WJ Grand Cherokee by Trailworx Garage

[H2Micr0]

Looks great. Awesome work, and attention to detail. "thumbsup"

Cheers.

Another awesome boils with a generous sprinkle of scratch build for good measure.i really like the Rocker box/slider idea, came out great! "thumbsup"

And they work pretty good too.

Great job on this rig! Saw it on Facebook a couple weeks ago, in fact I've had a picture of it on my phone since November 20th. I have a body coming in the mail to me right now. I'm excited to start building it here real soon.

You did well to get one. I don't think there are a whole heap of these around. I look forward to seeing what you do with yours.

Great job ! I've owned a few of the 1:1 WJ's in the past ( or should I say, they've owned me!) I think that you have a nice, unique scaler to have fun with. Your color choice is almost spot on for a factory WJ color.

Be careful not to overheat that V8, it will drop the valve seats out of the head and then you'll have one hell of a mess on your hands. :mrgreen:

LOL, OK I will be sure to watch the temps. As long as the electrical system holds up, all will be good.

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It looks like I neglected to post up the 2nd video from my last outing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fvrtRA-nds

I ditch the trailer and hit the rocks.

Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[Jcplante]

Awesome build man! I love all the scale details. It makes me miss my newbright grand cherokee cc01 that I traded off years ago.

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[H2Micr0]

Awesome build man! I love all the scale details. It makes me miss my newbright grand cherokee cc01 that I traded off years ago.

The more I drive this the more I like it!!

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The Grand has been out a a few times now, and also competed in two comps.

Not long after the above trail run, I went out again with a couple of mates for a 4 hour run, again with the camper trailer.

Had so much fun, I only got the one photo LOL.



Then I decided to try a different wheel and tyre combo.

Good old RC4WD Rock Stompers, mounted on 1.55 Motoworx Beadlocks.



Then I organised another trail day and was joined by 2 scale nuts who drove 12 hours from QLD to come scale driving with me LOL.

You should recognise the White Rodeo Ute.



















Another 5 hours or so out in the sun having a blast with our scale rigs.

I was actually quite surprised at how well the Rock Stompers were working.

Then I headed up north 1.5hrs to join North Crawl RC for a comp. They run a Safari Class which is basically Class 1, so I entered the Grand.







For my first comp drive with the Grand it did really well and I placed first.

More recently I headed south this time 1.5hrs and joined the Illawarra Crawlers group for a comp. Again I entered the Grand in Class 1 and placed 6th out of 18 drivers, but did win the third course.





I decided I needed to upgrade the wheels and tyres, so keep an eye out for another update soon.

Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[H2Micr0]

Scale Mail Day in Trailworx Garage!!!!!



I was quite impressed with how well it went recently at the Illawarra Comp, that I thought the Grand deserved some top notch rubber and shiny new wheels.

So I ordered from gear from RC4WD.

Among the pile of scale goodies are the new wheels and tyres. Ignore the rest, you will see them later in other builds.



I chose the 1.7 Atturo Trail Blade M/T tyres X2 SS Compound. These are 104mm tall and have unbelievable detail. I think the X2 SS Compound is on par with the offerings from other makes, and this allows for more choice when looking for sticky scale rubber.



To compliment the tyres and to bring a more modern feel to the Grand Cherokee I selected FUEL Offroad Maverick 1.9 Beadlock Wheels. These are a touch wider than most and have a nice dish, and again the level of detail is just astounding.



Unfortunately, the foams supplied with RC4WD tyres are generally WAY TO SOFT!!!!! Especially for a proper scale rig, as they get rather heavy.

I assembled the combo first with the stock foam.



And then immediately took it apart again and tried the foams from a 1.9 Rock Beast.

While better, these were also too soft.





I messed around with foam combinations for a few hours, using what I have available in the Garage, ended up with the following.

Rear Tyres have Pitbull PBX A/T foams. Nice and firm but a touch small.

