Asceder on its way

[Chris81]

How'd you trim the mould line on the tires. It's always bothered me but haven't done anything about it lol.
Ben

New wheels and foams came in today!! Woot!! dueces wild single stage and vaterra beadlocks...cheap but dont look too bad! hope these foams arnt too hard, do they break in a little?

As far as the tire trimming, I just pinched the tires from the side so the middle stuck up and worked my way around with scissors.

 

[Chris81]

Last night after I mounted the new wheels and foams I noticed I had way more body rub than before (i just lowered and trimmed the body earlier this week and everything was fitting good) I couldn't figure out why, but I think its because the stock foams also push out on the sidewalls a. Lot which would effectivly cause you to loose tire hight. Anyone else noticed their tires grow/shrink with different foams? Anyway I raised the front posts a hole and trimmed the fenders a wee bit more and I think it should work, it's hard to tell how much the truck with flex by itself when it's just sitting on the table. Probably have to suck it up and try it out this weekend even though it's suposedto rain all weekend .
Cheers!

 

[Chris81]

Yup it's raining...but I still had to try out my new foams, It's impossible to tell if they preform any better since everything is wet and covered with 4 inches of newly fallen leaves, but I was pleased to see that they do seem to conform to the rock when climbing out of a hole or something, I wasn't sure what to expect this being my first set of closed cell foams.

Thinking I may order up a new servo soon...well let's be realistic...probably tonight. I have a feeling it's going to be a long winter, maybe I need to get some kind of mini crawler to feed the itch indoors

Some areas around the house, last 2 are my longģggg rock wall in the woods, was really tough going today all wet, but it makes for a fun challenge, Next summer I will try and clean it up a little so it's easier to walk along either side and get rid of some of the piles of leaves that have acumulated over the years.
Cheers!!

 

[rag6]

Those beadlocks look very nice and the wall sure looks fun. I star cut a pair of stock foams, and the tread flattened out, so stock foams do push the tire up a bit. Ive not used any others. I think maybe natedog trimmed his ci foams??? Not sure check his thread maybe...

Are those rocks cemented in?

 

[Chris81]

Thanks! I was pleased with how they look, I may leave the chrome, it's not too bright with the black beadlock. I figure I will run my foams stock for a while before I trim anything, had to go backwards once you start cutting! I'm thinking that if I do anything I may try and just make the grooves deeper to make the outside a little softer but keep the outer diameter.

The rock walls are just old new England rock walls ie. Long stacks of rocks, no cement, some rocks do move and I'm sure after every winter they will change slightly. The good thing is it let's me change them, or modify sections that are not crawl able (by me).

 

[Chris81]

Went down stairs to clean up my work bench...and started tinkering...First I cut up some bike inertubes and put those over the body posts to reduce body noise. Then I decided to move my bumpers in too, used the 5mm spacer up front and the 10mm out back, tried 5mm out back but that made the bumper completely flush with the body which I thought was ugly. I also realized my Chevy sticker across the back is about 5mm too low, ohh well next time I'll get it right!!.....I just noticed my velcro is hanging out, how embarrassing :roll:

Cheers!

 

[rag6]

Speaking of blazer decales.... Just about every other vaterra rc has the decal set avail separate. But I found that you have to buy the blazer body(65$) just to get a second set... It really is wrong.

 

[Chris81]

I've got a new steering servo on the way, decided to try out the tower pro, its only $11...so worst case I can use it as a servo winch if I don't like it, and if it works well than I will buy more for winches. Also threw an aluminum servo horn into the order.

Starting to think about my winter projects, since places 45 minutes north of me already got 6+ inches of snow this weekend, so its only a matter of time for me.

My next projects, swaybar, front and rear winches, and to do that I'm going to hack my radio Flysky GT3B (The interface on the radio sucks, so its something I would do anyway. Anyone here done this?), lights, maybe interior... should keep me busy for a little while. Anything important I'm forgetting that would improve performance?

I had an idea for moding the CI DW foams anyone tried drilling holes around the circumference of a closed cell foams to soften up the outer edge? check out my pic...I was thinking about drilling holes in a pattern similar to this, all the way through. More holes/bigger holes = softer etc.

