TLT based 3 speed

[biggusditchus]

Hope this fits in ok here.. Had this in mind for a while and all started before Tamiya hinted of a 3 speed release (Hi Lift). ah well its unique.

After finally getting fed up with my stupidly articulating TLT I fancied a change and after missing the Tamiya Bruiser I sold through fear of breaking it whilst running it I planned a 3 speed runner based on a Tamiya Truck Gearbox, a Twinset transfer case, and TLT axles.

I bought some aluminium angle and plasticard and mocked up the design I wanted then made some links out of tubing and threaded bar I bought from B&Q, I only used one TLT per corner at this stage as it was only a real quick mock up. This is result...

I then moved on to drawing up the final design on paper and sent that off with complete measurements to Tamiya Club member Twinset, who kindly transfered a very dodgy looking drawing onto CAD and then he passed that to another Tamiya Member ALUcutter who did the cutting and bending.

I recieved all of the stuff back the other day (Tuesday) and set about building it. COnsidering I designed it I was amazed how everything fitted together perfectly, now with 2 TLT shocks per corner with lower mounting to the PRP axle braces and Twinset servo/top link mount plate and Twinset rear steering lockout.

This is very much still in project stage though I should have the propshafts on by the weekend and it can be run, as I have a nice cheap reciever and a beefy esc to put in it. Have a plan for front and rear beefy bumpers.

The shell is a Proline Dodge Power Wagon painted silver on the inside and then Green on the outside... if i scratch the outer paint off, silver shows thru - clever eh! As you can see one slight miscalculation was front shock mount which meant i had to cut a section out of shell for it to fit, but I like it now. Shell still needs more stickers and a few detail items... spade, axe, rope, chains. Wheels are custom made aluminium ones shod in Imex G Hawgs. No major articulation on this one, only about 2.5 - 3 inch but thats more than enough on a scale crawler.

Shot showing the Transfer case. Protected by a lower skid plate

 

[Scattman]

very nice

 

[Crawlsalot]

thats awsome. whats the wb?

 

[fullmodtxt]

biggusditch, cool ride. Love the drab green w/ silver underneath. I had a KIngHauler 3-speed truck with a PW body running for a while. Built on a bruiser frame w/ TLT axles. No transfer case though, I modified the tranny for dual outputs. I finally got tired of it not bieng any good at anything and rebuilt it a bit differently with a 'Pede tranny.

 

[mrwonderful]

That last pic is still one of my favorites.

 

[rbgerrish]

Cool truck! Here's my old one that's on ebay right now:

 

[Unimoger]

very nice build, check out ryan's on ebay, very simular.

 

[Brainstain]

So, if it was a selectable 3 speed. How wasn't it any good? I fiured that would be awesome!

 

[mrwonderful]

It's not that it isn't any good. It was just that everytime he drove it, the damn thing broke. Even the moabs didn't cure it, but they sure did help. Fullmod will know what I mean.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Looks pretty cool. Nice rig.

 

[fullmodtxt]

Gear ratios are really screwy. TLT axles are nothing more that KingHauler axles with touring car knuckles. So when you run the KH tranny with TLT axles and tall 2.2s, you really throw off the gearing. There is a very wide split between gears. Without a gear reduction, 1st gear is decent, 2nd is fun, but there isn't enough power to run in 3rd. With a gear reduction, 1st is a good granny for crawling. 2nd isn't much fun anymore, and 3rd is OK on flat ground, but not enough sack to climb anything. Also, it took LOTS of trial and error to get the shifting servo/linkage right. I never really got it 100% though.