Ringing in 2025 with a........... TLT build?

[OSRC]

It's almost 2025, so lets build a .... TLT?

This is the one that started the scale/crawler scene for me, as I'm sure it did a lot of the old timers. I've had these axles for a long, long time, and they've seen countless builds. They're still kicking and have been in a box for years along with the latest body and chassis configuration. I came across it while redoing the workbench and made sure I piled them on top so I wouldn't forget again. Build season is here, and other than the two Tamiyas I snagged from Tamiya USA's blowout sale there's just not much on the radar at the moment. So I took down the TLT and decided to dig in.

But first, a trip down memory lane. Here's the truck back in 2004-ish (when I was still single and had money and hair) Carbon chassis, traxxas links, 'pede body and some big 2.2 scale-ish tires. Went out and crawled up and over some rocks and was instantly hooked.

Fast Forward 14 or so years... I dug in my pics until I found a few of the latest build. 2018 gave it a new chassis and driveline. I was thinking "CMX Killer" but it never quite got there. Lots of good ideas on this chassis, just never got it sorted out. An HPI trans and RC4WD t-case did the driveline work.

And out in the wild. It did ok, it just needed some fine tuning.

Biggest issue I had was the chassis was just too low for the body and breakover was terrible. It was fine when designing it, but the way the body had to go on the chassis it had to sit a bit higher than I wanted so it was always a bit off. Can see it hanging down in this testing shot. I didn't initially think it would be a problem but it was pretty annoying out on the trail. Plus the gearing was way off and it had some wacky suspension.

And this is how I found it in the box, collecting dust for the last 6 or so years. I pulled it apart to see what my options were for changing around the chassis - I think I was just going to make a new one and got sidetracked on something else. It happens a lot.

I haven't had these axles open in forever, I have no idea how worn they are inside but the MIP's are still going strong and they spin fine, so not tempting fate and leaving them as-is. Thankfully my Dremel skills have improved over the years... yikes!

Pieced the chassis back together, it's been so long I wanted to get a feel for it again. Thankfully everything was still in the box.

Pulled apart the HPI unit and it looks perfect inside. Just gave it a good clean and a Red and Tacky bath and bolted it back together. How old is that Integy motor? Lord only knows. Holmes is my go-to usually, but I picked up a few Ruddog 5 pole motors to try out a while back when Amain was blowing them out for $7.99, and I swapped one in while I had everything apart. Should help a ton with low end smoothness which this truck never really had due to the gearing.

Put back together with the RC4WD t-case, though I had swapped it for a converted Axial 3 gear t-case somewhere along the way. Gear ratio with the RC4WD case was 29:1 - way higher than I like, and even with the smallish tires it was way too zippy. With the Axial t-case I had a much better 53:1 ratio (it was a bit too low IIRC, but way better than too high) but the case was so tall I had to limit rear suspension or the driveshaft would bind due to the short WB. Just to get it rolling and see what's what, I went back to the RC4WD case.

Rear driveshaft angle is tight, even with the smaller t-case. Works with 80mm shocks, but anything taller is a problem. It's only a 252mm wheelbase, so things are pretty tight.

Up front, I wanted the motor as low as possible, and I got there but uptravel for the axle was a problem. So basically I had limited uptravel in the front and limited downtravel in the rear. As I recall it made for some funky driving..

------//------

So, after refreshing my memory on what the issues were, now time to get to fixing them. I debated on cutting a new chassis, but looking at my stock of aluminum, I was running pretty low so I just stuck with what I had. Tore it all back down and zipped about 10mm off the bottom of the chassis. Drilled some holes closer in so I could run some longer links and trimmed off the rest. I gave it a quick sand to get the burrs off and it gave the edges a kind of re-machined look. I liked it, so I just left it that way. I may paint it later, who knows.

And finally the t-case. I needed to get it lower in the chassis somehow so the rear driveshaft wouldn't bind anymore, and I just hacked off 10mm of the bottom of the chassis which would make it worse, so I had to go another route. I found this stacked 70mm wide t-case in my stash and it's a Christmas miracle. The input is up high so I can raise the motor up a bit, and the outputs are much lower than anything I was running before. I don't even really need a skid, just bolted it right to the chassis rails. Even better, It's got a 2.17 ratio, so I'll be at about 41:1 FDR which is pretty much right where I want to be! So even though I lopped 10mm off the bottom of the chassis, the driveshaft outputs are actually a bit lower than they were before. Win on so many levels!

 

[B-MOW71]

I don't think that I've ever seen one of these TLT kind of rigs. I'll be following along to see how it all goes together.

 

[smog]

That is a fascinating mash up there. The rig looked fantastic as a Land Cruiser.

Are you going to keep running the Integy motor? I must say it suits the transmission and axles, that thing belongs in a museum.

