CrawlMater
Rock Stacker
After a short hiatus from R/C due to steadily changing jobs, I now have full time work and I’m back at the work bench. So I figured since I plan to hold a TTC event in March and to make it to the MSD Scale Nats in May, I better get building.
Normally I build my trucks to a spec I pull out of my head, and run it without tweaking till it breaks or I get bored. But for the TTC and Nats I needed more. I needed something that would be well rounded and that I could tweak to peak performance.
For this I decided to look into factory made scale chassis’. After lots of searching I found nothing that I deemed worthy…. But then I was creeping on gcmachine.ca and saw Chris’s scaler T-case kit, it sparked my interest. So I shot Chris an email about his T-case and next thing I know I’m standing in his shop and chatting about build plans. He told about a chassis that a guy had ordered, it was a cross canyon but in a way beefier ¼” thick 6061 aluminum. This would have gotten stamp of approval, if I had known I could get one. Lucky for me Chris makes 4 chassis plates at a time, and so it began.
After some more discussion and plans being passed back and forth, I ended up getting the 1st GCM Cross Canyon scaler kit, in the super beefy ¼” thick 6061 material. This kit includes a CC chassis, UH (Under Hood) motor/tranny mount, chassis servo mount, 1:1 transfer case, and delrin skid plate.
Then I started mock up. Transfer case first, this thing is sick, it’s super beefy!!
IT’S SO SIMPLE!!!! The only thing that became an apparent problem was the notched shafts were just too short for MIP drive shafts to mount to….
So out came the dremel.
I told GCM about this shaft issue and I believe longer shafts will be available shortly!
Next I greased it up, lightly on one side then some gloops on the other to get sucked into the gears.
Then assembled.
The install is easy. Right now I am only doing mock up and not using the new skid plate. I’m choosing to do mock up with my old axial one because the GCM one features triangulation and requires different hardware. But to install on the stock skid plate is easy, the t-case is designed to mount with one end in the stock tranny holes. All you need to do is drill 2 new ones. You’ll notice the lock nuts holding the t-case down. I believe GCM did this to make the mounting more forgiving for the people that want to mount these to custom rigs. I really like it cause I’d rather use a nylock nut then chance striping the t-case.
Drive line is now perfectly straight, very nice!!
Then it was time for some very quick mock up assembly. I bolted it altogether in a rough assembly based around a 12.5” WB and a centered geo. Please ignore all the mix matched hardware, I was just throwing it together and I’m going to buy all new hardware for final assembly.
You can really see how beefy this thing is.
The motor/ tranny mount is brilliant, both the motor and tranny mount directly to the mount which is a very stiff piece of 6061 aluminum. The mount has 3/8” thick material that you bolt into, creating a very solid assembly. This thing has servo flex which to me means much better power transfer!
Ignore the crazy links they were only for pinion alignment and not permanent nor necessary. Look how low the motor sits in the frame.
Since the tranny’s original mounting holes are no longer needed I decide to file them off. Later on this will get a shot of sliver paint and have a very cool detail or 2 added around it.
Lots of clearance.
The servo mount is equally beefy if not more. The mount is 3/8” thick has lots of contact surface with the frame rails, very stiff. Though it’s 3/8” thick it is light as a feather thanks to some very clean machined hollows. This is very much over kill and I’m sure it will never fail.
The mount has many options for locating your servo just where you want it. Over, under, front, back, left, right, and combinations of the above. The holes that you use to bolt this to the frame are offset which allows for a lot of this free range movement yet retains that GCM standard in strength.
This is my current placement looks just right.
Normally I build my trucks to a spec I pull out of my head, and run it without tweaking till it breaks or I get bored. But for the TTC and Nats I needed more. I needed something that would be well rounded and that I could tweak to peak performance.
For this I decided to look into factory made scale chassis’. After lots of searching I found nothing that I deemed worthy…. But then I was creeping on gcmachine.ca and saw Chris’s scaler T-case kit, it sparked my interest. So I shot Chris an email about his T-case and next thing I know I’m standing in his shop and chatting about build plans. He told about a chassis that a guy had ordered, it was a cross canyon but in a way beefier ¼” thick 6061 aluminum. This would have gotten stamp of approval, if I had known I could get one. Lucky for me Chris makes 4 chassis plates at a time, and so it began.
After some more discussion and plans being passed back and forth, I ended up getting the 1st GCM Cross Canyon scaler kit, in the super beefy ¼” thick 6061 material. This kit includes a CC chassis, UH (Under Hood) motor/tranny mount, chassis servo mount, 1:1 transfer case, and delrin skid plate.
Then I started mock up. Transfer case first, this thing is sick, it’s super beefy!!

IT’S SO SIMPLE!!!! The only thing that became an apparent problem was the notched shafts were just too short for MIP drive shafts to mount to….

So out came the dremel.

I told GCM about this shaft issue and I believe longer shafts will be available shortly!
Next I greased it up, lightly on one side then some gloops on the other to get sucked into the gears.


Then assembled.

The install is easy. Right now I am only doing mock up and not using the new skid plate. I’m choosing to do mock up with my old axial one because the GCM one features triangulation and requires different hardware. But to install on the stock skid plate is easy, the t-case is designed to mount with one end in the stock tranny holes. All you need to do is drill 2 new ones. You’ll notice the lock nuts holding the t-case down. I believe GCM did this to make the mounting more forgiving for the people that want to mount these to custom rigs. I really like it cause I’d rather use a nylock nut then chance striping the t-case.

Drive line is now perfectly straight, very nice!!

Then it was time for some very quick mock up assembly. I bolted it altogether in a rough assembly based around a 12.5” WB and a centered geo. Please ignore all the mix matched hardware, I was just throwing it together and I’m going to buy all new hardware for final assembly.
You can really see how beefy this thing is.

The motor/ tranny mount is brilliant, both the motor and tranny mount directly to the mount which is a very stiff piece of 6061 aluminum. The mount has 3/8” thick material that you bolt into, creating a very solid assembly. This thing has servo flex which to me means much better power transfer!

Ignore the crazy links they were only for pinion alignment and not permanent nor necessary. Look how low the motor sits in the frame.

Since the tranny’s original mounting holes are no longer needed I decide to file them off. Later on this will get a shot of sliver paint and have a very cool detail or 2 added around it.


Lots of clearance.

The servo mount is equally beefy if not more. The mount is 3/8” thick has lots of contact surface with the frame rails, very stiff. Though it’s 3/8” thick it is light as a feather thanks to some very clean machined hollows. This is very much over kill and I’m sure it will never fail.

The mount has many options for locating your servo just where you want it. Over, under, front, back, left, right, and combinations of the above. The holes that you use to bolt this to the frame are offset which allows for a lot of this free range movement yet retains that GCM standard in strength.
This is my current placement looks just right.
