CEN F450 KG1 - ROCK CRAWLER MOD - 1/8 EMO X4 Chassis?

[WRXronald]

Here's a running and driving version of the BADASS '79 BRONCO build on the EMO X4 chassis!!!

Quick short walk-around. All I can say is I found my own EPIC Creek to Beat today while walking the dog and some epic mud holes too ---- so the next vid with this rig should be a THRASER ----- as its actually pretty darn quick for a crawler, even just on 4s, and having some speed is kinda nice!!!

I do plan not to be afraid to jump it as well --- maybe a foot or so, not too crazy of course!! As Gula so aptly pointed out, i'm not very hard on trucks lol!!!

The recovery tracks on the back wall of the cab look a bit odd -- but are functional in that they just easily "clip" in between the M3 studs and are an quick, easy removal/replacement for actual use on the trail --- lets see if these things can even do anything already in a recovery situation!

 

[Gula]

Ya, I'm going to stop wasting my time with you, you're a joke from the past!

 

[WRXronald]

Ya, I'm going to stop wasting my time with you, you're a joke from the past!

Looks like my mic drop worked wonders again eh?

Sorry Gula -- I guess some old jokes just don't age that well....

Well I hope I at least made you chuckle!!

 

[WRXronald]

Ok so check these out --- Look absolutely SICK if you ask me. They don't look much bigger than the Fling Kings on the pics but are noticeably bigger in hand in person. Also much stickier.

Big bummer as they are absolutely crap as beadlocks tires --- any 2.6 beadlock I've ever seen has up to a 2mm gap for the tire bead, and most tires have a large thick bead that then steps down to about 1 or 2mm.... yeah well theres no step down on the Genius Ignorante's whatsoever. And the bead is MASSIVE at 3mm thick ---- there's zero chance it can fit in a standard 2.6 beadlock. So far i've tried two alloy sets and a lot of time and effort even just identifying why the beads won't seat in either sets of wheels. I started comparing to the Fling Kings and it became clear. The Kings have a standard step-down at the bead from the thick 3mm portion to a thin 1mm making it easy (enough anyways) to get the bead to seat.

I tried soaping them as well but then the bead just shoots right out the moment you start tightening down and before getting anywhere near where it needs to be, Its a waste.

I ended up CA'ing these --- It was easy enough to keep 100% of the glue inside the bead so no biggie - this is meant as perm setup for me anyways so I can get over it, still wasn't happy!! But have to have these wheels they just look so good with the center caps and scale hex-lugs (got them on Ali for $65 and comes with both 12mm and 17mm alloy hex adapters -- the scale hex lugs are functional they hold the hex adapters in place!)

def slapping a cell phone on it with gps tomorrow for a speed test -- with the 6.1inch tall Ignorantes I won't be surprised if its hitting near or even over 15mph!!!

I will be extremely surprised if its not getting at least 10mph --- i'm telling ya she's quick now! I upped to 60 weight in the shocks for koosh jump landings!

 

[WRXronald]

Well, I put it on the cell phone GPS today --- I guess not as fast as I thought -- its always deceving in RC's...

Topped out at 11mph, but I'm thinking its closer to 10mph and change -- was a bit of an down incline when it hit 11 and got 10mph on the way up same route. Its got excellent torque at speed once its moving in High gear, just can't start slow or it will COG a bit; as long as you hit it good on start up it goes fine with no cog at all.

Low gear top speed is 4mph --- and it crawls on the Genius Ignorantes very impressively --- super planted --- great low speed control and torque going slow is no issue and I get the sense 11mph top speed in 2nd gear will be awesome for wheelspeed in thick mud and/or snow. Seems to have the perfect balance of super slow / fast (its not quite FOC slow of course) - without a sensored motor/Esc you have to give up a lot of top gear ratio and get super low gearing to get the same kind of extreme slow crawler performance as an FOC setup, just the price of entry is SO much less. The motor and Esc in this rig puts down up to 1000watts and combined cost was $45 motor+ESC, up to 6s capable.

I think the Ignorantes are going to be SO good on the rocks and decent in the mud that I will not want to run the Fling Kings much at all -- they don't look/feel nearly as sticky and soft, I could be wrong I suppose but the Kings come in "blue" compound they don't make the 2.6 size in Green unforutnately like they do with the 1.9's and 1.0's, kinda weird not sure why -- Green is JConcepts SuperSticky. Blue is their Soft compound. I did paint the lettering on the Kings white -- looks kinda cool if you like painted side wall lettering on big truck tires -- will try to get some pics up soon, its a fairly sloppy job as per my usual work product.

