Start of a new Deadbolt project. Lets call it Project: Cheapbolt

[Prime]

Is it just me or are your new uppers a tad shorter?

Nope, just must be the angle in the picture. 8)

Sorry there have been no updates on this rig lately. Have had a lot going on with a couple of other projects and other things going on so the Deadbolt has just been waiting patiently on the shelf. If all goes well the wife, daughter, and I are planning to go out this Thursday or Friday for a bit of trail running. If we make it out I will post up some pics of the outing.

 

[QYKSLVR]

You better!

 

[Prime]

Still planning on a little outing later today, got the batteries charging right now. Hoping the storms hold off or pass over.
I did make a slight change to the truck last night. Added a little weight to the axles. I have been wanting to do this for a while now, just been putting it off.
I am not a fan of adding weight to the tires and am not quite ready to add beef tubes yet so this will have to do for now.

These are the stick-on weights I used.


Added 1oz to the front axle. Used the adhesive on the weights and then coated them in liquid electrical tape to make sure they stay put. Plus this way if I need to remove them it is easy to do with out leaving a bunch of residue behind. As an added bonus they are not that visible when the truck is on the ground. Once they get a layer of dirt on them they will be nearly invisible.



The rear got 1/2oz.



That's it for now. Hopefully more to come soon.
-Prime-

 

[DTB1]

Can you really even tell a difference? 1.5oz total on a 6-7lb vehicle doesn't change the weight much. Curious.

 

[Prime]

True it is not much weight but could tell a difference. It climbed much better that before. Also this is just a starting point. Gonna add another oz to the front. This combined with the added weight of the metal links (steering and suspension) has made this truck much more capable. The tires feel more planted and do not seem to "pull up" as easily as before when the top gets heavy.

 

[OSRC]

Weight on the front axles, and liquid tape.... Very clever. "thumbsup"

Can you really even tell a difference? 1.5oz total on a 6-7lb vehicle doesn't change the weight much. Curious.

It can, it will also alter the balance of the vehicle which helps overall feel.

 

[Prime]

Well the weather held off so we took the trucks out for a little run. Took them over to the family farm and played in the streams and runs with them. Wasn't a lot of extreme terrain, just a fun little afternoon spent out of the house and having some fun.
I didn't get a lot of pictures because I never really think to take that many while out running, my wife took most of these.

Here are the trucks we took with us.
From left to right, my Deadbolt, the wife's Defender pick-up, the CJ is a spare rig incase one breaks down, and my daughter's TM3.


Getting ready to set off.







Crossing a small gap.



We played quite a bit in the water.














That's it for now, hopefully more to come soon. Trying to decide what the future holds with this rig, if I want to upgrade anything or just run it till something breaks and needs upgrading. Probably do a combination of both.

 

[simp]

Looks like you had a good time and also looks like a good place to run! Been running the heck out of mine, holding up great! I`m adding some beef tubes next!

 

[Prime]

So I added something to my Deadbolt that came with this Castle decal..



It wasn't a Castle ESC, I added a Castle BEC. Couple of times I had brown out even with the stock electronics. I left the BEC at it's factory 5.1volts since I still have the stock Tactic servo.

Since I can not stay out of the water I went ahead and waterproofed it with a generous coating of liquid electrical tape.



And all mounted up.



Here is a shot of the overall layout of my Deadbolt. Things are getting a bit tight toward the rear of the truck with my winch controller, BEC, receiver box, and ESC but luckily there is not much that can be or needs to be added.



I have yet to give it a good field test but around the house everything seems to work well.
Hopefully more to come soon. Thanks for looking.
-Prime-

 

[BlownChevelle]

Subscribed!

 

[Prime]

I made another small replacement/upgrade. I had the Deadbolt out and noticed the winch line was getting rather frayed. I had some of this line laying around from a past non/RC project. It is from Wal-Mart and is rated at 24lbs. which should be more than enough. Came in a 250ft role and was under $5 if I remember correctly. So replaced the old line with 9ft of this. So far it seems to be working quite well.

Here you can see the old line at the top and where she is starting to fray. Considering this is the original line on the winch and I have had it on three different trucks over the last 5 years I guess I really can't complain. The new line is on the bottom.



I wonder what will be next.....
Thanks for looking,
-Prime-

 

[Prime]

No mods been done but I am still enjoying this truck. I took it on an outing over on the farm for a quick run to stretch it's legs. I found that I need to turn up the BEC voltage though, the servo just is not as strong as it was before it. Of course though I did set the BEC a bit conservative just to play it safe. I am finding I would like a bit more low end/low speed grunt as well in places where the rocks get rough. I was holding out on a motor but looks like one may come sooner rather than later. Maybe a 35T. Oh well, that's how you learn what you need, by driving them. Here are a hand full of pics from the last outing.



















