Start of a new Deadbolt project. Lets call it Project: Cheapbolt

[Prime]

I have got a small update here, I added some scale items. Items are a highlift jack, small cooler, a small tow strap my wife made me, my old license plate, an extra helmet, an axe, and a shovel and bar.

Side view of it all on the truck.



3/4 view.



Rear view. Shows the plate and the shovel mount. It may look a bit weird right now, but what comes next will take care of that. The idea to mount them like this comes from the way we mounted them on a truck we had on the farm growing up. Made from a left over tlt piece and some parts from the extras that came with the Deadbolt.



I took the extra helmet and threw it into the back, just incase I pick up a hitchhiker.



Now to figure out the spare tire mount.

-Prime-

 

[woody131]

Looking good... I picked up a new bumper with a tire carrier instead of mounting it on the roll cage. I thought about the cage, but I know I will get a new body at some point, so figured putting it at the back. The original bumper mounting posts make it stick to far out, so I end up pushing it in as far as I could go and drilled new holes to it was more flush with the back of the deadbolt.

Not great pics, here is what I have so far. Just put on the IROK tires the other night, haven't tried them out yet.

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[Prime]

Looks good Woody. I really wanted to go that route but just didn't like the over all look it gave the truck. I plan on sticking with this body, it has rather grown on me I must admit. I am going with a cage mounted spare. If it works out as planned it will be a simple set up that when not needed is easy to remove as well. Hopefully I will get it done in the next day or two.
-Prime-


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[jmac]

Great ideas and great looking rigs. I Really like the light kit. Man that is sick!

 

[fastfordtruck04]

I love this!! What's a dean's plug you referred to

 

[z50king]

Deans - Plugs

 

[Prime]

Thanks guys. Thanks z50 for the Deans link. I love Deans plugs, have been running them since back in the 90's with the old 4 pin plugs.

I now have a spare tire mounted. I know I may catch some flack for mounting it up high to the cage. Upside is I can easily remove it by just taking out two screws. And secondly I like the way it looks. 8) Also since some events require a usable spare (either for scale points or course challenges) it just made sense to me.

This mount was crazy easy to make. To start with I glued three thick pieces of plastic card together and cut and shaped them to fit between the rear bars. To mount it I used some pieces that came in the extra parts bag that came with the truck. Not sure what they are really for but they are perfect for this, they clamp tightly around the bars once tightened down. Then I used the bolt and tire hold down that came with the swing out JK bumper I had bought. Used a washer and a endlink with the end cut off to hold it in. (hope the pictures make it clearer than my rambling description )

The parts.



Mounted on the truck.




And with the tire. For the tire I used a left over Flat Iron and 8 hole beadlock I had left from a previous project. The Flat Iron looks close enough to a Trepador at a glance. Same with the beadlock after I painted the center black.




Next up I think I will tuck in the sliders a bit so they don't hang up as easily on everything.
Thanks for looking.
-Prime-

 

[Randy Williams]

I like it. Might have to steal your bumper idea.

 

[Prime]

Steal away guys. I think I may pull the bumper in closer to the body in the future. Right now it is in the last hole, will just have to drill a new set after moving it in.

So yeah....those sliders.... They stick out way to far. I am too cheap to buy new ones right now so that means I am just going to mod these ones and get them to tuck closer.

Started by trimming off the extra length and the bar that runs between the posts. Then just drilled some new holes.



Had to trim little recesses into the ends of the mounting tubes to get them as close as possible.




And there we go, much closer to the body and looking much better.




I know many people just cut off the outer bar and plate to make it look like a single bar. I personally like this look better.
Thanks for looking,
-Prime-

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[Prime]

Thanks. I like the look much better as well.
While sitting here waiting for my battery to charge I decided to see if I could get the rear bumper to tuck in a bit more.

Here is how much it stuck out before. This is moved in as far as it could go.


And this is after a bit of work. It tucks in much better now. Also the bumper ends now line up better with the wheel arch.


To get this I had to trim a bit off the bumper mount and drill new holes in the bumper posts.


Now my battery is charged so time to go run this beast.
"thumbsup"
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[Prime]

We decided since the weather was nice Sunday we would take the trucks out and walk a local nature trail. This was the first time I had the Deadbolt out on the trail, all my other times messing with it was around the house and mostly in the snow. The Deadbolt took everything I threw at it and performed better than I could have hoped for. The only problem was that sometimes the tires would pack up with sticky dirt but that was to be expected with these tires. My daughter ended up shattering both u-joints (white plastic Traxxas ones) on the rear drive shaft in her truck. She got a bit bound up on some logs and tried to power through it. Luckily I had a set of metal ones from an old truck and now she is all fixed up and ready for our next outing. Enough rambling, now onto the pics! "thumbsup"

Getting ready to head out.