Are the Axles housings steel? After-market? They look particularly industrial, I like em.

great thread, as always, it’s interesting.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

OS living up to his name with this thread! Oh and you still have plenty of hair!

I'm always impressed by your homemade chassis. This should turnout to be a good one. Will be interesting to see how its performance compares to one of your modern builds.

 

[OSRC]

I don't think that I've ever seen one of these TLT kind of rigs. I'll be following along to see how it all goes together.

Definitely don't see many around anymore.

That is a fascinating mash up there. The rig looked fantastic as a Land Cruiser.

Are you going to keep running the Integy motor? I must say it suits the transmission and axles, that thing belongs in a museum.

Are the Axles housings steel? After-market? They look particularly industrial, I like em.

It will still be a Land Cruiser! Body needs some cleanup, but it's in good shape. I transplanted the motor into my new CC01 - I think it fits there too. I wanted go 5-pole, I've been spoiled. The axle housings are plain-jane Tamiya ABS stock housings, somehow remarkably crack free. I think I'm on the third set of housings over the years, they do wear out eventually.

OS living up to his name with this thread! Oh and you still have plenty of hair!

I'm always impressed by your homemade chassis. This should turnout to be a good one. Will be interesting to see how its performance compares to one of your modern builds.

I wish... I cut it all off and I feel lost. It'll be another 2 years of growing it out to cover the bald spot. It's got potential... bring along your VRD and we'll run them against each other.

 

[OSRC]

Between all the holiday merriment and a new rock and roll electric guitar, haven't been in the shop much, but I did get a little bite more done to the TLT.

The axles were hung on the chassis with care... I moved the link mounts in about 10mm and I thought I'd need longer links but somehow the originals still worked fine. Not sure how that computes, but it saved some time.

I made a motor/trans mount out of a chunk of 6mm aluminum a while back. I wanted to move it further forward on the chassis so I re-drilled some holes, tapped a new one in the mount and trimmed off the excess. Cleaned it up a bit and got it back on the chassis.

I moved the motor mount forward and up on the chassis - about 1 inch - and it solves a lot of problems with the original setup. Thankfully I left the rails pretty thick so I had enough room to drill some more holes.

Motor is now much higher in the chassis and now front uptravel for the axle is much more inline with the rear.

Found this little Boom racing shaft in my stash and it's perfect to connect the HPI GRU to the t-case. I'm going with red accents on the chassis ilo my normal blue so it fits right in!

Crammed the steering servo back in. I took out and old Hitec 645 that's been here for years. Still works fine and was the gold standard....15 years ago though... Found a HobbyKing servo I bought to experiment with in my stash. Not strong enough for the TRX4 I bought it for, but should do fine on this much lighter truck. I had to grind and mod the servo horn a bit to get full swing but it just clears everything

Now I had a clearance issue with the panhard hitting the motor so I spent a bit of time fine-tuning the front links and geometry. I had a couple of clearance issues and some serious pinion angle changes on compression. Not good! I ended up taking the spacer off the panhard where it mounts to the axle and moved it over to the upper link, and did some fudging with all the lengths - now everything clears and the front axle has much better geometry.

Front bumper re-mounted, this time with some amber lights and figured out the center driveshafts. While these work ok, I ordered some new ones that may or may not be here anytime soon. Some OG Axial shocks got mounted up. 90mm is a lot for this chassis, it's got a ton of flex - I might tune some of it out eventually.

Dropped the body and some wheels on just to get a feel for it - suspension is not where I want it to be. Much better than it was before but It's still too stiff up front and has a bit of rear rake still. Need to think about it for a bit. Wheels and tires are very much TBD. I like the old Outcroppers looks-wise, but after a decade in the basement, they are starting to crack a bit and just feel dried out.

 

[Fallen]

This is quite cool to read.

It gives me hope that by hanging on to my more cantankerous models (Miller Motorsports), over the course of 20 years I'll likely get it sorted out nicely.

It's 80% there already.

That Lancruiser body really looks nice. Your paint and sticker layout skills have clearly been developed.

 

[OSRC]

Time to address the wonky suspension on this truck. Making new shock towers was part of the plan when I tore it down for a re-build, but since I decided to stick with the old chassis it just is what it is.

The main problem is the shocks are vertical up front and nearly vertical in back - the whole truck feels stiff even with super soft springs, and it rides like crap.

After noodling on it a bit, I decided to take a chance and ordered some $8.99 cheapo shock keys. The shocks holes for the upper mounts are SCX10 size, so the keys bolted on with little fuss.

Mounted right up and it already feels 100% better. Still need to do some tuning once I get everything mounted on the chassis but it's in the ballpark for sure.

And while I was at it, I picked up some new tires to replace those old Outcroppers. Cheap Amazon stuff, but this truck is not going to see much trail time so no need to spend a fortune. Size was right and they feel pretty decent. I'm sure they'll do fine. Not sure what I want to do with wheels yet, still up in the air.