The Telluride (And Slash) Project

[BJoe]

I’ve had mine way out of shape and it would all but refuse to roll. Kinda figure with how low the CoG is on this chassis compared to most solid axle rigs, that has to help a lot.

BTW, that area with the roots looks like it’s difficult to walk in let alone drive your rigs in!

 

[OSRC]

It is getting tricky.. the roots get worse as you go.

 

[BJoe]

It is getting tricky.. the roots get worse as you go.

Damn!

 

[JatoTheRipper]

One of my favorite spots! Definitely challenges rigs, especially the non-portal variety, and it just looks so cool.

 

[JimrC]

Easily spend quite a few hours there with a few rigs, looks great.

 

[OSRC]

Easily spend quite a few hours there with a few rigs, looks great.

Every sunday morning...

 

[OSRC]

Crawler Telluride:

Came home after the last run and made some changes. First off, had to fix that craptastic steering. Tore apart the bellcrank and ditched the spring. Even though it was screwed down as tight as I could get it, there was still a bit of play. I found out that CC01 inner knuckle bushings were a perfect fit, and heaven knows I have gobs of them laying around. I dropped 2 on, dabbed some red threadlock on the threads, and screwed it all down tight. No more play and a tiny bit of brass down low. Win. I left the servo for now to see if the change in rack made any difference. (it did)

It was a bit loud too. I noticed the spur was a bit wobbly - as it is on nearly all my traxxas bashers - so I ordered a slipper eliminator and a steel gear. Won't do much for the noise, but it will at least run true. IF I could get it installed. Turns out no matter what I do, this will not turn smoothly in the chassis. It's putting a lot of pressure on the rear pinion in the diff and the whole drivetrain locks up. I for the life of me cannot figure out why. Tried the shaft that came with it, the stock shaft, different spacers, springs, you name it. Gave up after over an hour of trying to install this simple POS part and went back to stock.

And finally, I swapped back on front Slash shocks on all 4 corners, with soft springs in front and medium progressive in back. I'd like to say there was a plan here, but not really - just what I had laying around. Feels much better than the TRX4 shocks which even when filled with Marvel Mystery Oil still felt way too stiff.

Back on the trail....burned though 2 1500 packs and put this bad boy through its paces. I think it's back to being awesome. Felt much better all around - steering was much better but still some room for improvement.

Still 3 wheeling here and there - kind of the nature of IS - but overall the suspension is much better than before. It's very plush...the chassis itself is somewhat light, I need really light springs to get it to where I want it.

It was doing so good I decided to tackle my comp lines and take a stab at getting over to the pinnacle. Had to get up and over the Sword and to my surprise, it made it!

and kept going! All the way to the end.

It amazes me that this little IS platform can go the way it does. It even has an open limited slip rear diff! And it just went though all my hardest lines - I am absolutely nonplussed...and there's more to be had. Stronger servo en route and a tire change in the works. Not that the pitbulls are bad in any way (they are awesome) just variety for variety's sake.

 

[OSRC]

Went back and re-read through while ingesting my pot pie. This is a confusing thread... I've got a Basher Telluride, a Crawler Telluride, and a Crawler Slash4x4. All mixed in here with a lot of random crap. It's how I roll.

 

[OSRC]

Crawler Slash4x4

Here's a long dormant project that has finally seen the light of day. Ran once to test and it was....well, lacking. After seeing how well the little Telly was doing, I figured this would be an easy conversion. I was wrong. Weight balance was off, no grip, shoddy suspension - it just never lived up to what I expected. Since I last ran it, I took a major whack at it and moved the motor up front (giving me the world's first front motor Slash 4x4 I reckon) with an Axial Exo transmission/HW Fusion Sport and added some Jato shocks all around. Swapped the body over to the Jconcepts Bahar (or whatever it's called) and on the shelf it sat. Finally got a wild hair and decided to take it out and see how it all shook out.

One word: holycrap! Moving the motor up front put this thing into straight up beast mode. It's at about the same ride height as the Telluride but it's longer and wider so it's super stable. Never once even thought about flipping. Weight balance is now spot on!

The M2 K02's are short course tires but they do surprisingly well on rocks. I trimmed the foams a bit so they had a little more give and they gripped well enough to tackle all of my test rocks and then some. Huh.

This body so far is the best looking one I've tried on here, but it's not saying much. It still looks to me like a melted candy bar. But it's light, doesn't rub, and gives all the clearance I need. I guess it can stay.

