viper's creeper build

[jebster]

viper, your rig is looking pretty good. i did have a question. earlier in your thread you taked about the cg for you rig. how did you determine that? while i know that the mods i've made to mine have brought the cg down simply because it can crawl a significantly steeper incline i'm not sure where the cg is relative to front/rear.

 

[rmdesignworks]

Jeff an easy way to find the CG on a Creeper is to use a CG board set up. Because the Creeper has the dropped tranny center it makes it difficult to find the balance point.

Use a piece of wood 12 inches wide and just long enough to support all four tires of your rig. place the board on a dowel or coffee can laying on its side. Find the center of the board's length with a ruler or tape measure first then lay it on the Can/Dowel to find its weighted center,,these two placements may be slightly off from each other. then place the rig on the board on the Can/Dowel. Finding the balance point front to rear will be as simple as making a note of where the dowel or can center is under the rig. You do the same thing side to side by placing the rig on the board on the dowel/can long ways. see if its heavy to the left or right.

 

[viper6171]

Jeff an easy way to find the CG on a Creeper is to use a CG board set up. Because the Creeper has the dropped tranny center it makes it difficult to find the balance point.

Use a piece of wood 12 inches wide and just long enough to support all four tires of your rig. place the board on a dowel or coffee can laying on its side. Find the center of the board's length with a ruler or tape measure first then lay it on the Can/Dowel to find its weighted center,,these two placements may be slightly off from each other. then place the rig on the board on the Can/Dowel. Finding the balance point front to rear will be as simple as making a note of where the dowel or can center is under the rig. You do the same thing side to side by placing the rig on the board on the dowel/can long ways. see if its heavy to the left or right.

yeah what he said . and thanks for the compliment on my rig ( also planning on a new body ) ( probably beetle )

actually what i was doing and looking for was the balance point front to rear with my old setup it was right at the front edge of the transmission i havn't checked it since all of the changes i have made . i was planning on having it's first comp this weekend but a busted stub axle ended that idea .:evil:

 

[jebster]

thanks guys, i'm going to give that a shot this weekend. i am very curious where my cg will be given i run with the saddle pack on the rear axle.

 

[viper6171]

well i spent my day off designing a set of axles for the rear of my creeper that are solid no cv joint , i got them all drawn up and all of the measurements taken now to get with my buddy the machinist to get a set made . "thumbsup"

 

[viper6171]

okay i was hoping to scan this into the computer but i just took a picture of the drawings for now

sorry about the crappy pics

 

[Abavuso]

very nice,, that would be awesome.

 

[viper6171]

thanks ab there may be some changes to the original design to reduce rotational mass will have to see what those changes will entail but i think these will work out great in the end

 

[rmdesignworks]

viper,,that pic link I sent you had an extra bearing ridge that it cant have,,,I modified the pic to be corect.

The new str8 shaft is captured between the axle housing bearing and the inner knuckle bearing if the lockout is used with knuckles and link lockouts,,if these are made strictly for the HR lockouts then the outer bearing ridge would be milled inside the outer bearing of the lockout.

 

[rmdesignworks]

like this for HR lockouts only

 

[viper6171]

okay now i see "thumbsup" i also thought about instead of having rings as part of the axle have grooves put in and use snap rings to keep bearings in place (only concern would be weakining the axle at the groove )

 

[rmdesignworks]

the ridges will keep the core strength of the steel shaft for sure. start with a 6mm shaft and turn it down to 5mm along its length and leave the bearing ridges 6mm,,,less loss of material. Plus youll get trued 5mm shafts

I would suggest a Rockwell Hardness of RC52 or less down to around RC35-42. anything above RC52 may be too brittle.

 

[viper6171]

yeah i may redesign mine a little bit to cut down the rotatinal mass

 

[rmdesignworks]

now,,one thing to think about too,,your original design would work great with the knuckles and C-hubs and stock bearings with linked lockouts like the manual tells to do. have the machinist copy the profile of the complete cvd axle shaft. but youll have to start with 12mm od stock,,,price difference? 12mm 4340/300m vs. 6mm 4340/300M

 

[viper6171]

12mm/4340/$ 5

6mm/4340/$ 2.31

 

[rmdesignworks]

There ya go,,,another good reason for the smaller rotating mass. plus mill time will be greatly reduced. hey do I get a discount since i did so much art work?

 

[viper6171]

possibly but i still have to get my machinist buddy to make me a set to try out

 

[rmdesignworks]

Im definitely interested to see what you come up with

 

[viper6171]

yeah i am still improving the design a little bit kind of a combo of your ideas and mine gonna re-draw it tomorrow

 

[viper6171]

well tonight i got the chance to work on my rock course in my back yard
here are some pics not the best was a little dark and my camera isn't the best

soon to be completed a couple of bridges ( made from branches ) and a few other things , eventually will be the creeper torture grounds "thumbsup"