Thanks for looking, more to come.
-Prime-
.

 

[Prime]

I did a little more weight tuning to my Deadbolt. I feel that it needs just a little more weight down low. I started to buy a new set of metal wheels to add the weight but the decided to stay with the CHEAP part of the theme and add some used wheel weights I picked up the last time I saw my tire guy.



I added only 1.5oz per wheel. Figure it is better to start small, can always add more later if need be. I started by hot gluing them to the rims. That way I can always remove them if need be.



Then wrapped them in electrical tape to hold them in place and added the tires back to the rims.



Around the living room it feels good, but won't know for sure until it hits the trails. Thanks for looking, more to come for sure.
-Prime-

 

[johnnyluv]

I did a little more weight tuning to my Deadbolt. I feel that it needs just a little more weight down low. I started to buy a new set of metal wheels to add the weight but the decided to stay with the CHEAP part of the theme and add some used wheel weights I picked up the last time I saw my tire guy.

I added only 1.5oz per wheel. Figure it is better to start small, can always add more later if need be. I started by hot gluing them to the rims. That way I can always remove them if need be.

Then wrapped them in electrical tape to hold them in place and added the tires back to the rims.

Around the living room it feels good, but won't know for sure until it hits the trails. Thanks for looking, more to come for sure.
-Prime-

The weight does help plant the wheels. Hope those work out for ya. I've got some aluminum beadlocks that I wish I could use weights like those on, but I plan on using CI foams, which hug the rim, leaving no room for them. The rims do, however, have a sort of channel, or track, which I might be able to fill with bb's, and seal in, with electrical tape.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[IntenseCrawling]

I love this build I just read through every page. Its very interesting because i am looking at getting an scx10 the deadbolt in particular. Keep up the posts it's a joy to follow.

 

[Prime]

The weight does help plant the wheels. Hope those work out for ya. I've got some aluminum beadlocks that I wish I could use weights like those on, but I plan on using CI foams, which hug the rim, leaving no room for them. The rims do, however, have a sort of channel, or track, which I might be able to fill with bb's, and seal in, with electrical tape.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Thanks, I plan on making a run this weekend, will see how the weight works then. I know I am going to have to change the foams in the future, when that time comes I will prob change to a heavier rim at that time as well.
Hope the bb's work in your rims.

I love this build I just read through every page. Its very interesting because i am looking at getting an scx10 the deadbolt in particular. Keep up the posts it's a joy to follow.

Thank you. You will not be disappointed, the Deadbolt is a great little truck and I feel the best out of the box SCX bargain. I want to get another one in the future and make me a built class 1 Clod bodied rig out of it.

 

[Prime]

Today is my birthday and the mail man brought me a present!! "thumbsup"



I wanted a more torque than the stock motor was giving me but was not sure exactly what turn motor I wanted. In the past I would have grabbed a 55t but this time I decided to experiment a little so I went with a cheap 45t from RC4WD. I figured at $10 it was worth the gamble.

Out with the old, getting ready for in with the new. The pinion had a little rust on it. In all my other rigs I have aluminum pinion gears so I never even thought about greasing this one or treating it after running the truck. Now some rust preventative measures have been taken.



The new motor happily mounted up.



If all goes well I will give it a run this weekend and hopefully I will be happy with the out come.
Thanks for looking, I promise there will be more to come.
-Prime-

 

[Prime]

Thread is not dead. The 45t and the truck are running great. Nothing had changed until today, I have just been running it and enjoying it.

Awhile back I had made a steering link to replace the plastic one that came on the Deadbolt. I put some curve in it since I did not have a set of offset ends.


Turns out it is a bit more bend than I like or wanted. Also would get a bit hung at times. While visiting my father-in-law I visited a hobby shop by his house and picked up a pack of axial rod ends.


Made up a new steering link that tucks in nicely and works perfectly. "thumbsup"


This truck is getting some mileage on it but so far she is holding up great. Well that's it for now. Hopefully more to come soon.
-Prime-

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[Prime]

The weather has been weird here the last few days. Yesterday we had a slight steady drizzle all day long. So perfect weather to take the Deadbolt out for a spin. Got to say I love the Treps as long as the rocks/dirt is dry but if they are wet traction becomes very lacking. Hmmm... maybe time to start looking for a better all around tire.... Upside is all went well and the truck held together and performed perfectly and provided a good 50 mins of fun (this time I was only running a 2200 batt).
Here are a few pics from the outing.













Thanks for looking. More to come
Prime
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[littletoyboy]

Proline tsl's seem to do well in wet conditions. Nice rig btw