I just can't stay out of the water for some reason.


Testing out the waterproofing.


Found more water.


Just running through the woods.


Climbing a steep little hill (much steeper than it looks here in this pic)


A little "poser" shot.


My daughter finishing off her battery in the Deadbolt. Like me she loves the water too.



I think I may go ahead and flip/mirror the trans and after playing in the mud I think a set of inners are in the trucks future.
Thanks for looking.
-Prime-
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[camilooso]

Here is my scx10 deadbolt,

 

[Prime]

Good looking rig Camilooso, I dig the grill!

So I decided to flip and mirror the trans. I have done this before with out any problems, this time though.... My wife's truck uses an older, non-gear cover, trans. We flipped and mirrored it with no problems. So I figured all would go smooth here, sadly that was not to be.
First I tore the truck down and flipped the skid. That went smoothly and all went back together without a hitch. Then I tore the trans down and quickly realized that I could not flip it and keep the cover. Plus since the spacers are made into the cover I would have to source them. If I had just thought for a moment I would have noticed this before I had even started but alas I guess I was just in a hurry. So for now the trans is just flipped while I decide what to do bout it. I want to keep a cover for the spur to keep debris and maybe a rouge wire out of it so will prob end up going with an after market cover or just make my own by modifying one from another vehicle. I will also look around because someone may have already found a simple solution to this. Guess we will see. Next up will be inner fenders.



-Prime-
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[simp]

I like what you have done "thumbsup"

 

[Prime]

Thanks simp! Hope I don't disappoint. 8)

On the last outing I decided I need a set of inner fenders to keep the muck the tires throw up out of the body. Also in some of the pics I didn't like the way you could see up in under the body.
I thought hard about buying a set of 3d printed Jeep inners and modifying then to fit but since this is to be a budget build I just could not justify the price. So what to do? Guess I will just make my own.

First I started with a old Cool Whip bowl I had in the garage. It looked about the right size.



After some time spent cutting I came up with one inner fender I was happy with.




The fit is pretty good.



Then just made one for the other side using the left one as a template.




Some black paint to make them not quite so noticable.




And BAM! all finished up.


Next up will be a set of rear inners to complete the look.

Thanks for looking. Hope you all like. Stay tuned for more.
-Prime-
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[woody131]

Been following your thread, think it's great, got me to get the same light setup as yours. Just got the front grill and headlight buckets, and the exact same lights as well. Any suggestions I should I be aware of before I tackle the install of it? I was going to do the red 3 mm at the rear, blue for the headlights , and white 5 mm for the light bar up top.

Did you just use the black heat sink wrap for the wires and cut a holet to inside the body? Then just Ballon wrap the wiring box for the lights?

 

[Prime]

Love the inners looks sweet man

Thanks. I plan on starting on the rear ones tomorrow. Hope they turn out good.

Been following your thread, think it's great, got me to get the same light setup as yours. Just got the front grill and headlight buckets, and the exact same lights as well. Any suggestions I should I be aware of before I tackle the install of it? I was going to do the red 3 mm at the rear, blue for the headlights , and white 5 mm for the light bar up top.

Did you just use the black heat sink wrap for the wires and cut a holet to inside the body? Then just Ballon wrap the wiring box for the lights?

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words, keeps me motivated. Just a warning those blue lights are VERY blue. I plan to replace mine with some whites when/if I add head lights.
Yup, I just used some black heat shrink tubing of various sizes. Started with the smallest and worked up from there. Then yup, just made a hole by the cage on the passenger side for the wires to pass through. I like to double balloon. I put one on and zip tie up the end, then another one over top of it zip tied up. I mounted the box to the bottom of the body with a zip tie. I made two holes right behind the passenger seat and zip tied the box there. With the zip tie being black you can't hardly see that it is there. I used a pair of servo extensions so I can easily unplug the lights when I take the body off. Here are some pics from when I put in the lights, hope they help.
-Prime-

The lights shrink tubed up.


Can see the wrapped wires going into the body right by the front cage mount.


And the lights control box from the bottom.

 

[Prime]

So I got me some rear inners now to match the fronts.
I found me another Cool Whip bowl at my mom's so here we go. "thumbsup"



Got them cut out and fitting the body.



And all painted up and mounted.




I am really happy with how these turned out and the fact you can't see into the body like before. Plus should cut down on the amount of junk getting into the chassis.

Next up? Not sure really. Thinking bout maybe making a top for it, like a bikini style maybe.... Stay tuned!
-Prime-
8)

 

[RiderZ]

Very nice job on the inner fenders.Well done!

 

[woody131]

Fenders look great.. can I ask a silly question, why did you go with a Traxxas receive box? A little more water proof?