HumboldtEF's LC70 SSD Trail King

[HumboldtEF]

Thanks Jato

I installed SSD's new overdrive gears in the front axle this morning curious to see how the felt. They went together nicely just like the stock gears, I did the same shimming that I did to the stock gears and they mesh well. Even without the shims it felt good.
So all the talk of crunchy gears seems to be isolated to the Capra which wasn't listed as compatible anyway so folks must have just been hoping for the best.

I also got the bed cut to clear the shock towers. Originally I had planned to really cut it up and pair it down to reduce the weight (the whole body weighs 1 lb 4oz) but now I've decided to keep the majority of it intact for the sake of strength.

 

[HumboldtEF]

I've been working on a new battery tray design surprise, surprise.
I've taken a page out of the Ascender book for the design, its a good book BTW.

I looked over the possibilities for what I could come up with and if I kept the same orientation of the stock tray I could only lower the battery maybe 8-10mm but I could take advantage of the space between the chassis rails. So I studied the old Ascender book and made up a few sketches. After a few differet iterations I came up with this:

The links are very close or touching at full extension, I still need a tiny bit more clearance here. There are two grooves in the bottom of the tray but I need to enlarge them a touch more.

I split the print into a few pieces to allow it to print easier and with a better finish. The battery strap is cut to length and a hole is put in it (with a hot paper clip) so it can be secured to the tray.

EDIT: Here's more pictures of all the parts that make up the tray and a new rear crossmember.

Battery strap

the plate is glued in place

The rear pivot took me a few tries to get right, one version had only a side to side pivot, it locked up the suspension and quickly broke because I didn't realize the axle was moving front to back as well as side to side. I read through the Ascender book again and found the solution which was a super short pair of links as the connection. These allow it to move side to side and fore and aft.
I just use the shortest rod ends I could round up not sure what they're from. Cut 2mm off each and connected them with a 10mm set screw which put it at about 19.5mm eye to eye.

Uncut rods on top finished product on the bottom

The bracket that connects the tray uses the upper link mounts on the axle.

At the front there are two pieces that print separate just to allow it to print easily and nicely, they are the front mount and pivot points.

On top this tray has them glued in place, below they are separate

The pivot points mate up to these brackets that mount to the frame

One of the benefits of printing 100% solid parts is when modding you can drill into them or run them through the table saw, it cuts nicely!

I also picked up SSD's metal shock towers, they're very nice and provide a lot more space for headers. I did add a washer when re-mounting the top of the shocks so that the screw wouldn't stick out the other side (it sticks out 1mm or so if you dont use one).

 

[soze]

Damn Casey! Really digging the battery tray. Thingiverse?

BTW, I think I'm going for the new Prusa Mini!

 

[HumboldtEF]

Damn Casey! Really digging the battery tray. Thingiverse?

BTW, I think I'm going for the new Prusa Mini!

Thanks Soze! I will be sharing this soon, I just need to do a little bit of fine tuning.

Yeah go for the Mini! I though of you when I first saw it. It looks like a great starter printer and the price is very nice too.

 

[B-MOW71]

I don't know how I missed this build thread, but following along now!

Very impressive so far! Love the engine detail! Great job!"thumbsup"

Subscribed so I don't miss anymore of the action!

 

[OSRC]

Fantastic stuff going on in here.... looking forward to updates!

 

[MaX-D]

I am more intrigued by this truck than any other out there right now. The fact that the price dropped to $369 makes this very tempting. I was dead set on getting a trx4 sport until this price dropped. Now I'm unsure.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

 

[CODYBOY]

I am more intrigued by this truck than any other out there right now. The fact that the price dropped to $369 makes this very tempting. I was dead set on getting a trx4 sport until this price dropped. Now I'm unsure.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

I've been working on a new battery tray design surprise, surprise.
I've taken a page out of the Ascender book for the design, its a good book BTW.

I looked over the possibilities for what I could come up with and if I kept the same orientation of the stock tray I could only lower the battery maybe 8-10mm but I could take advantage of the space between the chassis rails. So I studied the old Ascender book and made up a few sketches. After a few differet iterations I came up with this:

The links are very close or touching at full extension, I still need a tiny bit more clearance here. There are two grooves in the bottom of the tray but I need to enlarge them a touch more.