Front Tyres have some random foam for a larger 1.9 wheel as an outer, with a Pitbull Rockbeast inner ring. The front wheels have been weighted with some stick on 1:1 wheel weights. Still too soft but will do for now.

I will order in some Closed Cell single stage Lil Nova Foams and trim them to suit.

Anyway, enough chit chat, here are some pics.















I am looking forward to trying these out very soon.

Thanks to RC4WD for the great parts.

Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[Disco Stu III]

Nice build. As a side thing have look on youchewb under "Aussie four wheelers". Those guys take a few types of Cherokee (lots of others too) on their outings. https://youtu.be/IL21HWa0dLY


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[H2Micr0]

Nice build. As a side thing have look on youchewb under "Aussie four wheelers". Those guys take a few types of Cherokee (lots of others too) on their outings. https://youtu.be/IL21HWa0dLY

Cheers, and thanks for the link too.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The new tires and wheels look excellent on the Grand! Great looking truck all around.

Thanks!!

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The new Wheel and Tyre Combo gave the Grand a more aggressive feel.

I saw this on a couple of full size rigs during my research and hoped it would add a little more attitude.









MMMMMM YEAH!!!!





With that done, I moved on to building a luggage rack for the roof.

A quick trip to the local hardware store for supplies and I threw the parts together.



Looks good right?????

Well OK then, it needs a touch more refinement.



Better????

For a cleaner finish I did a bit of work with the grinder and some files.







I glued the joins together with a rubberised Gel based super glue so it would hold together while not on the car.

I drilled holes through each corner join and matching holes in the 'roof rack' on the body.

A bit of shaping at each end of the sides gives it that modern touch.

I think it looks the part here in the test fit.







I painted it with Matt Black and bolted it down.



I LIKE IT!!

But what good is a luggage rack on an overland type rig, without luggage?????















Oh yeah, I added some RC4WD stickers on to represent the brand.

So here are some completely unnecessary flex pics.











Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[nwnewbie]

Awesome! Love the over land look, function over form!

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[H2Micr0]

Awesome! Love the over land look, function over form!

Thanks!!

*************************************************************************
I took the Grand out for some test and tune trail time.

Needed to see how these new tyres performed, and while at it made a short video.

Grand at Cape Banks

I also took some pics of my adventures.

















While I was impressed with the tyres, the foam combo I installed was just too soft, as you can see in the video.

The luggage rack hasn't seemed to have had any noticeable effect, and the weighted front wheels have helped with climbing.

My next outing is to a comp with Illawarra Crawlers, so I will get to test things under more pressure!!!!

Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[H2Micr0]

I went to the Illawarra Comp and entered the Grand in Class 1.

I also set the Class 1 courses for the day.

Here is a video of me driving the Grand around the 1st course.

Grand on Course 1 - Carrington Falls

And a couple of pics.







Then on the third course I made a driver error and the grand took a roll and a tumble down into a 1.5m deep crevice.

I had visions of crumpled body shell and broken links, but I got off very very lucky indeed.

The only broken items were the front body mount and the hitch.

It appears the Grand fell down rear first and the the hitch took the full impact.

The body was fine!!!!

This is the damage.





Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[H2Micr0]

Time for some repairs then.

First up is the front body mount.

This is made from 2mm styrene sheet and is clamped to the chassis under the steering servo.

The broken mount.



Easy enough to replicate and improve on.



The center tab slots into the recess behind the number plate and prevents the front from sliding laterally.

Next up was the hitch.

It is a bit bent, sort of.



But saved the body.

I tried to straighten it all out, but alloy doesn't like to be bent, and then re bent much.



Decided to make a new tongue and bolt it to the original bracket.





This worked well, and then I re shaped the tongue to reduce the length etc.

I can just get a rod end over the ball/bolt.





The new hitch tucks in close to the body so shouldn't drag around on the ground so much.

In the next post I look at the foams.

Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[afrofroggy]

Hi Ben
im Adam from Oz just wondering where you got the roof rack mesh from ?

 

[H2Micr0]

Hi Ben
im Adam from Oz just wondering where you got the roof rack mesh from ?

I think the mesh is part of a leaf barrier drain fitting?

Maybe Bunnings????

 

[H2Micr0]

So, lets talk about foams.

It is disappointing to note that tyre manufactures are not keeping pace with the rapid growth of the Realistic Scale Build when it comes to the foams included with the tyres.

They ARE doing an absolutely cracking job on delivering tyres with awesome scale looks and outstanding detail, as well as excelling from a performance aspect.

The development of foams is still stuck to the light weight comp truck formula following the old requirement of needing a soft foam to allow the tyre to deform and wrap around the rock.

But, a realistic scale rig by nature gets to be REALLY HEAVY!!!!

And with the soft foams that are supplied with the tyres, you end up with tyres on the front that just fold the sidewall under, and a big lack of support and unpredictability on sidehill terrain.

And the tyres look like the are consistently flat.

I would love all tyre manufacturers to offer a choice to the buyer, or at least sell firm foams as an addon.

After the video I made at Cape Banks, I was not happy with the front foam setup. I had installed a dual stage 1.9 Rock Beast foam, but while better than the stock, was still too soft, as is evident in the video.

So I messed around and used a larger foam from an SCX10 as the inner and kept the Rock Beast Outer. This was an improvement, and seemed to work OK, at the Illawarra Comp, but I was still not happy.

I considered ordering in some Close Cell single stage foams, but with the Aussie Dollar and post, it was going to prove rather expensive, and have to wait etc.

We have a store here in Australia that specialises is Rubber and Foam etc, Clark Rubber.

I dropped in there on the weekend just to sus out what they had, and I think I struck foam gold.

This is a firm density foam and this piece cost me $27. The foam on the left is from the Pitbull PBX A/T tyre and is one of the better offerings as far as stock foams go. The foam on the right is one I had laying around.



The Pitbull foam feels about the same as my new foam piece, and is MUCH firmer than the other piece.

I had put the Pitbull foam in the rear tyres of the Grand, and they did OK but were too small, allowing the tyre to wrap and move.

I marked out the size a touch bigger than the tyre and using the electric bread knife from the kitchen (shhhhhhh) I went to work carving away at the foam.



I then used a 1.9 wheel and marked the inner and cut inside the line.





As you can see the foam is quite wide, but I did that intentionally so I could play with the width. I needed to fill out the side walls of the Atturo Trail Blades.





I marked how much needed to be trimmed.





I trial fit this foam and it was still a touch too wide, so bit more was removed.



This time I got it spot on.

In this pic the tyre on the left has my new foam in it, and the tyre on the right has the Pitbull PBX A/T foam in it.



The tyre felt good, still has some give, but is nice and firm. The tyre also feels well supported and couldn't move sideways across the wheel.

So I made up 3 more.



I really think this looks much better.









The overall appearance is much more representative of a real tyre.

Of course some testing was needed so I hit my pile of rocks.







The tyre still deflects enough but retains support.











RC4WD really did a great job with this tyre. It just looks awesome.

I am looking forward to getting out and testing this new foam configuration soon.

Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[H2Micr0]

So, lets talk about foams.

It is disappointing to note that tyre manufactures are not keeping pace with the rapid growth of the Realistic Scale Build when it comes to the foams included with the tyres.

They ARE doing an absolutely cracking job on delivering tyres with awesome scale looks and outstanding detail, as well as excelling from a performance aspect.

The development of foams is still stuck to the light weight comp truck formula following the old requirement of needing a soft foam to allow the tyre to deform and wrap around the rock.

But, a realistic scale rig by nature gets to be REALLY HEAVY!!!!

And with the soft foams that are supplied with the tyres, you end up with tyres on the front that just fold the sidewall under, and a big lack of support and unpredictability on sidehill terrain.

And the tyres look like the are consistently flat.

I would love all tyre manufacturers to offer a choice to the buyer, or at least sell firm foams as an addon.

After the video I made at Cape Banks, I was not happy with the front foam setup. I had installed a dual stage 1.9 Rock Beast foam, but while better than the stock, was still too soft, as is evident in the video.

So I messed around and used a larger foam from an SCX10 as the inner and kept the Rock Beast Outer. This was an improvement, and seemed to work OK, at the Illawarra Comp, but I was still not happy.

I considered ordering in some Close Cell single stage foams, but with the Aussie Dollar and post, it was going to prove rather expensive, and have to wait etc.

We have a store here in Australia that specialises is Rubber and Foam etc, Clark Rubber.

I dropped in there on the weekend just to sus out what they had, and I think I struck foam gold.

This is a firm density foam and this piece cost me $27. The foam on the left is from the Pitbull PBX A/T tyre and is one of the better offerings as far as stock foams go. The foam on the right is one I had laying around.



The Pitbull foam feels about the same as my new foam piece, and is MUCH firmer than the other piece.

I had put the Pitbull foam in the rear tyres of the Grand, and they did OK but were too small, allowing the tyre to wrap and move.

I marked out the size a touch bigger than the tyre and using the electric bread knife from the kitchen (shhhhhhh) I went to work carving away at the foam.



I then used a 1.9 wheel and marked the inner and cut inside the line.





As you can see the foam is quite wide, but I did that intentionally so I could play with the width. I needed to fill out the side walls of the Atturo Trail Blades.





I marked how much needed to be trimmed.





I trial fit this foam and it was still a touch too wide, so bit more was removed.



This time I got it spot on.

In this pic the tyre on the left has my new foam in it, and the tyre on the right has the Pitbull PBX A/T foam in it.



The tyre felt good, still has some give, but is nice and firm. The tyre also feels well supported and couldn't move sideways across the wheel.

So I made up 3 more.



I really think this looks much better.









The overall appearance is much more representative of a real tyre.

Of course some testing was needed so I hit my pile of rocks.







The tyre still deflects enough but retains support.











RC4WD really did a great job with this tyre. It just looks awesome.

I am looking forward to getting out and testing this new foam configuration soon.

Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[Oz Bruiser]

Nice job Ben. I have made home made foams in the past. The best foams from the factory tyres are indeed Pit Bull foams. The new RB XL and PBX AT foams work awesome without need for upgrades.

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[H2Micr0]

Nice job Ben. I have made home made foams in the past. The best foams from the factory tyres are indeed Pit Bull foams. The new RB XL and PBX AT foams work awesome without need for upgrades

The PBX foams are the best on offer as stock equipment, but sadly there isn't enough size options for use in other tyres.

*************************************************************

If you hadn't noticed in the above pics I actually did some creative trimming of the front bar, and a little in the back.

A common mod to the stock bar is to trim away where the lights are, and as mine was getting trashed in that area I implemented this idea.





The rear also received some love from the cutting blade.

I noted that the scale body the rear bar actually drooped a bit from behind the rear wheel arch. On the fullsize rig the rear is higher off the ground, not lower, so I corrected this minor issue. About 4mm was removed.





Then last Sunday I ran our first ST4 Challenge, a 100 gate monster with some challenging technical gates. We encourage the use of recovery gear with no penalties, and reverses are free. We have heavy penalties for rollovers and HOG etc, but there should be no cause with that if you use your head.

This was the first trail test of the new foams and the trimmed bars, and I am delighted to say it all worked a treat. I really need to add a winch to this rig soon. LOL.

Some pics taken by a mate while out on the course.









Cheers
H2Micr0

 

[H2Micr0]

I got out last weekend for a bit of trail time with the Grand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXyQ-McQHDk

Cheers
H2Micr0