Bgredjeep Bomber build recap

[twade984]

Very cool, that chassis looks damn good. Interesting to see the two cages side by side.

A buddy has the miller truck new in box and it’s a fantastic looking rig, but all the components seemed to be built so light, axles, links, etc. I think you’ve got the right idea here for a more usable and durable rig


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[bgredjeep]

I made a little progress this evening, but still a ways to go. I moved the rear shock mounts in 20mm per side and cut the problem tube shown in my last post. The chassis still feels rigid so I'm feeling OK about that.

I got the shocks mounted and put the tires on just I get an idea how it'll look.

Next on the list is to figure something out to fit a rear sway bar. I don't think the bomber sway bar is going to work. This chassis is wide in all the wrong places so I can't get full travel without the bar hitting something. I think a slightly narrower sway bar could work so I'll have to see what I can find. Beyond that mounting the electronics, and a battery tray and it will be mobile.

 

[Fallen]

Glad to see this build moving along. Looks like it's going to be a lot of fun once built.

On the RTR the sway bar arms point towards the rear and connect to the axle via very short connecting links. The links are no more than 1.5" tall.

 

[bgredjeep]

Glad to see this build moving along. Looks like it's going to be a lot of fun once built.

On the RTR the sway bar arms point towards the rear and connect to the axle via very short connecting links. The links are no more than 1.5" tall.

Me too. We adopted a dog last weekend so I've been occupied, but took a few mins yesterday to make some progress.

I ordered one of those cheap Amazon sway bars for the arms and I should be able to make it work. There's no room under mine with the suspension compressed so it'll end up on top.

And I couldn't mention a new dog without posting her picture...

 

[MAC FAB]

Congrats on the new addition! Yeah, dogs consume your rc time. Two malinois and Manchester puppy consume my life and try to eat my rigs. I need to do the sway bar thing too, on my v2, looking forward to seeing your setup.

 

[xwaz]

I'm excited to see the progress once this is all wrapped up. I may have to follow suit if I start breaking bits in my Miller.

 

[bgredjeep]

Congrats on the new addition! Yeah, dogs consume your rc time. Two malinois and Manchester puppy consume my life and try to eat my rigs. I need to do the sway bar thing too, on my v2, looking forward to seeing your setup.

Thanks. We've been without a dog for almost 1.5yrs after our last one passed. We wanted to take a short break, but it ever up much longer than we intended. Glad to have this pup in our lives for sure.

I'm excited to see the progress once this is all wrapped up. I may have to follow suit if I start breaking bits in my Miller.

I've found it to be much less of a direct swap than expected when I started. I expected the skid, but hadn't looked up close at a Miller car to realize the issues with the suspension and chassis spacing. I get deterred for a bit, think on and fiddle with it, then find a path forward until I hit the next snag. I'm chipping away and making progress.

I drew up a new grill for it. Going for YJ style since that's what my jeep is. This is just a thin test print to make sure I have the dimensions right before I print the final version. I'm waiting for the headlights to come in before I finalize the design, but this gives an idea.

I also got the rear sway bar mounting figured out. I got the $10 Amazon bar to use the arms. I designed some mounts to attach to the rear floor of the chassis and the bar mounts to that using the stock bomber pieces. I need to pick up some piano wire to make the actual bar and I can mark that off the list.

 

[bgredjeep]

Sway bar is done for now. I ended up using 3/32 piano wire (~2.38mm). I might go a little thicker once I get it all together but my options at the lhs were that or 1/8".

I also made a battery tray this morning. It mounts at the b pillar using a couple servo mounts. I'll have to remove the hood to change it, but I didn't see a better option at the moment to get the weight were I wanted it.

I think all that's left is mounting the esc and receiver and I'll be able to start testing.

 

[bgredjeep]

I got the electronics mounted today. Almost ready for a test run.

 

[MAC FAB]

Looking great! Does the upper front shock mount scare you by twisting the frame or is it stronger than it looks at first glance?

