Maxxmasher's micro monster build!!

[MAXXMASHER]

Got a bit done tonight. Not as much as I wanted to, but I flipped on the Broncos/Ravens game and watched longer than planned. Mainly, I got my front links worked out and made another set of side plates for the tranny to attatch to. Much better looking now. I also took advantage of some unused holes (sounds a little dirty!) in the chassis and secured the plates in two additional spots on each side. Everything looks good so far, except now I have a new problem. There is not much room at all to mount the shocks on the bottom. I'm going to have to come up with some kind of bracket to allow the shocks to be mounted outside of the links. Considering that I also want to build my own shocks from scratch, this is going to be an interesting problem to tackle. I was going to do the rear links as well, but I ran out of steam. Always another day. Some pics from tonight's episode......

New side plates.

Looks pretty good. I also figured a way to combine the Duratraxx shaft to the micro yoke. I used the Duratraxx ball, cut off two opposing nubs, drilled a hole, and secured it to the yoke with a small screw. Hopefully it will hold up.

A closer view of what I just explained....

Front links on. Still hafta cut the aluminum tube to pretty them up, but that will be done later.

Lookin' good so far!

As you can see, the way the chassis is designed, I don't have much room for shocks to fit on the inside of the links like the stock setup is designed. Just another challenge to overcome.....

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[dannan_w]

you stock motor is going to hate life, but awsome build!

 

[robvbro81]

He is not using a "stock" motor, he is using a higher torque servo motor.

 

[MAXXMASHER]

Naw, both wrong. Using a high torque 180 motor with a custom tranny plate.

Stock motor on the bottom. Hopefully my drivelines and axles don't hate life!

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[MAXXMASHER]

Got a few more goodies in the mail yesterday. Just in time for tonight's round of work. I think I also have an idea of where to mount the shocks (the front ones at least.) I've already hacked quite a bit off the framework of this thing to have room for components and such, so I don't really want to do any more of that. I think I may put the front upper links elsewhere and mount the bottom of the shocks where those links should mount. Not sure how this will look. Have to tinker with a bit to see for sure. I just happened to see someone else do this and it didn't look too bad. The giant wheels will hide it all anyways. If it doesn't look quite right, I may just narrow the front of the frame a bit and build my own upper shock mounts. Have to tune in to see.....here's my latest mailbox goodies.

I will finally be able to mod my monster tires and wheels to actually be mounted up. Going to sorta use a version of Danally's method.

Got some mini t ball ends to use for steering rods and perhaps for the shocks.

Picked the up for like eighty cents on ebay. This way, if a servo burns out, I can just do a quick disconnect rather than rerun a bunch of wire through the chassis.

And finally, some hexes for my new wheels as I was afraid of destroying the old ones getting them out of the old wheels. Didn't want to use those wheels because they have nice RC4WD Rock Crushers on them and I don't want to ruin the tires. Pretty cheap to get a set of micro wheels. I also got some more ball studs as I am two short for the links. I was just making sure I had enough. Make nice scale tow ball hitches too.....

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[MAXXMASHER]

Made some really great strides tonight! I got all of my wheels cut and mounted to the monster truck rims. Nice and straight and really solid. I also got my shocks made and the front ones mounted (sort of.) Just have to play with the spring tension a bit and add some bends to my links for clearance. Not really sure if I like how they are mounted, as they have quite a bit of angle to them. Took me a while to get the shocks worked out. Had to cut small pieces of all thread to connect the tubes to the ball ends. The tubes were too fat for the allthread, so I had to cut little pieces of tube to fill in the gap. I thought they were going to be too long, but they seem ok with the ride height of a monster truck. I played around with different ways to mount everything for awhile. I think I'm going to leave the upper link mount where it should be (on the sides of the servo), and I bent some small pieces of allthread, putting one end into the axle mount for the shocks. On the other end, I put on the bottom of the shock and secured with a nut. This moves the shocks further out on the axle. And gives me the room I needed to have the shocks outside the links. I'm also going to add a little stand-off at the upper shock mount as they are angled in a bit too much at the top. I just wish I had more time to play around tonight!! Gotta go to bed!! Have to be up for a meeting at noon and it's 5:40am.....

Maybe not all of you have seen this. I ran a long screw through the wheel and secured it with a nut.

Inserted it in a drill and used an exacto knife to score the wheel along the inside of the rear bead. Don't wanna go to deep at the end or you'll risk cutting the spokes of the wheel. The resulting half fit perfectly into my monster wheel.

Of course after roughing up the monster wheel surface and sanding the chrome finish off the micro wheel, the two were joined with CA glue and clamped in my hobby vice. This is the result.

Here is the breakdown of my custom made shocks.....

Ball ends and tiny piece of allthread after filing off the burrs left from my hacksaw. Too noisy to do this with my dremel.

