Fotolabman's K5 Ascender

[Fotolabman]

I picked up an ascender recently after watching videos and looking into scale crawlers and I've been having fun assembling, running and upgrading my truck. Here are a few pictures of what I have done with my kit so far

I really liked the look of the 3d printed inner fenders from RCaddict

I asked the machinists at my work if they could drill and tap the SSD bumpers so I could mount the scale licence plates from krawler konceptz. The licence plate number is from my first car, and the insurance date is my wedding anniversary, my wife liked that touch

I cant wait to get some tires to mount to these GCMracing wheels

When i went out for my first drive with the truck i couldnt figure out why it stopped driving straight. It wasnt until i looked closer at this picture i took that i noticed the screw had almost completely backed out

I hope some locktite and this nut will stop that from happening again

Moderator edit: Your images were GROSSLY oversized and removed.
Please remember.... Forum image size rule in ALL sections of forum is
"800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall"
Anything smaller then that would be helpful.
You're welcome to add images back in thread if they meet the 800x600 rule
Thank you, THX_138

 

[Natedog]

Looking good, those GCM mags will look even better, welcome to RCC!

 

[Sammy J.]

I really like the green color. Those chrome bumpers look great too!


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[Fotolabman]

So today I went out with a couple of guys from a local group and had a lot of fun

That is until this happened

I flipped it trying to go up a steep rock and I thought I heard a crunch, but since I landed on my wheels I didn't check it out at first.

Now my ascender is FWD, fortunately the local RC shop happened to have a drive shaft input in stock

 

[Sammy J.]

Ouch! That's incredible that a hobby shop would have that part for the Ascender in stock. I would have thought that you would have to replace the entire driveshaft.


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[Fotolabman]

Ouch! That's incredible that a hobby shop would have that part for the Ascender in stock. I would have thought that you would have to replace the entire driveshaft.


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Yeah I was pleasantly surprised, he happened to have a small box of random vaterra parts, some of his customers are running ascenders or twin hammers

 

[Fotolabman]

I've been having a lot of fun with my truck lately, I think I'm getting better at not getting too caught up on roots or rocks but i still flip or roll over a lot.
I really like the SSD bumpers they look great but i do get them wedged from time to time

New parts!

So i finnaly got some tires for my GCM wheels

the first set of tires i didn't realise how small the 1.9 mud slingers would look compared to the stock tires

But today I received a set of 1.9 pitbull rock beasts
And I think they look much better, i wonder if they will be better than the stock tire

I also trimmed the axles and mounted a set of GCM lock hubs

The only parts I'm still waiting for are the junfac drive shafts because i also ordered the GCM diff input adapter to replace the stock shafts

 

[Sammy J.]

I think you will love the Rock Beasts. I sure love mine. If you haven't already installed the Crawler Innovations Deuces Wild foams made specifically for the Rock Beasts, I suggest you consider them. This is easily the best 1.9 tire/foam setup I have.


Most important of all, keep enjoying your truck!


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[Fotolabman]

I would also consider lowering your setup. Here is a shot of my ride height.

I have it raised up because i thought it would be better to have more clearance over rocks and roots, is it better to have it set lower?

also how do you like the vaterra aluminium shocks?, I'm not sure if i am going to get the vaterra shocks or the king off road shocks

 

[Sammy J.]

I got to thinking that maybe I shouldn't post a picture of my truck on your thread, so I removed it. Not sure what the correct protocol is!

The main area that would give you trouble with rocks and roots are your axles/differentials. Lowering your body and the presets on your shocks won't affect this. I find that lowering the ride height of my body has lowered my center of gravity and that I don't roll over as much.

I like the Vaterra aluminum shocks. They seem to function better than the stock shocks. I know that some guys have modified the stock shocks and are happy with how they perform. I didn't have much luck trying that. My only regret is that GCM has come out with some cool rear suspension options that might be nice. They wouldn't make use of my new rear shocks. This would only be an issue if I want to do an interior where standard rear shocks would be in the way.


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[Fotolabman]

Oh I just cut the picture out of the quote so it wasn't a lot to scroll to to get to the question

I didn't mind the picture

 

[NickDanger]

Those SSD bumpers are so badass.

 

[Fotolabman]

I drove up island about 230km to join another group that was hosting a run for out of towners
Those rock beasts were awesome even with the stock foams
Lots of great spots to crawl by the lake

Sammy J. i lowered my shock setting like you suggested and i seemed to be better, I only really rolled it when i put myself in a bad position

Everyone loved the GCM wheels

 

[Sammy J.]

Foto, It doesn't look like your pictures are working on the last post. Would love to see them.


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[Fotolabman]

Foto, It doesn't look like your pictures are working on the last post. Would love to see them.


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I think it should work now, i didnt even notice some of the pics were removed for being too large
they should all be 800x600

 

[Natedog]

Pics working now for me and good big enough. Looks like a good time for all crawling! Wheels and tires look sweet too.

 

[Fotolabman]

Its been a while since I've been able to do anything RC related
I broke my hand four weeks ago on my last crawl
But i was able to take off my splint this weekend and install the parts i had ordered.

It was a little involved but thanks to a few threads on here it went well changing it to a two speed transmission. There is a little lag when changing gears as it meshes up but its like getting a speed boost when going from low to high. I used a hi-tec HS-225MG, it took a bit of fiddling to get it set on the remote but it works great

I also installed the KillerRC LED kit, the lights all flash when its been idling for a while, but i really like having turn signals when i steer

Now i just need to get back out there, and not break my hand next time lol

 

[Itali83]

Glad to hear you're on the mend. It's hard to watch where you are going plus where the truck is going sometimes for sure! You'll love the 2 speed. The lights look good too. Where did you get the light kit from? Thanks.
Ben

 

[Fotolabman]

Glad to hear you're on the mend. It's hard to watch where you are going plus where the truck is going sometimes for sure! You'll love the 2 speed. The lights look good too. Where did you get the light kit from? Thanks.
Ben

I got the light kit from asiatees.com, killerbodyrc 48103

I got the 18 led kit but I don't see it on the site

 

[northern hooligan]

The color scheme is great, diggin the green. The area you went to looks great. I will definitely have to PM you in the future, Im headed to the island in Aug - Sept and the Ascender is coming with me.