The Telluride Project

[OSRC]

On a side note, while waiting for all the parts to come in, I was mixing and matching some Traxxas stuff (it's piling up) and I turned this old Bandit roller into what I hope should be a great little on-road runner.

Speaking of going fast, I started combing through the debris of 2.5 rolling chassis and coming up with the best parts for a go-fast version. While working on the crawler, all I could think of was how much fun it would be to bash around with it. Lots of suspension, a wide track, smallish wheels and a somewhat stubby wheelbase. Should be fun! A nice little buggy to bash around the parking lot and run down any batteries I have left after trail running... I could have just re-purposed the crawler after I was done with it, but couldn't help myself and started building a twin. Picked up another body and assembled the diffs and bulkheads with the best of the parts. I kept it in the family this time with TRX4 shocks and again used a front shock tower in back to clear under the body.

Dyed the chassis black and got the electronics in. Just a brushed silver can on 2S to get things sorted, I'll look for a bit more power later, but just to get things sorted, a silver can will be fine.

Proline vintage wheels and TSL tires. Love the look, think it came together perfectly.

Twins!!

I need to get some velcro for the body to mount it, so I test drove it sans body. Way fun! It has the same travel as the crawler in the suspension so it's like a mini E-maxx - just gobbles up everything underneath it.

Whoops.... Forgot something apparently.

Defintely needed some suspension work, it was in the ballpark but a bit soft, both with the springs and oil. I found some bigger AE springs that felt pretty good, so on they went. drained the oil and went with 50wt all around and we'll see how it does. I inboarded the shocks as much as possible, and this truck has some stupid suspnsion travel - more than many of my crawlers. It can soak up three tires under a wheel and just about keep the other three on the ground (it has the travel, the springs are just a bit stiff). Impressive, it really is a little E-maxx.

Just need to pick up some velcro this weekend to get the body mounted and it's ready to go!

 

[Goro Majima]

This is turning out pretty awesome and that body change suits it well! Nice little read of a project.

 

[durok]

I really dig that onroad buggy mashup!

 

[OSRC]

Thanks fellas!

Love how the bandit came out, it's a vintage RC10 body and some drag shock mounts. Pretty run little project! Wasn't really worth a build thread, but worth a pic or two!

So I had a wild hair last night and postulated that if 2WD Stampede rear arms fit all 4 corners of the 'pede 4x4, and Stampede and Bandit rear arms are interchangeable, then Bandit rear arms should theoretically fit all around on the 'pede 4x4 chassis. (Transitive property at work, and here I thought I'd never use algebra!) Would be a pretty narrow track - somewhere between an AR44 and AR60, but for the crawler it might work out well....

So what the hell, in for a penny, in for a pound - I ordered up some arms (Drag Slash HD actually), driveshafts and turnbuckles. I've already got the knuckles and hubs, I should be able to build up the suspension completely and just swap them over with a couple of bolts.

Love all these interchangeable parts, it like expensive nerd lego.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Yep the traxxas stuff is definitely legoish lol. The only problem you might run into with bandit arms up front is the little connector saddle is closer to the knuckle pivot point so I trimmed mine. Unfortunately I never finished that build before tearing down and restarting a different one with some of the parts.

BTW I like the wheel choice! I want to make these look 8 lug to match my 63 GMC 3\4T somehow, maybe with an off the shelf cap screwed on or something. After this pic the paint started chipping really bad where the tires hit fenders so I hacked fender openings to remove area where paint was missing and set body down lower....and then had even more paint come off

 

[OSRC]

^^ That's a cool little build. Thanks for the info, I'll find a way to fudge it.

What's going on with those rear fenders? They have tire bump outs on the top? Never seen anything like that before.

 

[350TacoZilla]

It's supposed to be a drag body (JConcepts) but was the only 60-66 body I could find that would fit the slash correctly. I had thought of narrowing the slash down to use the Pro-Line body but I like the stepsides.

EDIT: changed the wording that was bugging me

 

[MAC FAB]

Looks great! Those wheels definitely help with keeping the rubber down, at least on my Bomber anyhow. Someone used to make uprights for the front that cleared 1.9s, drawing a blank on the brand right now, I’ll dig to see what the story is with them. "thumbsup"

 

[Gula]

Oh, the bandit. I miss mine, but have been gathering parts for a new build. I've been trying to find a set of proline 2.2 wide front buggy tires to replicate my old on road setup. Waiting to see what you have up your sleeve for that build. Do you recall the rc10 body name ? It looks badd ass!

 

[OSRC]

Someone used to make uprights for the front that cleared 1.9s, drawing a blank on the brand right now, I’ll dig to see what the story is with them. "thumbsup"

I've got a plan for the bandit arms...kinda. Of course, I came up with a plan after dropping $$ on the expensive MT wheels.. But that's how projects go I guess. That would be great though if there was a hub that gave more clearance. I think there is a Jconcepts conversion, but it was a bit salty.

