Hilux gatekeeper build

[tigris99]

After driving a couple ectos that guys I know bought (including one fresh out of the box with a set of hyrax thrown on) I decided I needed to expand.

Obviously gatekeeper kit is the best option vs an ecto just due to price (or vs enduro builders kit for that matter).

Kit came today! Didn't realize it was all the Grey plastic bits. That's hopefully a good thing. The few parts I upgraded on my Knightrunner to the "hard" plastic definitely stiffened things up.

Tonight Ordering the Proline Hilux Body, wheels, tires and so on that are needed but don't already have. Basic needs only, no upgrades beyond front brass hubs. Gotta keep with my toyotas lol. Thought about using my outside painted original knightrunner body but too wide. Hilux body should be perfect after a little extra trimming for the extra wheel base.

Goal is something that actually maintains some resemblance of a scale rig but competitive in the local "class 2" which is basically anything goes except 4.75 tire limit, must have front bumper wider than frame, and one other frame limitation (same frame rules as sorrca)

Planned build specs thus far:

Gatekeeper minus cage body

Hilux lexan shell

Hyrax tires

Whatever amazon rims I find I like for this build

Hobbywing fusion 1800kv

45kg Amazon servo, same one that I decided to try in my knightrunner that is doing quite well shockingly and held up to pure torture for a good while now.

3d printed I don't even know what yet lol. Likely front bumper and obviously low cg battery tray.

Stay tuned.

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[B-MOW71]

Great choice on the GK kit! The best deal out there IMO!

I’ll be following along to watch the progress![emoji3]


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[DirtMerchant]

I just started the Gatekeeper kit as well. I managed to find an Ecto body in stock, amazingly, so it won’t look as cool as a Hilux, but the kit is nice. I’m looking forward to seeing how yours turns out.

 

[tigris99]

Well we will see how the hilux body comes out since it's lexan lol.

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[smog]

Cool, look forward to the hilux build.

I need to get my gatekeeper out for a rolly-rip

 

[tigris99]

Great choice on the GK kit! The best deal out there IMO!

I’ll be following along to watch the progress![emoji3]


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Gotta give you credit too, your GM/knightrunner build was the inspiration to do this. That thing came out so sweet it got my gears turning as a GK would have been the last kit I would have thought to build on.

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[B-MOW71]

Gotta give you credit too, your GM/knightrunner build was the inspiration to do this. That thing came out so sweet it got my gears turning as a GK would have been the last kit I would have thought to build on.

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Hey thanks! Same here, had no idea this GK Kit could be used for so many different builds. For the money it can't be beat and with a mix and match of different parts or kept stock, it'll can be made into what ever can be dreamed up! And be a great performing rig!

I'm really thinking about grabbing another kit before they are gone!

 

[tigris99]

Fair bit of progress. Cheap steel wheels came today (amazon level cheap lol) but waiting on tires as they got ordered with body and such from amain.

Low cg battery tray printed and installed. Thought for the packs I intend to use the stock outer dimensions may be a bit big. Only a few hour print if I need to modify it, we shall see.

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[tigris99]

Everything I had ordered came today! Wasn't expecting some of it till tomorrow or Friday.

Axles done.

Body wheelbase will work better than expected but also a bit wider than I expected based on pics/reviews of the body. Only slightly though.

Got "distracted" cause my 3d printer finished the final parts for the 4 post lift. So had to put it together and now doing a stress test with my rather heavy Knightrunner. Moved it to the center of the "garage" and leaving it till tomorrow when I get home from work. If the rack fails, it's a 4ft fall to concrete floor lol. So decided near the edge was a bad idea. If the Knightrunner doesn't break it then this GK build or the 1/10 hard body tacoma that's up next will be fine to hang out on it for "storage".

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[B-MOW71]

Nice progress!"thumbsup"

That's a good looking lift! Did you design it?

 

[tigris99]

Nice progress!"thumbsup"



That's a good looking lift! Did you design it?

I wish I could take credit for it but nope, found it on cults. Now that front bumper (short version for Class 2 and for 4.75 tire clearance) the one with full lights I did those. Modified the Knight Customs skid as well so the 2 mate perfectly and for tire clearance.

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[tigris99]

Wheel sneek peak.

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[tigris99]

Feel like I finally made some real progress! Ya I'm lame, Friday night working on this lol. But getting rear ended Sunday before last at a stop light on a way to pick a buddy up to take the scale rigs out kind of pisses in the cheerios for a bit lol.

Waiting for coating on RX board to dry atm. Gotta tune the shocks yet, springs are set for the knightrunner atm so just a bit stiff!

Color chosen for the body. Thought I still had a can, nope, grrr....

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[tigris99]

2 post night, stayed up way past bed time but:

Shocks set up for starting point. Decided to give my bilstiens a go on this, more freedom to set up and less weight to deal with.

All electronics except servo winch in, programmed and tested. May wire in some lights later on but shall see. My knightrunner has enough light for an entire group lol.

Front steering alignment the instructions left me with was a joke. Towed out horribly.

Gotta adjust panhard angle slightly, not perfect.

Happy with gearing, almost 0 torque lift punching it on carpet from a stop.

