My Venom Creeper with various mods

[UndCon]

I think it is about time I post my own thread about my Venom Creeper. Stock green kit purchased from Tower Hobbies and along with this came a Novak Rooster Crawler & 55T motor

So what have I done to this one?

I removed lots of green anodizing with caustics (even bead locks are done by now)

I flipped lower links
I reversed tires to aid grip
I added solder to add weight in wheels
I now try BTA on front axle (must reinforce a bit)
I raised rear linkages and BTA:ed them to prepare for rear steer as well (servo is on the shelf until I decide if my BTAmod is strong enough)
I flipped shocks upside-down to lower CG
I use TWO 2S LIPO's @ 900Mah on the upper links(not in this pic)
I removed the skid plates
I added CVD protection
I secured the axles to stop from disengaging


here is my youtube channel with a few clips

http://www.youtube.com/user/mrkalaspuff

 

[serveapurpose]

Looks great, thanks for sharing! "thumbsup"

 

[LSXEric]

Man the all silver links looks good!! If ya do the shock parts and get the pic with the rings done, man that be cool.

 

[UndCon]

You mean the green bits on this pic?

I will take care of those when I get my 50Wt oil that I ordered.

Caustic pipe cleaner in progress...warning . hot water, bubbles, might splash and cause stains and /or ruin clothes.

OHH - so nice after a few minutes...

A crawling friend of mine is selling his old tires

Proline Hammers M2 with memory foams (no rims)

I would like to know if they are better than stock...

 

[YJ_Driver]

A friend went to the Hammers and he loves them, way better than the stockers.

Nice looking truck, and great tip on removing the anodized color.

Richard

 

[KBrog]

Great looking Creeper, and video. Is that your house in the first picture?lol I plan on getting a Creeper and would like to do the same thing to all the anodize parts. What is Caustic pipe cleaner? Is it Drain-O.

 

[SpitzerCR]

nice

 

[madmax22]

any tires are an upgrade from the POS stockers.

 

[wannagoslow]

Thats a good looking creeper. I cant wait to get mine!:mrgreen:

 

[UndCon]

Thanks for all nice comments

It is the Castle where I live
http://www.kalmarslott.kalmar.se/sites/kalmarslott/t/default.aspx?id=19676

I assume Caustic pipe cleaners are similar to Drain-o or Crystal Drano as I found on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drano

Ill see if I can borrow the tires for a test run - and buy them If I like them...

I'm going to add more weight to the tires anyway so If I unscrew the beadlocks I can replace the tires just as well and drill some venting holes in the rims

here is another video shot by a friend of mine at the same location, but with an Axial instead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zk5JzNNRyU
//UndCon

 

[UndCon]

I have some troubles with my BTA-mod - I feel it is kind of weak compared with default setup in front of axle(don't know if it is servo or setup)

Here is my rig...

Overview from top - a threaded stainless rod acts as link

Here is the arc to clear shock...

How it is mounted on wheel upright...

From other side...

Rear end from top - prepared for BTA as well...a strong servo is waiting to be mounted as soon as I have BTA that works as I want it to...

Is the M3 stainless rod not strong enough?

Now that I know the length needed I can cut off an aluminium tube and slide it over the M3 rod and bend it to shape like this one...that would surely beef things up a bit...


60Wt oil is on the way - Ill swap on all shocks...and deanodize the last green bits.
Next mod will be to test a few hammers to replace the stock rubbers..
And rear steer will be added - servo will be located on a sheet of aluminium...

An upcoming mod would be a stage2 but I have not seen it along with BTA...(impossible?) so I suppose I have to come up with "stage 3" to make a new mount for the upper shock-mount instead...I can then get rid of the stock battery tray...


//UndCon

 

[UndCon]

...and then mayhem struck...

After some successful testing with BTA it is time to complete some mods that have been lurking in my brain for a while...

New upper shockmounts

As I am running BTA it is impossible to mount the shocks as Stage II
(on lower links and on frame)

To clear the BTA-link to the servo I mounted the shocks (now de-anodized and 60Wt:ed) on the outside of the original mounting brackets.
(if you look close you see it in previous picture)

in order to get rid of the ridiculous battery tray/shock mount I add some alloy L-shaped profiles.
(the L shape adds strength to the shock mounts)

They mount in the stock upper holes and a bigger hole is drilled in the center to clear the screw that holds the lexan body in place.

I intend to drill 1 hole every 10mm along the way up to the very edge of the alloy L's
(I need to buy a center punch tomorrow to complete this task)

In this angle it is easier to see the bigger hole...

Parts start to find their way back in place

Here you see my home-made 70mm upper links
(made from a M3 threaded stainless rod and an alloy tube)
(I use the same tube for all 6mm spacers and some supports on the L's)

I also added heatshrink tubing to the VCD's when I as on the front axle - rear will be taken care of when I mount the servo

Still to fabricate:
A shelf to mount the rear servo
2 supports for L's
Trays to mount 2 battery's on upper links if dampers are not in the way.
Tray for receiver and micro servo ??
Tray or similar for ESC

 

[InFlames]

You should polish all the links and beadlock rings. "thumbsup"

 

[s14slide]

Suscribed!

I wan't to see how the new shock mounts work out. I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I still know very little about 4link geometry. More research to do!

 

[UndCon]

You should polish all the links and beadlock rings. "thumbsup"

Yeah - I have been thinking of that since I first removed the green stuff...lots of work and scratches will ruin any surface anyway...The alloy pipe I used here had some scratches on it to start with

Suscribed!

I wan't to see how the new shock mounts work out. I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I still know very little about 4link geometry. More research to do!

Thx man - This is my attempt on the creeper to combine a few mods that I have yet seen together.

 

[truaxj]

I am intrested to see how this turns out. I am not sure what your plan is with the angled alum, but it looks intresting. I know that stage 2 will not work out for you with the BTA, but if you can find a way to remount the shocks, then you will be golden. If you are going to put time into polishing the parts, I would not do it on anything that is going to get scratched, just seems like a waste of time to me.
Keep us all updated!

 

[UndCon]

This is the current idea

By drilling a few holes in the alloy I can try shock positions that work with the wider(at bottom) mounted suspension

So far this seems to work...a few 6mm spacers allow me to fine-tune the angle of the suspension even further inwards.

Minimum 1 6mm spacer is needed to create a distance from the alloy and the shock parts.

If I use outer holes of the alloy the drive shaft becomes exposed to much...

The reason I went for L-shaped alloy is added rigidity

 

[fisherkip]

It looks great I bought the kit and am turning it into a scaler.
One piece of advice on yours, since you are not running the skid plates take a dremel and grind off the mounting nub on the diff case and grind off the bottom gussets. It's a quick easy mod that gives you more ground clearance.

Just a thought

 

[HRDROKN]

This is the current idea

The reason I went for L-shaped alloy is added rigidity

Did you consider adding standoffs between the angles to aid in lateral stability? Might take some load off the side plates should you roll it.

Looking good.....

"thumbsup"

 

[UndCon]

It looks great I bought the kit and am turning it into a scaler.
One piece of advice on yours, since you are not running the skid plates take a dremel and grind off the mounting nub on the diff case and grind off the bottom gussets. It's a quick easy mod that gives you more ground clearance.

Just a thought

It is on my todo list of mods

Did you consider adding standoffs between the angles to aid in lateral stability? Might take some load off the side plates should you roll it.

Looking good.....

"thumbsup"

I do have standoffs - the upper mount is an M3 rod from side to side - reminds of a Shish kebab

In this view you see it is kind of a prototype as the threaded M3 pokes out quite a bit on the left side.

The alloy L's might be chopped off if the holes in front of the one I use is useless - but Ill save that until I get all things mounted as it will sink down even further in the travel...

As is right now I can drill a new line of holes next to the existing one to add even more adjust-ability



Anyway - I hope it turns out well as I think several ppl are using BTA and want to combine this with something like Stage II

I was thinking of where to mount the ESC...a sheet of plexi or similar can be mounted with double sided tape on top of the L-profiles

On this sheet I can mount RX and ESC on the bottom side to keep center of gravity as low as possible

I used to have 2LIPO'S on the upper links - but I think I will move them to the steering servos instead(velcro on top)

//UndCon