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Oh look, Another TF2 build thread...... (Watch me transform a used ebay TF2)

Some changes have been made. I finally did get to crawl with a buddy I met here on the forum, and had alot of fun doing so!

Some things became apparent about the TF2 though; After some reflection, I've realized my TF2 looks like it skipped leg day :lmao:

And having it as tall as it is, I've had poor steering that I've been dealing with for quite awhile. Including rubbing issues on the steering link and poor steering response (could use a servo upgrade LOL). And while the bounciness of my TF2 is novel and realistic, so to speak, I wrapped 2 springs while I was out with my buddy crawling. I had fun, so wasn't really concerned with it.

Granted, I don't treat this thing like a TF2; More like a monster truck :lmao: I'm really not easy on my stuff, and it shows with the TF2 LOL.

So without further ado, I did the axle flip, and couldn't be happier! Truck now looks proportionate with tiny tires, and the tire tuck is sexy!

An added bonus? Doing the axle flip and mounting the springs under (can be done without the RC4WD leaf under kit), let me put the exhaust back on.

The biggest plus? It just looks right! I lost a little articulation, but that's ok because I gain a lower CG and the steering is way better. Articulation is still over 3 inches all the way around. Plus, it'll now be less likely to flip. The old, cut Mud Thrashers do amazing out in the wild, but being glued to touring car wheels only lasts so long. So I took the foams out of them cause they give fantastic bite, and put them into the newer, uncut Mud Thrashers, and put them back on the beadlocks I have, because they really complete the look of the truck. I'll probably do the same cut to these at a later date. The beadlocks also give a slightly wider track width.

I'll have some pics out in the wild soon enough, but here are a few shots while I was working on it last night.





And a few shots out crawling with my new buddy! Pics courtesy of AnimalHippie




We found some really cool stuff out there!
 
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It sure does look good with the body lowered! Looks great and it will definitely handle a whole lot better! Sexy she is!! (whistle! whistle!):)

I've always been a big fan of running my rigs as low as possible to help lower the COG. It sure does help when out on the steeper rocks!
 
Excellent writeup of new mods, their pluses, and congrats on adding a crawlin' bud - even better that it's AnimalHippie from the forum!

Truck looks GREAT, Ecto Ocho wheels really suit it as well..."thumbsup"
 
B-MOW71 said:
It sure does look good with the body lowered! Looks great and it will definitely handle a whole lot better! Sexy she is!! (whistle! whistle!):)

I've always been a big fan of running my rigs as low as possible to help lower the COG. It sure does help when out on the steeper rocks!
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Thanks man! It really does look a thousand times better! Hard bodies don't sound good tumbling down the rocks :lmao:

durok said:
Excellent writeup of new mods, their pluses, and congrats on adding a crawlin' bud - even better that it's AnimalHippie from the forum!

Truck looks GREAT, Ecto Ocho wheels really suit it as well..."thumbsup"
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Thanks bud!

A good time all around. Justin is an awesome buddy. Funny we wound up getting close before we ever even met!

The beadlocks really do complete the "military" part of the theme. And the 1.55 Mud Thrashers gain some width being stretched onto the 1.9 wheels. So all around it looks great!
 
A few pics from out in the garden.




Sadly, the organic bumper has to go :cry:
Its now an issue with approach angle. I should be able to design and print a new front bumper to fit the truck though, and make it fit the theme as well.
 
Took some inspiration from High Plains Drifter's fabricated front bumper to design a 3D printed bumper. After the axle flip, the organic bumper hinders approach angle quite a bit. Went a bit too heavy on the Plastidip trying to cover up a few gaps in the print lines, but that actually made it fit the theme of the truck, so I'm ok with it.
Red one was the first design, blue is the second revision.


 
Man, I never knew that you had a thread on your tf2. I'll have to go back through and take a closer look. Just from the last few pics though, I really like that rig. I saw the other pics that you posted in my thread but I didn't realize how much weathering detail you put into this thing. Some really nice work! Also looks like you've got a nice place to play there... plenty of rocks and even more appealing to me at this point ( since the heat has been so brutal this year in central Texas), is all that glorious shade that you have there lol.

