Skaldiddog's "Progress"

[Frankenwheely]

Damn Joel when do you sleep? Like Nabil said you are my Hero. Great work."thumbsup"

PS. Put me on the list for some knucle weights. Teehee

 

[SkaldidDog]

Thanks man. I actually got some sleep this weekend and it was nice to put down a couple of packs a day over the weekend for a change. Wrenching is fun but driving is where it's at.

 

[JeremyH]

Very nice! I dig those spring cups! "thumbsup"

 

[SkaldidDog]

Installing my morphodite inner beadlocks was a pain in the arse so I build a snazzy compression jig to bring an end to my F bomb sorties during assembly.

 

[SkaldidDog]

Glamor shots

One trick rig in her natural environment.

 

[treday619]

Looks Good Joel... 6 comps and you are already top 5. You are a natural "thumbsup""thumbsup"

 

[Stormin2u]

Very impressive build great skills and vision.

 

[SkaldidDog]

Thanks for the kind words gents. I appreciate it.

For those interested I milled two identically sized cylinders, one of 7075T6 and one of delrin. Here are the weights:
7075T6 = 1.0441g
delrin = 0.5320g

Short answer is 7075T6 is twice the weight of delrin.

I also weighed two M3x20 button cap screws, one of black steel and one of Ti. Here are the weights:
Steel = 1.00646g
Ti = 0.59423g

Short answer is Ti is 40% lighter than black steel.

Hope this helps all with build decisions.

Joel

 

[rob_b]

Just ran across this build. Very refreshing to see a builder put this much thought and effort into his truck rather than just bolting on the parts of the week. Bravo"thumbsup"

 

[Erik D_lux]

I am glad there is documentation of this rig. Very nicely done and more importantly it looked like it worked really well.

Do you have any idea how much your axles ended up weighing?

BTW, I thought I made up the link slider idea.

 

[SkaldidDog]

Thanks E. It does work well when properly driven:roll:. Still kicking myself for that choke on course 3 at 801. Next time I have it apart I'll weigh the axles for you. Just the 4 individual naked tubes or complete front and rear axles minus tires/wheels? I know they are much lighter than stock. I'm considering a redesign of my front knuckles and will post up if I pull the trigger.

Last night Elvis mentioned in passing that he ran sliders back in the day.

 

[Erik D_lux]

At least you only choked on one course. I cant say so much for me. Too bad too because I really had vengeance in my eyes after my last flop in ST G.

I am just trying to figure out axles between XR10, Ti fighters and making my own. From what I can tell the XR might be the worst choice. I really like the Ti fighters. Just dont know if I can still get in on the sale when I have the money in my pocket and... I really like wasting 100's of hours doing stuff myself. Any weight to compare would be good. If I can be picky, just the housings and no motors, tires/wheels. I know that is asking a lot though.

 

[SkaldidDog]

Not sure but I'm guessing a properly prepped VP10 will run you about what a TiFi will. $299 XR10 plus $316.47 (no tax) for all the VP stuff then a carbon chassis and all the hopped up fragile gears blahblahblah. At least a TiFi will work with your chassis and the gears/shafts are stout! I'll remember to weigh the axle tubes at next teardown but I can't say when that will be.

 

[RickM]

Looking at you pics, makes me wonder what knuckle weights you are running? Those look a bit unique.

SORRY. JUST READ THE FIRST POST AND SAW YOUR DETAIL ABOUT YOUR KNUCKLE WEIGHT. THANKS.

 

[SkaldidDog]

Before the St. George 801 comp I made some supplemental front knuckle weights that screw to the top of my existing weights. One full knuckle weighs 10.5oz. Also made some larger 3oz rear weights. Once I did some testing on the red rock, I didn't use either...oh well. I've always wanted to be able to adjust my track width in increments smaller than 0.25" as is possible with changing hubs, so I made some 0.063" 7075 offset spacers out of some scrap left over from my chassis build. I drilled 12 identical spacers at one time and then lathed them to the correct OD one at a time. Not too much work and well worth it. My steering now goes to full lock with no rubbing anywhere.

More improvements on the way.

 

[SkaldidDog]

As many know VP knuckles are the best. However the brass Berg kingpin bushings don't fit them well at all (diameter or height). So I made some proper ones. Berg ones are 0.075" OD and the hole in VP knuckles are about 0.0825".



I made some bushings with OD 0.081" and made them a little taller than stock so I didn't have to mill the knuckle flanges or countersink them like some folks have to do. With these there is absolutely no slop or wiggle in the steering any more. Hey VP, if you want to make more money, start making some high quality, snug bushings to go with your fine knuckles. <!-- attachments -->

If anyone has any suggestions as to how to make Google consistently paste images without changing their size I'd greatly appreciate the help. The pics below should be a lot larger. Sorry.

 

[Nabil]

Congratulations on your first win this weekend Joel! It was a pleasure losing to you. It only gets easier from here

 

[SkaldidDog]

Thanks Nabil. It seems like forever ago you judged me as I hit my first gate on my first course at my first comp. I always appreciate your pointers and suggestions and look forward to learning more every crawl session. Glad we got your rig running for the final. Don't forget to get me your shock bodies next time.

 

[SkaldidDog]

V2 knuckle weights and mo' stuff

The old weights were cool but I decided to make a new set that attached to the lower knuckle arm to remove the high weight top mounted existing set of weights. Since I'm now using 0.063" hub spacers all the way around I made these 0.050" wider and didn't mill all the way through the weight. You can only see the tungsten plugs from the inside now. I also squeezed the tungsten plugs towards the bottom of the knuckle so I have room to add one more plug to the rear of the knuckle if I want to. All assembled the knuckle weights are within 0.05g of each other and are a little more than 6oz each. I milled out the tie rod to clear the knuckles and cleaned up the transitions so it looks better now. I like it that I don't have to shave the knuckles to fit my beefy bushings so VP's fine work is unmodified except for the 12mm bearings. Also made a new battery strap because when stretched over the top of the battery, an o-ring rubbed the front uppers. Kevlar fishing braid over the top is nice and flat and doesn't rub any more. I put a drop of goop on each battery pack to keep the strap from sliding forward. I ditched the HPI shocks in favor of short TBBs. I love Traxxas products and these leak a lot less than the HPIs. THe HPIs were also very thin after I turned them and they dented easily. Lesson learned. After some measuring my front caster was actually at 34 deg :shock: so I lengthed the front uppers to take it down to 30 :shock:. I left the arrow manufacturers decor on the front uppers because it looks cool. Also re-did my tacky yellow shell after destroying the old one. Luckily I had one Tweety sticker left. It's easy to find my rig with this color...check out the photos from the last 801 St. George comp if you don't believe me. Thanks for watching.

More later. Enjoy.

Joel

 

[Erik D_lux]

After some measuring my front caster was actually at 34 deg :shock: so I lengthed the front uppers to take it down to 30 :shock:.

Are you just trying to bring it back to a more "normal" degree or did you experience some drawbacks?

After watching yours in St. George, I pushed mine to 30* now. I am liking it so far.