Evolution of my CR01

[low_range]

Been awfully slow in here lately so i thought id post up some pics, show how mine has changed since i first got it

Excuse the pic quality, i broke my digicam so i was taking pics with my cellphone for a while....or atleast until my wife got me a new digicam for xmas:mrgreen:

The beginning, when stock was good enough!

V2 included homebrew bent lower links, sleeved steering links, short barrel springs, soft swaybar out back, none in the front, and a set of Rock Grabbers on Eight Shooters. Also wired up my own LED head/tail light setup.

Rock Grabbers are awesome tires! But they are also big, so i had to trim some sheetmetal to get em to fit

Trim job in the rear, right up the the bottom of the tailgate

Problem now was, the tires could get me into situations that the WB/COG couldnt handle. Im not ready to throw a chassis at this thing yet (id almost rather build an axial at that point), but i knew i could squeeze some more WB out of the stock chassis & links, which brings me to V3:

12.25" WB, using 99% stock parts, all i needed was a longer front dshaft (and of course my homemade bent lowers). Took the opportunity to do the BTA setup as well. Still running the cantilevers, but i had to put my medium sway bar in the rear because i lost the soft one during a barrel roll down the mountain behind the house. Who says canti's dont work?

Tire stuffs till the upper & lower coil buckets touch each other, and the tire hits the light bucket; you can see how the fender is bowing away from the grill thanks to the big crack in the body. Also of note is my hacked up front bumper. As much as i love this body, the WB just doesnt work.

So V4, which i just finished today, consists of a HPI body. I think this will be ride height, havent decided yet. Looks good, but im also thinking of cutting the flares off and lowering the body even more. Or maybe dove nose/tail? Havent decided yet. Thoughts/opinions?

This body fits the wheelbase much better, altho any lower and it will need more trimming

Before you ask, no the Rock Stompers arent a great tire, but after some time tuning the foams (and cutting the center lugs) it performs well enough for a basher. Although if i feel the urge to really go crawlin the Rock Grabbers are going back on.

As for electronics, im running a modded TQ3, novak roster crawler, a pair of Hitec 645s, and a 5000 mAh 6-cell from cheapbatterypacks.com. Got a 35T in the mail, hopefully itll be here next week. Definitely need it with the bigger tires.
Im thinking the next step is to going to be to buy some silver solder and try to make a set of tube bumpers for it. Cant be too hard, right? :ror:

 

[860Crawler]

nice progression!

 

[clutch]

looks good.

 

[metallocide]

Great evolution indeed. "thumbsup"

 

[low_range]

Thanks guys "thumbsup"
I think it works well for what it is.

 

[xoed4runer]

did you notice a big improvement with the short barrel springs

 

[low_range]

Yeah, made a big difference in its climbing ability due to the lower COG. You lose some belly clearance, but IMO it is well worth it.

 

[low_range]

Figure i may as well add to this thread. Upgrades! 8)


Tamiya's Reinforced Shafts & diffs

Strip your axles down, pull the diff apart, and get rid of the spider gears in favor of this:

Goes together like so:

Interestingly enough, the shafts arent splined, they have two flats that engage the spool, which means you cant use the reinforced shafts with the original diff. Not that it matters, since they come with the spool anyway.
Also, you dont need to reuse the diff lock set screw, and actually the directions dont call for it, but if you orient the spool properly, its possible to reinstall it, so i did. It has no effect on how the axle works, i just felt like putting it back in there.

..and the reason for the upgrade....3 broken shafts! One up front, two out back, all within 20 minutes of each other :shock:

Back in action, and ready to go wheelin!

 

[clutch]

 

[low_range]

kaboom! Blew the rear on saturday :shock:

Ring gear isnt too happy either. Got a new gear set on order, only $17 so not too bad. Im thinking this time im gonna shim it a bit tighter.

 

[Highlucks]

Damn thats nasty what were you doin to blow like that.

 

[low_range]

Full throttle hillclimbs in gravel, dirt, sand, playin on ice etc. Was in jersey w/ my brother at our buddy's farm again.

Most of it i think is my HH 35t Handwound :mrgreen: This thing has insane torque compared to stock; i can crumple the tires up if they get wedged in between rocks, and actually i twisted up both stock drive shafts in under an hour of run time on the 35t :shock: Now running Traxxas shafts, but i guess between the these & the upgraded axles the weak point is now the gears :lol: Parts will be here in a couple days; this time im gonna shim until i have a desirable pinion depth instead of just blindly following the instructions.

 

[stewbaru]

I've put my truck thru all sorts of binds and wind-ups and not snapped anything yet (touch wood).
You must have enough torque to pull a house down!!

Nice progress, I see the bumper got cut down very early, new boots'll do that to you.

 

[low_range]

It is a nasty motor, tons of torque. Definitely worth every penny 8)

Yeah i trimmed the bumper a bit for the Rock Grabbers, and then gave it a major chop when i stretched the wheelbase. One of these days ill try my hand at a homebrew bumper similar to my fullsize wheeler.

 

[low_range]

Couple more upgrades, but not many pics :roll:
I stripped out my plastic hexes, so i bought a set of AL Axial hexes off Tower, turns out they are a perfect fit 8) I also stepped up to 8.4v, which is awesome. Its like getting the low-end of the 35t, and the high-end of the 27t, all in one package. Its why i started breaking stuff again. Wheel speed is fun :ror:

I also trimmed the body more, so i could lower it on the chassis a bit. Cant get much lower than this w/o narrowing the body now, and this one is way too rough to bother. I also spent some free time this morning to whip up a simple rear bumper for it. I dont think it came out too bad considering i made it in ~ an hour :ror:

Decided to run it around for a bit on my rock pile, and then remove the bumper to paint.

Of course, right after taking these, i made a mistake, got a tire wedged, and snapped one of my (inner) reinforced shafts in the front, so i guess i gotta order another set now. Have i mentioned HH's handwound motors are torquey? Oh well, atleast ill have some spares now :lmao:

 

[low_range]

front bumper!

Not much wider than the frame, and just clears the tire turned at full stuff. Should be just enough to protect the grill, which is all im after.
Staged pic, dont feel like running it with a snapped shaft. Thinking about some more tube work now, but it seems a waste considering how rough this body is. Maybe once i get another bronco body for it. In the mean time, im thinkin some scale shackles for the bumpers would be pretty cool :mrgreen:

 

[low_range]

Well, just blew my third set of r&p in the rear axle today. I didnt even beat this set all that hard for fear of breaking them, and they broke anyway (2 consecutive teeth off pinion). It cant be just me! I guess im gonna order another pair, but at this rate it might be cheaper just to shelf it and run an axial.

 

[low_range]

Yeah, i know. I might have purchased too powerful of a motor for this vehicle. The wheelspeed is right where i like it now for crawlin (35t/16t pinion) but i am usually pretty careful cuz it will wad the tires up pretty good if im not paying attention, which is how i broke that reinforced shaft.

I ordered two sets of gears from stellamodels (gotta have spares, right?), so whenever they get here im gonna put it back together, but i think long-term im gonna build an axial for crawlin, then slap my stock 27t back in the CR01 and keep it alive just for beatin around in the yard. Replacing gears sucks, altho i am getting pretty good at it; this time i had the tires removed, axle out and gears removed in under 20 minutes :ror:

 

[860Crawler]

I'd say don't force it once it gets stuck...At least if you're close enough by to notice that it is indeed stuck.

I must have a good set, mine gets wailed on regularly and has steel driveshafts and that r&p is something I've never broken. Now that I think of it, I've only ever twisted plastic shafts and worn out my spur gear once. Thats the only drivetrain issues I've had.

 

[norbyx]

There is allways a weak point in the chain. If your motor is too powerfull you are always going to brake something. I have a stock 55t in my cr-01 with a 19t pinion and it works great, and if I get stuck the motor will stall and I will have to pull it out by hand. But who cares the cr01 is not a competition crawler so I rather loose 10 sec to pull it out than to loose money and time to fix it."thumbsup"