55ovalcharlie
Rock Stacker
****** where this build is at at the moment *******
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Started this build a while back so I'm playing catch up.
To fuel my roll cage making addiction I went and bought one of these American Land Rover Things called a Jeep.
One über cheap China JK Jeep body off ebay and then 15 minutes later with some blades and hey presto.
The plan is (or was, as I did this a few weeks back as we've been busy having a new baby!) for scx10 rails, SSD Scale Transmission, Mamba X, Tekin Motor, axles will either be VP Portals or SSD Pro44 and then lots and lots of stainless steel tubing and of course - a hinged body as LOTS of my builds have as I simply despise body pins and having to undo lots of screws to swap batteries out.
the general gist of it
started out by welding on a set of stainless tube sliders which will double up as battery mounts for the twin 2200mah 3S lipos - one on either side of the skid
Then made a start on the basic outline of the cage
the bulk of the metal work is stainless tube, 4mm outer diameter with a 1mm wall
the cage is being built to slide down over the body, then get fixed to the body with just 3 x screws on each side. The main cage will then be hinged and tilt up from the back.
Then it will get fixed in the down position with 1 x M3 screw that will tie it to the front bumper section
something a bit like this
Plan is for the ESC to be located between the chassis rails towards the rear of the truck, and the RX and a few other bit's n bobs to be held in an RR10 fuel cell, also at the back.
Started adding some bracing to the cage at this point - and also built a little bit of protection into the front screen bit of the cage for a light bar and added a couple of Oh $h1T handles too.
You can also see the start of the front grille surround here too
And the beginnings of the front bumper which will house a winch too.
Next - Added a LOT more diagonals to the rear section of the cage too and a simple mount for a spare wheel.
Bit hard to see in the photos but I've also scratch made the shock hoops too - again - out of 4mm stainless tube.
n.b. the chassis rails have had a few cm's chopped out of their length at the back to fit the body and intended final wheel base.
and here you can see a bit more of what I'm doing with the front bumper
It's still a work in progress and needs more adding to it but i'm really pleased with it and it's ended up as a super sturdy and simple way to secure the body in the down position. You can just make out the M3 screw about half way up the motor section of the Warn winch - thats the screw which slides through a bit of tubing locking the body in the down position.
At the moment it's mocked up with portal axles and 4.45 inch tyres - but I've also tested it with some 4.75 tyres and they will also work fine which is cool as the 4.45 might end up looking a little too small for this build??? we'll wait and see.
Today I've made some custom front shock hoops and hopefully I'll find the time over the next few days to make a custom pan hard chassis bracket to lift the pan hard bar up a little to help with clearance of the pumpkin with the portal axle.
Next - added a couple of simple tube fenders to mirror the lines of the main exo cage at the front
Also shown in the pics is the truck proudly modelling a set of “CNC Custom Wheels” beadlocks and 1.9 PitBull Growlers
Think this size tyre suits it better than the smaller 4.45 rubber
I also made (but forgot to photograph) a new steel panhard bracket for the chassis which helps to raise the panhard bar (again custom made bar) up out of the way of the raised pumpkin on the portal axles
Raided the spare parts drawer and added some more spotlights to the front end.
These are the GMade spun aluminium housings. Really nice lamps at great value for money, and a nice change from the more common plastic axial style lamps.
You can’t see it in the photos but I’ve also made an aluminium plate to house the Mamba X esc which is slung between the rear chassis rails
Next up is to solder on some more stainless tabs to hold rear lamps and then also work out where the hi-lift jack and land anchor will be held
Added some more stainless tube (again!!!!) to the front bumper - roll hoop to protect the spots and also to tie the grille surround into the bumper too
Also soldered on some tiny tabs on the back roll bar to bolt 4 x more spot lights too
And made a little functional bracket thingy to hold an alloy hi-lift jack on the rear quarter
Up
Down
Made a stainless land anchor tonight and soldered on a couple of brackets so it’s easily removable
Also soldered on yet more tiny brackets to support 2 more LED housings - you can never have enough lights :ror:
More progress
Finished off the rockers / sliders which double up as battery compartments
Also added a bash plate to the underside of the front bumper
Silver soldered on a stink load of m3 nuts in the rear tray area which will be used to secure down some aluminium chequer plate sheet too
Did a little bit of a vote over on my instagram and now looks like I’m gonna have to fab up some tube doors too! :hmmm:
So - I’ve made up some pretty simple funtional ones to see how they’ll look and I’m liking them.
The vertical bit of the doors is some brass tubing I had with a 3mm ID and the rest of the door is the same 4mm of stainless tubing as the rest of the cage. Then a couple of square m3 bolts soldered onto the a pillars act as hinges with some m3 bolts as hinge pins
I’ll be adding a little cross bracing to them, and they’ll be fully functional with some magnets sunk into the back side of the tube which will secure to a couple of small mild steel plates that I’ll be adding to the body
Both tube doors finished
Fully functional with two tiny 3mm rare earth magnets sunk into holes drilled in the back side of the tube. Then a bit of mild steel sheet acting as a “striker plate” for the magnets slots through a slit cut in the body’s b pillar and is glued in place
You can also see here that I've swapped out the regular JK seat backs for something a bit more fitting.
Vapour Blasted the cage!
Always so satisfying to get all the silver soldering crud off it and see what remains
Just a small amount of tidying up (sanding) to do then hopefully can start putting things back together and do a bit of bodywork
*******************************************
Started this build a while back so I'm playing catch up.