BTW Even though you haven't added anything to that bumper yet, I like two things about it better than mine... One being the weight reduction. Mine being steel means of course that it's a heavy one. I hope that I don't encounter any COG issues when I eventually run it. And the second thing is that I really like the plasti-dip texture. It fits the gnarly aesthetic and looks right at home on that heavily weathered rig. Great job and glad I was able to help the inspiration.
 
high plains drifter said:
Man, I never knew that you had a thread on your tf2. I'll have to go back through and take a closer look. Just from the last few pics though, I really like that rig. I saw the other pics that you posted in my thread but I didn't realize how much weathering detail you put into this thing. Some really nice work! Also looks like you've got a nice place to play there... plenty of rocks and even more appealing to me at this point ( since the heat has been so brutal this year in central Texas), is all that glorious shade that you have there lol.

BTW Even though you haven't added anything to that bumper yet, I like two things about it better than mine... One being the weight reduction. Mine being steel means of course that it's a heavy one. I hope that I don't encounter any COG issues when I eventually run it. And the second thing is that I really like the plasti-dip texture. It fits the gnarly aesthetic and looks right at home on that heavily weathered rig. Great job and glad I was able to help the inspiration.
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Thanks man! And for sure thank you for getting those measurements for me; It made it alot less work to design!

For a budget build I did put a lot of work into this truck, and learned some things about weathering and supporting mods for a leaf spring truck.

The weight up front on yours may actually be beneficial; I noticed a tendency to flip on mine at a lesser angle with the truck so high. The lower COG with the axle flip actually made a pretty large difference here. My organic bumper was 62.5 grams, the 3D printed bumper is only 18.8 grams.

Can't wait to get the first scars on this bumper!

Florida isn't much better with the heat. We also have such high humidity we are virtually swimming in it :lmao:
 
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Glad to be able to help out.It'll be interesting to see how or if this new bumper affects the handling/ performance. I also might look into the axle flip... not sure.

And regarding that humidity... it's one or the other here. In the mornings the humidity is pretty high and lows have only been getting down into the low-mid 80's so that's pretty miserable doing anything outside for too long. Then after the sun comes up, the temps rise quickly and the humidity drops.. so warm and wet or hot and dry.. Really wish there was a third option lol.
 
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high plains drifter said:
Glad to be able to help out.It'll be interesting to see how or if this new bumper affects the handling/ performance. I also my look into the axle flip... not sure.

And regarding that humidity... it's one or the other here. In the mornings the humidity is pretty high and lows have only been getting down into the low-mid 80's so that's pretty miserable doing anything outside for too long. Then after the sun comes up, the temps rise quickly and the humidity drops.. so warm and wet or hot and dry.. Really wish there was a third option lol.
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That third option you may not like. Hot and Wet. Upper 90's today with 90%+ humidity. Its gross out here right now. Stepping outside results in an instant shower, and not the good kind :x
 
That third option is called springtime in central Texas! Low to mid 90's anyway with excessive humidity. But it didn't last long this year. We jumped quickly into triple digit heat which just burns off that humidity. The older I get ( 55 now) the harder it is to be outside in this kind of weather. And I've always been and outdoors guy. But whether it's yard work or running little trucks... I just can't handle being outside too long in excessive heat or humidity. It's funny... Up north where I grew up ( Ohio) they talk about winter being the down time for outdoor activities. But down here when those cooler temps hit, I'll grab a light jacket and be outside for hours. That's why I'm modding a few of my rigs now... just waiting for that chill in the air.

Anyway... Sorry for the thread derailment there. I look fwd to reading this thread when I've got some time.
 
high plains drifter said:
That third option is called springtime in central Texas! Low to mid 90's anyway with excessive humidity. But it didn't last long this year. We jumped quickly into triple digit heat which just burns off that humidity. The older I get ( 55 now) the harder it is to be outside in this kind of weather. And I've always been and outdoors guy. But whether it's yard work or running little trucks... I just can't handle being outside too long in excessive heat or humidity. It's funny... Up north where I grew up ( Ohio) they talk about winter being the down time for outdoor activities. But down here when those cooler temps hit, I'll grab a light jacket and be outside for hours. That's why I'm modding a few of my rigs now... just waiting for that chill in the air.

Anyway... Sorry for the thread derailment there. I look fwd to reading this thread when I've got some time.
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No apology necessary. I too grew up up north in NJ so I can relate. Though I'm only 38, Florida is terrible and not the way anybody said it was :lmao:

Move to Florida they said. It's nice they said. LMAO maybe 20 years ago it was; Or maybe it was cause I was a kid when we came down and didn't notice the heat.

