What did you do to/with your Ascender today

[Browneye]

I resurrected one of my chassis with some new VTX tires from vanquish, and some chankwish wheels with weights. It won't keep up with my other rigs, but does okay. Jury is out on the VTX. They do look nice and are a nice size. Pics coming.

The new PitBull alloys work fine, but taking off the RockBeast XL's with weights on the front, the rig is just not the same. I have some SSD heavy steering knuckles to order. These rigs need weight on the axles for grip and balance. Lowering the CG is key. Soft CI foams too.

 

[Browneye]

Okay...SSD heavy steering knuckles came in - I'm amazed they will clear the wheels. Works great though. Just the extra weight I needed up front.

HOWEVER - a warning...as I was working on the drivetrain...
In removing the wheels and installing the knuckle, I found a LOT of play in my drive shafts, particularly at the transfer case outputs. I thought perhaps some of the hardware in the CVD joints had worn so I removed both driveshafts off the center and disassembled them. These are the ones with the spring-coil that holds the cross-pin in place.
Oh my, both pins were severely worn - soon to wear completely through. This rig has quite a bit of miles on it, been to a lot of comps and run really hard. I replaced them with the ARRMA pins recommended elsewhere - will post them and a couple of pics tomorrow.

CHECK YOUR DRIVESHAFTS for excess play in the CVD joints. I really need to pull my diffs and check them there too. Cheap fix, but if they break out in the field your run is done. "thumbsup"

The new Proline Mud Terrain K3's with Predator compound and CI foams are dabomb. Like freakin' velcro. Can't wait to rock-crawl them.

Oh, and I found out Axial shock springs will fit on the Vaterra shocks. I had some take-offs from replacing my new Axial Blazer springs - they had too stiff fronts and too soft rears - replaced them both. But the heavier ones were perfect for the back of my Ascender Wrangler rig - the heavy bumper and tire carrier was too much for the stock springs. I was surprised they fit - they're a little shorter, maybe a couple of mm, but the preload set them up perfectly and they carry the extra weight perfectly.

 

[smog]

Been changing up the look of my Ascender Truggy. Been working on a new body and wanted a simple low profile bumper for it. Seemed like a good time to step into the world of Brazing. Thanks again to Ernie for all of your insight it set me off on the right foot.

This is the result of my first five welds. I may add a transverse support bar under it yet. Undecided.

 

[mgputer]

I like it! Looks like an old farm truck bumper. Mucho Character!
"thumbsup""thumbsup"

Been changing up the look of my Ascender Truggy. Been working on a new body and wanted a simple low profile bumper for it. Seemed like a good time to step into the world of Brazing. Thanks again to Ernie for all of your insight it set me off on the right foot.

This is the result of my first five welds. I may add a transverse support bar under it yet. Undecided.

 

[smog]

I like it! Looks like an old farm truck bumper. Mucho Character!
"thumbsup""thumbsup"

Perfect. That was what I was going for. Thx for the feedback

 

[smog]

Weight

 

[Browneye]

Here are those driveshaft cross-pins I replaced. CHECK YOUR DRIVESHAFTS!!
Look close here how knackered they are - one of them was worn half way through, just ready to break off.



And the ARRMA pins that work as replacements. Seems to me you have to order a bunch of extra parts from Horizon to get the Vaterra pins, so this is a good cheap option.





And I mentioned Axial springs work on Vaterra shocks...these are the 2.7 rated axial springs.

<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/user/cjdirtbiker/media/RC%20Cars/013_1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b35/cjdirtbiker/RC%20Cars/013_1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 013_1.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/user/cjdirtbiker/media/RC%20Cars/012_2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b35/cjdirtbiker/RC%20Cars/012_2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 012_2.jpg"/></a>

 

[BrokeBob]

Built a bumper today using Scalerfab builders brackets.

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[TheLetterJ]

I took the neighbor kid out crawling on Sunday and the set screw somehow pulled out the threads on his draglink on his F100. I told him I'd fix it real quick back at my house...

