heinie_21's RCMODELex ARB Hilux

[heinie_21]

Ever since building a Class1 CC-01 Fj-Cruiser I've been having a lot of fun with rigs that are more-scale-than-capable. I've got been collecting parts to build this rig for 4 months.

It unfortunately started off with a sketchy buy from the for-sale section. It was a "hilux project" for sale. it was a decent price. and included a camper shell which i was pretty stoked about. Well the guy said he sent it out, but the tracking number didn't show an origin scan for 3 more weeks haha. Then he didn't send it priority, didn't insure it and didn't really care about packaging apparently because the camper shell was completely destroyed by the heavy chassis flopping around in the box.

I was just glad to finally have a hilux body and a leaf sprung chassis! It would be my first experience with rc leaf suspension.

Here's what i started out with!:
T-Finder chassis, R2 tranny, hilux cab, bed, windsheild. I ditched the R2 cuz i like axial trannies more. had to do a few tweaks to get the axial skid to fit between the frame rails. you can see form the pics that the cab was brand new, but the bed was used. it had some "dents" in it and at least 3 layers of different paint colors haha!

I also got a internal cage from speed goat

tried to do the build the cheapest way i could.. with axial stuff i already had.. didn't work very smoothly. the suspension had binds all over. not sure if it was the TLT shocks or bad pinion angles.

I wanted to try 1.55's for the first time too, so i got some desert kings on 1.55's from a trade.

wasn't super excited by their looks or performance but at least i had a roller and could test its' flex.

THEN my build finally took a turn in a direction that pleased me. I got 3 k-44's in a trade (2 fronts and 1 rear) and they are BEAUTIFUL. They're also narrower than axials and t-rex 60's, so they look much more scale IMO.

I used one front k44 and the rear k44 on my hilux truggy (see heinie_21's douggy truggy on k44's) so I got a cast yota rear for this hilux. I'm really liking the 1.55 rock stompers too.

Fender flares

i love when yota's and k44's get scratched!

Once I got it to this point, I started realizing that there isn't really any bolt on armor (bumpers/sliders/etc) so I got a little overwhelmed with how i was going to finish the project!

THEN to make it even worse, rc4wd released pictures of their upcoming TF2. Which looked REALLY good. I loved how it was very scale looking, but also had some bumpers that looked aftermarket. So I started selling as much stuff as i could to get the paypal funds to buy the TF2 when it came out. I actually enough to buy a TF2 after like 7 "bench cleaning" ads haha. i'm sure many of you saw my ads haha.

So i sold the t-finder chassis and all i had then was the body, axles, wheels/tires/ and shocks. I was then just playing the waiting game for the TF2 to be released. It was gonna be a long wait haha, so i turned my attention to my truggy and cc-01. As i was tinkering with them i remembered how much easier 4-links are to set up and tweak (FOR ME AT LEAST HAHA). I just had a lot of little problems with leaf springs and i missed the convenience and reliability that I have had with 4-links.

So I began to entertain the idea of just making an scx-10 chassied hilux, when i stumbled upon this website: RCMODELex.com, and i instantly fell in love with the ARB Hilux chassis! I loved the front bumper because it looks very much like ARB 1:1 bumpers. I have one on my Toyota FJ-60:

(oh if only if only there were a fj-60 1:10th body. But hilux is the next best thing in my book!)

Another thing i loved about the RCMODELex ARB Hilux chassis was the integrated rock sliders and rear bumper! the body army i was looking for! And i was eager to try a front mounted tranny with transfer case setup for the first time.

You'll probably notice that the sticker price for that ARB Hilux truck KIT is like $900 USD! But i realized that I already had basically everything i needed to build my own ARB Hilux (except the chassis! haha) I already had a complete hilux bodyset, axles, shocks, wheels, tires, interior set, motor, servo, esc, etc. haha.