 

[bgredjeep]

Looking great! Does the upper front shock mount scare you by twisting the frame or is it stronger than it looks at first glance?

It might be ok, but I will run an aluminum standoff across the chassis between the 2 mounts.

 

[bgredjeep]

I got my grill design finished and printed. It came out nice. I've still got some sanding and paint to do but I didn't want to go too far without making sure it fit, lights mounted, etc.

 

[bgredjeep]

I started painting, but the weather got cold so progress is slow. Also, Traxxas paint sucks imo. I normally use tamiya, but the local shop didn't have the colors I needed in stock so I gave it a try. They spray like crap, and I don't like the red I ended up with. I'll probably try to shoot some of the tamiya metallic red I have left over on the outside to get the color darker. The rest of the panels will be silver like my yj.

 

[bgredjeep]

I got the body on. Still working out the hood mounting since I want to leave it removable for battery access. I made a mistake on the battery door and painted the wrong side (the overspray film had come off when I got it) so that one panel is off on color. I figure if this works out I'll order a set of aluminum panels since that is the color scheme I'm going for anyway.

 

[bgredjeep]

For the moment, I've abandoned the miller chassis conversion as it relates to my bomber. I was having some packaging issues I wasn't able to overcome without spending more money on parts to experiment with.

I went ahead to swapped back to the bomber chassis.

I'm still going to work on the Miller cage and see about putting some ar60s under it. I think they will fit the chassis better with the lower upper link mount height. I'll figure out the trans later. Plus this way I'm not keeping my bomber, which is setup really well, out of commission.

 

[bgredjeep]

I figured I can keep the miller build going in this thread since it's still kinda bomber based.

In the process of swapping back to the bomber chassis I got some ideas on better implementing the miller chassis. First I realized I could offset the sway bar mounts 2mm each and the factory axial sway bar should fit. I adjusted the design and printed new mounts. I ordered a new bar to try that out.

For axles I've got a complete rear and a partial front ar60 I started getting in place. I ordered some cheap stainless links and made new side plates for the skid to better suit the miller chassis. I made a couple other cuts in the chassis to make room for the servo and got the front axle mounted today. Waiting on trailing arms to come in and I'll start working on the rear.

Here's some pics of where I got today.

New sway bar mounts to match the stock bomber mounting width

New side plates. This lowered the skid 6mm which should help my geometry

Not completely set on the shock mounting yet, but it'll be somewhere around here.

 

[meatmonkey]

Cool to see the mix and match of different brands with home made parts in between.

Glad to see you persevere with this project.

I've wanted to do a miller chassis, axial drivetrain. I just didn't want to be the guinea pig, so thank you.

 

[bgredjeep]

It's a fun experiment for sure. I'm trying to keep it relatively cheap while I'm figuring things out. Once it's dialed who knows. Lol

Trailing arms and sway bar came in. I don't care for the trailing arms that use rod ends, but they were cheap so I'll give them a try. The sway bar is an aluminum knock off of the axial bar. Unfortunately, while it fit in my adjusted mounts its just too wide for the chassis so it's back to the previous bar and mounts for now.

 

[Fallen]

This is definitely a rad project. Those aluminum panels also look quite nice.

 

[bgredjeep]

This is definitely a rad project. Those aluminum panels also look quite nice.

Thanks Fallen. Those are lexan sprayed tamiya silver. I do like the aluminum panels the guy is selling. Might grab a set after all the rest is sorted out.

This weekend I went ahead and ordered a set of axles. I found I was missing enough pieces that I was going to be into them more than I wanted by the time I bought everything to make them hold up for more than a few mins.

I still need to pick up a trans. It's getting to be slim pickings on wraith transmissions. $50-60 for cheap options. I don't want a 2spd in this one, and don't really need dig either. I'll probably spend a few bucks more and get the ssd high ratio conversion and the parts needed to complete it.

#budgetbuild lol