Of course, I can't just leave well enough alone, especially after I noticed how much bumpsteer these trucks have, I don't know how I never noticed it before? Anyway, I ended up making a new draglink that attaches to the top of the passenger knuckle (instead of intersecting mid way on the tie rod) , more closely (but still not perfectly) matching the length of the panhard bar.

Doing that flatened out the draglink angle a good amount, so it was no longer parrallel to the panhard. The Aha! fix was simply moving the servo from the underside of its mount, to the topside of its mount. Now, I'm not saying it's perfect steering geometry, but it is MUCH better than the rtr setup, and almost free to make (I had all the materials/ hardware/ rod ends laying around.)

I spent some time with him setting up his radio, setting servo travel, end points, and adding throttle expo, and he noticed a big improvement in driveability. I convinced him to take advantage of RPP's 15% off for President's day yesterday, and he ordered some SSD brass knuckles... it's almost as fun fixing up someone else's ride as it is my own! Cheaper too!

 

[druz]

After installing my new front axle assembly, courtesy of Codyboy, I noticed my front axle was a little wonky... And by that, I mean it was shifted from driver's side to passenger's side and most notably, the shocks looks like they were on a slant...

I adjusted my original panhard bar, but I ended up with a ton of exposed threads and no link spacers, so instead of ordering some spacers and waiting, I went the "easy" route and built a whole new panhard bar out of some SS tubing, a few spare thread rods, a little JB Weld and some rod ends...

Think I did an "OK" job... LOL....

 

[Browneye]

After installing my new front axle assembly, courtesy of Codyboy, I noticed my front axle was a little wonky... And by that, I mean it was shifted from driver's side to passenger's side and most notably, the shocks looks like they were on a slant...

I adjusted my original panhard bar, but I ended up with a ton of exposed threads and no link spacers, so instead of ordering some spacers and waiting, I went the "easy" route and built a whole new panhard bar out of some SS tubing, a few spare thread rods, a little JB Weld and some rod ends...

Think I did an "OK" job... LOL....

Might want to double-check that frame bracket for it - it looks like there's a lot of space under it where it attaches to the frame. Are you sure it's not broken there??

 

[druz]

Might want to double-check that frame bracket for it - it looks like there's a lot of space under it where it attaches to the frame. Are you sure it's not broken there??

Bad shadow / pic... It is all good....

 

[rkj__]

I decided the shiny differential covers were not going to grow on me, so I painted them.

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[hipkatgreaser]

Installed new hh 35 turn torque master, hobbywing 1080, redid some wiring with some mesh covers and built some metal sliders

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[skinnyj]

Finally had some nice weather up here so just getting the winter dust off...

I think I'll spring for a BPC tray, 3S battery and some Boggers this season.

 

[hipkatgreaser]

Added some body armor

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[BAJAREY2017]

Picked up a proline 78 k10 body, wish it was a fleetside but oh well. Going to make it look like my 86 k10.

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[rkj__]

I finally decided to delete the spare tire and mount on my K10. Lowering the COG for free, without adding weight just seemed like a win.

 

[j3ff3ry_j33p]

I've driven past this place about 20-30 min outside where I live & which I see returning from my 1:1 offroad excursions. Its where one interstate stops & joins another interstate.
There's never any traffic, so yesterday I got tired of my inside crawlin' pile ,loaded the truggy Vaterra in my ddriver Jeep & went.

Turned-out to be fun ; I crawled much larger & more fun stuff than I'd imagined* it'd be ,under an onramp, by myself :

* If I soon profess to also be living there or in a van, down by the river, someone intervene,ok? :mrgreen:

 

[high plains drifter]

* If I soon profess to also be living there or in a van, down by the river, someone intervene,ok? :mrgreen:

Haha! I knew that there was more to the story. I'll send a care pkg to mile marker 0 in care of "that crazy dude with the lil' truck living under the hwy". I can already see you sitting in an abandoned Lazy Boy... shaking your fist and yelling at everyone to slow down!!

Seriously though... cool crawl spot. I like how crawling opens us up to looking at [what were once normal] outdoor areas with a new perspective. I find new places all the time!