jebster's creeper

[jebster]

Originally Posted by Exocaged

dude thats awesome!!! I woulda never thought of that!

thanks. i had been thinking about something like this for awhile but until i torn down the rig it was tough to assess whether or not it was possible. i hope to get it on my practice course in the back yard this week to try it out.

[jebster]

Got the creeper outside on my steps and retaining wall to test it out. I'm pretty happy. In the past the tranny would catch and I would have to use speed and a bounce to get up. With the flat skid it slides right up and over with a little blip of the throttle.

I will try to upload a video later but here are a couple pics to show what I'm talking about.

[jebster]

Not a great video but it does show the rig climbing up stairs I use to have a really tough tome with.

20130918_151835.mp4 - YouTube

[jebster]

Some guys in my local club were making carbon fiber rod upper links for their pro rigs. I decided why not do it for my shafty. I don't worry too much about my rig weight but the difference between what I was running and the carbon fiber is impressive. A few pics below.

So, got the rig out on the rocks this afternoon and had mixed results. The new flat skid let me get over some ledges I couldn't in the past. But the motor placement and changes in link geometry seems to have increased the torque twist. Makes steep verticals more difficult than before. My rear lowers are binding a little and the shocks need tuning (stiffen the front and soften the rear) so hopefully I can tune the torque twist out.

Now for a few pics.

[jebster]

Decided to get some titanium links and bent up new lowers. Worked out nice. Strong and light with he beef of traxxas rod ends all around.

Notice he front of the skid was catching more than I like so I double sided taped a thin strip of derlin to make a little bit of a smoother transition.

After all he changes I ran he rig in a hammers style race on Saturday. It was brutal! Half mile long course along the cost over very rugged terrain. The rig was tossed, dropped and bound up a ton but it survived without and breakage (did loss he tranny plug cover). Out of the 10 rigs in the field only 3 made it back under their own power with the creeper taking second.

So far I'm liking most of the new setup. Still has more torque twist than in the past so I need more tweaks.

I'm excited about the next mod. More of that to come but think xr10!

Here are some pics (including one of the race lineup):

[jebster]

Been ages since I posted up. I pretty much missed the entire last comp season but don't plan on repeating that this year. Got to work making some updates on the creeper. The flat skid, carbon fiber uppers and titanium lowers are all keepers.
On the front axle I had a custom set of aluminum beef tubes made up and did an xr10 conversion. It uses an xr10 universal on the short side and a long side wraith universal on the other (trimmed down). I was able to use my blue monkey knuckle weights on this setup now. Much better steering and I was able to clock the knuckles back the way I like. Not much test time on this yet but I'm looking forward to getting it on the rocks.
Next change was the chassis. What I had was too heavy and difficult to make adjustments on. So, I changed over my pro rig chassis and had a chaotic chassis on hand. It is much lighter than what I had and provided more shock/link mounting points. Like the front axle mod I need to get this out to test.

Ready for so comping!!

[JackDaniels]

Awesome! You have made so many terrific modifications to your rig. I have a lot to learn from this thread.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by JackDaniels

Awesome! You have made so many terrific modifications to your rig. I have a lot to learn from this thread.

Thanks. I'm one of those die hard creeper fans that just doesn't want to invest in a new axial rig. I like to see what I can push the creeper to do.

Mine had gone through a lot of changes and I'm still getting use to how it works but that is a lot of the fun for me.

Good luck with your rig. I'm sure you'll learn to love it.

[viper6171]

wow jeb still going strong i see , the comp scene here has all but died so i ended up taking my comp rig apart and using parts for scalers ( but still running along with creeper parts )

[nandrewjackson]

Hey jebster and everybody else hanging in with the venom creeper. Great update. My creeper is still 90% stock, well, it's a "stage II" kit from a couple years ago from ckrc , I think..... (no battery tray, relocated shock mounts, relocated link mounts)
does anyone know how to get an over drive or under drive gear into the creeper axles? The suspension and "flex" are fantastic, and I feel it would greatly improve overall performance to have the front axle "pull" at a higher rate than the rear "pushes". I've got mismatched front and rear gears in my scx10, and it was a GREAT mod.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by nandrewjackson

Hey jebster and everybody else hanging in with the venom creeper. Great update. My creeper is still 90% stock, well, it's a "stage II" kit from a couple years ago from ckrc , I think..... (no battery tray, relocated shock mounts, relocated link mounts)
does anyone know how to get an over drive or under drive gear into the creeper axles? The suspension and "flex" are fantastic, and I feel it would greatly improve overall performance to have the front axle "pull" at a higher rate than the rear "pushes". I've got mismatched front and rear gears in my scx10, and it was a GREAT mod.

there isn't a overdrive option with creeper axles that you can simply buy and install. it is the one weak point of the rig that bothers me the most.

if you search through this forum you'll find several people that have made a mod to do this. i can't speak to what they have seen from a durability perspective with this mod.

[Nzmaximus]

The only thing you can really do is put some massive tires on the front, like proline chisels or something, and some really small 2.2s or even 1.9s on the rear. Or you could get a dig unit which would kind of solve it.

[jebster]

Originally Posted by Nzmaximus

The only thing you can really do is put some massive tires on the front, like proline chisels or something, and some really small 2.2s or even 1.9s on the rear. Or you could get a dig unit which would kind of solve it.

these would be some possible options if you were not going to comp in a 2.2s sporty class. if you want to comp then the 1.9s and dig unit would not be options.