Blackfoots CC01 Project with Some simple DIY Mods

[blackfoot]

Im waiting on my Land Rover Defender body to come from HK, so its time to do some simple mods.

OK the build is petty much straight foward, but Im gonna show you a few tips and tricks to mod your CC01 into a better performer.

First is the locking of the front diff. This can be adapted to alot of different RC's like the Tamiya Humvee or TLT that have. Screw JB Weld, Putty or any of that horsehockey! Im gonna show you the simple and completely reversable way to lock a diff.

There are 5 gears in a typical gear diff. In Tamiya they use a Y piece that the spider gears slip onto. All you do is take one of the gears off the shaft and line it up between the other 2 spiders and carefully seat it back into the diff housing. Screw it together and you have a completely locked diff thats easily reversable if you ever want to run an open diff again.

Next I will show you how yo gain about a 1/4" more front suspension, thus allowing more articulation and movement and tire clearance for slightly larger tires. What this does it take the little block off the C knuckle and allows it to drop farther down. You can do this with a xacto knife or dremel, I just used a xacto.

Before

After

I didnt get pics of it, but when you are building your CC01, look on the C Knuckle above and thee will be a little tit sticking out of the side, this is a block to limit steeing, cut that sucker off and gain a couple more degrees of steering throw. You can see the tit in the middle picture above, pointing at my thumb nail.

 

[blackfoot]

Now Im gonna show you how to get rid of the brick wall part of the chassis. There is a usless section in the very front of the chassis that is gonna hit anything and everything you try to climb or crawl over.

Here is what it looks like before.

I used a Hacksaw for the main cut, then my dremel with cut off wheel and sanding drum to clean it all up.
Just look at all that usless brick wall that I removed.

This is what I cut off, dont throw it away, trim the back side of it off as well as the tubes for the screws. Leaving nothing but a flat piece, we will be reusing that.

Now take that flat piece and test fit it, keep clening up your cuts on the main chassis to make it sit right, then scribe a line from the bottom of the main chassis up to the top corners, cut those corners off and this will be your new front face. Use Epoxy or CA and glue it in place and you should have something that looks like this.

Now look at how much of a front approach it now has. The front tires stick out past the chassis and it will now climb right up a wall.

Here is my finished chassis with the project box installed and ESC and RX protected from water and mud.

I took it out for a test run and it seems perfect with the 65t and has tons of torque. Im very happy with it. Though I did noice that the servor save horn is very weak, so I tore it apart and used 2 part epoxy and made it one solid piece, works like a charm now!

 

[blackfoot]

As you guys will soon find out or probably already know, the rear susp links leave something to be desired. They have as much flex as leafs and allow lots of side to side slop of the axle. The lowers also hang down from the chassis and get caught on everything, hanging the truck up and high centering it.

What I did is a very simple and straight foward mod. This is straight foward if you are running the long wheelbase, short WB will need different links made or bought.

What you need is
2 lower Axial links
2 upper Axial links
2 bicycle chain 1/2 links
2 TLT upper offset susp and shock mounts
Screws, Lock nuts, washers
2 Traxxas Ball ends or Brass bushings for the shock ends
Drill
1 or 2 little helpers and hams for the camera.

I started by taking the rear susp and axle right off the chassis. Unbolt the susp pieces and mock bolt the TLT mounts to the axle where the original upper link mounted using the front hole on the plate. Align it straight front to rear and tighten the bolt and nut. Then slowly drill a small pilot hole in the lower axle case. Repeat for other side. Take the axle apart and find 2 short screws and nuts from your spare bin. Drill the hole to the correct size for the screw and bolt the mount plate in place, using the screwhead on the inside of the axle tube and the nut on the outside at the plate. Reassemble the axle case and make sure it spins free without rubing the screw head on the inner axles.

Remove the front screw that you had holding the mount in place to drill the rear pilot hole and install the Axial upper link in place and bolt it all together. Bolt the lower links to the front upper link mounting point on the chassis.

Then mount the lower link to the front mounting hole, and move the front of the link to the outside of the molded in frame rails on the chassis, drill a small pilot hole and then drill to the correct size for the bolt. Slide the bolt into the link, use a washer between the link and chassis then another washer on the inside and use a lock nut. Repeat on other side. If you have done this correctly, the new holes should be in the same area as the front mounting holes in the chassis, just on the outside of the frame now, out of the way and allow it to glide over the rocks and stuff.

Next is the shocks. Now you will see that the shocks will not bolt to the 2 eyelets at the back of the TLT mounts, so thats where the Bicycle 1/2 links come into play. Bolt the 1/2 links into the eyelets and tighten them up real good, then use a Traxxas Ball end on the shock or use a Brass bushing and bolt the shock back up. The cool thing about the 1/2 links is they can be used as a lift kit as well, just loosen them up and rotate them so the shock mounts higher or lower it to taste, just crank them tight and they will not move on you.

You have just made your CC01 a better Scaler, it will clear more rocks, eliminate the side to side slop movement and the flex of the stock links.

