Fallen's RC4WD Miller Motorsports #4421

[Fallen]

Thanks. I may need to make use of that.

I tried to reassemble the front axle housing after flipping the differential. I can't get the axle shafts to slide in, so there may be a problem here.

I'll tinker with it a bit more first. I've been wanting to try silly putty at least in the front, to reduce stress on that pot-metal gear.

 

[meatmonkey]

I thank you for being a proper beta tester for this truck. Unfortunately it seems it is just what I feared, a Fantastic looking, but fragile and flawed design.

Par for the course with rc3wd.

Initially I thought I would wait for the kit, but now I think I'll just keep an eye open for a second hand cage to build off.

 

[Fallen]

You're certainly welcome. Hopefully I can turn this back into a fun truck, with the help of forum members.

I probably wouldn't buy an RC4WD truck again if performance is what the build is supposed to be for.

A shelf queen, or low performance truck that looks killer; RC4WD would be sufficient.

But a truck that's expected to perform, be upgradable and tunable... my money's going to someone else.

 

[Fallen]

More progress.

I got the front axle back together, flipped the differential and filled it with Silly Putty. I tried to Silly Putty the rear, but stripped hardware prevented me. I just locked it permanently with a zip-tie.

I got the truck all put back together with the new skid plate in PETG. I had to shave less than 5mm from the driver's side rear to make clearance for the rear driveshaft. My half-round file made short work of that.

No more shift servos, no more huge transmission, no more engine housing & no more interior. We'll see in the next few weeks how this set-up holds up. From the outside of the truck I don't really notice the missing interior.

 

[bgredjeep]

Looking good. I can't quite tell from your picture, but does this look like about where the notch you filed needs to be?

 

[Fallen]

That looks right on target, and much cleaner than mine.

 

[SteveB1]

More progress.

I got the front axle back together, flipped the differential and filled it with Silly Putty. I tried to Silly Putty the rear, but stripped hardware prevented me. I just locked it permanently with a zip-tie.

I got the truck all put back together with the new skid plate in PLA+. I had to shave less than 5mm from the driver's side rear to make clearance for the rear driveshaft. My half-round file made short work of that.

No more shift servos, no more huge transmission, no more engine housing & no more interior. We'll see in the next few weeks how this set-up holds up. From the outside of the truck I don't really notice the missing interior.

So the question I have now is with this new setup, in your opinion, how much different / better / worse is this truck than the new H10 if it were fitted with similar wheels and tires?

 

[bgredjeep]

That looks right on target, and much cleaner than mine.

Added that revision as an option on thingiverse.

 

[Fallen]

Part of the appeal is still the scale appearance; the proportions, the body panels, cage... I'm not confident the H10 can pull that off with 2.2 wheels. But with 1.9 wheels, it'd probably look just as good, but smaller scale.

And with the aftermarket support the H10 will get, I bet you can make that truck look killer.

Performance? I drove the "new & improved" Miller truck today for one battery. In the upcoming election, I'll be voting for BGRedjeep as his skidplate has made my Miller Motorsports great again! It's once again a lot of fun to drive.

Less overall weight, and the biggest weight is all focused on the skid plate. Even with the rear locker only partially functioning, the truck handles chunky rock sections surprisingly well as long as you approach with and maintain momentum.

Given the larger size, scale looks and fun performance I suspect I'd prefer this set-up over an H10. That being said, there's no way I would buy the Miller Motorsports over an H10. They're the same price, but the H10 is rad looking and performing out of the box.

 

[SteveB1]

Very interesting comments. I've thought about a similar approach, with a custom skid and AR 60's. Basically a Miller / Wraith kind of build, but then the RC Speedy kit also catches my eye. I also agree with the H10 comments. Keep on posing as you can; this is one of my favorite threads on the forum to follow.

 

[Fallen]

Thanks! I'm just glad it's alive again.

I drilled out the stripped hardware to get my rear axle apart. Now the rear differential has been silly-puttied also. There's no slipper clutch on my transmission, and I let my 5 year old sons drive this. It's nice to have a "release valve" somewhere in the drive train.

This is now a far more simple machine. Lighter weight, less complexity, and easier to repair when necessary. Now I want to find a Wraith or Bomber for sale so this truck can have a good looking friend to compete against.

 

[ferp420]

make Miller Motorsports great again!!
nice

 

[themountain]

...funny

 

[Fallen]

The skid plate got a bit of a durability test today. I misaligned a jump approach so my front axle housing nailed a rock instead of my front tires.

The housing survived, the skid plate survived, the link survived...

But the rod end bit the dust. Fortunately I already had several spares waiting in my garage. Apparently I've broken rod ends on this before.

 

[themountain]

I break them all the time ...nothing strange.

 

[Fallen]

This truck is once again enough fun that I wanted to tune the suspension. The suspension had some odd damping that really slowed the suspension down.

The LX shocks still had clean oil and smooth movement. The stock shocks though, which had no oil in them, felt like they had 60wt oil in them.

Since they don't have oil, I removed a seal from the cartridge. They had the typical seal / X-ring / seal combination. So I removed one seal, cleaned the shock body and put grease around the piston.

Now they act like they should again. The sprung shocks are only controlled by the springs and the damped shocks are only controlled by the oil.

Picture for pictures' sake:

 

[Fallen]

Old body, new look (stickers).

I bought a new set of Miller Motorsports #4421 stickers, which you have to special order through RC4WD. That sticker set came with the stickers pictured here. The new Miller stickers are being saved for a new set of panels in some color other than yellow.

It's a bit gaudy and brand loyal for my taste. But as long as I don't focus on the stickers, I like them enough to leave them on. They contrast the paint colors nicely.

 

[Ncrooks89]

As it came up earlier on size. Here is the Miller next to a Bomber, Ryft, and a custom ar60s truggy. The Bomber and Miller are almost equal in wheelbase and width. We're the Ryft is longer and wider by ~inch in each dimension.

I am surprised you don't see more of the Miller motorsports. It is a good looking rig.

 

[Fallen]

It's a great looking rig. But most with experience in RC are rightly skeptical that something from RC4WD can stand up to Ultra 4 driving.

My truck hasn't survived. After replacing the skid plate, transmission, driveshafts, electronics, lots of hardware and removing all of the differential locking parts in lieu of Silly Putty filled differentials...

My truck is pretty reliable now. It's on par with an upgraded Wraith for fun / durability.

But stock... A great looking truck is about all you get.

 

[Fallen]

After 10-15 batteries, my differentials were no longer "locked" with the Silly Putty so I opened the axle housings to figure that out.

The screws holding the ring gears to the differential cups had come lose as they always do. So the Silly Putty escaped. Those screws were 2MM X 4MM and had barely any thread engagement. Maybe 3 threads.

So I found some 2MM X 10MM screws and that's the closest I could find. I cut them down to 6MM long to get more thread depth in the hopes they'll remain tight.

I refilled the differentials with Silly Putty. My new steering servo is the Savox SB-2262sg.



I painted my wheels, which was probably a bad idea. Knowing how tough rocks are on wheel finishes, I coated them with several coats of Tamiya TS clear. We'll see how effective that is.

I applied my extra set of Miller Motorsports stickers to the bug body I had painted for this chassis. It ended up looking better than I thought it would.



Hopefully this truck will see some dirt / rocks this weekend. With this Spektrum brushless motor it's quite the crawler.