Crawler Innovations Ultra 4 rig take 2

[Nova's Ark]

Szczerba was done with this ultra 4 and ready for the challenge of a small tire scale crawler. I can't bring myself to spend / waste money on a RTR = Ready To Replace Axial Yeti, so I picked this up instead. It's basically a trophy class U4 assuming it fits into the U4 rules. Here's some pics to get the thread started:



Included in the sale was the chassis, shocks, panels, light bars, rear links, & interior.




Wheels, tires & foams as well. CI 6 Bolts, R35 BFG's, Deuce's Wild 2.2 Standard Foams:





..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[Nova's Ark]

Once again a huge thank you to my sponsor Vanquish Products. Ultra 4 racing is hard on parts. When you want to build for reliability and durability, VP is the best.





VP ar60 aluminum housings
VP stage one kit
VP covers and bearing caps
Creeper Bob 5mm Ti rear shafts
Axial front Uni's
Grip Fab Lockers
Axial UD HD Gears F/R
Brass bushings in pinions
Dinky Rc front truss
VP rear truss
VP steering link

VP aluminum scx trans case
RRP steel gears
CI 5MM extended outputs
60T spur
BWD motor plate




..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[Szczerba]

Way nicer running gear than what I had on it.

Ready for the rebuild.

 

[rockhugger]

sub'd. "thumbsup" "thumbsup"

What is the over-all weight of the (Szcerba/CI) Hauler?

 

[Nova's Ark]

Way nicer running gear than what I had on it.

Ready for the rebuild.

My son Gavin will be the pilot for this Ultra 4 so I had to make sure the drive train is stout.

sub'd. "thumbsup" "thumbsup"



What is the over-all weight of the (Szcerba/CI) Hauler?

Szczerba weighed it and said 32 pounds. I have not weighed it myself or added anything to it yet.



..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[Nova's Ark]

It's a roller:




Tight fit. It has paid off buying a bunch of pre bent titanium links from Chaotic Crawler. With all the custom building CI does, it has saved time and frustration.





CI 5mm outputs, VP case, RRP gears, MIP drive shafts:



Ready for electrics:







..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[UPSrat]

looks good. I see your from texas. so am I. do you plan on racing the u4's and where in texas is there a u4 track?

 

[Almighty Malach]

That sway bar is sketch. Looks like a good platform for your son to have a lot of fun with though"thumbsup"

 

[Szczerba]

Good to see it as a roller again. It handled awesome with both sway bars hooked up for flat land bashing. Pull the front off and hit the track!

That sway bar is sketch. Looks like a good platform for your son to have a lot of fun with though"thumbsup"

That swaybar setup is money. The starter chassis was a lil off-center when I got it. My fix, a sweet green axial spacer.

 

[Nova's Ark]

looks good. I see your from texas. so am I. do you plan on racing the u4's and where in texas is there a u4 track?

I plan to use the U4's. As for a track, ETXRCC has plans to build one at Barnwell Mountain ORV Park in Gilmer, Texas. TXRCRCA has info on that.

That sway bar is sketch. Looks like a good platform for your son to have a lot of fun with though"thumbsup"

LOL. It may look sketch, but I know that a Szczerba Built rig will perform well and handle some abuse. Function over form also seems to be a quality of a Szczerba built rig. They all can't be "Top Shelf" quality Mr. Child :-D

Good to see it as a roller again. It handled awesome with both sway bars hooked up for flat land bashing. Pull the front off and hit the track!




That swaybar setup is money. The starter chassis was a lil off-center when I got it. My fix, a sweet green axial spacer.

You should stop limiting yourself to the creative lines of others. You can and have built several rigs from scratch. Maybe it's time for more tool upgrades?

That's good to know about the front bar. It didn't want to line up since my axle mounts and links are different than the set up you ran. I know this rig is going to see a lot of flat terrain and jumps at first :-D



..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[Almighty Malach]

That swaybar setup is money. The starter chassis was a lil off-center when I got it. My fix, a sweet green axial spacer.

Now that I'm on my laptop I can see the offset.

LOL. It may look sketch, but I know that a Szczerba Built rig will perform well and handle some abuse. Function over form also seems to be a quality of a Szczerba built rig. They all can't be "Top Shelf" quality Mr. Child :-D

Very true. Now stop calling dibs on everything so I can buy one

 

[Nova's Ark]

One step forward, two steps back,

I was able to take two broken hitec 7954's apart and assemble one usable servo this evening. I installed the servo and linkage, only to learn my front axle is too far forward and the linkage hits the sway bar mount when the suspension is compressed.





Szczerba used different link mounts on his ar60 axles among other misc parts. So it was not a typical install missing parts and go type build. They usually aren't LOL. Building is half the fun. :-D



..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[Szczerba]

I ran a bent drag link too

 

[Nova's Ark]

I ran a bent drag link too

See what I mean, little details that make these rigs what they are. I may need those titanium links after all.


..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[Szczerba]

Likaso

 

[Nova's Ark]

So without the exact parts, this rig got shelved. Winter is near and it's time to start on projects, so back to this rig. Four new different length upper and lower links moved the axle towards the skid. The shock angles had to be adjusted as well. The steering horn hits the sway bar mount slightly at full compression.














..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[Nova's Ark]

By moving the axle towards the skid, combined with a long front CI output, the MIP wraith driveshaft would no longer fit. After comparing all the MIP driveshafts for Axial, CI is a MIP dealer, I learned the crawler shafts are all the same length with the adjustment per kit based on the length of the CVD coupler. The exception is the Dig shaft which is a short splined male from MIP.

After considering my options, I decided to test and see if turning the outputs around would work. It did.

CI short output front, long output rear
MIP short CVD coupler
60t 32p spur gear by Kimbrough









..Uploaded from the lab @ the C.I. Compound...

 

[gunder463]

dude i need one of those cell blocks, looks like a comfy little stand for my U4's

 

[gunder463]

oh also beastly outputs i like them,

 

[BigBaller]

View attachment 296161

Why is there a penis on the truck?

View attachment 303334

Your a f*cking genius. There is a simple cost effective display stand to keep tires from flat spotting while sitting. :shock: we will be talking. I got a few on the shelf...