Finally got my Crawler Together then apart then together :(

[cmacclel]

I ordered the Kit for $199 a couple months ago and finally a few weeks ago got the rest of the parts together. I had it all assembled saturday and proceeded to take it to my buddy's house to show it off. Within 5 minutes the gears in the front axle slipped :( this was a yellow pictured box, the gears where just pressed in and not staked like I would have thought.

I took the truck home and took it all apart :( I gave the 2 gears to my buddy and had them tig welded. I then mounted them in the lathe at home and cleaned up the welds and put everything back together. I saw a few people here bent the lower arms to provide more clearance for the stupid and ridiculous stock shock mounts so again I took everything apart and setup a fixture with a v-block and a large socket and bent the lower links all the the same time so they are all identical.

Here we go again......put the truck back together and took here for a test run. I was climbing a piece of plywood in the garage and the truck started to go backwards.......I jumped to grab the truck before it flipped but was to late :( In the process of reaching for the truck my new DX6I radio slipped from my hand and hit the ground with the radio going one way and the antenna another :( A little super glue and 10 minutes fixed the radio.

The truck was maybe 4 feet up the plywood when it tumbled over. One of the shock link mounts snapped off and the side plate bent!! Well another trip to the workbench the truck went I replaced all the lower shock links with some heavy duty Traxxas T-Max units I had lying around and straightened out the side plate. Now the truck is back together.

I might make some Delrin or carbon fiber sideplates as the aluminum ones bend very easily. Aluminum is sure pretty but cannot take an impact at all!

-Single Castle SideWinder ESC
-2x HiTec Titanium Gear Servos
-2x Integy V11 45t motors
-Castle 10amp BEC


Here she is



A good pic of the bent lower links




More pics here

http://public.fotki.com/cmacclel/xtm-crawler/

[CRAWLERWRM]

Hope things go better for you from now on.

[cmacclel]

Originally Posted by ke6geu

fun to read your story.. look mine for more idea..

More idea's.....you have no clue I have a CNC lathe and Mill sitting in my shop just no time :(

Mac

[sniper08]

I've been working on my XTM for a while now. Made all new frame that was longer and put some HR dual stage shocks that I now have mounted to the housing on the knuckle. A easy way to clock the housings and your axle wrap is if you take the right axle tube off and switch it with the left axle tube. Not only does this clock the motors up it now puts your lower links on the bottom to help stop the axle wrap. You will now have to change all your links as they will have to all be different sizes. I found this is a good start. This car is alot of work to get it right. Don't get frustrated just work your way through all the problems and you will have a fun toy.

Good luck.

[evlwevl]

Wow that hurt just reading about the radio hitting the ground. Unfortunately the extreme weight of this truck has kept me from trying more precarious climbs for fear of tipping over and bending up stuff. The HPI Savage shocks worked pretty well for me. good job on your build.

[cmacclel]

I also picked up a set of the 5.9" Savage shocks but now that the links are bent the stock ones are no longer in the way. I would like to do away with the factory shock mounts by using the Savage shocks but the links now are bent just slightly to much and would not sit level if I mounted the new shocks on.

Mac

[sniper08]

Here are some pictures of mine with the stock body.




http://www.reconcrawlers.freeforums....m-t108-10.html