My Tlt Project

[williamg]

yeah, you need a "center off" switch, it has 3 positions that way

Sorry your maiden voyage wasn't as good as it could have been, but that's what happens in scratch building and is to be expected.

The flopping might be due to the height and high cog, it'll be worse when you put the hard body on.

To fix, see your shocks, move them outboard of the frame. Being so narrow with the high weight placement and soft suspension is why your "flopping".

Weight needs a better distribution, wider will be more stable. I did not think the shocks in so narrow a configuration would work well.

If you want to widen, read the sticky for some parts ideas, because I think your going to have to widen it to clear the shocks out wider unless your straight up and down centered directly on the axle centers and extend your frame.

I think once you work your bugs out wir the weighted tires, and height giving axle clearence your going to crawl over anything.

 

[williamg]

ps
what did you gear to, the pede tranny stock is 18-87.

I think I have a 8 or 9 tooth 48 pitch fyou need it

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

12/87, ill try some shock spacers and see how it does. The hard body will just be for show

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

Just posers I know, but it could have crawled up that stump without problems. I emailed Hua about some custom Pede aluminum/steel driveshafts, waiting for an answer

 

[williamg]

nice
glad to see it's still comming along :kudo

 

[williamg]

oooh oooh ooh just noticed, the steering links, move them above the arm before you take it to the MJ
Below and you will snag them much easier. I learned that from early days of 3 speeds thehard way

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

Yeah its coming along I guess... The truck broke both JB welds in the front and rear axles and it keep popping out the rear driveshaft. I emailed HUA asking about custom shafts but the ones he sells are out of stock and he doesnt know when they are going to get more in. Hopefully before the MJ in August :ack The truck runs decent. Like I said, I pulled the rear steer out for now, not sure if ill put it back in or not. The truck turns decent but I may need to rig up some sort of light swaybars to keep the tires on the ground, this thing torques LOL Also need to order a Lathe motor (even though it only goes like 7 mph with the mayhem) and some other small stuff, body mounts, etc. Still looking for someone to paint my hard body for show... These rims arent very good either, I just looked at my 1/6 Wal Mart Jeep and the two drivers side rims are cracked down the side... Hope that doesnt happen to my truck crawler

Still thinkin of a name too, trying to decide what paintjob I want and maybe the name will go with it... Anyway, ill post some crawler pics when I find some rocks, and ill see about posting a video here soon. Thanks for the replies Nick

 

[williamg]

"Blackus Maximus" then paint the chassis satin black.

I like that truck, I'd use those wheels but be afraid of breaking them. That's why I use pede wheels, they're almost bullit proof. I'm terrible on wheels and tires for some reason. Ok, shocks too, oh and servos, and.... :roll

 

[GhoulPede]

Looking good!

 

[Spoon37]

Cool truck! :kudo

I have a few questions and suggestions that may help tho...

#1 where is the batt? I havent seen it in any pics yet you describe the rig as tippy... mounting it lower will help the overall CoG - also many comp crawlers mount it on the upper links to shift the weight bias forwards to aid front wheel traction when climbing.

#2 why are the axles pointing into the ground? this means your steering will suffer from effectively positive caster(wheels steering into ground rather than away from it) not to mention any hard obstacles may hit the servo before the axle.... :ack I would correct this if I were you unless the driveshafts prevent any other geometry... if this is the case then an axle skidplate would be a must, help it slide up and over things without damaging the servo and/or steering links.

#3 my juggernaut 2 which is my only truck I tried to get 90 degrees of artic out of is equally floppy, it leans one way under power and the other way in reverse.... you may find limiting or stiffening up the suspension helps... on my juggy I used sway bars but its basher MT not a crawler.... :lol: you may find stuff like limiting straps/chains are not only usefull but also true to scale...

:truck

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

Thanks again guys for the replies...

Spoon! Great suggestions, the battery is on the front upper shock mounts to keep the weight forward, if I could get my hands on my 1/18 battery thats in AK then it would be mounted on the front servo or between the front links. For right now, all I have is a full size 6 cell 3000 which I only get like 5 minutes out of...

The axles are pointing at the ground because the driveshafts are too short, and when I change the camber it makes the driveshafts closer to each other so they dont fall out as often. My chassis tends to flex (soon to be fixed) and the rear end tends to pop downward and pull the shaft out. When Hua gets his custom shafts back in stock ill be ordering some so I can shorten my links and get correct castor.