Oh, the bandit. I miss mine, but have been gathering parts for a new build. I've been trying to find a set of proline 2.2 wide front buggy tires to replicate my old on road setup. Waiting to see what you have up your sleeve for that build. Do you recall the rc10 body name ? It looks badd ass!

It's a Bolink Funco body. There's some old stock on Ebay, and some re-pops from TBG. I used a similar one on my Falcon rebuild:

Check out Duratrax, they make some very nice 2.2 buggy tires. Who knew? I put them on some Jconcepts rims for my Avante build and they are pretty nice.

 

[OSRC]

Time for a few updates... Starting with the Basher Telluride.

Un-decalled (is that a real word??) the body, cut out for the shocks and got it mounted with some velcro. This body fits absolutely perfectly on the chassis.

I think I need to add some paint or something to tell them apart.

And a few running shots. This thing is a hoot - drives like a short Slash....which is exactly what it is! Very nimble, a ton of suspension, and looks good while doing it. The silvercan on 2S had plenty of speed for my backyard, but after 15 minutes of running, I could smell the motor cooking. I consider the chassis sorted, time for a brushless upgrade!

Traxxas, you need to make one of these... I'm just sayin'

 

[OSRC]

And back to the Crawler...

Been chipping a bit at this one... finally figured something out with the rear lights and bumper. I'd like some sort of bumper back here, but this will do for now.

And did a shock change - front TRX4 shocks and rear AE Maxx shocks laid down as much as possible. After playing with the basher, I really liked the standard springs/GTS shock combo, it was far more plush than the Axial junk I had on here so I copied it. I added the longer Associated shocks out back for a bit more travel.

And a few trail run pics...I made some video, but apparently I cannot drive coherently and film at the same time. Not sure if I'll post it up or what.. In any case, this independent suspension basher crawls as well as anything I've got. It's not a comp crawler of course, but it is for sure better than an out of the box solid axle rig. I ran into a guy with a new bone stock Capra 4WS RTR and we ran a few lines for a while. While he certainly had much more steering than I did, that was his only benefit. I had a much, much lower COG and wider stance, with the same center clearance.

Wrenching on the test rock...it has a nice flat off to the left - perfect for tuning and a great spot to test your truck. I spend a lot of time here.... I played with camber a bit and ended up swapping the springs front to rear.

Stable, predictable, and capable. Really, I'm shocked at how well this got around - went over all my test areas with flying colors.

Ran for about 45 minutes and decided to switch over to the C-maxx... but definitely got some ideas for the next run. Thinking a rear swaybar is in order, it will help on off camber climbs. The tires were surprisingly good for SC tires, but they are not crawler tires for sure... there were a couple of spots where I could see I was lacking grip. Hmm... Also, the rear CVD's made some cracking sounds, but help up fine. Kind of expected that. Not a fan of the wider Slash suspension, it was great on side hills, but it just looks too wide to my eyes. Not sure what I want to do there yet.

On a side note, I assembled some of my leftover parts and a test mule of sorts... kinda went mediaeval on it! Bandit arms with a monoshock setup... interesting. Not sure if I'll use it, but there's some interesting potential here.

 

[OSRC]

Apparently an old dog can learn new tricks... went through the videos, found a few that came out ok, and assembled them together. Can't drive and record to save my life! Camera has practically no sound in the case, huh. Well, now I know!

https://youtu.be/m0NMhtfcAcc

 

[durok]

Really creative kit-bashing here, love that grey 5-slot wheel/TSL Swamper combo!

(edit: what diameter are the wheels? are they RTR from something? they look familiar, but I'm at a loss...)

 

[OSRC]

Proline Slot Mag 2.2/3.0 drag wheels, they don't come stock on anything I can think of. Lots of cool options in this size.

 

[OSRC]

Sometimes you have a Happy Accident!

While messing around making some changes after the intial test run, I swapped the Telluride arms back on just goofing around and found the CVD's compress enough to work with them. Excellent! Lost roughly an inch of width and looks much, much better to my eyes. The wider stance from the slash arms hurt both steering and clearance, this should help for sure. Not sure why I never tried in the first place.

The suspension was very flexy - great on the trail, but a little too much so when on the rocks. It tended to heel back on 1 arm when climbing off camber. So I decided to up the shock oil to 40wt all around, put the TRX shocks back on the back and added some swaybars front and rear. Light up front, medium out back. I'll take a few along next time for tuning purposes. Also moved the shocks out a bit out back for a little more leverage.