Like its little brother, it has an open, but limited slip rear diff. Really helps, IS rigs tend to push offline when the weight is on the rear tires - they will want to go whichever way the rear tires are facing and nevermind the fronts. The open diff takes care of that, and allows the front to have more say in the matter. Very similar to using the open rear diff in the TRX4 on a hard climb to make a pivot. On this rock, the lower rear tire is not spinning and the other three are pulling it up. If I had a spool in the back, it would push left right off the side of the rock - this allows it to cut right and climb the ledge....

....which it did in spectacular fashion!

This is one of my hardest climbs - only 3 of my trucks can pop up this near vertical ledge. Now, make it 4! Wow! 2 dudes passing through with some Axial rigs were watching and thought I was running a comp crawler - LOL! They didn't believe it was a Slash until I flipped it over and showed them. "I never knew a Slash could crawl" - no sane person does my friend.

So... Way impressed. I was about to ditch this project and make it a go-fast again but I think I'm on the right track with it. As decent as the tires did, this needs some crawler tires badly. And I need to do something with this body. Yuk.

 

[OSRC]

Crawler Slash4x4 continued:

Back in the shop. After the last run, I was pumped to make some changes. And many changes were made!

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But first, let's ask the obvious question: OS, why the hell are you taking bashers and making crawlers out of them? Well, to tell the truth I'm bored with solid axle crawlers. Pretty much any one you can buy off the shelf, put in a pack and own the rocks. Let's be honest, there's not a ton of difference in performance nowadays in off the shelf trucks. With a bit of brass and some tweaks, my VS4 climbs as well as my Elements which are on par with my TRX4's which do as well as my Axials...etc.

Taking something that was never designed to climb rocks and navigate trails takes me back to the first days of crawling, when I first discovered how my modded TLT could climb over things, and it was tres cool. Eventually with every modification, it got better and better, the rocks got bigger, and the whole crawler scene exploded. Building crap like this takes some out of the box thinking and creative solutions, something that's missing from todays crawler scene. I feel like I've rediscovered crawling again, and it's good.
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So anyway, time for some changes. Driveline was doing good, nothing needed there. Suspension - same deal. Tires though....after messing around a bit I settled on some good old Proline G8 TSL's in 2.2 regular size variety. Squeezed onto some 25mm beadlocks, they *just* clear the front knuckles. Filled with some fat, short open cell foams they feel pretty good. The fat foam keeps the sidewalls tight, but they are short so the tread can flex. I think they'll do well.

Plus they look badass.

The candy bar body needed some help. After noodling on it a bit, I decided to capture the sides of the body at the chassis. I needed some protection there anyway. The body stuck out quite a bit to clear the SC nerf bars which I don't run, so it was way out there flapping around. I cut down some TRX4 sliders (keeping it all in the family like Archie Bunker) and bolted them to the chassis and the body slots right in.

Trimmed up the back of the body and re-stickered it and it looks MUCH better! I can live with this for sure

Cut out for the shock towers in front and lowered the body a bit. I think it's spot on now.

Couple of poser shots. Rear still looks a bit goofy, but I don't care. I think some block off panels to hide the inner chassis are in the works.

and just for kicks, a pic with the Telluride. It's quite a bit larger

and for more kicks, with the Big Daddy C-Maxx. Lots of IS crawling going on over here.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

The Slash looks bad ass. I love the dual shooters out the back!

 

[OSRC]

It IS badass my friend.

 

[OSRC]

Went out Sunday morning to test out the Slash. It was COLD to start, but warmed up nicely.

I traded a bit of stability for more clearance and better traction - I'll take that trade all day long. These tires are older than the hills but they still grip well. Foams were a little iffy, but not enough to cause any issues. Thankfully the Slash is pretty light compared to my scale trucks.

Walking all over the test rock... sideways, up down, didn't matter. The stability of this thing is amazing.

Love the breakover on this thing. The HCG chassis is perfect for this build.

No overhangs and the tires hanging way out means gaps are usually no problem. I'm worried somewhat about stressing the arms/driveshafts with the big tires, low gearing, and rigors of crawling but so far so good. Feels solid and no clicking or anything.

I had some issues with steering, same as the Telluride. Didn't notice it too much with the smaller tires, but the bigger ones are for sure causing problems. Bigger tires were also causing the rear to diff out way more than the Telluride. It's supposed to be limited slip, but it was a bit too loose. I'll see if I can cram some more silicone in there... plus next time I'll being the rear spool with. I'd like to test them back to back.