 

[WRXronald]

oh snap! Its getting a little weird now but I cant help but love how it looks!! Pre-runner-ish rock crawler mudder extradoinairre!!!

Its pretty much just sittin' on there for right now as I take it all in -- but how good does that look!? Ok if you think its weird it is but somehow I can't stop loving it. Its the pre-runner spare tire bar/cage off the New Bright 1/6th Ford F-150 Raptor.... kinda a perfect fit!

Sure the plastic is kinda cheap and junkie but I don't care it weighs just about nothing which is a win for me --- scale aesthetics at the back of this rig will have to be form only and not detract much from function ---- I purposely don't want to add weight like a legit metal cage or rack, wood or metal flat bed or headache rack, real spare tire, wrecker arm, crane, etc --- would all look great and gets me going --- but want this one to perform crazy good on the inclines, climbs, crawls, snow trashes, etc.

On 6s it should go 14mph ---- saw a guy today on the tube running a 4250 in a 38inch V-hull on 6s making 50mph --- 1300kv!!! Kinda crazy but I guess these Outrunners can be over-rpm'd a bit --- i'm only at 600kv thinking 4s is pushing it lol. half the rpm by Kv and not even considering the lower voltage I run. So there's prolly some room there especially in sonw when its cold and things get help staying cool.......

In person it looks pretty much like the spare tire case is perfect size for a big 6inch 2.6 tire even.... And i'll use some straws painted black probably to finish off the incomplete portions of cage tubes and make it look more proper......

 

[WRXronald]

Also I picked up some stuff just before the tarriff annoyances....

Going to do all steel 4-links/3-liinks beefed up by 2mm from 6mm thick to 8mm thickness and add M4 Steel heim joints to get rid of slop from the plastic ball links.

Also ordered the steel skid-plate set which I think comes with center skid, front/rear pumpkin skids and some kind of front or maybe its the rear shift servo skid idk.

Also ordered the alloy axle upgrade front and rear that comes with brass pumpkins --- should look cool so far the axles are holding up to some thrashing so hoping they are longer term keepers!!! Love being able to shift to open diff and not fear jump landings so much when going fast!

Do want to keep the weight down overall but still beef it up a bit -- right now 11.25lbs I don't think all the adders will go much over 12-13lbs max which is pretty reasonable still to thrash with hopefully!

Pics when its all on the table before install...... looking to add about 1/2 inch to rear wheelbase as well --- then will be just shy of 18in wheelbase.

 

[WRXronald]

As mentioned.... Here are pics of the 2.2 RC4WD Mud Basher "Scale Tractor Tire" ---- 5.94in tall, 2in wide tire ----- X2SS -- super soft, super sticky compound.

I didn't cut the foams on these at all -- felt pretty darn squishy right out the box! Really think I might like this look the best ---- kinda more monster trucky look to it with the noticeably bigger thicker tires.

Stickiness is up in the air - I'd say these are a little more sticky than the Fling Kings just by feel -- the Genius Ignorantes are a different kind of sticky where these tractor tires and fling Kings are shiny and sticky whereas the Ignorantes are like some sort of soft "flat" rubber but also very plush and maybe even the stickiest of all three -- well, not really "sticky" per se in that the tires don't stick to each other much when you bring the rubber into contact with itself or other rubber, but it is extremely "grippy" when rubbed against other surfaces ie LOTS of friction, just not "stick"... when the shiny ones get wet they can lose a lot of that "stickiness" but maybe the flat plush soft rubber of the Ignorantes will hold better when wet is what i'm hoping!

Also 2.2's are done right -- the bead seat on these was EASY PEAZY took a minute per tire --- this is how all beadlocks should be made!! Thin inner tire bead and enough meat (IE space for the rubber bead) inside the beadlock ring gaps to fit all of it with ease but still lock down the bead super secure!

 

[WRXronald]

Still going... the pre-runner look got tired fast. nixed it. Trying the original Bronco spare --- kinda tiny but looks clean I think.