As for the suspension, I added some shock spacers and it helped out a significant amount. Now all I really need is some wideners to keep the tires off the lower links in front and a few other small things, this truck will be ready to rock

Thanks guys!

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

Well I took it out again today, lost another tire going up stairs, just fell off and stayed upright, looked like it was still on the truck LOL

Lets see, broke the front and rear diff's jb weld the other day, fixed those, and today I break the jb weld in the center Pede diff... Well, fixed all that... Still need some wideners and some other things. Heres some vids and a pic of the Pede diff. Sorry they arent better, hard to crawl and video at the same time with a truck that keeps breaking lol.

[dohtml]

Video 1

Video 2

[/dohtml]

 

[williamg]

I like the second vid

Question, can you gear lower? That'll bring the motor/esc up from the bottom into mid range and the powerband. Those tires are very tall and hearing the high pitch whine it sounds like your just off idle??

Looks good, now to figure out how not to break :ack

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

Well, I plan to buy a lathe motor, its geared as low as it gets lol... Just need some funds (I.E. my stupid sood to be ex wife to give me the 5 grand she owes me) hahaha. Anyway, as long as its done by the MJ in PA ill be happy

 

[williamg]

let me know, I'll loan you a 45 turn if you don't have it by then

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

Twisted the front driveshaft right off the plastic yoke LOL... I need to put more BB's in the front tired because it keeps flipping over backwards. And the steering sucks

 

[ScaleManiac]

Nick let me help you out with a few points on this bad boy. With those nylint tires that is ALOT of force on the axles, trans, etc. I would definitely up the trans to having an aluminum idler for sure (if you dont already, maybe metal diff gear to?). Also part of the reason why the steering sucks is because the tlt knuckles have alot of "flex". Due to the larger tire size they are going to flex alot more then normal, I think GPM is making some in aluminum. if you head over to RCC there is a long thread on the aluminum knuckles in the tlt forum, even where to get them. I would say that going to be your best bet. Also if you have a servo saver on the servo, ditch it, its going to hurt you. I used to run all my crawlers with savers and it sucked, now I just use JR 650z which are ball bearing metal gear servos with a 144oz of torque in .17 and I never have any issues. As far as wieght forawrd goes, you can probably use some stick on car wheel wieghts on the inside of the front wheels which will help keep the wieght forward. Your definitely going to want a lathe motor, with the tire size you are running I would go with a 55 turn or 65 turn. If you cant find them, let me know, a LHS here gets them in a few days for me all the time no problem for 19.95. Run the trans gearing at 12/87 or the largest spur gear you can fit. You will definitely want to upgrade to steel yokes too, I having the same problem with my Bronco TLT right now becasue I only have steel ends at the axle and they keep breaking at the trans. Full steel set up is the way to go. Also if you find that you are twisting the drive shafts bad, invest in some JATO shafts, they are splined and seem to be strong them the pede sliders.

Hope this helps
Mike

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

Thanks for the reply Mike

I kinda figured the turning was mostly flex, but it also has to do with the tires rubbing the links, and the fact that I have alot of positive camber at the moment until I get my steel driveshafts/yokes from Hua. Whenever he starts stocking them again that is. I run the Hitec 5645 MG BB HT servos so they are definately enough for this truck. Ill probably end up putting my aluminum arm on it soon. Ill find a lathe motor as soon as I get some money. I know all about Pede trannys and making them bulletproof, I have owned at least 4 Pedes and currently have 2 and the tranny on this truck. Soon to be 3 more I have a box of parts right now worth over 1500$ and that includes pretty much every hop up there is for 3 Stampedes. Ill get it fixed up soon, just need my parts and stuff from AK (which wont be here till after the MJ in August) and alot more testing. Half the fun is fixing it up If it aint broke, dont fix it, if it breaks, upgrade it!

 

[Orange Pedeanaut]

I have a name, Widowmaker after the Moab slickrock wall

 

[william g]

constructive critisism would have been perfectly ok. However

Everytime I scroll down, I...

is unacceptable.

My mother used to say "If you can't say anything nice don't say anything".

I won't allow anybody to have tolisten to that