RhinoRC high clearance build

[gunnar]

Ready to climb!

 

[gunnar]

Definitely gave me more motor space too:

 

[gunnar]

Rebuilt the ramp, you'll see a piece of wood under the stairs, neighbor's tree fell down yesterday when I was working on the rig.

 

[gunnar]

Picked up a scale a few days ago, not too bad, I was hoping for a low 5:



Will try to do a vid maybe tomorrow if I can find some rocks.

 

[gunnar]

Tried a few stumps in the back yard.

 

[gunnar]

Knocking out one last change, front upper spacer threading. To make suspension and steering connections "tighter", threaded spacers are used. I've already done steering and rear uppers.

Start with two 1/4" 7075 blanks, finished width will be 6.5mm:



Center drill:



2.5mm drill:



A little oil on the 3mm tap, tailstock loose, plunge tap into spacer, reverse, done:



Trim face to correct width:



These will be much better:




Lock everything in:



Feels tighter already

 

[gunnar]

Just chasing different setups. More triangulation in rear uppers and lowers , a bit less in front uppers, slightly stiffer front springs. Back to old rear upper arrangement. This has improved the loose rear slightly, and freed up the front a little more:







Tested both rigs, about as steep as I can go:

 

[gunnar]

Back up at the cabin, let's try a droop setup:

 

[gunnar]

So when I first got these axles, I wanted to explore a zero Ackermann option in the future:



The future is now, these are two chunks cut out of a 3/4" thick 6 inch square piece of 7075 aluminum (future rear brake caliper bracket for a 79 ironhead sporty) these will form two adapters to accomplish what I need:



This starts tomorrow by matching these two up.

 

[gunnar]

More or less the same size now:




Starting to take shape:




Now mounted from below, more shaping and drilling coming right up.

 

[gunnar]

Tie rod/drag link attached:



This side basically finished, secured top and bottom, sides smoothed over, just have to check steering lock, then do other side:

 

[gunnar]

Other side done, still have more shaping to do tomorrow, but seems to work good:

 

[JimrC]

awesome

 

[gunnar]

awesome

Thanks, it's just fun to tinker around with these rigs.

Ok, have the left side adapter trimmed down and lookin good:



Going to do this right side next, I did make small mistake, the Akermann measurement is off about 1/16", but hardly noticeable through the steering cycle. Also note the drag link lowered for a more in line pull:

 

[gunnar]

Right side now trimmed down, now have full lock to lock steering, notice upper links moved down one hole:



Plenty of servo horn clearance on left turns:



Already did a short test and I'm happy with the results.



Slammed!

 

[gunnar]

Wanted to change front portal gears back to stock for this latest test 15/20 OD gears on left:

 

[gunnar]

So with these long rear link builds, there is a risk of bending things, after a bit of rough housing earlier, it was time for thicker material. So now this has 5/16" 7075 lower links:


Bend is less severe so hopefully they will stay strong:



Rear of the chassis dropped down some, so I started hacking the body up for clearance, I plan on a new body later with some color.

 

[gunnar]

I know these tests are boring, wanted to try for two in a row

 

[themountain]

Why those long rear upper links?

 

[gunnar]

Why those long rear upper links?

I tried shorter rear links earlier, they worked fine, the rig just feels better to me with the long ones.
I did remake them in 1/4", now the back feels much more solid:



Dunno how I put bigger links on and lost weight, body trim didn't seem like much weight lost: