front heavy. Its great at ascending but not so much at descending.

I really like being able to solder in external BEC's to the battery posts instead on the battery connector end.



I also took this opportunity to simplify the wiring. The receiver box was so stuffed full that I always dreaded opening it, all of the extra wire was wadded up and crammed in. So I shortened a few wires that didn't need to be long and I pulled my RC4WD winch controller out of its case, coated it in a conformal coating (from Holmes Hobbies) and threw a big piece of heatshrink on it. That casing took up the most space.

Now there's a much more manageable rats nest to stuff into the receiver box




I always wanted to try out a softer sway bar but never got around to trying piano wire or anything else. So I decided to play around with the Wraith sway bars and grind a large tapered flat spot in hopes that it would soften it up.



The way these stock ones work in terms of softness is based on the depth of the slot ground in the middle. Stiff had no slot, medium has a shallow slot and the soft had a deeper slot. But the bar only flexes at this slot, so lengthening this thinned out area should allow it to flex along a much wider area and be softer.



Here's what I ended up with




This does soften it up quite a bit and allow a fair bit more flex and I can just see the bar actually twists now where it used to twist so little I couldn't even notice