So i made an order from RCMODELex for:
ARB Hilux Chassis

I also needed 4-link trusses for the rc4wd axles, so i got these as well:

and since i had some money left over, this:

 

[salmonfacesalad]

Sorry for the thread jack but your gonna love that bumper its fawkin sweet.

 

[heinie_21]

those ARB's looks sick salmonfacesalad! thanks for sharing! *btw if that blue hilux is yours, i'd be interested to see how you mounted that servo. is it CMS or axle mounted?

BTW since i know many of you are going to fall in love with that bumper and want it as well, i noticed that RPP has now jumped on the RCMODELex bandwagon as well. They offer the ARB bumper (by itself, not a 1 piece with the chassis)

and some dimensions so you can figure out for if it will work for your particular chassis/project.

 

[heinie_21]

Since this would be my first tranny/transfer case build, i also had to order those things. (you can get all of that from RCMODELex as well, they recommend the Wheely King gear reduction unit for the tranny up front, and the disruptor transfer case.)

I wasn't really sure about the WK GRU, so i got a disruptor tranny and transfercase instead.

BTW if anybody is wondering how the shipping experience was from the Czech Republic. It only took about 7 business days! that was impressive to me. and I ordered the chassis, links, trusses, and some rubber mirrors from RCMODELex directly (the bed topper and roof rack were from rc4wd) and the shipping was about $35. I was expecting about $50, so i was pretty thrilled with $35.

 

[heinie_21]

First time seeing the chassis in real life! it's beautiful. the bumpers/sliders are seamlessly integrated to the chassis. I like the included mounting surfaces for electronics, too.

love the bumper!! just need to find my ARB sticker sheet now haha

mounted the disruptor t-case

These links and trusses are top quality. i'm glad i bought these instead of digging through my box-o-links, mixing and matching links to find the right wheelbase haha. These came pre-assembled for the ARB Hilux chassis/body.
comes with extra ball joints, and some shims in case you need to adjust the wheelbase or pinion angle.

RCMODELex makes some great mirrors for the hilux too. They're made out of rubber so when you flop it on the side, they dont break! I've got some shoe-goo holding them on the body, and they're holdin strong!

got the links mounted up!

rear axle mounted with a test flex shot

also the front axle mounted!

had to cut the bottom of the grill off to mate with the bumper.

Shell/rack mocked up!

 

[801RYAN]

That looks sick ..gonna bring it out on the 10th???

 

[Landcruiser 110]

are the K44s and the Yota axl the same diff ratio?

 

[heinie_21]

That looks sick ..gonna bring it out on the 10th???

i dont think i can make it. my wifes' best friend is getting married in Logan the 10th. WHYYYYY?????!!! haha

are the K44s and the Yota axl the same diff ratio?

Unfortunately they are not. The yota (rear) is ~ 3:1 where the k44 (front) is ~2.5:1. so it is a slight underdrive in the front, which kinda sucks.. but i really havn't noticed a HUGE difference. I wish it were overdriven in the front because i feel that it would climb better, but i'm not planning on doing a whole lot of crazy climbing with this thing. it's a trail rig. Class 1.

 

[heinie_21]

Glued the windows/trim in the shell. I am VERY impressed with the quality of this shell (or bed topper as RCMODELex calls it). I have a dinkyrc shell as well and they are in COMPLETELY different leagues.

can't get enough of this bumper haha. i probably sound obsessed

 

[heinie_21]

Time for some bodywork!
Primer baking in front of my heater:

I was going for a green rig. I like flat/plain/non flashy colors on crawlers. especially old body style crawlers. I've already done tan, brown, grey, white, so olive green seemed like the next best bet! I thought i'd try out some "avocado green" first though.
didn't like it!

So i went all the way with olive green. i didn't like it a ton at first, BUT, it's growing on me.

black bed

and an interior baby! there's PLENTY of room for this interior above the transfer case. You could fit a CC BEC inbetween the bottom of the interior and the transfer case.