I split the print into a few pieces to allow it to print easier and with a better finish. The battery strap is cut to length and a hole is put in it (with a hot paper clip) so it can be secured to the tray.

EDIT: Here's more pictures of all the parts that make up the tray and a new rear crossmember.

Battery strap

the plate is glued in place

The rear pivot took me a few tries to get right, one version had only a side to side pivot, it locked up the suspension and quickly broke because I didn't realize the axle was moving front to back as well as side to side. I read through the Ascender book again and found the solution which was a super short pair of links as the connection. These allow it to move side to side and fore and aft.
I just use the shortest rod ends I could round up not sure what they're from. Cut 2mm off each and connected them with a 10mm set screw which put it at about 19.5mm eye to eye.

Uncut rods on top finished product on the bottom

The bracket that connects the tray uses the upper link mounts on the axle.

At the front there are two pieces that print separate just to allow it to print easily and nicely, they are the front mount and pivot points.

On top this tray has them glued in place, below they are separate

The pivot points mate up to these brackets that mount to the frame

One of the benefits of printing 100% solid parts is when modding you can drill into them or run them through the table saw, it cuts nicely!

I also picked up SSD's metal shock towers, they're very nice and provide a lot more space for headers. I did add a washer when re-mounting the top of the shocks so that the screw wouldn't stick out the other side (it sticks out 1mm or so if you dont use one).

Very nice Casey, the Mckenzie brothers and I are looking forward to trying this out in the King Richard truck! "thumbsup" Your design skills are growing by the day!
Ernie

 

[CODYBOY]

I am more intrigued by this truck than any other out there right now. The fact that the price dropped to $369 makes this very tempting. I was dead set on getting a trx4 sport until this price dropped. Now I'm unsure.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

OK MaX-D you know what you need to do!!:lmao: You will have plenty of support in getting it dialed in! "thumbsup"
Ernie

 

[MaX-D]

OK MaX-D you know what you need to do!!:lmao: You will have plenty of support in getting it dialed in! "thumbsup"

Ernie

Thanks Ernie. I can analyze something to death. I like the idea of having portals, but the way the trail King is set up is also very intriguing. I know what I need to do, just don't know which truck to pull the trigger on?

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

 

[CODYBOY]

I am more intrigued by this truck than any other out there right now. The fact that the price dropped to $369 makes this very tempting. I was dead set on getting a trx4 sport until this price dropped. Now I'm unsure.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

Thanks Ernie. I can analyze something to death. I like the idea of having portals, but the way the trail King is set up is also very intriguing. I know what I need to do, just don't know which truck to pull the trigger on?

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

You know that you have the option of portals on the King? I already have a rear on mine. ;-)8)
Ernie

 

[MaX-D]

You know that you have the option of portals on the King? I already have a rear on mine. ;-)8)

Ernie

Oh snap! That's right. It's like having the best of both worlds.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

 

[soze]

Oh snap! That's right. It's like having the best of both worlds.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

There's also the bonus that the Trail King is likely compatible with a bunch of SCX10 II aftermarket items.

 

[durok]

That battery tray mod is a completely out-of-the-box design and production-ready!

You should be on the payroll of a R/C company, engineering new rigs... "thumbsup"

MAJOR props!

A lot of it is the smaller touches, like the battery strap - so cool... 8)

 

[HumboldtEF]

I don't know how I missed this build thread, but following along now!

Very impressive so far! Love the engine detail! Great job!"thumbsup"

Subscribed so I don't miss anymore of the action!

Thanks B-MOW71, I've been posting updates a bit sporadically so I can see how it might sneak under the radar.

Fantastic stuff going on in here.... looking forward to updates!

Thank you OSRC!

I am more intrigued by this truck than any other out there right now. The fact that the price dropped to $369 makes this very tempting. I was dead set on getting a trx4 sport until this price dropped. Now I'm unsure.

Sent from my LM-G710VM using Tapatalk

I've been saving the first drive for a reward after completion but just from the layout I can tell this is going to be a good performer. Dont let the "Trail" in the name fool you I think it will be much more than just a trail truck.

Very nice Casey, the Mckenzie brothers and I are looking forward to trying this out in the King Richard truck! "thumbsup" Your design skills are growing by the day!
Ernie

Thank Ernie that means a lot!

That battery tray mod is a completely out-of-the-box design and production-ready!

You should be on the payroll of a R/C company, engineering new rigs... "thumbsup"

MAJOR props!

A lot of it is the smaller touches, like the battery strap - so cool... 8)

Thanks Durok! I'm glad you like the design. That would be an awesome job for sure!

The battery strap is always something I'm toying with redesigning. I find it silly that battery straps need the plastic loop built into the ends and that they need to be wrapped around a tray in some cases. I've also got a load of straps that are just a bit too short when wrapped all the way around so this allows me to be able to make use of them.

I finally settled on using magnets to mount the body, I was debating whether to use a sort of hook in the rear and magnets up front but I kept stumbling on how this hook system would be designed.

These are the magnets, https://totalelement.com/collection...neodymium-rare-earth-ring-magnets-n48-20-pack

I've used these on 2 other rigs with no complaints. They are extremely strong and the donut type magnet has the great property of locating (and centering on) the other magnet unlike the solid disk type. This means when you attach your body its always going to be in the same place.

The other trick here is from GCM racing and its using a post in the middle of the magnet, this makes it so when you take a hit these post keep things from just sliding apart because the only way to get it off is to lift.

Here's a picture of the post go though a magnet. The packing tape is used to keep the e6000 from rubbing against itself and sticking again.

I'm also looking into getting some more droop out of the rear suspension. Thing is I'd like to run stiffer springs which just raise the suspension too much, the soft springs I tried feel good but I'm guessing they will allow a little bit of torque twist (but I haven't tested this yet). I guess I might need to try some internal springs because even with a battery mounted in the rear it wont be weighing down the body much if at all.
If anyone has any droop tips I'm all ears.

 

[HumboldtEF]

I finally found a tutorial that taught me how to do cage and pipe work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5SxttEWOyk

After that I was able to finish the headers I had started making, I only made it as far as the flange before realizing I didn't know how to model bends in 3D space. 30 minutes later and I had it down, Lars Christensen has some great tutorials on YouTube for those who aren't familiar with him.

Anyway I had the first draft printed up this morning, it turned out good but I need a little more clearance so I'm printing up a 2nd version right now.

I modeled some pegs on the back side of the manifold so it keyed into the block for the first draft but for the 2nd I'm going to try just leaving holes which I can use scale hardware on to mount the header instead of gluing it.

As for where the exhaust is routed after the collector I'm really not sure. If the exhaust was just a side exit it would simplify things immensely.

 

[soze]

Man, you're really getting the hang of this 3d printing. There's going to be much to learn for me when I get mine. I think my Mini will probably arrive in December or January.

 

[CODYBOY]

Man, you're really getting the hang of this 3d printing. There's going to be much to learn for me when I get mine. I think my Mini will probably arrive in December or January.

I agree soze, very nice Casey, I don't dare show those to the McKenzie brothers! "thumbsup":lmao:
Ernie

 

[HumboldtEF]

Man, you're really getting the hang of this 3d printing. There's going to be much to learn for me when I get mine. I think my Mini will probably arrive in December or January.

Thanks Soze! One nice thing about the Prusa printers is that they are pretty well setup with their defaults so you can focus on learning the design end of things and not trouble shooting print quality so much. I'll also add that watching the tutorials before having the printer was useful but I understood it a ton more after getting the printer and using it then watching them.

I agree soze, very nice Casey, I don't dare show those to the McKenzie brothers! "thumbsup":lmao:
Ernie

Thanks Ernie, I really wanted to send you a set but I didn't know how to finish them off at the time. The McKenzies might get a gander at some point after all or I can ship it to Hanna if you want to keep it hush hush.

 

[HumboldtEF]

I worked up the rest of the exhaust. Its pretty weird because there's simply no room to run the driver side exhaust back without crossing over... so thats what I did right over the bellhousing. I made them all separate pieces because I didnt know exactly how I'd route it and this allowed me to clock and shorten things to fine tune it.

I set it up so the exhaust tip comes out in the step that hangs down from the bed.

I got some front body mounts worked up. they attach to the shock towers using an M4 screw instead of the body post pins, this just allows for a lot more strength over just having a post to mount to. These will use magnets.

The body side mouint is keyed into the underside of the hood and uses an M2 to fasten each side, but it will be glued in with E6000 as well.

I also made up a Radiator with a giant fan shroud to cover the servo. I left a slot on the front so I could slide a bunch of zip ties in for the finer details