Also got a metal stinger bar up front --- liking that much better than the plastic EMO X4 stock bumper. Need to incorporate the light bar somehow... still to come is all the EMO L.E.D's I still have them and the module.

I am really liking the Mud Basher look as well --- might just be the "go to" set up -- so gnarly lookin'!

 

[WRXronald]

 

[WRXronald]

Lol between the jumpin and the mud boggin i've roasted my AM32 Injora / 9iMOD 80amp brushless ESC. Me sad.

I assume it was the water but can't be sure -- I do have the motor timing turned up to max 22.5degrees, max start up power, max Sinewave startup power, max brake power, lol. Basically maxed out all settings -- maybe a bad idea. you see how punchy it is in the one video. EPIC!

But anyways the ESC smoked on me.... just tired of going thru expensive electronics. Not willing to drop another $150 on a FUSION 8 setup althought that's probably the way to go here. I paid $26 for the 80amp 9Imod but now you they are $39 shipped and the motor price is also up from $17 to about $25. Not worth it anymore.

Instead i'm going back to BRUSHED lol. Tonight I shoe-horned a 775T big mofo in there --- was tricky getting it to fit the motor mount but its in! 28t pinion and running with a 1080 G2 brushed ESC --- nice to have a Tx switchable drag brake but that's not going to be long term.

I have new idea -- marine brushed esc's --- they have some on Ali with a "crawler" mode where neutral position is a drag brake, and then a switch on the ESC itself to go in or out of regular driving vs crawler mode.... would be better on the Tx, but I can live with it like this ---- in exchange you get a 480amp capable -- up to 6s lipo --- fully waterproof brushed ESC ----- can run up to a 997 sized brushed monster!!! The 775 I got can take up to 25volts and is about 800kv. I ran it up tonight and i'd say on 3s with the 1080 G2 its probably making 8-9mph in 2nd gear on 28t pinion. So I plan to go 6s with the marine brushed ESC which should get me twice the startup torque (its very close to be good enough on 3s alone!) and probably at least 14mph top speed in 2nd gear and should have plenty of low end crawler torque in low gear ------ its gonna be EPIC!!!!! I'm hopeful. There no chance to fit any larger than a 775, maybe a 795T brushed motor, max just due to transmission clearances, etc. And its better than AM32 Sinewave Brushless Outrunner setups frankly because its possibly to turn off/on the drag brake in the field without connecting to a laptop which is required with the AM32 ESC's.

Its seems like brushless ESC's are also stubborn when it comes to soupy muddy water and full submerge -- I'm having back luck lately even after going crazy coating things with Conformal silicone epoxy, several coats even. I never had trouble before but I think somehow the HEAT from the ESC is quickly breaking down the Conformal coating and letting water permeate. I did buy some "high heat" Conformal epoxy so gonna try that out instead --- I want full submerge capability and long term lasting. I have WALLOPED the G2's with water and mud endlessly before fully submerged with no issues. So I feel like brushed is just easier for waterproofing the ESC reliably. I'd go Fusion 8 but not with advertising that says IP67 and "water resistance may deteriorate with time", one malfunction and your out $150 both ESC and motor, hmmm. TRUE waterproof for submerging stuff requires IP68 --- look at the "WaterGhost" series of servos... all IP68 and you can submerge those bad boys!!!

With brushed, my hope is to get almost the best of all worlds, drag brake adjustability in the field, high top speeds, powerful low-end crawling torque, high voltage capable, and best of all ----- $11 and 2-day shipping from Amazon for the 775T brushed motor -- 800kv-ish (70 turn I believe) and its DUAL Ball Bearing, got the built in cooling fan, and the 480 AMP, 6s capable brushed ESC is $26 shipped on Ali -- waterproof!

What could possibly go wrong? lol

 

[WRXronald]

Fassst..... and it climbs STAIRS!?! WOW. I impressed myself lol.... Got lucky and ordered the metal axle housings/portals when I found out about the Tariffs -- now you can't even get these shipped to the U.S. anymore. Nuts, and b.s. too. They are sweet - legit CNC both the aluminum and brass bits-- really beefy/bulky. Not so sure about stock CrossRC gears though lol, bought a back up set in case 6s explodes them! This vid is on 4s, still waiting for a 6s brushed ESC and motor fan. I'd say 10mph on 4s here, so maybe 14-15 on 6s? I may gear down at that point.....

Kevin Talbot call-out!!