 

[heinie_21]

For any of you interested in this chassis or the other awesome chassis that RCMODELex has, i would advise that you avoid the RC4WD Disruptor Planetary Transmission. It is too long. It doesn't leave enough room for the motor and the servo in front of it. If you wanted to mount the servo parallel to the frame rails, it would be fine, but the chassis comes all nice and set up, pre drilled and ready for the servo to be mounted perpendicular to the frame rails. I didn't want to change that so i ordered a RC4WD 4:1 Gear Reduction Unit. It fits PERFECT. It isn't the 16:1 ratio that i wanted, but with a 55t motor and the 2.16:1 transfer case, it's slow enough. I might get a 75t motor and try that though.
If you use a GRU as the transmission, you will need a U-Joint that can bold to a 3.17mm output shaft at the tranny end, then a 5mm U-joint at the t-case end. (RCMODELex actually has one on their site!) I dont have one yet, so i just poor-man-rigged it with 2 set screws clamping my 5mm u-joint to my 3.17mm GRU output. It seems to work fine if you can center the shaft in the u-joint. Works fine, for now.

Got the electronics pretty close to their final mounted positions.

 

[heinie_21]

We are now officially drivin! This thing is super fun to drive. It's the most scale rig i've built. It's also the heaviest rig i've built. My scale only reads up to 7.5lbs, and this thing maxes out the scale, but just barely. I estimate it's an 8lb rig (without the battery or accesories on the rack/in the bed)

I took it out drivin in the snow today! noticed that my castor angle is WAY bad.. will have to fix that tomorrow! (good thing the 4-link kit from RCMODELex came with extra shims for this exact purpose!

love the dents in the bed

 

[heinie_21]

well i couldn't sleep tonight so i decided to fix the castor, and do some other fun things.
I fixed the ride-height so it sits with the nose a little hight than the bed. It needed a leveling kit haha.

testing the approach/descent angle

TIME TO ACCESSORIZE!! I need some more scale goodies to fill up this huge roof rack lol. sand ladders maybe. i dunno what else.. any ideas?

also made some more of my signature windsheild wipers "thumbsup"

 

[jthellfire911]

I saw this rig in person tonight while picking up my interior cage and all I can say is wow! Looks great man!

 

[Oz Bruiser]

Nice build mate "thumbsup"

 

[heinie_21]

I saw this rig in person tonight while picking up my interior cage and all I can say is wow! Looks great man!

thanks man! your rig is looking very good as well! and surprisingly capable!

Nice build mate "thumbsup"

thanks mate! i'm in love with this rig right now. my truggy and FJ-Cruiser are getting zero attention these past days hahaha

 

[salmonfacesalad]

Coming along nicely...and fast too.

 

[heinie_21]

My build threads are usually different than other people's threads. Most people say "this is what i am doing, and this is how i plan to finish it." My threads are more like "i'm finished!, this is what i did." I already had the truck in this state when i started this thread:

I dont have the patience to do a build and maintain a thread at the about it at the same time haha. But as of right now, THIS is a current pic:

so anything from here on out will actually be an update of progress haha.

oh and i do have an update actually!
I got an air-compressor to actuate my ARB air lockers. Since this rig is a Daily Driver, i need to be able to engage and disengage the lockers at will "thumbsup" I will run a yellow coiled wire to the diffs to complete the air locker look haha.

 

[Archangel]

I like how scale this rig looks. No huge monster truck tires... looks like something you'd see somebody driving down the street in.

 

[wally101]

Looks like someone got bit by the scale bug!!!:lmao: Nice Class 1 rig you got there. I'm REALLY digging that ARB bumper. Looks like I gotta get rid of some extra tires and electronics etc...also and build up my paypal so I can order some axles and one of those bumpers.... I've had my Hilux in pieces for way to long. Kinda miss the super scale look and the way leaf springs drive. Nice work"thumbsup"