 

[Chris81]

Got my new servo in the mail, towerpro mg958 (10$) along with a cheap aluminium servo horn. It's much stronger than the Traxxas I was using, not the smoothest in the world I'm sure, but it was $10, so can't really complain. While putting that in I decided to look into my transmission it was making a fair amount of noise, turns out it was just a bit dry, so I greased everything up with my Phil Wood bicycle grease and everything is much happier!

I think I'll turn my old servo into a servo winch.

I've also had some time with the closed cell foams, they seem to perform great, and do seem to be soft enough to conform to the rock. I'm still playing with the drilling holes around them idea...but am still on the fence.

Hope everyone got out to vote today!!
Cheers!

 

[Chris81]

Got bored tonight moved my eac back to make space for a servo winch and did this...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Chris81]

Finally got out during some dry weather and have decided I like my DD foams, I was skeptical about how they would hook up being so much harder than stock, but they seem great so far! This was also my first run out on the new servo (towerpro958), all I can say is awsome!! My wheels turn when I ask them to and I realized I wasn't getting my full turning radius with my old servo either, so a def improvement. I still need to paint the slider covers and get some wheel wells made, I will probably do those out of plastic to save on weight.

I also put in a servo winch made from an old crappy servo, I'll probably get another towerpro servo to replace it at some point, using 55# braided fishing line for the cable...seems to work. For the fairlead I drilled a hole in the bumper plug and pressed in one of those brass inserts that come with servos, then cut it off w/ a dremel to match the angle and get rid of sharp edges.

While doing that and making sure I had clearance everywhere I was supposed to, I realized that all of the shocks seem to hit the frame when the oposite side flexes, can actually see the shock piston flex too...source of oil leakage???. There were 2 obvious fixes 1. Move the top out or 2. Move the bottom out. I chose 1 since I didn't have a long enough bolt to outboard the bottom. I put a 3mm spacer up top and this seems to help quite a bit, still touches when maxed out...but I'm not sure the suspension gets maxed out when driving, I think it's easy to force suspension to do more on the table than it will while driving. I've been thinking more and more about limiting my shocks internally, maybe not the 9 or 10 mm like natedog. But 5mm might be a good place to start.



Pic showing spacer

Chees!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Chris81]

Some pics from sunday

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[CODYBOY]

View attachment 351168
View attachment 351169
View attachment 351170
View attachment 351171
View attachment 351172
Some pics from sunday

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Your rig is coming along nicely Chris, keep up the good work!!!"thumbsup"
Ernie

 

[OldNTired]

Your rig looks great. Love all the upgrades.

I used a plastic container that we buy lunchmeat in to make my inner fenders. Super simple and basically free. I feel I got my money's worth out of the lunch meat! lol.

 

[CODYBOY]

It's about to get better very soon thanks to you Ernie!

Going to the post office this morning!



Thanks for your order Chris!"thumbsup"
Ernie

 

[Chris81]

Going to the post office this morning!



Thanks for your order Chris!"thumbsup"
Ernie

So I'll be able to drive up the walls and accross the celing with those right??!

Looks like I need to up my meat intake to finish my fenders!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Chris81]

Your rig looks great. Love all the upgrades.

I used a plastic container that we buy lunchmeat in to make my inner fenders. Super simple and basically free. I feel I got my money's worth out of the lunch meat! lol.

Thanks!! I've been trying to make do with existing parts. Since this is my first rig, I don't have much for spare parts I can re-purpose like many people seem to have. I'm having a ton of fun tinkering though and can see how this turns into quite the rabbit hole!!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[CODYBOY]

So I'll be able to drive up the walls and accross the celing with those right??!

Looks like I need to up my meat intake to finish my fenders!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Maybe not the ceiling, that would come when you get your rears!:lmao::lmao:
Ernie

 

[CODYBOY]

Thanks!! I've been trying to make do with existing parts. Since this is my first rig, I don't have much for spare parts I can re-purpose like many people seem to have. I'm having a ton of fun tinkering though and can see how this turns into quite the rabbit hole!!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Hey Chris, some of the best parts on most builds out there are repurposed material!"thumbsup"
Ernie

 

[Chris81]

Blazers got company!! More work to be done!



Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk