Introducing Calob - my take on a Tracer

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Calob started the day in less than optimal condition. A last minute brainstorm invaded my skull last night and needed to be checked. It was sure to work! I knew it would. I felt it would! :shock:

His RTR condition would be crippled to something worse than DNF ... a DNStart, a no show. The culprit? A broken 2.5mm screw. With one twist of the wrist (any moto riders out there? "thumbsup" ) his day was shattered! ****! *******************************&!#(%&(@&$#$%*&@$)%*$@^& I thought to myself, this will NOT happen. I can fix ANYTHING! Or at least MacGyver or hodge-podge it well enough to get going. I know I can. I won't let him down. It's his big day!



A quick inspection of the hardware available showed no 2.5mm stuff in stock. !@(&#(%&(&$@(%&@$%*&!!!!!! Okay, fine, I don't need to worry ... I can, uuhhhhmmm, relocate this ... swap those around ... YES! This WILL work!!! A mad flurry of screwdrivers and wrenches progressed and in no time at all Calob was, again, RTR.






Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and gilrs, children of all ages ... introducing CALOB!!!!!!!!!






<a href="http://s1286.photobucket.com/user/TakeOffYouHoser/media/015_zps2f5dc41c.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a609/TakeOffYouHoser/015_zps2f5dc41c.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 015_zps2f5dc41c.jpg"/></a>


Before I get any further I need to thank fellow RCCrawler pelanas for his inspirations ... http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/redcat-rs10/280971-my-new-tracer-chasis-rs10-hbx-rockfighter.html ... and ... http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/redcat-rs10/306523-my-rs10-tracer-brushless-mod.html Without finding those two threads this would not have gone anything like it has. Pelanas - THANK YOU! "thumbsup"

The devil is in the details, right? I got those ... and pics, too! ;-)

Below you can see full rear-only articulation. Yeah, totally rigid front end, as in no suspension. I LOVE this set up! Compared to stock it shows immediate improvement. The ability to mount the battery further forwards and only slightly higher than stock does wonders for front end traction. I can push it further, but for right now it'll work fine. I want to see how it goes before making new arms.



With the front end rigid I no longer need to worry about things like shock clearance and motor wires getting snagged (although in this pic you can see I still need to address that a bit). You can also see the HiTec HS646WP blue box servo that has already replaced the stock unit (what an improvement!). A stock RS10XT tire is used for reference while Calob happily wears his Pro-Line Chisel shoes (with stock RS10XT foams ... the Pro-Line foams were too much pita to mount).



Now the questions might begin. So the battery is mounted against the frame and ... a TURNBUCKLE?!?!??! Yeah, I was going to use the stock shocks and remove the springs and put o-rings to "lockout" the shocks and remove the front suspension, but for the few bucks that the Redcat Volcano turnbuckles cost I let laziness take priority for this article. You might also notice that the lower linkage arm is round, not the stock hex lower and that there is something funky going on with the frame plates and lower tray. Calob, wtf dude?!?!??!



Perhaps a look "under the hood" is in order, yes? Calob, my take on the poor man's Tracer ...



Here you can see with better detail what's going on with the Volcano turnbuckle. You can use the stock shocks and spend a minimal amount of money using *whatever* to lockout the shocks, but I wanted to do this. I prefer the ease of adjustability with the turnbuckles, as opposed to having to screw around with taking apart a shock to re-locate o-rings and such. This is, after, my first crawler and i'm not sure what will wind up where. lol



A different angle of the same thing. If you were to scroll back up to the first pic you would see one other detail you may have missed before - the upper link mount on the axle has been flipped around. It needs to be shaved a bit on the bottom, but that can easily be accomplished in less than 5 minutes with a file. Check the first and second pics again, too. ;-)



A more detailed look at the lower plate. So, what's going on with Calob? Both of the longer, hex-shaped lower linkage arms are now on the rear and both of the shorter, round upper arms are on the front. Normally this would shorten the wheelbase. Not optimal, imho. I wanted nothing less for Calob, preferably more. Current wheelbase is 12". When you relocate the lower tray the way I have the spacing of the holes in the tray approximately make up the difference of the now-shorter lower front arms. Pretty neat, huh?!?!?!? :mrgreen:



This was just me goofing off with the camera's macro setting. You can see the relocated electronics through the rear. If any of you are going to do this make sure you take a minute to pay attention to positioning of the electronics. I had to reposition the ESC twice because I wasn't respecting the articulation of the rear - the motor wires would have been damaged had I not notice my error. I still need to clean up with wiring a bit, but one thing at a time.



Last detail shot of the front end with the relocated linkage arms and flipped front upper arm mount. Below that is Calob in full compression. The body is completely stock, not modified in any way, as are the mounts and their locations on the frame plates.






There you go. There is Calob. I hope you enjoy my rendition of a Tracer-inspired set up of Redcat's Rockslide RS10XT. I had a goal with this initial build - remove the front suspension and relocate the weight of the battery and electronics with an absolute minimum of cost and work/effort/BS. I'd like to this I have achieved this easily.

Three more thanks are in order ...

Whoever came up with the Tracer frame in the first place ...

MountainStorm - he's already shown us with his Tinker Toy what happens when you run both longer linkage arms on the rear. That, coupled with pelanas build, were what gave me inspiration for Calob ...

cabron - he gets credit on Calob's name. His comment in my servo thread about the quiality of tools and such got me thinking - man i'm cheap, because those tools are cheap Chinese tools (although I guess it goes part and parcel with the truck ). Calob is an acronym - Cheap And Lazy Old Bastard.

"thumbsup" :lmao: 8) ;-)

 

[TakeOffYouHoser]

I took Calob out earlier for his crawl. He did great for what little pebbles I have in the backyard (that'll be changing soon enough - hopefully not at the expense of my back lol). I took pics, but i'm a little busy consuimg alcohomahol and wondering how supper will magically appear infront of me before I post those.

Soon. Maybe tonight even. :|

 

[MountainStorm]

I took Calob out earlier for his crawl. He did great for what little pebbles I have in the backyard (that'll be changing soon enough - hopefully not at the expense of my back lol). I took pics, but i'm a little busy consuimg alcohomahol and wondering how supper will magically appear infront of me before I post those.

Soon. Maybe tonight even. :|

You need friends with strong backs and you can play a game. Every time someone makes it to the top of the rock pile they have to go find another rock and put it on the pile. Credit for this game goes to my good friend Spiitz Travsky.

 

[cabron]

hey they make quality tools in china too
there is also a difference between inexpensive and cheap

ok for serious matters, and just for information purpose not ctitizism
the left edge of the transmission case ( the motor side ) is the centerline of the axle, that is why
the upper link mount has that small bend, to offset the width of the metal, so by turning it around
you have biased the centerline by 1/8 inch. easy enough to fix by putting a 1/4" spacer on the right hand side.
when you end up making your own mount you need to space out the right hand side by 1/2 of the
thickness of whatever material you use.

looks like you are ready to start making your own chassi ( plural of chassis ?).
to continue on the inexpensive side, consider a walmart cutting board.
some plastics can be dyed by using clothes dye (rit?), this is a lot cheaper than buying delrin or teflon or nylon.
if you want to keep the original side plates for now, just make a skid plate out of the cutting board. the plastic
will help slide over the rocks much better than aluminum. some guys go to the extreme of usin teflon and
some even wax the bottoms. never know what might work until it is tried haha

the tracer was brought out by new-age enroute berg usually just called berg. came out in the v2 crawler in aluminum
and then in the v3 in carbon fiber. on the tracer, the chassis is bolted right up to the transmission case in the front, this eliminates
the 3 pairs of links you are using now.

still, what you did with calob is pretty clever. and sliding that skid plate forward was a stroke of genius.
and talking of lazy ... to be an efective lazy person one has to be intelligent and clever to get done what is needed
not only fast but also right. then we have more time to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

 

[iDC5]

Nice setup.

Tracer is new to me. and what it means.

how do you like the chisel g8s? I run the same.

 

[TakeOffYouHoser]

So much for "soon". Sorry guys, damage control with our Moms, so it's been a crazy week. Things are now stabilized so priorities can be re-directed. "thumbsup"


MountainStorm - interesting game. Now I need some friends. lol :ror: MAybe there's a forum for that, too. :ror:


cabron - all good man. I always enjoy reading your posts - informative and considerate. ... already saw that front upper mount shift. It's hard to tell from the pics, but I threw an extra washer on the one side to make up the difference with what I did. ;-)

Custom chassis/chassii - probably. I would say definitely, but sometimes I get into and out of a hobby quick, so right now i'll leave a second build alone for just a bit. Need to be able to justily it to my personal interest first. I like the idea of some kind of torsion-based build, maybe even shafty. Neat idea with the cutting board. 8)


iDC5 - loving the Chisels so far. They are night and day difference over the stock tires, but I don't think that says much because I think that tossing the stock tires and riding around on the rims alone would be better. :shock: :lmao: MAny owners say it and I concur --- first mod = TIRES.


Since I have time this weekend I will get up those pics I took and maybe even a snap a few new ones this weekend. I have a couple of local spots I want to scope out and also need to show the folks at Amazing RC Store, whom I bought my Redcats from, so they can see it in action.

Thanks guys! "thumbsup"

 

[TakeOffYouHoser]

Finally posting those pics ... lots of 'em. These were my first crawl after beginning this thread. Haven't had the chance to do any more crawling, but I have next week off so ...

 

[TakeOffYouHoser]

I'm REALLY happy with the way Calob performs. Far more capable than stock. I have to give the most credit to the tires primarily, but the geometry/suspension changes are a fantastic compliment.

I'm going to spend more time crawling as he sits now, evaluating how things go.

I have aluminum tube to make new front upper arms with a slight bend to accommodate move the battery forward just a bit more, and possibly compliment that with a new front upper arm-to-axle mount to get the front axle's caster back into a more reasonable orientation.

Also, what you see in the pics is part of a "bird sanctuary" (bird garden/haven/whatever you want to call it) we are building in the back and it needs ... more rocks! Going to see about trying to make that happen next week also so I can crawl in my backyard. That would be suh-WEET! 8) :twisted: :shock: :ror: