ANTIGACHO following the sendero

[antigacho]

I have to admit that this was an impulse purchase

high on hype, back on August 21st, I place my order at amain hobbies for this new rig and yesterday I finally received it

I know that the delivery of this package would take several days so meanwhile, I ordered some upgrades

Club 5 racing Aluminum Servo / Bumper Mount For Element Enduro ( Black ) $34.99
IR RC SCALER, SCX10II rear shock towers $22.00
IR RC SCALER, element enduro sliders $25.00
CSE010-0004-00 Castle Creations CC Bec 10A 6S Switching Regulator $22.83
SEHREEFS03 Reefs RC Triple5 High Torque Titanium Gear Digital Servo (High Voltage) $119.99
HEYSVWN3 HeyOK Servo Winch $52.99
HEY3PWJST HeyOK Winch Controller for Radio with Three Position Channel $27.99
ASC42032 Element RC Factory Team Stealth X Machined Drive Gear Set $28.49 (in transit)
ASC42072 Element RC Enduro Axle Housings (Hard) $16.99 (in transit)
SAMEND-6023-GM Samix Element Enduro Front Shock Plate (Grey) $28.99 (in transit)
Generic Aluminium Alloy Frame Brace Set SCX10 $5.68 (in transit)


I feel like a child on Christmas morning opening my presents, unfortunately, the first thing that I notice was a broken rear shock tower out of the box

fortunately, I already have the IE RC rear shock towers but I can´t use the back Lexan cage because the new shock towers don't have body mounts, so now I am forced to build a couple of body mounts or build a rear rolling cage to make a Sendero Truggy.

I also have the aluminum servo mount from club 5 racing, so lets install the Reefs servo and Heyok winch

I dont like the Hey OK Winch Wheel (spool) it is a sewing machine bobbing mounted on a plastic round servo arm, I think it will require some mods to be installed,

I also have the sliders from IE RC, this parts are made of steel so them offer a good protection but incresase the weight so I dow know If this will affect the performance or not

next steps:
waterproof the BEC
install the electronics
reinforce and trim the body cab
build a front bumper
buils a rear bumper, flat bed or rolling cage



this is the firts element rc enduro sendero in my city no one else in the local crawling community have one.

 

[durok]

Nice!

Keep us posted on your progress...

Looks like your build will be a bit different than all the others, always of interest to see. "thumbsup"

 

[LincolnofDeath]

I’m interested to hear about the bumper servo mount, if you have a chance to drive it before and after. Mine’s pretty flexy up front. Or maybe it isn’t and I just want to try new things : )

 

[antigacho]

I forgot to mention that some trimming/sanding is necessary to make the reefs servo fit on the aluminum mount, the mounting ears on this servo are a little bit wider/thicker than standard servo, this is an easy fix

I also worked on electronics waterproofing applying an extra coat of silicones conformal coating

picture

in my opinion, the body also needs some reinforcement
I glued a piece of styrene to the back of the cab using transparent silicone, I also glued some glass fiber tape to the sides for reinforcement

this kind of reinforcement worked well on my arrma Kraton body, it should work well for "Sendero" too

working on the front bumper

 

[LincolnofDeath]

Is there a glue you like for bonding that glass tape? And can you cut it with, say, lexan scissors once it’s cured up? The gorilla tape I used in the same area is okay but it won’t last forever.

 

[antigacho]

Is there a glue you like for bonding that glass tape? And can you cut it with, say, lexan scissors once it’s cured up? The gorilla tape I used in the same area is okay but it won’t last forever.

I used the normal silicone sealant tube used for bathrooms and kitches, it works well in my opinion
I prefer to use sharp x-acto knife to cut Lexan, Dremel tool also works

 

[LincolnofDeath]

Excellent, I’ll try that next with the bathroom adhesive. Also, “Viva Checo!!!”...encantamos mas el Gran Prix de Mexico, y saludarnos al Guadalajara y su hijo buena onda . (Roughly, “we love this race and Mexico’s awesome young Sergio Perez racing in the Distrito Federal today.)

 

[antigacho]

bumper building

This was my first time building a bumper, good practice for my Unimog project

After some searching online looking for inspiration, I finally figure out the design of my custom bumper

I live in a small apartment so I don´t have a proper workshop or workbench.
I just have a plastic table so I have to use small tools and use the torch outside

I'm using and small portable vice and the BAC industries Shop Tuff MR-01 Mighty Rod Bender

I am also using a stainless steel rod and some scrap metal that I found in the factory where I work

After taking some measures I cut and bent the metal rod to get these parts

This is the layout of the bumper, but during the building, I decide to modify the design to include a fairlead for the servo winch line,

brazing tools
Harris SSWF 1/2 Stay Silv Brazing Flux
Harris Safety-Silv 56% 1/16 Silver Solder Brazing Alloy
Bernzomatic TS8000 - High-Intensity Trigger Start Torch

I take me the whole Saturday afternoon but I'm happy with the final result, it needs a lot of sanding but not bat in my opinion

some pics

next step build a rear roll

finally some bad news

I have the basic CCBEC 10A installed on this rig but I noticed that this is not compatible with The Castle B•LINK Bluetooth adapter so now I have to find the Castle Link USB programming kit to properly set the voltage for my servo

 

[Brake Weight]

Looking good.

 

[antigacho]

Looking good.

thanks bro

 

[antigacho]

I still thinking about the rear roll cage design, meanwhile, I installed the electronics and completed 3 easy mods to this rig


1. Servo winch installed, connected to 3rd channel

2. Cut the Lexan fenders flares / install new rubber fenders. I am using rubber edge trim found at an auto parts store

3. Paste a lot of decals

 

[antigacho]

This is going to be about how I build my first rear roll cage

I am using a stainless steel rod and some scrap metal that I found in the factory where I work

I spend several hours staring at my rig, trying to figure how to build this, I also watched some youtube brazing tutorials and checked the work of the masters for inspiration


kudos to:


Trojen RC fab
White Trash Fabrication WTF
Bentmetal
Johnson Fabco
UCFab - Ultra Custom Fab, LLC
Wertymade
Scale Built RC
Pimpin Crawlers
BGR Fabrications & Welding
JR Fabworx
Smf Rc Works
Sinizter RC fab and customs
MattZilla RC Works
Northern Truggy rc
MS MetalWorx

First I build the rear support, I used a couple of steel blocks and a piece of wood to replicate the width of the chassis, then I fix the support plates using a clamp to braze all together

In my opinion, the hardest part is making the parts fit together before brazing, a lot is sanding and trimming is necessary before using the mapp gas torch

I tried to be careful during the steel rod cutting and bending trying to make symmetric parts, the parts are not perfect but fit well enough.

The upper lateral bars were difficult to make because of 3 the different bending angles, the top bar is just a reinforcement

Finally a couple a lower lateral post for support

I had an aluminum Taillight that I didn't installed on my scx10, this is a good opportunity to use it.

First I thought to make a custom metal mount but then I realize that I can use the stock plastic bumper mount instead, after some modifications it works well to mount the taillight avoiding the metal cutting and brazing mess

Modify the plastic part was easy but mount it was very dificul., I think it takes me at least an hour to screw that little nut to secure the back of the roll cage

After a lot of sanding and mounting tabs trimming this is the final result

And this is how the bumper and roll cage looks mounted

Next step is to build some kind of body mounts to secure the back of the Lexan cab, maybe using magnets but I am not sure yet

I also have a power shift RC D.M.S unit pending to be installed

Two final pictures

This is how I reinforce the Lexan body, I also cut the original fenders and installed rubber fenders

 

[antigacho]

I have been working on the work table on this rig more time than driving it on trails, but that is part of the fun on this hobby

After these mods, my Enduro will be ready for some crawling fun

I had to find a way to secure the back of the Lexan cab to the chassis or to the roll cage, I was thinking in brazing a couple of steel tabs so secure it but I found some magnet body mounts laying around. A couple of them can be used to secure the back of the cab in position. also, less work involved with this solution

It was easy to secure one part of the body mounts to the metal sliders. I decide to use silicone to hold the magnets attached to the cab, I hope it holds well

After silicone curing, this is how it looks mounted

Finally

let's change those plastic ball links using metal instead

According to the tracking report of my orders in transit, the postman will arrive today with some more upgrades

ST Racing Concepts Enduro Aluminum Rear Chassis Brace
ST Racing Concepts Enduro Aluminum Hex Adapters
SSD RC Element Enduro Aluminum Link Mounts


Installation of that parts will be the next post

 

[antigacho]

quick update

some upgrades to install

aluminum instead of plastic

 

[smog]

Enjoyable build thread Antigacho thanks for posting it up.

 

[antigacho]

Enjoyable build thread Antigacho thanks for posting it up.

Thanks smog, I also enjoy your build threads, especially the truggy

 

[antigacho]

I confess I'm addicted to upgrades

Despite the Element Enduro is a great rig out of the box, in my opinion, part of this hobby is about customization,
So is time for another accessory

Powershift RC DMS-X BATTERY

I recommend this model because it includes an xt60 plug instead of magnets who tend to fail or broke as I confirmed on my Truggy build

On my last post, I installed the ST Racing Concepts Enduro Aluminum Rear Chassis Brace but I notice that the shape of that brace hinder the installation of a plate to mount the scale battery

So I will use a generic Aluminium Alloy Frame Brace for Axial SCX10 instead

It fit perfect and cost considerably less, so I recommend this option is you want to upgrade the plastic stock rear chassis brace

This generic part will be perfect for my needs because it is plain and it includes a couple of holes where I can screw and secure the plate for my battery, so let's do it

First, apply some spray primer to the 3d printed part and the paint it

Second, build the steel plate to mount the battery

Third weathering the paint and solder the connections

I am using Gorilla Super Glue Gel to secure the plastic battery to the metal plate


Next post will be the axles driveshaft upgrade

I already ordered some parts
SSD RC Element Enduro Brass Rear Axle Weights
SSD RC Element Enduro Brass Knuckles
Treal Brass Diff Cover 84g Heavy Differential Cover for Element RC Enduro
MIP X-Duty Center Drive Kit For Element Enduro
SSD Pro Aluminum C Hubs for Enduro
Element RC Factory Team Stealth X Machined Drive Gear Set
Element RC Enduro Axle Housings (Hard)

But they are in different orders so I will wait to have it all together for installation

 

[antigacho]

I just received a couple of upgrades for my element enduro


SSD00354 SSD RC Element Enduro Brass Rear Axle Weights
SSD00357 SSD RC Element Enduro Brass Knuckles
YEAHRUN 4pcs 1.9inch Metal Beadlock Wheel Rims Hubs

let´s install it

first the SSD brass knuckles

I just have to interchange the parts, the larger bearing can be used again but the SSD brass knuckles include a couple of bearings to use instead of the stock size, I would have liked sealed bearings for this use

this is how it looks mounted

The Brass Rear Axle Weights are super easy to mount, flat hex screws are included for this

Now lest change that ugly plastic rims. I got the aluminum Beadlocks fort $35 USD at aliexpress, I have to wait 81 days to receive but that is the fault of the inefficient Mexican postal service

several little screws later this is how it looks mounted, I like it

The total weight of my rig is 3.6 kilos 7.93 lbs so far (without battery)

 

[antigacho]

In my opinion, this upgrade is a must

Samix Aluminum Rear Shock Plate Set Gun Metal For Element Enduro
#END-6024GM

I got it at RCMart

in this case, aluminum is better than plastic, nothing much to explain

finally, this is how it looks mounted

 

[durok]

Looking really good!

I'll bet the truck is nearly indestructible with these mods... "thumbsup"