IFS Silverado Prerunner...

[KillerBlackbird]

I've wanted to build a prerunner for a loooonngggg time now. Since my JK is finally done I can get started. I may live 3,000 miles from the nearest desert but that won't stop me lol.

Many months ago I spotted a Twin Hammer IFS SCX10 Hummer H2 that R2J built in the classifieds. After whispering sweet words to him I ended up with just the frame and driveline as you see it, basically a bodiless slider. I had acquired a New Bright Silverado body earlier that I knew this would be perfect for.

Plans are to keep it a borderline street legal prerunner. I'll use slightly larger hubs up front to give it that classic long-travel front end wide track look.

R2J did an excellent job fitting the TH IFS to the SCX frame. I'm going to try Yeti rear trailing arms to see how they look, which should extend the wheel base an inch unless I move the link mount which I may have to. I plan on hopefully extending the bed to appear as a true "regular length" bed or if I can, possibly find another Silverado body and make an extended or crew cab. Of course a bed cage with at least one spare wheel/tire is a must too. Either way I want to do a full interior as well.

I have a ton of parts coming from RPP tomorrow - RC4WD aluminum A-arms, aluminum knuckles and caster blocks, King shocks, bearings, driveshafts, etc to have on hand when I start going through the drivetrain.

I want to use RC4WD 1.7 Baja Claw Radials for tires on 1.9 wheels but I can't seem to decide on a wheel I want. Black Method 105's in 1.9 would be perfect but VP doesn't make them.

 

[Crank]

Looks good "thumbsup"

From experience though if you want the dog bones to stay in the drive cups you will want to limit the front suspension with straps or get shorter shocks.
I can see that yours are right at the edge and under any power they will come right out.
Also a very high torque servo will be your friend, the way the servo mounts between the shock towers it is always in a bind moving the slide back and forth.

 

[79SCX10]

Looks great so far! Definitely going to subscribe to this even though I'm a Ford guy!;-)

 

[monkeyracer]

Nice, another IFS SCX Silverado. Very similar to the one I started a couple years ago:

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/1-9-scale-rigs/406647-2009-chevy-silverado-ifs-ext-cab-short-bed.html

Just using a different IFS set-up. I still haven't finished it. Too many projects, not enough time... This is low on my priority list anyway since it was supposed to just be a fun trail truck.
Maybe seeing what you end up doing will inspire me to finally get it finished?

I'll be watching to see what you end up doing.

 

[King James]

Nice man. I'm working on one that is quite similar.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

Thanks guys!

Looks good "thumbsup"

From experience though if you want the dog bones to stay in the drive cups you will want to limit the front suspension with straps or get shorter shocks.
I can see that yours are right at the edge and under any power they will come right out.
Also a very high torque servo will be your friend, the way the servo mounts between the shock towers it is always in a bind moving the slide back and forth.

I may make my own front shock towers that are taller so the dog bones stay in, once I get my King shocks today I'll play around with it. I noticed that right off though, poor design on Vaterras part.

Nice, another IFS SCX Silverado. Very similar to the one I started a couple years ago:

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/1-9-scale-rigs/406647-2009-chevy-silverado-ifs-ext-cab-short-bed.html

Just using a different IFS set-up. I still haven't finished it. Too many projects, not enough time... This is low on my priority list anyway since it was supposed to just be a fun trail truck.
Maybe seeing what you end up doing will inspire me to finally get it finished?

I'll be watching to see what you end up doing.

Nice! I'm going to try my hand at making styrene front fenders similar to Fiberwerx fenders for a Silverado, so they still fit the wider front track. How did you mount your body?

 

[monkeyracer]

How did you mount your body?

I actually haven't yet. I made a drop bed for it, and will be making some cantilever rear springs. Once that is done, the plan was to use either high strength velcro or strong magnets to hold it on. The other option was to make some inverted body posts that would still keep everything hidden.

 

[R A N D A L L]

I'm diggin' it KillerBlackbird. Subscribed.

 

[Hammer!]

sweet, i love seeing IFS builds. they're just a little bit unique.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

Started on the front suspension; the Vaterra IFS is an interesting unit lol. Could be better, could be worse. It would be nice to see someone develop new drive axles to replace those dog bones.

The RC4WD aluminum A-arms are nice pieces and seem to work well so far with the aluminum Vaterra caster blocks and spindles.

I also replaced all the bearings with Fast Eddy sealed bearings and greased the front differential, which is locked.

Upon assembly; I found that I could make the Locked Up RC scale hardware I have fit the lower A-arm like the Vaterra hardware by filing the threads off to match and using the cone washer Locked Up offers. Looks much better than a large black allen head.