Still gets 2 tires worth of flex, and feels much more controlled. May help, may hurt, will find out.

Also swapped the tires...I boiled off the old Axial Baja's from the Yeti Score and got them mounted up - they mounted much harder than the Prolines. First time for everything I guess. Not sure what the compound is (R40 maybe?) but hey are much softer then the Prolines... And they make a cool screeching sound like a 1:1 tire, that's always fun.

Also replaced the plastic servo horn with an aluminum one since it skipped a spline or two while wheeling. Ordered Stampede gears for rear UD and also a center diff (!)....Looking for ways to keep the nose down on climbs, it's good to have options.

 

[B-MOW71]

Nice happy accident! Never knew you painted too! Funny...you look awfully familiar!:ror:

Nice changes and updates! This rig is looking cooler each time I see it!

Sweet vid of it on the rocks too!"thumbsup"

 

[MAC FAB]

Wheel combo looks great! I'm going to guess that you're happier on aggressive rocks than the slick stuff if your rig is anything like my Bomber, same rims but running the taller 2.2 KR2s. Run the snot out of them and they still look new! I'm curious about that sway bar and how it performs in the long term. More testing please.

 

[OSRC]

Wheel combo looks great! I'm going to guess that you're happier on aggressive rocks than the slick stuff if your rig is anything like my Bomber, same rims but running the taller 2.2 KR2s. Run the snot out of them and they still look new! I'm curious about that sway bar and how it performs in the long term. More testing please.

You can see the rocks in the pics, they are weathered granite - not quite river rock, but close. My test area is a former quarry, so there's a large pile of smooth-ish rocks to play on, and then trails all over with several creek crossings. Really, it's crawler paradise. I try to keep a balance of a rig that can tackle the rocks and still get down the trails, though I'm not adverse to building a rig specific to either terrain.

 

[OSRC]

Small parts haul... some flat plate shock towers which give some options for laying down the shocks, rear UD gears, and a center diff.

Say what? Center diff? Well, I don't call it a center diff... I prefer to call it variable front overdrive. Since I'm pretty outside the box here as far as a crawler goes, may as well burn the box down! Crawling with my open diff TRX4's has made me think a bit about using diffs as a tuning tool.

On my test run, it wanted to lift the front a bit on steep climbs since it's a 50/50 balance of weight, and the rear tires are digging hard. Common issue, right? I could certainly install the UD gears in the back and that will help, but kill the sidehill since it's about a 21% OD. I'm thinking the center dif....er...Variable front OD might be a better solution. Basically, it's 4WD on the trail and mild climbs, but when it gets steep and it transfers the weight to the rear, the front will spin faster, right? Variable front OD! The trick is to keep it from fully unloading since that will basically make it FWD when climbing. So I'm thinking I can fine tune that unload point with the diff oil - I want it thick enough so that all 4 wheels are pulling 90% of the time, and just unloads a bit when the weight is all the way out back - and will give me front OD while not killing sidehill or climbing ability. That's my theory anyway.

So I drained it out and filled it with 2 million weight oil... I say oil, but it's more like paste - 2mil is thick! Just testing around the yard it seems like I'm in the ballpark. I can almost get the truck vertical before it starts to unload, and when it does the rear tires are still pulling, but the fronts are going a bit faster. Instant OD! It's easily getting enough power to the rear wheels to still flip the truck, but it seems to have taken the edge off so to speak. Still seems as capable as before on my usual testing spots...Interesting. I got about another inch up the tree here before it flipped backwards.

I can walk up a vertical ledge still if I get a tire on it... climbing my well cap here had 1 front wheel on the cap, 1 in the air, and both rear tires pushing...with 2m oil, they still have enough stiction to easily push the truck up and over. Don't think I'm going to kill the crawling ability, but I'm not 100% sure it's going to do what I hope it will until I get it back out on the trail on some real rocks and see how it reacts. In fact, the oil might be a bit too thick...guess time will tell. If it sucks, it's an easy 4 bolt swap back to the slipper setup.

So for the next test session, I'm bringing the OD gears, swaybars, slipper, and some oils and we'll see what happens. Won't be this weekend - way too cold, but next weekend hoping to get out a bit and see how it does. Gotta say I'm stoked with how this project is coming along, it's a way better performer than I ever expected it to be and I think there's more in it.

In other news, finally worked out the Bandit arms. The HD/Drag arms were way too thick, so I swapped the front set with the standard arms on my Bandit. Much better! I mocked up the suspension on my spare chassis, I just need a set of front axles. Cool thing about the Bandit arms is I can use high offset 1.9's or 2.2's opening the option to run actual crawler tires while keeping the overall track width the same as the current Telluride arms. Not making a swap yet, I want to play with the current setup a bit first but it's ready to go.