Natedog's Vaterra ASCENDER

[rockhugger]

Great pics Nate!!!! That was a ton of fun"thumbsup"

I would have no reservations grinding that nub off the end of the yoke, I've done it before with no problems.

 

[Natedog]

Rockhugger, thanks and yes it was! Thanks for the driveshaft input!


M1tch, Incisions are very scale looking, splines are not loose and floppy (yet anyways :ror: ) like MIPs. Junfacs work and are nice small diameter, but the 'D' shaped slip yoke connection is less than ideal and the Incisions are more scale looking. All I had to do to fit these was open up transmission output shaft holes little more and then 45' chamfered outside of holes!


Transmission output shafts from left to right, new Vaterra through-hole shaft with 1.5mm removed from each end to flush up with driveshaft yoke, original non-through hole shaft, and new un-modified through hole shaft. Cleaned, re-greased gears, threw in a few cat hairs, bolted together and ready to rock!

Shafts installed, bottom chassis shot, new setup with all 5mm solid steel upper and lower suspension links (more weight down low, slides over rocks nicely). After much testing, Crawler Innovations Deuces Wild foams for Pitbull RockBeasts are the best foams inside the Vaterra Swampers imo, Pro-Line foams are too large (they're made for the 4.75" tall Pro-Line tires). Blazer tires work way better with the CI foams, new foams on the way!

SIde shot, lookin good, note STRC aluminum rear upper link with Yeti.Stealth's 3 screw mount mod! Realized I was changing too many variables at once (and had a ton more work to do) so went back to Vaterra aluminum shocks that I've been running, but drained and refilled them with Losi 50wt oil.

 

[rockhugger]

Look really good. I like those incision shafts. "thumbsup"

 

[M1tch]

Thanks Natedog. Those shafts look really nicely made. Tempted maybe....

 

[rockhugger]

Natedog: https://youtu.be/9JyC23lwsn4?t=220

 

[Yeti.stealth]

Haha! Was that Natedog winning something?

 

[Natedog]

Look really good. I like those incision shafts. "thumbsup"

Thanks, they're beauties for sure. "thumbsup"

Thanks Natedog. Those shafts look really nicely made. Tempted maybe....

You're welcome.

Natedog: https://youtu.be/9JyC23lwsn4?t=220

Nice, thanks! "thumbsup"

Haha! Was that Natedog winning something?

Yes it was, Losi NightCrawler that Ernie tuned up and helped find a deserving home for. 8)"thumbsup"

 

[Yeti.stealth]

You and Ernie! The kings of paying it forward!

 

[Natedog]

Thank you, Dean, always try to be!

Rear axle narrowed, cleaned up, knuckles on but will drill holes and set caster later. Measured ten times, marked housing, measured a couple more, used calipers for overall width check, very small tubing cutter to mark all the way around housing for cut, X-Acto course tooth saw (cut it few thousandths of an inch long), then sanding wheel to specs and squareness. Scotch tape was used to tighten the knuckles fit on ends of axle, stretched tightly almost two full wraps of tape, then installed knuckles.

WB4 with all steel links!

K10 body is about 22mm less height than Blazer body, making it difficult to get the body low and still have room for tires during flex. Compared side by side to my old Honcho body and it's very similar in dimensions height and width wise. Honcho originally came on (and I ran it) with much smaller 1.9s, Axial Ripsaws, however I'm very partial to the size and traction of the Vaterra Swampers....gotta run these tires. What to do....

 

[Itali83]

Why did you narrow a rear axle for the front axle?

Ben

 

[Natedog]

Much easier to add third screw through the upper link mount into the pumpkin housing ala Yeti.Stealth brace.

 

[Itali83]

Gotcha. So, are you no longer using the stock floating battery tray? Glad to see you’re still tinkering with them. I love my OG ascender and it’s dialed in but never use it much,or any of my trucks for that matter lately.

Ben

 

[Natedog]

Not on the K10 (Blazer still uses floating tray), will be running BPC tray made for ProTek 3S 3600/4100 LIHV. Work and family can make it difficult to get crawl time or are you RC flying or?

https://www.bpcustomchassis.com/index.html

 

[Itali83]

Just life priorities. No flying for me. Made a short, very short venture into planes and that ended quickly. Literally lol. Keep up the good work and pictures.

Ben

 

[Natedog]

OK, understand how that goes too. Ah yes, my first flights were ok until the landing and some of them were spectacular and costly! :ror: Real Flight8 Horizon Hobby Edition has been helping me a lot!
https://www.realflight.com/products/rf8/index.php
New airplane if it continues to go well. Thanks!

Nate

BPC shorty pack tray mounted, very nice piece, high quality steel (took longer to drill my front extra 2mm mounting hole), bent up rear mount out of K&S aluminum sheet from LHS using Vise-Grip sheet metal pliers, always ended up using vise and/or regular pliers, this is way easier, more exact and super clean bends, highly recommended tool!
https://www.irwin.com/tools/locking-tools/the-original-locking-sheet-metal-tools

Edit: BTW, upper shock mount pivot balls are better than rubber bushings as they allow the shock some rotational play. Rubber bushings prevent this and constantly work at unscrewing the shock caps.