It is terrible for the whole year except for those few weeks of spring we get in winter :lmao:
 
Had some fun out at Scale Mountain in Ocala yesterday.

Met a couple guys who were also crawling out there, One of which let me drive his TRX4 and Axial Capra. I was leaning towards the TRX4 as my next purchase. But after driving the Capra, which is aptly named after a goat, Has cemented the Capra as my next purchase. Pretty much box stock; It truly is a goat. He was running stock TRX4 tires that were cut.

I got some video of the TF2 out there that I'm gonna compile together soon, but for now I've got a few pics.






And of course, the Capra



A couple notes,
Flipping the axles really makes you have to choose your line real carefully. However, side hilling and flip angle reduction are greatly increased.

The A&M skidplate is a hinderance with the reduced ride height.

The 3D printed bumper and mount performed EXTREMELY well. Barely was an issue with approach angle at all. It would catch on the sides in certain areas, but other than that it's a large improvement all around.

Without the bed being bobbed, a 3D printed plate on the rear, under the bed may make an improvement in sliding off obstacles instead of catching on them. Though tucking the stock rear bumper underneath also does pretty decent at this too.

Most of the issues with it at Scale Mountain was due to how some of their rocks are stacked and placed together; I'm pretty confident it will be much better out in the wild with less sharp edges.

It is, after all, a scale truck and not a crawler. But it still surprises me and others.
 
Been itching to add to the crawler garden trails, and really wanted to do a wooden bridge. So I got together some old hardwood moldings and some cedar flooring pieces and got to work.



Freshly built

After 5 black washes





I'll be doing some more work adding some large rocks I picked up from someone who was moving out of their house. I plan to have the other side of the bridge go back onto some rocks, and add a new section to the trails.
In other news, I messed with some settings on the Quicrun 1080 ESC and actually found some better settings than what I had, so that's a plus.
Stay tuned for more!
 
Oh look, Another TF2 Update!



You might recall me mentioning that the A&M skidplate was a hinderance with the axle flip mod.
After some measurements and double checking, it looks like 15mm is about the most the tcase and transmission can be raised without issue. This also puts the base of the tcase at the base of the frame rails.

With the axle flip and these Junfac driveshafts, the pinion angle is kept in check. It's close to un-desirable, but unless I'm trying to pin the throttle while crawling and bound up, it hasn't been an issue.

Flat on the ground, in second gear, at full throttle, it RIPS!

So for this mod I ordered some M3, 15mm threaded standoffs (3 for the top plate over the tcase), and fabricated a few 15mm brackets for the transmission mounts. From the bottom up its a M3 long set screws, standoffs, tcase plate, and M3 button head screws.

The transmission brackets are self explanatory. Need slight bends to keep alignment of the output shaft.

This will require a slot be cut in the electronics plate for the rear driveshaft. Will also require the use of shorty lipos, though from what I have experienced thus far, it seems better balanced because of it.


So I trimmed a slot into the rear of the electronics tray, and shortened the Axial battery tray, as well as shifting the tray further back by removing the round frame brace close to the rear upper shock mount.

Installed the M3 standoffs, with a few temporary shims on the front post for shaft alignment. I will fully correct the angle of the transmission brackets when I do my next mod; Removing the slop from the R3 transmission.

Transmission leaves about 2mm between the top of the spur gear, to the underside of the hood. The motor drop mod helps keep the motor low, and still doesn't interfere with the shift servo or steering servo. Added bonus, The motor no longer sits on the front pumpkin with the axle flip.

Redid the wiring loom once again, and changed locations on the Rx and Voltage Sensor. I may move the shift servo back towards the transmission, as now there is room for it again, plus I want to get rid of that lengthy linkage.

Places I used to get caught up on the rocks in the crawler garden I no longer get hung up on,

I did finally get around to updating my plug less lighting to the second revision, which is more reliable with less components. No more ring terminals at the base, so no more need to isolate them from the frame. The wire is now directly soldered to the spring, and the spring is retained to the post by a body clip.


Finally got some decent pics of the crawler garden. Posted in order so you can perhaps get a feel for the rocky section. The rest of it is just trails through the ferns and plants for now. I did add a bunch of orange LED lights from the Halloween clearance stuff. I think it came out pretty cool, but the pics are so washed out in orange you can't really tell what it looks like in person. It's not that orange lol.






Getting started with the lights

Doggo helping out

Put some lights under some of the rocks and I'm glad I did!



More to come but that's all for now!

-RC Perspective
 
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