Diving into an optic

[Jfrisch1]

Amazon delivered the meus brass servo mount yesterday. Decided to put it on today just to see some things.



First up, weight of stock mount 11.8G



Meus brass servo mount 57.5G



Fit was perfect, one of the threaded holes for the passenger upper link was a little tight, so I just went slow in and out. Didn’t feel necessary to pull out the tap kit to clean the threads.

And I found my scale hardware tool to add some scale to the knuckles.

 

[Timmahh]

Got the same mount, just no brand.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Got the same mount, just no brand.

Helped add a touch of weight to the front but overall the truck is pretty even on weight front and back. I think I’m gonna get the meus knuckles just to add more weight to the front. Keep the front end planted better.

I say that but haven’t even crawled with this thing yet. Just preparing for this coming weekend lol

 

[Jfrisch1]

For anyone who is thinking about grabbing the meus brass knuckles, they are HEAVY. So heavy they are being returned tomorrow. I wanted some weight, don’t get me wrong, but they are ALOT of weight. Not wanting to snap the ears off the axle c hubs every other run.

Decided to return those and the gold axle. I’m gonna keep the axle housings plastic, but use treal 3rd members and bearing holders to add the little bit of weight I wanted f&r. Since I also missed the vanquish knuckle drop, I just grabbed the treal aluminum ones.

Added a pop of color as well

 

[Gula]

I got the Treal front knuckles for the front steer axle, and the Maus for the rear. According to interwebz it sez Treal is more heavier

 

[Jfrisch1]

I got the Treal front knuckles for the front steer axle, and the Maus for the rear. According to interwebz it sez Treal is more heavier

The treal aluminum fronts are heavier than the brass meus??



I am never going to financially recover from this rig

 

[Jfrisch1]

Received the dsm bed. This looks way better than a plastic box that I couldn’t figure out what to use it for. It’s obviously gonna get a small cooler with some trail sodas in it.

Was actually surprised that it is a tad lighter too

 

[Gula]

The treal aluminum fronts are heavier than the brass meus??



I am never going to financially recover from this rig

Naw brass vs brass.

Neither am I.
Sofar: Kit, RTR cage, RIT dye, 2x treal front axles, (one i bought on here with some brass knucks) a VP aluminum and a no name brass servo mount
(Howeverz, I've recouped a few Duckett selling the kit cage at my LHS.)

 

[Jfrisch1]

Naw brass vs brass.

Neither am I.
Sofar: Kit, RTR cage, RIT dye, 2x treal front axles, (one i bought on here with some brass knucks) a VP aluminum and a no name brass servo mount
(Howeverz, I've recouped a few Duckett selling the kit cage at my LHS.)

Haha I figured that. Funny enough, I just saw a post on fb from treal about the aluminum knuckles being a new release, posted 4 hours ago. Don’t know how I ordered them two days ago but here we are.

I feel ya. I’m counting the two optics that I have, the upgrades I have for both. I think I’m just realllly wanting this thing to be a top performing crawler in my lineup of rigs.

Speak of burning money, I’d like some of the h tech stuff. Looks good, I’m just so impatient with shipping. Some people say 2-3 weeks others are still waiting a month 1/2 later.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Parts delivery day, my favorite.



New system for the rig and a new grille. I’d love to put the stuff on now, but that’s counterproductive. I have to break down the transmission again once the gears show up, hopefully tomorrow.

And I thought about it, having two of the same rigs being built at once is a pain, especially when I’m going in two different directions. I told my oldest boy that if he can make $300 he will get the kit fnf one from me, no wheels or tires. He liked that idea. So now he’s selling a few of his builds/rigs to earn the money. He didn’t do too bad at the last swap meet, came home with a wraith and a free roller chassis.

He’s excited to sell and make money for the optic and I’m just ready to drive this thing up and down some rocks at the indoor course.

 

[bgredjeep]

And I thought about it, having two of the same rigs being built at once is a pain, especially when I’m going in two different directions.