Then I threaded this onto a small piece of alum tube. Once it was secured, I cut the rough end off and filed and smooth the edge. Very exciting; I know!

For the upper shock ends, I did the same thing, using a piece of Plastruct with a slightly larger outside diameter. Secured with CA glue.

Finally! All eight ends done.

Then I glued on the corresponding shock bodies and shafts.

Didn't take a final pic of the complete shock. Was in a hurry to get them mounted as I was running out of time. Should be sleeping now. See what I mean about the angle? May have to craft up a shock mount to even this out a bit.

A little better view of the shock. Probably will need to be tweaked a good bit. Just wanted to get it on the chassis for now. Pretty decent articulation. Gonna have to make limited straps, too. If the axle moves to far down the shocks will simple come apart. Lots done, but a long ways to go.....

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[RootBreaker]

looks great!
I "think" if that shock angle works fine.. change it out from white to black to kinda hide it some. While the white is bright and catches the eye, black would help conceal it a bit and take the eyes away.

 

[MAXXMASHER]

That setup isn't going to work. The bent allthread mounts are just way too wide. The giant wheels hit almost as soon as they turn. Played around with some more ideas. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to mount the front of the top links on top of the servo mounts. The holes are already there. Took awhile to find screws to thread into these holes. Bigger than the micro screws, smaller than 2mm. I bent some piano wire and shoved it in the mini ball link ends and added some CA. Works better. Just have to modify the bends a bit to clear parts of the frame. Now I have to mess with the shocks again. Gonna try to mount the bottoms on the sides of the servo again. Gonna have to make a top mount for them the extreme angle is making them bind up. Once I FINALLY get this solved, I get to replicate everything for the rear. Didn't think this was going to be such a headache after all the trials of just getting a motor/tranny combo to work!!

Once I get these things sorted out, I'm gonna paint them green to match the body.

Got them mounted, but one is slightly off, pulling the axle a bit to the right. An eight of an inch translates to a lot on such tiny components....

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[MAXXMASHER]

After two long sessions of trying to get these shocks and links to work, I'm gonna try something else. I found some mini shocks for cheap on ebay, so I'm going to try those out. I'm also having a difficult time with using the piano wire. It's pretty tough to bend, especially with such short pieces. Plus the ends won't stay on very well. Don't think they'll hold up after a bunch of use. Another ebay purchase was some more 2-56 rod and more Losi mini ball ends. Still going to use the same ideas, but these pieces should make things a bit easier. Should have all my stuff by Saturday and I'll have Sunday night off. Game on!!

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[Calderwood]

It looks like the front links/wheelbase should be longer. The tire looks like its in the back of the wheel well arch.

 

[MAXXMASHER]

Yeah the reason for that is I had to bend the links to get them away from the shocks. That kind of shortened them up a bit. Just trying to figure out how to make everything work and where the best mounting locations for everything will be. Once that is all figured out, I will get everything spaced correctly.

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[MAXXMASHER]

Finally a night off! I made the most of it by getting a lot done. I scrapped the idea of using piano wire and received some 2-56 rod and more ends in the mail. This rod will be plenty strong enough and is a lot easier to manipulate and bend ever so slightly to even everything out. I put different bottom ends on the (mini crawler) shocks, got all my links made and finally solved my setup problems. The shocks are mounted on the sides of the servos, the front of the upper links are mounted on top of the servo (had to make a plate to fit on the rear servo w/ball studs on top), and the front of the lower links are in the stock location. I mirrored all this on the rear of the truck as well. I also figured a better way to mount the top of the shocks to the frame. It turned out that my old tranny plates matched the configuration of the tubing on the rear end, so I zip tied it to the frame and mounted the shocks to it. I also used a solid piece of 2-56 from one shock top, through the frame, and out the other side, to which I mounted the other shock. In between the frame, I put a cut section of Plastruct to keep from collapsing everything. (Sorta like the stock setup on the AX-10.) I put a few spacers outside of the frame to keep the shock springs away from it and secured each end with nuts. Really solid, and much better than just using long screws though the model's plastic frame. I will be replicating my rear setup on the front when I get some more time. Gotta work tonight, but then have the next night off, so I will be getting close to having a runner. Looks like a truck now, but lots more to do still. Gonna tear it all down, secure some things, paint some things. Need to get the drivelines made, the electronics sorted out, and complete my battery enclosure. I also gotta paint the inside of the wheels and glue them on permanent-like. Looking good so far.......some pics of my progress & some poser shots on my micro course. This is going to be a fun little truck!!

My little aluminum four link mount. Didn't have to do this to the front, because my HR servo mounts are threaded on top to attatch the battery cradle that I won't be using. Just used mini ball ends and a screw with a spacer.

Shoulda took a pics after I threaded the ball studs on the top, but you get the idea....

New bottom end for the shock. Forgot to get more of the mini t ends, darn it! Luckily I had these white ones laying around.

