68 Ford vaterra ascender for natedog’s viewing pleasure

[garage-boo]

I wanted to post some pics of my VA and hopefully get some input on better crawling. I feel it’s still a little light. It just doesn’t get a “bite” like I wish it would . I’ve got beef tubes upfront, ssd heavy steering knuckles, beef tips on the VA aluminum shocks (that are modded and most of the TT is gone), ssd weights on the back axles, the bpc battery tray, heavier steel links, 470 promodeler servo, heyok bec, HH 16t crawlmaster, stock spur and pinion( got a 12t and a 11t ordered), boomracing mxt hustlers and the foams they came with, and a 1080 HW esc. I’m a noob to all this and any and all thoughts OR CRITICISM is welcome.

[durok]

That should be PLENTY of weight...

I'm running a very similar setup - Chevy K10, SSD brass knucks and rear axle weights, SSD aluminum C-hubs, BPC battery tray with a HW 1080 ESC mounted to the underside, DS3218 servo with a FlySky receiver mounted beside it on a plastic shelf, and a HH TrailMaster Sport 550 21t. TRX-4 rear shocks and RULR plates. 1.7" RC4WD Raceline beadlocks and 1.7" RC4WD Goodyear MT/R tires.

Oh, yeah - and a Wertymade front flat-top stubby steel bumper - and 3S!

Hard to tell until about the halfway point of the video just how steep this bluff is, but it's steep:

[garage-boo]

That’s the bumper i want! Really sharp. I’m fixing to order a new f-100 body. I got a little over zealous with the scissors for tire clearance. With the rulr’s do you have your shocks at a different angle? I sure the rulr’s are what I think they are or I just asked a dumb question

[durok]

My rear shocks are definitely at a different angle for a multitude of reasons -

1. they are TRX-4 take-offs
2. they are bolted up to Boom Racing shock mounts
3. the rear upper links are connected to RULRs

I also recently picked up another front bumper and modified it a little for use on the K10, as it will protect the corners of the grille more.

It's a RC4WD Z-S0160 Tough Armor Winch Bumper w/Grill Guard for SCX10, but required some adjustments to mount up to the Ascender.

[garage-boo]

Ok, I now remember what the rulr’s are for. You can raise the point at which your links attach. Upper shock mounts with various holes would allow you to angle your shocks. I’m learning!! This forum has helped me so much. 50 year old with zero mechanical skills needs all the help he can get. I went ahead and ordered the rc4wd drive bumper. Will I be able to use the mounts it comes with? I already have a pair of the brackets that are supposed to work with the VA. Just didn’t have a bumper to use them on.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by garage-boo

I wanted to post some pics of my VA and hopefully get some input on better crawling.

Thanks for posting up your truck and mods!

Originally Posted by durok

That should be PLENTY of weight...

I'm running a very similar setup - Chevy K10, SSD brass knucks and rear axle weights, SSD aluminum C-hubs, BPC battery tray with a HW 1080 ESC mounted to the underside, DS3218 servo with a FlySky receiver mounted beside it on a plastic shelf, and a HH TrailMaster Sport 550 21t. TRX-4 rear shocks and RULR plates. 1.7" RC4WD Raceline beadlocks and 1.7" RC4WD Goodyear MT/R tires.

Oh, yeah - and a Wertymade front flat-top stubby steel bumper - and 3S!

Hard to tell until about the halfway point of the video just how steep this bluff is, but it's steep:

Agreed on weight. RULRs help too by raising rear upper link forward mounting points, I like to shorten the upper links a little and move their mounting point back too similar to where you have them. 3S!!!

Fun looking climb!

Originally Posted by garage-boo

...I’m learning!! This forum has helped me so much. 50 year old with zero mechanical skills needs all the help he can get. I went ahead and ordered the rc4wd drive bumper. Will I be able to use the mounts it comes with? I already have a pair of the brackets that are supposed to work with the VA. Just didn’t have a bumper to use them on.

Awesome, we're here to help each other! Good looking bumper, might need to drill a hole or two, but haven't tried to mount this one. I looked back through Durok's thread for a picture of how he mounted it, saw his other bumper mounting but not this particular one.

[garage-boo]

As you can see my panhard and servo link are not on the same angle. I don’t really like that. Bump steer really isn’t bad at all, so should I be worried about it? I think could put some washers on the servo end of the servo link and get the angle closer. How do you achieve both of them being almost flat with no angle at all? Lowering stance?

[TheLetterJ]

If you're draglink has enough adjustment in it, make your draglink attach to the top of the knuckle instead of the tierod. You may need to make/buy a longer draglink to make that work. It still won't be perfect, but the length and angle will be much closer to that of the track bar. After that, you can mount your servo to the other side of its mount and/or shim up/down as necessary to get the angle even closer.

[garage-boo]

Aha! Will try that thanks. Am I correct in thinking that I should stay with a plastic spur gear? I just stripped a couple teeth, so now it’s got a lil clicking noise in it. Rather tear up a cheap plastic piece than rip up the tranny gears.

[garage-boo]

MUCH better. Pretty much even.

[HumboldtEF]

I prefer to use a plastic spur, they hold up just fine for most applications. In my experience in running all metal gears in a wraith it was not worth it, you end up needing to source hardened steel pinions to work with the spur gear (otherwise they get chewed up), they're also pretty loud compared to plastic. Also like you said its nice to have a "weak point" that saves other parts and is cheap and easy to access.

If you need more strength this first thing I'd consider is converting to 32 pitch spur (plastic) and pinion.

[garage-boo]

Regarding 32 pitch what tooth count do you recommend for both? Thanks

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

I prefer to use a plastic spur, they hold up just fine for most applications.

Yep! I've not worn out or stripped an Ascender spurgear yet, got several spares though. Proper mesh is key and run the gear cover as you do. Sounds like yours may have been a tick loose.

How to Set the Gear Mesh on Your RC Car or Truck - RC Driver

[garage-boo]

Here’s the panhard and servo link now. Much better

[garage-boo]

Yes that is an old desk calendar! Local paper brings them by the office and I use them for scratch pads and work space

[HumboldtEF]

Originally Posted by garage-boo

Regarding 32 pitch what tooth count do you recommend for both? Thanks

Okay stock spur is 86T (48 pitch)
to convert to a 32P: 86T (tooth count) divided by 48 (pitch) X 32 (the pitch you're converting to)= 57.33333333

I'll come back for the pinion but you could just use the math I posted above too.

EDIT: a 14T (48 pitch) pinion would = 9.333333 T (32 pitch)

Math: 14 divided by 48 X 32 = the 32P equivalent

[garage-boo]

Wait a minute! I understood there would be no math!

[HumboldtEF]

Sorry my bad, I guess I didn't get that memo lol

But in all seriousness I've found that little equation pretty handy over the last month or so.

[garage-boo]

I have extra stock spur gears, so I’m gonna stick with those for now. I just put a 12t pinion gear on and I really like the combo. It makes almost no noise and it actually made the low speed control even better. The HW 1080 is a very good cost effective esc. I have a castle sidewinder 4 on my trx4 sport and the 1080 gives it a run for its money on handling and SOOOO much quieter.

[garage-boo]

Are the vanquish front cv shafts impossible to find anymore? Everywhere I look is out of stock