Natedog's Vaterra ASCENDER

[Natedog]

Ok magic swaybar numbers for me are 20mm back from factory hole and 5mm down from top of frame rail. Swaybar is in and working. Made 90mm long bar (same length as Wraith rear bar, but mine is 0.072" diameter piano wire with flats ground on both ends. To set spacing between bar arm and frame, I used plastic black nut from Axial shock plastic tree I had leftover. End links are 35mm eye to eye and made with 30mm setscrews and shock ends.

 

[CODYBOY]

Ok magic swaybar numbers for me are 20mm back from factory hole and 5mm down from top of frame rail. Swaybar is in and working. Made 90mm long bar (same length as Wraith rear bar, but mine is 0.072" diameter piano wire with flats ground on both ends. To set spacing between bar arm and frame, I used plastic black nut from Axial shock plastic tree I had leftover. End links are 35mm eye to eye and made with 30mm setscrews and Traxxas shock ends.

Thanks for the info Nate, they will be next upgrade for my truck!"thumbsup"

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Had mine apart today and fitted my Codyboy axles, got a picture of the old v new rear upper link for you Natedog.
Old one is well worn and mount holes stretched out, don't know if it's really bent but?
I installed the new type mount along with Codyboys weighted housings and tested it at one of my local spots, it's better! and I'm sure mostly due to the axle housings.
Pinion angle seems ok to me, especially under load when all the slop in the links has taken up and the upper mount flexes a little.
Hit some of my favourite lines that it scrambles a bit and might take 2 or 3 goes to get right it just walked up, and I was able to get through some other lines I have attempted in the past but never succeeded. Very happy with it now, don't want to add anymore weight to it I think.

Time I started my own thread.....

 

[M1tch]

The new mount looks a steeper angle. Don't know why that should be unless Vaterra have found some problem with the original mount. My GCM mount is dead straight, but I can't tell any difference in driving.

 

[CODYBOY]

Had mine apart today and fitted my Codyboy axles, got a picture of the old v new rear upper link for you Natedog.
Old one is well worn and mount holes stretched out, don't know if it's really bent but?
I installed the new type mount along with Codyboys weighted housings and tested it at one of my local spots, it's better! and I'm sure mostly due to the axle housings.
Pinion angle seems ok to me, especially under load when all the slop in the links has taken up and the upper mount flexes a little.
Hit some of my favourite lines that it scrambles a bit and might take 2 or 3 goes to get right it just walked up, and I was able to get through some other lines I have attempted in the past but never succeeded. Very happy with it now, don't want to add anymore weight to it I think.

Time I started my own thread.....

View attachment 348143

Sounds like the weighted axles made a difference in the way your truck climbs? Did you notice a difference when side hilling?"thumbsup"

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Yes I think so, but I have kinda taken a slight backwards step overall in that area due to taller tyres and soft foams at the moment.
It used to sidehill great with the vaterra tyres and good foams, and that was without you axles!

 

[CODYBOY]

Yes I think so, but I have kinda taken a slight backwards step overall in that area due to taller tyres and soft foams at the moment.
It used to sidehill great with the vaterra tyres and good foams, and that was without you axles!

Yes, at least 2 stage foams make a huge difference in side hilling."thumbsup"
Ernie

 

[Natedog]

I've found the Crawler Innovations Deuces Wild foams for Proline TSLXL with ribs trimmed off is perfect in Vaterra TSLs, but dual stage can be better at times depending on terrain and driving style. Gotta simple green and hot water soak tires before first use. Weighted axles help lots too.

Edit: In the end CI DW foams for Pitbull RockBeasts are best imo.

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Do you just trim the middle 2 ribs off Natdog or all of them?

 

[Natedog]

Tried both, ended up trimming all ribs off, there's a picture somewhere back several pages.

EDIT: Here's the tire foam pic trimmed differnt optinons, Post #475m page 24:
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/vaterra-ascender/538944-natedogs-vaterra-ascender-24.html

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Thanks for the link and info!

 

[Natedog]

Break-time! Moon rising and fire bomber flying last sortie of the day.






Swaybar holes drilled in frame!




45' clearanced link ends of arms.




Things start getting tight with swaybar, shocks and links. Rear shock tower forward screws before, don't seat in the holes nicely like the rear screws, so I cleaned up the holes with countersink.




Cleaned up holes in plastic shock tower.




Rear suspension at ride height, arms almost parallel to ground as they should be. Screws reinstalled, looks much better and gives more clearance for swaybar arms.




Rear suspension full compression, arms travel downward about same amount.

 

[Natedog]

Just got back late the other night from camp'n'hike'n'crawl at Rubicon Trail.




Eradicate white flowers, no trail daisies! Clean up after yourself and your trucks. Be careful.








Who doesn't like the beer tree. ;-)




Granite so smooth some places looks like ice with the right lighting angle. Yes, it was 100% dry and no ice, although chilly at night even in summer.



Last one in is a rotten egg!




Bumper and slider mods in a minute! "thumbsup"

 

[rockhugger]

Another great trip under our belts. Log that in the books under epic!!!
Maybe we can do it again before winter.

Waiting for bumper pics !!!

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Interesting to see parts being revised.

I really like this swaybar setup. Do you think this setup or the one on your Blazer will be the better of the two?

 

[Natedog]

Another great trip under our belts. Log that in the books under epic!!!
Maybe we can do it again before winter.

Waiting for bumper pics !!!

Yes and yes it was!!!

Coming up! "thumbsup"

Interesting to see parts being revised.

I really like this swaybar setup. Do you think this setup or the one on your Blazer will be the better of the two?

Re-use and mod when you can.

Thanks, I think this is a better setup, less parts and gets swaybar up out of the way. It's not been a problem, but there are some scrape marks on the bar mounts and arms from rocks. "thumbsup"

 

[Natedog]

Shortened front bumper mounts 5/16" to suck the front bumper back almost touching the K10 body just below the grill. Drilled the bumper mount holes all the way through to get good screw engagement. Looks much better and approach angle is greatly increased.








Rockhugger bumper mod! Front and back views, just cut along the internal ribbing on the backside with a sharp utility knife, then removed about 1/8" from bottom center, smoothed up the cuts and around the two mounting holes. And mounted! "thumbsup" I'll get a couple better pics from front and side. Bumpers still seem plenty strong. Did the front and rear bumpers on my Va-Blazer too, will get pics!

 

[M J]

Looking good - what did you end up doing to fix torque twist? Mine seems like the shocks are worn out.

 

[Natedog]

Thanks MJ, the rear swaybar and outboarding rear shocks mod takes care of the torque twist.

EDIT: I'm building spare shocks in different inner and outer limited configurations and utilizing Vaterra optional primary and secondary (upper and lower, short/long, etc. ) spring sets to fine tune the ride height and flex of the K10 in this setup (WB2 chassis with WB4 rear links).

Sunrise...Brrrrrr....thank God for hot coffee!

 

[Natedog]