If anyone is wondering why I have the right side caster block on the left side, it's so I can face the hex head of the upper link hardware towards the front. I can't see any other differences between left or right other than that, and the Locked Up RC scale hardware looks better that way.

I'm going to use the Locked Up scale hardware as much as I can. I'd love to make solid upper control arms but having adjustments for camber on the stock pieces is probably better even though it's not super scale. Maybe I'll sleeve the stock uppers in black tubing somehow.

I need to find my hand held CNC machine, AKA Dremel to finish the rest.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

I actually haven't yet. I made a drop bed for it, and will be making some cantilever rear springs. Once that is done, the plan was to use either high strength velcro or strong magnets to hold it on. The other option was to make some inverted body posts that would still keep everything hidden.

I have to give it some thought too, as a battery will have to go somewhere. Velcro sounds like a good possibility.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

Update!

I've been working on this on and off when I have time. A few weeks ago I made new front shock hoops that allow me to use 90mm King Shocks (with 100mm remote resiviours) so the dog bones don't pop out of the cup on full downward travel and I get maximum up travel. I had to do some grinding so the shocks fit in the RC4WD A-arms - it's a tight fit.

Also; MonkeyRacer was kind enough to sell me his extended cab body he started on along with an extra front clip and bed. He had a 3D printed drop bed made for his bed that I won't use since I would have to cut it up to allow the shocks to poke though. So I'll make my own styrene drop bed and metal spare tire carrier.

For wheels I'm using RC4WD 1.9 black Raceline Monsters and the tires are 1.7 RC4WD Mickey Thompson Baja Claw Radials.

After positioning the new body on the frame, I realized I would need to extend the frame. The rear axle is centered at the very end of the Axial frame. So using some 1/2" square tube I bent up new frame rails and made new shock hoops from 3/16" tubing to hold the 100mm Kings. I was going to silver solder the new rear frame to the Axial frame but for serviceability it may be easier to keep it as a bolt on.

At the very rear of the new frame section I came up with an idea to allow the body to tip up like a funny car to gain access to the electronics and swap batteries. The rear bumper mount will act as a hinge and the bed will bolt to the hinge. I'll make a center support for the body and the front rests on the two posts already part of the New Bright body, which I'll use Velcro or magnets to hold the front closed.

Once I get further along with the body I'll be able to make the rear bumper once I know exactly where it will sit in relation to the body, same goes for the front bumper, which I have cut the New Bright bumper off below the headlights so I can make a prerunner style bumper.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

Also, I was going to make trailing arms but the angle of the link mounts and frame rails made that difficult without rebuilding half of the frame, so I decided to keep the rear shocks on the axle.

 

[fr8cture]

What does the 3d printed bed look like? I'm curious how something like that turns out 3d printed.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

What does the 3d printed bed look like? I'm curious how something like that turns out 3d printed.

I'll grab a pic of it, it came out good. Seems nice and durable. I'll save it for another build so I don't ruin it by cutting it up lol.

 

[monkeyracer]

What does the 3d printed bed look like? I'm curious how something like that turns out 3d printed.

Like this:

I was intending to use cantilever shocks so that they would fit under the bed.

The bed was made from I think 5 or 6 pieces, then glued together with ABS cement. Would probably have to charge a fortune to make them, but wanted to test it out to see how it would go.

 

[KillerBlackbird]

I would've had to hack that all up lol. I plan on not running a tailgate too, so the spare tire carrier will fit properly. Plus it gives me an excuse to build another silverado lol

 

[KillerBlackbird]

I've been doing a little here and there as I have time.

Made a prerunner style drop bed (no fender wells and cut out for the shock hoops). I modified the real hinge/bumper mount today so it sits under the bed more and clears the frame properly. I still have to line the body up before I mount it to the bracket.

I'm going to make sliders to protect the edge of the rocker panels and so I'll have a mounting point for the interior. I still have to make the front and rear bumpers too. The front will have a 2" VP Rigid light bar.

This is roughly how it will sit; wide track in the front and a slight rear rake just like the 1:1's:

Obviously the body still needs a ton of work too. Once I get it mounted to the rear hinge I can see where everything falls and work on that and the start of the interior.

 

[Rodamis]

What's the wheel base going to be on this rig ? Looking good too those Chevy bodies are huge but look so good "thumbsup"

 

[KillerBlackbird]

What's the wheel base going to be on this rig ? Looking good too those Chevy bodies are huge but look so good "thumbsup"

I actually haven't done the final measurement with the new solid 3/16" rear links I just made. I want to say 13-14".