 

[pantablo]

Here's my two cents (in reference your sig)...

Nice clean build. Nothing new here in terms of the mods, at least that anyone who already has a cc-01 and/or has done a bit of research wouldnt know. Its good to keep this kind of info present in peoples minds though so its good you posted it up for everyone to see again.

you should try my steering mod:
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showthread.php?t=171318

You should also look up the body lift (suspension lift) to get a bit more clearance between the wheels and the body.


also try your hand at making a set of hybrid tires so they'll fit under the body better yet still grip well. Otherwise you'll end up having to use a taller tire and the blackfoot body is already small.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE3kRAm_EaA

blackfoots look best (IMO) with 1.5 wheels

Unfortunately 1.5's wont fit the cc01 unless you narrow them by removing about 6mm from the back. I've not run a 1.5 on a cc01 yet though.

I love blackfoots. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the body...

 

[blackfoot]

Tablo, its not gonna have a Blackfoot body, I'm Blackfoot, as in 1/2 Native American Blackfoot, lol. Its gonna have this body.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320378557021&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSA:US:1123

 

[pantablo]

oops, misunderstood the title.

that body will run most tires fine. should be a cool build.

 

[crawleR07]

do you guys have any o-rings or something similar stuffed in the inner front driveshaft cups to keep the dogbones meshing with the outer drive cups? I see there aren't any spare small o-rings with the kit so Ill have to find some. I have a small chassis lift and i have removed the steering limiter and now the dogbones don't quite mesh, they need to be moved towards the wheels a little bit.

 

[blackfoot]

I have used shock rebuild kits for their O RIngs, alot of hardwares also carry real small O Rings as well.

 

[crawleR07]

Thanks, I found some o-rings out of some rc4wd scale shocks that are working great so far, the extra steering angle helps the maneuverability quite a bit.

 

[wamf]

Blackfoot, thanks for the excellent descriptions of the free mods. I didn't know about all of those yet.
MikeV

 

[blackfoot]

Blackfoot, thanks for the excellent descriptions of the free mods. I didn't know about all of those yet.
MikeV

No problem. Like Pantablo said, alot of us already know about these mods, but still many do not. I figured, heck, Im building mine, so I will try to enlighten and refresh everyone on them as I do my build. Nothing wrong with bringing up classic and free/cheap easy to do mods.

 

[pardonmyn00b]

those are some good mods. thanks for the write up. im going to use them on the pajero i just built. it shouldn't be hard for me to get half links, i have an entire bike chain made out of them.

 

[Crawlin4fun]

That body set is awesome "thumbsup", should be sweet when it's done

 

[DapperDan]

nice mods! ive done the front suspension mod and was going to do the front diff lock but it seems the person who owned it before me has already done it!
has anyone got any tips for locking the rear diff? is it basically the same as the front?

 

[blackfoot]

The kit comes with a locker, but if you got it used, you probably wont have it. Yes, the rear can be done the same as the front.

 

[blackfoot]

Defender body FINALLY came in today.
Had to do some bigtime cutting to the interior to make it work, wheelbase is good, I hinged the body in the front and used hidden posts in the rear. I have to trim out the glass yet and install the marker lights. Ofcourse, going with the clubs military these, its OD Green. I love the performance of the slingers, but not sold on the look of them on this truck. I might try my Prowlers or SDI Trail Docs on it. These wheels are not staying on, no matter what tire option I go with.

Flex shots.

 

[pardonmyn00b]

did that body come from the great state of hong kong? looks cool though. yeah, those tires on there are a little too aggressive looking for that body.

 

[blackfoot]

Yup, Mike_caz from eBay. I suggest skipping getting from him and getting from one of the other sellers. This guy pre-sells stuff he doesnt have onhand and if you dont read the listing very very carefully, you will miss that part, like i did.

About the tires, I care more about performance then anything when it comes to my trucks, so if the prowlers or Trail Docs dont perform, these are goin back on. Id rather be movin and lookin a lil off scale then stuck and lookin pretty spinning the battery dead.

 

[blackfoot]

OK, some finished pics, just need to build a bumper for the 3Racing Winch I have coming. Tried out the Prowlers and they did good, but I want some more Humvee wheels for them before I go any farther with them, coz I hate the HPI Stockers, they are overdone and look like shit on about everything. So I threw on the Trail Docs on Humvees and they work as good as the Slingers on the hill climb I have out back. So for now, I will stick with them, as they look awsome.

Good Ol' Action Jackson at the wheel.

My hinge setup at work.

Pics are blurry as my batteries were almost dead

 

[SoCalMike]

Now Im gonna show you how to get rid of the brick wall part of the chassis. There is a usless section in the very front of the chassis that is gonna hit anything and everything you try to climb or crawl over.

Now look at how much of a front approach it now has. The front tires stick out past the chassis and it will now climb right up a wall.

Are you saying with this Mod I can do this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXvxIy4YupI

"thumbsup"