Vaterra Twin Hammers rear swaybar kit ordered, thanks for the pictures and measurements Dametheus!
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/vate...7-vtr334001-rear-swaybar-kit.html#post5958747
https://www.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?I=VTRC1378

Team Losi 22SCT front swaybar ordered too, just in case, but I think the Twammers bar is going to fit better. Trying to simplify and clean up this setup.
https://www.horizonhobby.com/sway-bar-kit--front:-22sct-tlr334001

Front Vaterra V100 body posts dropped down where I plan to remount the body height-wise. Tires now mounted with new set of RC4WD white spoke 6-lug beadlocks
https://store.rc4wd.com/6-Lug-Wagon-19-Steel-Stamped-Beadlock-Wheels-White_p_1931.html

CI DW foams for Pitbull Rockbeast (same as Va'Blazer)
http://crawlerinnovations.com/deuces-wild-single-stage-1-9-pitbull-rock-beast-foam-pair/

shocks cleaned and filled with Losi 50wt oil, Incision scale shafts installed, 550 21T motor!

Brass tubes add 6g weight inside front axle housing (not a lot but ever little bit counts), require no drilling or machining of axle housing.

Ride height or a bit lower, cab still needs to go forward another 6mm, total required body stretch 31mm less 5mm for second bed cage main hoop, bunch of 2.5mm buttonhead screws ordered, wanted 40mm but didn't find any, got ideas, 3d printer would be nice Also need to cut, heat, bend and drill new holes for rear bed cage mount to drop it down 12mm. I've got spare bed cage for cutting up. :ror:

 

[M1tch]

That looks either very long or very low Nate, maybe both


I also tried the flying 'thing', but like others, I seemed to be constantly hitting the ground a bit too hard Decided to stick with rc cars and cycling.

It's coming up for the 5th anniversary of getting my Ascender K5 kit. I still drive it even with newer trucks around. I can't think of anything to 'treat' it to though.

 

[Natedog]

Hey M1tch, WB4 (314mm, 12.36") but quite low, dropped front body posts 4 holes down from stock (about 10mm drop).

Yes, crashed my first plane every time I landed, sometimes more expensive than other landings.

Awesome, maybe some VP driveshaft adapters and the scale Incision shafts? New bumper(s)?

Went to a friends BBQ Labor Day weekend and did some evening and night crawling on a sweet scale trail course! It's pretty good size running approximately lenght of average backyard and 10-12' wide, tons of fun!

Very cool hanging bridge with wood cross slats, then there's another level up in the bushes/trees that's built of sticks trimmed from the yard!

Off camber teeter totter with a turn halfway through, only had the skinny edges of 2x4s to support your tires, it would buck you off as it settled down onto the brick wall if you weren't careful! :ror: Rockhugger's TRX-4 just successfully crossed (little action shot!), I'm next in line and then SCX10 with lotso homebrew mods, cantilever rear suspension, servo winch with bumper fairlead, metal tubing brazed bed cage, lightbar, etc!

Old fashioned wooden covered bridge with nice brick/rock foundation at both ends and a waterfall trail underneath!

 

[rockhugger]

Awesome!!!! Great pictures Nate. That was so much fun packed into such a compact area. "thumbsup"

 

[Natedog]

Thanks, yes it was a ton o fun!

Anybody have the K10 and F100 Ascender bodies to compare front wheelwell room? Going to WB4 I need little more room at front of front wheelwells especially while turning and flexing, my Axial headlight buckets are rubbing the tires little more than I like, might use different buckets that are about half the depth or? Maybe swap to the Ford F100 body if it has more room?

Looking at doing my flipping body mod here too, less body clips better. Still gotta chop and lower the cage/bed, bought another for spares in case I need to cut twice. :ror:

Bought some more BPC parts, sliders, winch hooks, shock relocation brackets. Very high quality laser cut steel and great customer service, thanks again Bruce!
https://www.bpcustomchassis.com/index.html

 

[Natedog]

I got one c-hub drilled and mounted perfectly...and then there was a drilling mishap, the two wraps of Scotch tape shim wrapped up around the bit and it wandered dangit! Decided to use a front axle housing since it was sitting on the table ready to go, revisited an upper front link mount triangulation point, it is possible! Bent and drilled a bit of sheet steel, ground appropriate contours and wala, going to fill the area between axle housing and bracket with JBWeld. The top screw is 3mm buttonhead with locknut and then 2.5mm with flat washer on both ends.

Received a new K10 grill and bumper assembly with Vaterra headlight buckets, marker lights, LEDS ready to plug n play, thank you Rich! 8) The grill assembly is clamped into place by the headlight buckets.