New upper links made; just a slight bit longer than the old ones to get the wheels centered up. Replicated these for the rear, as well.

Everything all pieced together. Looks like a truck for the first time!! Is the ride height alright?? Does it look a little too tall? Might play with the shocks to lower them a bit....

A shot of the rear. Not so much worried about the angle of the link plate as I am with the angle of the steering. Pretty horizontal.

Four wheel steer will be a must with this behemoth. No crab crawling, though. Steering will be linked. Hope the esc will be able to handle it.

A pic of how the upper rear suspension is attatched. Much better than the front.

Really a beast when compared to my micro Hilux, which is longer and taller than a stock micro....

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[MAXXMASHER]

Had to post those "poser" shots!! Can't wait to run this on my micro course.

Kinda hard to believe these are based off of the same vehicle. I guess Bigfoot would look the same next to my F-150.

Looks like a Clod's little brother!

Smashing up the old Rover body. Just part of the scenery now. That bummer is my stretched out Micro -T with a plastic model body on it. Not good for crawling, but with a lipo in it, it'll drift around my basement.

Rolling over another "junked" car. Like a little bump in the road.....

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[MAXXMASHER]

Got a bit more done last night. Looks like I will definitely be lowering the suspension a bit. Either that or drop the tranny further. Don't want to do that so the shocks will be limited. I got the drivelines all pieced together and it seems the angle is just too severe to allow the tranny to function correctly. Everything keeps getting all bound up in its current state. Oh yeah, I also finally got this thing moving under its own power. Barely. Can't seem to keep the spur nut tight. If I tighten it down enough, it won't move freely enough to function. Gotta work on the problem. I got the servo linkages all set up, too. Just gotta get all the wiring sorted out and hook up the esc permanently and finalize my battery enclosure. Getting there.....

Just a few pics of the linkages. Big excitement! No work this weekend, so we may have a real runner.

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[RootBreaker]

Well either a divorced transfercase setup or like real monster trucks.. lower all drivetrain

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[MAXXMASHER]

Yeah, a micro transfer case would be the shizz! Not sure I can pull that off. One more night of work, and I'll have two more nights to play around with this thing. One thing that would be cool about limiting the shocks and dropping the ride height down a bit is that I could run regular tires on it without it looking too ridiculous. Maybe some Miclaws could be in my future? I'll have another set of wheels to play with after the weekend, too. Lots of little things to button up, but it's getting there.

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[MAXXMASHER]

Got a bit more done tonight. Mostly trying to work the kinks out of it and get everything turning smoothly. Made a few minor changes to help this along. I took the driveshafts off and glued one end of the female sections on each shaft. I just had it taped before to make sure everything would work correctly. Each output from the tranny is a male section and the inputs to the diffs are also male shafts. In between, is a female shaft. Another thing I discovered is that the screws I was using to secure the connector balls stuck out too far and the were rubbing the tops of the servos. Switching the cap head screws to coutersunk screws allieviated this problem. I also took the springs off of the shocks to run them droop style. This took out some of the extreme angle on the driveshafts, and everything spins more freely. While I was at it I got everything soldered up an both servos are functioning properly. I still have to play with the slipper a bit more. The truck will run fine, but the tranny needs tightened up just a bit more. When it hits obstacle, it slips too much. So, just gotta do a little painting, pretty up the wiring, and play with the slipper, and she'll be a runner!!

Long driveshafts on the baby!

A jumbled mess of wiring. This will be cleaned up once I get this thing to climb some obstacles.

My poor workbench is a jumbled mess, too! It always looks this way during a project.....

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[RootBreaker]

My poor workbench is a jumbled mess, too! It always looks this way during a project.....

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coming along good!!!! glad you got a lot of work on it..

im stuck... I have 4 rigs totally apart.. and missing parts... LOL..
more on that later..


but your bench.. yeah looks like mine.. or wonder if yours is cleaner.. hah... "thumbsup"

 

[MAXXMASHER]

Didn't get a lot done tonight; still having a hard time getting the spur gear tightened. Too tight, it'll barely move. Too loose, it'll move until I try to climb something. Took off both slipper pads, gave them a sanding, and applied some ca glue. Hope I can get this figured out. I also got another set of wheels and am going to get a set of miclaws. Sounds like a good set of tires that may look good on this truck. The monster wheels and tires are cool looking, but rock hard and pretty heavy. Starting to get annoyed. Been working on this thing for over a month, spent way more than I planned to, and it still is not performing the way I hoped it would. Not giving up, just ranting a bit. No update pics, but I found out one drawback to having a messy workbench. You don't notice a visitor until he's very close!!

This guy was less than a foot away before I noticed him creeping around!!

Yeah, I know you eat bugs, but the only other bugs down here are other spiders! Good bye, sir!!

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[tgh117]

Making good progress. I had the exact same issue with my spur, still have yet to figure out what I was doing wrong to get it right.