To fuel my roll cage making addiction I went and bought one of these American Land Rover Things called a Jeep.
One über cheap China JK Jeep body off ebay and then 15 minutes later with some blades and hey presto.
The plan is (or was, as I did this a few weeks back as we've been busy having a new baby!) for scx10 rails, SSD Scale Transmission, Mamba X, Tekin Motor, axles will either be VP Portals or SSD Pro44 and then lots and lots of stainless steel tubing and of course - a hinged body as LOTS of my builds have as I simply despise body pins and having to undo lots of screws to swap batteries out.
the general gist of it
started out by welding on a set of stainless tube sliders which will double up as battery mounts for the twin 2200mah 3S lipos - one on either side of the skid
Then made a start on the basic outline of the cage
the bulk of the metal work is stainless tube, 4mm outer diameter with a 1mm wall
the cage is being built to slide down over the body, then get fixed to the body with just 3 x screws on each side. The main cage will then be hinged and tilt up from the back.
Then it will get fixed in the down position with 1 x M3 screw that will tie it to the front bumper section
something a bit like this
Plan is for the ESC to be located between the chassis rails towards the rear of the truck, and the RX and a few other bit's n bobs to be held in an RR10 fuel cell, also at the back.
Started adding some bracing to the cage at this point - and also built a little bit of protection into the front screen bit of the cage for a light bar and added a couple of Oh $h1T handles too.
You can also see the start of the front grille surround here too
And the beginnings of the front bumper which will house a winch too.
Next - Added a LOT more diagonals to the rear section of the cage too and a simple mount for a spare wheel.
Bit hard to see in the photos but I've also scratch made the shock hoops too - again - out of 4mm stainless tube.
n.b. the chassis rails have had a few cm's chopped out of their length at the back to fit the body and intended final wheel base.
and here you can see a bit more of what I'm doing with the front bumper
It's still a work in progress and needs more adding to it but i'm really pleased with it and it's ended up as a super sturdy and simple way to secure the body in the down position. You can just make out the M3 screw about half way up the motor section of the Warn winch - thats the screw which slides through a bit of tubing locking the body in the down position.
At the moment it's mocked up with portal axles and 4.45 inch tyres - but I've also tested it with some 4.75 tyres and they will also work fine which is cool as the 4.45 might end up looking a little too small for this build??? we'll wait and see.
Today I've made some custom front shock hoops and hopefully I'll find the time over the next few days to make a custom pan hard chassis bracket to lift the pan hard bar up a little to help with clearance of the pumpkin with the portal axle.
Next - added a couple of simple tube fenders to mirror the lines of the main exo cage at the front
Also shown in the pics is the truck proudly modelling a set of “CNC Custom Wheels” beadlocks and 1.9 PitBull Growlers
Think this size tyre suits it better than the smaller 4.45 rubber
I also made (but forgot to photograph) a new steel panhard bracket for the chassis which helps to raise the panhard bar (again custom made bar) up out of the way of the raised pumpkin on the portal axles
Raided the spare parts drawer and added some more spotlights to the front end.
These are the GMade spun aluminium housings. Really nice lamps at great value for money, and a nice change from the more common plastic axial style lamps.
You can’t see it in the photos but I’ve also made an aluminium plate to house the Mamba X esc which is slung between the rear chassis rails
Next up is to solder on some more stainless tabs to hold rear lamps and then also work out where the hi-lift jack and land anchor will be held
Added some more stainless tube (again!!!!) to the front bumper - roll hoop to protect the spots and also to tie the grille surround into the bumper too
Also soldered on some tiny tabs on the back roll bar to bolt 4 x more spot lights too
And made a little functional bracket thingy to hold an alloy hi-lift jack on the rear quarter
Up
Down
Made a stainless land anchor tonight and soldered on a couple of brackets so it’s easily removable
Also soldered on yet more tiny brackets to support 2 more LED housings - you can never have enough lights :ror:
More progress
Finished off the rockers / sliders which double up as battery compartments
Also added a bash plate to the underside of the front bumper
Silver soldered on a stink load of m3 nuts in the rear tray area which will be used to secure down some aluminium chequer plate sheet too
Did a little bit of a vote over on my instagram and now looks like I’m gonna have to fab up some tube doors too! :hmmm:
So - I’ve made up some pretty simple funtional ones to see how they’ll look and I’m liking them.
The vertical bit of the doors is some brass tubing I had with a 3mm ID and the rest of the door is the same 4mm of stainless tubing as the rest of the cage. Then a couple of square m3 bolts soldered onto the a pillars act as hinges with some m3 bolts as hinge pins
I’ll be adding a little cross bracing to them, and they’ll be fully functional with some magnets sunk into the back side of the tube which will secure to a couple of small mild steel plates that I’ll be adding to the body
Both tube doors finished
Fully functional with two tiny 3mm rare earth magnets sunk into holes drilled in the back side of the tube. Then a bit of mild steel sheet acting as a “striker plate” for the magnets slots through a slit cut in the body’s b pillar and is glued in place
You can also see here that I've swapped out the regular JK seat backs for something a bit more fitting.
Vapour Blasted the cage!
Always so satisfying to get all the silver soldering crud off it and see what remains
Just a small amount of tidying up (sanding) to do then hopefully can start putting things back together and do a bit of bodywork
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