TJ low-rider - 2010 Scale Nats Trail rig build

[mattin]

call...

 

[ecoli]

That new bumper looks great"thumbsup" The whole rig looks great8)

Thanks Matt!

Very nice rig"thumbsup"

Where can i buy this Part.

MSD scale hawse fairlead. Details are here: http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116474 "thumbsup"

 

[bmuzz1]

Love the low stance you gave the rig Chris and the bumper and cage came out real nice! "thumbsup"

 

[ecoli]

Love the low stance you gave the rig Chris and the bumper and cage came out real nice! "thumbsup"

Thanks, it's definitely a fun rig to get out and play with "thumbsup"

Did a little sewing this morning. All by hand and I'm not a seamstress at all Something to keep the mud out if I make it into the TTC. Still need to add some clear vinyl for the rear window, and I think I'll sew the tubework pattern into the roof (looks a little bare currently).

 

[ecoli]

So, to further convince everyone that this rig is getting more and more ready for TTC, took it out for a bit of muddy fun this afternoon. Got to tell you, the first mud run is just like getting the first scratch on a new build, a bit nerve wracking at first, but once it happens, then the fun begins!

Bit of a clean up, but it was fun and everything worked great. If I keep doing this though, I have a feeling I'll be replacing bearings often!

Oh yeah, and a bit of a video too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbczbHrumt4

Vote for me for TTC

 

[kenworthit]

Very tidy build, I like it . I have seen a fair few of these bodys used but Yours rocks......")

 

[ecoli]

Very tidy build, I like it . I have seen a fair few of these bodys used but Yours rocks......")

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out too.

After cleaning it all up and letting it dry overnight, plugged it in and everything worked. No seized up motor, servos, etc. so I guess the waterproofing actually worked! Ripped the balloons off of the rx and battery to see how they held up, and they were both bone dry, no seepage "thumbsup"

The rx and esc are actually situated high enough and to the rear that there wasn't a big mess of mud and water in there at all and the motor is angled down so mud and water drain away from the shaft and pinion so little risk of shredding up spur gears. The biggest victims are the servos (greased and plasti-dipped so no problems there) and t-case. Will be taking the t-case apart before heading down to make sure everything is good.

Also, the weights and breather holes in the wheels helped to plant this rig a lot more firmly on the ground. Now I can whip 360s at full throttle and no rollover ! Definitely beneficial for side hilling.

Just over 3 weeks to go "thumbsup"

 

[ecoli]

No updates, but now that TTC voting is closed, just wanted to give a big thanks to all of those who took the time to vote, and of course for all of those who voted for me. I'll have spares of everything and am fully prepared to push this rig to its limits. Can't wait for it!

 

[montana.matt]

Looking forward to seeing the TJ run this year, Chris"thumbsup"

 

[ecoli]

Ok, some explanation.

I originally had the winch servo mounted up in the front, beside the steering servo (the space in the third pic), however the angle this created was a complete pain. That, plus I would have had to cut out a huge chunk of the grill to run the line through to the dummy winch. I was a bit frustrated and figured I would just use a working 3racing winch up front instead.

I started looking through some of my upcoming competitor's build threads, and saw in Excessivefire's hac-a-lac build someone mentioned mounting the winch near the rear. Lightbulb came on in my head. Did a mock-up, and it looked like everything would work.

So, what I've got set-up is a Axial servo mount bolted to the boatside. Winch is mounted on there with the spool resting down and behind the t-case (but out of the way of the driveshafts). Line then runs through some black fuel line tubing between the motor and tranny. I put the tubing on to protect it from the spur gear. I then attached the two rodends to the mounting holes on the front servo plate and routed the line through these, then the dead 3racing winch and out the fairlead. Had to trim the front grill a little, but you can't see this at all when the body is on.

The line is the winch line bigbird sells (sold?). Very strong stuff. I've bench tested the winch and it's super strong (should be since it's a 5955TG servo). It can deadlift the whole rig with little effort. I also marked the line just before it runs out on the spool so I know where to stop !

Two things I need to change and I need your guys help. First, I need taller servo posts, as currently the winch servo is mounted to the top two holes only. I know RPM makes a set, not sure if anyone else does? Second, I need a different winch hook. The one I have is super strong and very nice, but just too small. I know there's a few out there, so looking for some opinions.

Other than that, will be taking it out again this weekend for some more real life testing to see how it works, but it's looking good!

 

[Jester666]

Other than that, will be taking it out again this weekend for some more real life testing to see how it works, but it's looking good!

I'm expecting you to break something this weekend Chris:mrgreen:. If you don't break atleast one thing, your not running it hard enough. The body doesn't count, cause I don't want to have to fix that.
Your Rocky and I'm Mickey, I'm going to push you to be the best"thumbsup"

Glad to hear that you got your winch figured out, I want to see that beast deadlift your Jeep up a tree on saturday.