I feel that, slightly different, with the Jimmy's buggies I've been working on. Figured doing 2 at once would be easier than building 1 at a time. Turns out it's twice the work either way. Lol

 

[Jfrisch1]

I feel that, slightly different, with the Jimmy's buggies I've been working on. Figured doing 2 at once would be easier than building 1 at a time. Turns out it's twice the work either way. Lol

It’s fun and all and I enjoy building. It’s the ordering from different sites with different stuff for each one lol.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Finally got it out on the rocks. Performed way better than I expected. After seeing the new changes to the course, there were some new technical lines and the optic just ate them up. Have to adjust my personal driving style with a portal rig vs the optic but all in all it’s a good crawler.












Definitely drags belly a lot, but it does glide over rocks without hesitation.

I do think a slightly taller tire would help clear more rocks. So I’ll probably look and see what I can get. These tires are also brand new never ran so they were slick. They did grab when it was needed and hearing the lugs chirp and grab is very satisfying.

Spent quite a while just running it around on the rocks to get a feel of it. Off camber, steep climbs it really shines. It takes a very steep uphill climb or a protruding rock to make it want to flip backwards, which is a pleasant surprise. Thought it would spend a lot of time turtled.


Favorite pic of the day, it really is as steep as the pic looks and it went right down it without issue. The weight front and rear on this is pretty good.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Optics are little popular right now, huh?

 

[Jfrisch1]

Swapped the blue ring treal beadlocks to the vanquish vxt2 tires. These tires actually measure 5” tall while the other Goodyear mtrs measured right at 4 3/4”. Had these tires on the other optic and was already surprised how sticky they were right out of the package. Now, we’ll see how they do!





My oldest son ended up with the fast n furious optic, he made his goal of $$$ he needed to buy it from me, as a slider. He spent all night putting wheels and tires on it, electronics and cruising around his room. Now I just have one optic to focus on.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Trans gears showed up today. Starting stripping it down to remove the trans.



Disassembly of Rtr trans



Some weight comparisons

Rtr gears and plastic bits



VP machined lightweight gears and other bits



Not a significant decrease in weight but there is a change. Gears are beautifully made. Everything felt smooth with no grinding. Fresh bit of grease to quiet it down a bit and keep it running for a while!



New Holmes motor and micro x. Just a little test of the weight vs fusion 1800kv. The x weighs little to nothing and the stubby motor dropped some weight. All of this is to loose some weight and keep added weight down low





FedEx man is supposed to drop off my treal order today so it’s left like this for a few hours. Sun is shining and I want to get out to the creek to test it all out!

 

[Jfrisch1]

FedEx guy came through!

Received the front and rear brass 3rd members, bearing holders and knuckles from treal.

Rear 3rd member weights



With brass 3rds and aluminum bearing holders



front diff built



Belly shot. The front knuckles are well made.



Annnd the new tires and possibly new system or the amount of overdrive had something to do with the insane amount of tire twist. Can confirm these tires are excellent. Grabs rocks like no one’s business.

 

[Jfrisch1]

I almost did not use the grille I bought but my son talked me into it. I’m glad he did, it looks better than the blue one.

 

[Jfrisch1]

Did what I said I wasn’t gonna use the optic for and took it on a trail run today. It was short but sweet as my buddy and his sons trucks decided today was not their day.

Did find some things out:

-2200 3s battery on the new system, Holmes 10 shooter 2700kv and mamba microx2 runs for 1 hour and 12 minutes.
-Vanquish tires are pretty good in the soft mud/ dirt but not the greatest in the sand. They do grab the rocks well so that’s fine as most of the crawling will not involve sand
-steering linkage likes to come loose from the horn, thought I lock tightened it but apparently not
-I spend 90% less time on the roof/ side with the optic vs another trail rig of mine. Big plus!

Boring stuff is out the way, here’s pics of proof

 

[Jfrisch1]

H tech stuff showed up today. Was surprised how fast it got here. Less than 2 weeks!

Some hydro clamps.

Before



After


I’d like to note, their machining is off or something or I just got a bad set. Buddy of mine said his were a tight fit but mine on the right fits 2 pieces of paper under it, not that it’s that much but just pointing it out. I could care less because I don’t think they do anything to support it besides maybe a small amount. You can also see (if you look reaaaaal close) the screw holes are not perfectly centered on the clamps. Oh well! At least I didn’t pay inflated prices on eBay for them, direct from h tech website.






These are super cool though! I wanted them before I even got an optic. Scale bumps are killer!


Before, don’t mind my leaking shocks….



After! Sickkk