Tomorrow (today, whatever lol) get the body painted. Forgot to order body mount posts..... thank god for having a 3d printer

B-mow, seriously considering converting the knightrunner to the GK rear suspension, that extra stability with the heavy scale add ons I think would help alot with getting tippy and torque twist.
lol.

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[tigris99]

So my crap skills trimming lexan bodies went down a dark path today lol, major OOPs. Time to do some youtubing.

Full body isn't the plan, but after I screwed up and having the rig itself ready for a test run I said screw it. Hacked the bed, grabbed some primer for the inside and krylon flat camo paint and went to town.

I actually like the color, the primer inside paint outside was my plan to begin with, the flat desert tan color I like on here, so the replacement Hilux cab will be painted the same.

Stickers are for the "lip stick on a pig" to draw attention away from crap trim job that was made worse by trying to fix it.

I knew the wheelbase was going to be an issue. More so than expected, probably have more Hacking to do. Actual project is to use some aluminum rod and some plastic to make a cross between a flat bed and a truggy style bed.

May end up printing and entire bed frame though and thin lexan for the actual flat "bed". I need to see which will lighter, printed or aluminum for the tube frame of it.

Have linkage all dialed in, was cruising around the basement and climbing the front up and trying to use the furnature to test how tippy it is.

Need to change rear foams for sure, proline stock foams have crap for sidewall support on tires this big. Class 1 versions wasn't bad (same foam just cut smaller).

Bilstiens won't work, not tunable enough. Stock shocks will go on. Actually change springs on my original knightrunner shocks cause I'm too lazy to assemble these right now. Don't care for the gold look anyway. Same shock it seems. Likely going to borrow the desert lizards off the knightrunner at some point and see if they will tune to my liking on this.

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[tigris99]

Ok decided trying to build comp capable isn't my thing, at least for C2. Getting annoyed trying to get this thing set up. And with the bed I found to print that I think will look awesome for this build I gotta do this right.

Bed is about done, hopefully done before bed tonight. Crossing my fingers it's not as heavy as it looks. Hate to try and mod that piece of art in CAD and reprint after 32hr print time.

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[tigris99]

This would be the printed bed that's a "work of art" I was referring to. Going to take some cutting underneath to fit over gks shock mounts but size looks to fit perfectly with the hilux body.

If the designer of this bed is still around here, hats off man!!! Came out this nice on basic .16 layers.

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[B-MOW71]

2 post night, stayed up way past bed time but:

Shocks set up for starting point. Decided to give my bilstiens a go on this, more freedom to set up and less weight to deal with.

B-mow, seriously considering converting the knightrunner to the GK rear suspension, that extra stability with the heavy scale add ons I think would help alot with getting tippy and torque twist.

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I'd seriously recommend the GKS suspension conversion!;-) I love how it looks and acts on my GK-Knightrunner!

I see the Bilstien shocks didn't last long! It's really hard to beat the stock Element shocks for smoothness and non-leakage!

Great choice on the Hilux body. It is one of my favorite bodies! I have it on my SCX10.2 that I built a few years back and have thought about getting another. I used the Knight Customs roll bar in mine. It looks great and completes the look.

Looking forward to seeing how the printed bed comes out!

 

[tigris99]

I'd seriously recommend the GKS suspension conversion!;-) I love how it looks and acts on my GK-Knightrunner!



I see the Bilstien shocks didn't last long! It's really hard to beat the stock Element shocks for smoothness and non-leakage!



Great choice on the Hilux body. It is one of my favorite bodies! I have it on my SCX10.2 that I built a few years back and have thought about getting another. I used the Knight Customs roll bar in mine. It looks great and completes the look.



Looking forward to seeing how the printed bed comes out!

I liked the bilstiens on my knightrunner for straight trail use where I didn't need every mm of travel I could squeeze out of the ifs. With proper oil, which ended up being 4000cst "diff oil" to slow them down enough it did well.

Stock enduro shocks are pretty nice but getting them set up so the back doesn't lift to much when descending but also support the rig right is a pain.

I'll get pics of the bed now that I have the printing supports trimmed off and such. I need to try and do a little cad work with it just so it works exactly how I need and shave some weight. Not sure I could get enough weight forward and brass on the axles to stabilize it. But going to test with this one since I don't have experience with the GKS which may take care of the extra tippiness that would come due to it.

I did find that KnightCustoms also has full stl files to print for this body too which just locked in the decision to ditch class 2 comp capable.

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[tigris99]

Ok thread/rig resurrection time.

This is much of the reason the tacoma got obliterated today, this rig is for that level of course lol, poor taco isnt.

Nope I didn't learn my lesson on taking the easy route. Gotta be unique. So learn from failures so this body doesn't explode lol.

Yes, this is a more modern hilux. 2006ish IIRC. It WAS the scale version of the Artic Hilux.

Few upgrades:

Ssd axles and aluminum c hubs

Rc pirates shock towers

Foxbelly v2

Possibly SOA haven't decided yet but have the artful soa mount.

Still putting finishing touches of the cab. Going to aim for using the GK interior bit as an interior but we'll see.

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