Candymans AR60 based Monster Truck build

Greetings all, I have decided to build something! Its been a while, I have made a lot of clodbuster and juggernaut based stuff in the past, only recently have I noticed the AR60 axle and the possibilities it gives. A good following on a platform like this is essential, so you know you have lots of hop up bits to choose from. I saw a truck that someone made recently in a "car action" magazine, really liked the chassis design so I blatenly coppied it and then set about making all the pretty bits I have in my head. I like shiney bits, so if you like rough/scale looking crawlers, then I dont think your going to enjoy this much.


Ok, so I designed the chassis I liked in cad and printed it out, cardboard is always a good place to start in my opinion.



had a bit of a faff stretching it and making it the right length, I wanted it 350mm long so the chassis finished exactly on the wheelbase, in my opinion, this makes for a nice proportioned truck.

I sent my final design off to the good people at fibrelyte and they cut it out of half carbon, half fibreglass, so it looks like carbon but doesnt cost quite so much, as it was the 2 chassis plates were just under ?100.

I bought some cheap alloy axles from asia tees, love the look of these, plus they come with gears, bearings, hubs etc which I needed as I have nothing AR60 based, I can always upgrade bits after. Got some revo rod ends, and started making some links!






started with some 12mm square bar and milled these chunky looking fellows, always tough doing 4 of one thing as you have to get them all to match! easy in a cnc, not so easy when your using a manual mill.



ok thats it for now, more later.

 

I was originally going to drill and tap th end of the links, screw in a fat M4 grub screw and then screw the rod end on that......... then I thought what happens if I screw the rod end on and it gets tight and im 90 degrees away from the angle I want, either have to back it off and be loose or tighten even more and risk striping the rod end. So, I decided to go all the way through and turn down some M4 screws and put them in form the inside, then wind on the rod end, get it straight and tighten the screw from the inside.

 

nice idea on the screw-rod ends

 

I have seen a couple of trucks like this using two yeti link mounts on the outside of the chassis, I like the look of this but wanted to make something 1 piece and with a cleaner look. Started with a lump of 12mm thick ally and got the basic shape right, with the holes drilled where I want them, this matches the shape of the chassis so it will sit flush against it.



Its always harder to make a pair of something like this not only does it have to be perfectly symetrical left to right, then you need to make another exactly the same. So many hours of machining later..



nearly there, there is still some weight to come out the middle then a lot of smoothing off and polishing.

 

Very interesting build, subscribed!

 

just polishing to do now.

 

I'm very excited to see how this build turns out. I love the idea of a clod/txt-1 size truck with an updated axle format. What transmission do you plan on using?

 

Hiya, I bought an AX2 thing thats supposed to fit some axial trucks. I like the idea of a two speed with a little servo to switch gears

 

I've run that that transmission and it has a lot of slop but it's tough as nails. How are you mounting it?

 

Yeh it seems strong, just fancied a 2 speed. No idea how im mounting it yet, i'll make something

mounts finished and polished, glad thats over, all easy bits now!

 

You definitely have the machining skills. Everything looks amazing. Wish I had a resource like you when I have a project.

 

Thanks

Made some chunky top links and trial fit everything up.

 

Im trying to build this truck to clodbuster dimensions as I like the proportions, so that?s 350mm wheelbase and 350mm width. Im going to run clodbuster wheels, the clodbuster hubs fit the 14mm hubs but it comes out 25mm too narrow either side. Im making some adapters to fit the clod hubs (12.5mm each side) that will bring it upto the correct width. Because I like to make my job hard, I don?t want to have the usual DIY solution of having 5 bits of threaded tube and 5 screws going through the outside of the wheel. I also don?t want to use the crappy tube nuts you get on most of the adapters you see, I prefer nyloc nuts!

So I turned up some 12.5mm discs out of delrin then drilled/tapped them to m4, recess the middle to leave room for the nut and then above that cut a T slot to accommodate my m5 T-screw that press into it leaving a thread on the other side that I can attach a wheel to. The adapter I made up attaches to the clod hub from the back, this works here albeit a bit fiddly but wouldn?t work with a traditional Clodbuster hub carrier as there MASSIVE . This setup puts a bit more strain on the clod hub but its only 12.5mm out, and no more of a lever than running the wide proline wide clod wheels.

 

Got some beefy shafts.



Making the mount for the transmission, the Ax2 2-speed.





A bit chunky but I can always take some weight out of it later when Im sure I dont need to mount anything else off it. Quite happy I got the shape to match the bottom of the chassis and mounts.

 

Onto the sway bars, nice clean design, big recess on the back to slide a nyloc M3 nut in without it sticking out the back of the arm.



Using some 3mm piano wire, had to mill some tiny flats on it, first I had 3mm grub screws but ended up going to M4 grub screws through the arms to clamp onto the flat on the piano wire. Using some brass top hat colars through the chassis to space it off a bit.



test fit with the prop shaft in place and shock offered up.

 

Got some more 6mm tube for the middle of the sway bar so the chassis doesnt get squeezed at all when I tighten down the sway bar levers.



Using one of the chassis spacers to mount the bck of the battery tray, its an Axial tray I bought.



smoothed and rounded them off to look nice!



fits up something like that

 

Making the mount for the battery tray, trying to use the existing holes in the chassis rather than drill new ones.



Tray is quite light weight, I might make a delrin tray if this doesnt look strong enough



On to the radio tray... delrin is so messy!





some funny little mounts for it..



looks about right, again using the shock holes for now.



starting to look like something




add some lightness and polish




the front mount for the radio tray is coming off the middle of the tube that holds the sway bar.






like this bit, looks like a proper little bit you might buy!

 

This is insane. Awesome work. I wish i could do 1/2 of this.

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks for sharing pictures of the build, amazing work!

 

forgot to add this one last time





Chrome rims, proline tyres





added an aerial mount







time to break out the body shells! I painted a bunch a few years back





using proline body mounts, trimmed them to fit the chassis a bit better





Some of the shells have a narrow hood, so i made some spacers and a threaded part in the middle so you can adjust where the mounts go according to how wide the front is.





















the 50's chevy body has a real curved hood and needs the narrowest setup