A new build begins!

[DeadEye Ice]

Well I do builds a bit different than some. I typically start with an rtr and build it into its final form. I view this as kind of how a 1:1 weekend warrior would do, buy a serviceable 4x4 and mod on the weekends but be back to driving Monday so he can get to work. I think that is far more common than buying/building a frame and scratch building a rig. It also may be my inner kid and impatience wanting to play while he builds.

So here's where things start. Back in May I bought the 2 pack of trailwalkers when element ran the sale. They have sat in their boxes untouched until now, I guess I was waiting g for inspiration to strike. It finally did and off to the races, bear in mind I mostly designed this in my head on breaks at work etc. I placed orders for the parts I thought I'd need to get started good and through phase 1 so to speak with out ever taking the truck out of the closet much less box. I was po during some of the spare parts I had from other builds / rigs and questioning what would and wouldn't work. I took a few educated guesses and SWAGed a few more (Scientific Wild @$$ Guess).

I got on the tube and here and did a little research on ideas I had questions on (after orders were places).

Well I pulled the truck out last night and let me say WOW QC missed this one! Nothing terrible or anything I couldn't fix but hard to miss unless your eyes were closed.

The rear axle was canted to the right a good 15* the pics don't do it justice. Turns out one of the upper links was in the link end by maybe 1 thread maybe nothing more than pressure. I reworked that and the axel returned to center and suspension worked like it was supposed to.

Next up I found that the shocks were mounted using rod end balls and washers rather than shock balls. I haven't corrected this yet as I don't have any shock balls in my parts box that I can find so looms like ill be ordering some club5 metal replacements.

More to come but I gotta go for now.

 

[DeadEye Ice]

As I impatiently wait for parts to arrive I busied myself making a few scale accessories for the scale garage I am building alongside this build.

Scale accessories

 

[DeadEye Ice]

Sorry it took so long for an update. It has been a hectic week or two between work and life. Parts have started filtering in slowly and a few are still outstanding. Making upgrades as they show up and realized the SSD brass knuckles I thought I'd ordered weren't in the cart when I checked out. So another order will be in order shortly.

IFS installed

Wheels and tires.

I purchased the tires by mistake at a semi-local hobby shop a while back. They are 2.2/3.0 size for a Short Course Truck. Well I figured I'd give them a try I can always change them later. They are 4.19" od and the foams are quite stiff. I may pull the foams and try them without them. I ordered a set of beadlock wheels to mount them. I plan to repaint the lock rings to match the body paint job, but you'll have to wait to see what that will look like.

Replaced the stock servo with a stronger Savox 1230 (i think that is the model)

Changed out the stock sliders for a set of metal IERC sliders. I really like these! Smooth and nothing to catch as they slide across obstacles.

Changed out the rear chassis brace for an alum one for a SCX10 II and Vanquish rear shock towers for a SCX10 II as well. (This may change as an idea has struck me that may force a change in this area.

Not pictured I also changed out the TX/RX for my Futaba T-7PXR AND a 6ch aviation radio for a park flier. It's expensive but I really like this radio the features and adjustability. With the model memory it has, I only need one TX for all my models so I guess it devides out a bit.

Well thats all for now hopefully more parts will arrive soon. More updates to come!

 

[DeadEye Ice]

Ok well a lot has happened the 2 days before and Saturday after Christmas. Again not much in the way of in process photos but ill show you where we are.

I replaced the rear links for Club 5 husky high clearance links. (The keen eyed amongst you may notice that the rear is 3 linked not 4.)

I decided that since I had the spare front axle from changing to ifs I would go for 4WS. This was not as direct a bolt up as I thought, I did have to engineer a bit of a spacer for the panhard bar so it did not hit the axle truss. Also this is why the aluminum chassis brace and Vanquish shock hoops had to go. I think I will be ordering Samix shock towers and a shock tower brace to re stiffen things up in the rear. Though this is using the stock steering servo I did swap out to a alum servo horn.

All 4 corners got SSD brass knuckles.

This brings us to the issues so to speak. The post office apparently delivered my Club 5 shock balls to the wrong address so I have to go see about getting that fixed. Also either I ordered the wrong paint set or the vendor shipped the wrong set. I'll assume the fault despite being pretty sure I had the right set in the cart. So that will push back the body part of the project.

Although thos body is growing on me. The wheel wells will ned a bit of a trim but 8 think i may run this a bit.

 

[Phildirt]

Looks good. I am doing some of the same mods to my Enduro but skipping the high clearance links after some "beta testing". I think they protect the pinions in stock form (they become the lowest point when the links are moved up) and I haven't had any issues with the links causing a high-center, usually the diffs are the culprit there. My plan is to just add a little weight and let her rip, these things appear to be pretty stout and I like to break things before upgrading them lol.

Those pit bulls look good, I like the red/white/blue theme. I have the blue body (what is left of it), yellow springs on my shocks, red beadlock rings...I buy whatever is on sale Will probably end up with green diff covers or something equally obnoxious.

 

[DeadEye Ice]

Phil

I have to admit I have been following your build a bit and drawing inspiration form it and a few others here.

I like the body trimming you've done but not sure I'm brave enough to go that far yet. The curved front fender cut on the intermediate stage was awesome. Did you eyeball that or use a template or use a tire as a template?

I hadn't even thought about the red white and blue patriotic theme but now that you point it out. It does suit me and my personality.