 

[ecoli]

I'm expecting you to break something this weekend Chris:mrgreen:. If you don't break atleast one thing, your not running it hard enough. The body doesn't count, cause I don't want to have to fix that.
Your Rocky and I'm Mickey, I'm going to push you to be the best"thumbsup"

Glad to hear that you got your winch figured out, I want to see that beast deadlift your Jeep up a tree on saturday.

I've broken lots of things on this Jeep already, just upgraded most of it along the way for its new owner

Well, I'll deadlift it if you take video, but even with this servo I'm not sure that's a good thing to make a habit of doing given the weight of this rig :shock:

 

[ecoli]

One week to go! I think everything's done. Just need to get it out for one last shakedown run then clean, pack up and head out. Got the new 35t handwound in and tested it out on 3s. While it would be nice to run a 4s, just no room. 3s though is pretty peppy still!

Got the soft top done, not sure if I'll run it or not:

And new and improved winch line routing:

I had an issue with the winch line last weekend when running, spur gear sucked it up, destroyed the spur gear and almost ripped the servo horns right off. So, I brazed a length of brakeline to a steel plate which is sandwiched between the tranny and the aluminum tranny mount. No way the line can be pulled up into the spur gear now.

Hopefully this is all done, I'm tired of tinkering with this build now !

 

[Jester666]

Well since it doesn't look like Chris is going to post it, I'll post it for him:mrgreen:.

Congrats on ride of the month"thumbsup"

 

[ecoli]

Thanks Justin!

Well, this rig didn't perform as well as I hoped at scale nats, but still a hell of a lot of fun. Having a top heavy rig with 9" track width may have had something to do with it ! That, and the lack of a secure body on the frame until some field modifications were done.

All cleaned up now. Just need to put the tires and wheels back together.

This happened some time over scale nats, I'm guessing during my rollover/fall off the cliff. Didn't notice it at all until I took the axle c off when cleaning and this piece fell off. Axial impressed me yet again.

Found out why Epic motors and mud/water don't mix so well during the TTC:

And finally, a nice surprise that awaited me when I got back from my biggest fan !

All in all, a good time, and fun with the Jeep. Now on to the next build...

 

[chino63]

That last pic is priceless!

Great to meet you Chris, I see you take great care of your stuff. I still have not cleaned my trucks. I figured they are so used to salt water that the pure/clean Montana water was like a bath to them. Ran the FJ45 Sunday and still working good as ever, brushless working just fine."thumbsup"

 

[ecoli]

That last pic is priceless!

Great to meet you Chris, I see you take great care of your stuff. I still have not cleaned my trucks. I figured they are so used to salt water that the pure/clean Montana water was like a bath to them. Ran the FJ45 Sunday and still working good as ever, brushless working just fine."thumbsup"

Thanks Dean, it was great to meet you too. Yes, I spend too much time building and cleaning, and not enough time wheeling. Got to come up with a new game plan for 2011.

Remind me not to buy used parts off of you :ror:

 

[Grizzly4x4]

Wow, that motor looks bad. I was sure sorry to see all the motor problems you were having. I would have loved to see this rig running at full performance. In the teaser video it was neat watching your suspension moving in the truck pull. Not great for performance but it made for sweet video. Still it was fun just to be involved in the first ever Scale Nats TTC and I'm glad you made the trip down.

Hopefully next year things will be different and you can spend more time enjoying and less time wrenching. "thumbsup"

Guido is mostly cleaned up, I should pull the axle housings apart I suppose. I washed everything and then coated everything with WD-40. Now that I know that wasn't the cause of my power issue. :ror:

Congrats on the ride of the month, that's a killer picture. Great drawing too by you biggest fan. "thumbsup" Can't wait for next year and hope you can make it down again. 8)

 

[ecoli]

Yep. My fault though. John warned me that the design of the endbell on these motors didn't make them ideal for mud and water, but it was the only 35t I had on hand. Oh well, live and learn. I was just disappointed I missed a lot of the action while busy wrenching!

My axles definitely had some water inside them. Probably worthwhile to open them up even if just to drain them out. Otherwise, they were pretty clean inside.

Like everyone else, I'll have a new rig for next year (my son might be on to something with his drawing :ror. This year was a great learning experience, took away a lot of ideas. Definitely want to make it back again next year, not just for the rigs but to meet up with everyone again "thumbsup"

 

[XSRCdesign]

I wish I had gotten that same warning! :ror:


It was a blast this year, we all had some troubles I think, but I think that was half the fun of the TTC.

Glad to see you made it, and had fun. Hope to do it all again next year "thumbsup"