My very own dual brushless clod- new lid- Green Lantern

[Budhatrain]

It's been about a year that I discovered the endless possibilities of clod's. I would have to say when I went to world finals last year in Holiday City and hung out with Joe for a little bit that I finally knew what I wanted to do. After a year of collecting parts and somehow coming up with a handful of other projects I am finally here. This week I started to tear down a clod in stock form and started to rebuild the axles.

Here is my story:

MIP CVD's up front
TTR Aggressor Steering systerm
4600 Brushless Castle Creations
Robinson Racing pinions
CPE rear lockouts
CPE wheel wideners (1/2in in front and 3/4in in rear- the CVD's add 1/4)
High Torque servos from CPE
Some unknown upper link mounts

First I have to say that installing the MIP CVD's was a blast to do. They really felt like I was doing a quality upgrade. They feel incredibly well planned and made. I have to pick up another set to keep in the tool box- who knows what will come up in the future.

Next I was impressed with how simple and effective Brett's design was for the rear lockouts.

I don't know who made the upper link mounts- but I like these a whole lot too!

Finally- the powerplants. Dual brushless from CC. I hear the music from halo in the background. Sealed, powerful ready to tear it up- I cannot wait to phase two! Which will be a CF Terminator Chassis from CPE and electronics.

 

[MiRatlhed]

Looking good man!! Glad I got ya hooked.....hehe

It is a lot of fun and I hope that I will never ever be without a RC.

Can't wait to see this beast built.

 

[Supreme Reign]

I'm loving this setup.

 

[Renegade]

Looks like a great start to an awesome clod.:tmb

I'm running a pair of 4600's in a clod of mine and it is fantastic. For once I can take a race clod out as much as I want and just run it as hard as I can through pack after pack without the pain of knowing deep down that I'm killing my motors and have to spend the time to rebuild them before the next big race. Brushless has made clods fun again outside of serious competition.

One word of advice,
If I were you I would go ahead and put cvd's in the rear also... It will even out your width front to back which will help consistancy and if you want to nitpick the cvd's are smoother than the stock axles, even locked out straight, so it will in theory inprove your steering through less drag in the rear axle:tong

Not to mention they add durability to the driveline and the actual plastic knuckle itself because the thick 8mm outer stub will not flex inside the knuckle causing the inside to break.


I'm ready for ics of this truck completed!

 

[Hermit]

Welcome to the world of BL clods. Carnage, carnage, carnage. Dont do it!:laugh

JK. Your going to love it.

 

[CrumpleZ0ne]

sweet setup.... smart to start with axles only and build up.. I shoulda done that, but oh well. I agree go with CVDs or MIP solid axle in the rear and get rid of the stub axles.. that's a weak spot from what I hear..

I have a brushless clod in the works myself.. thread to come..

 

[cpe mt]

Looks like you have a great start! We just happen to have a free shipping offer for the next couple of days so that CF Terminator gets there a little quicker...

 

[MiRatlhed]

Looks like you have a great start! We just happen to have a free shipping offer for the next couple of days so that CF Terminator gets there a little quicker...

He already purchased the CPE Terminator! Can't go wrong with the best Clod being sold right now!

 

[Budhatrain]

He already purchased the CPE Terminator! Can't go wrong with the best Clod being sold right now!

Hey I've seen that somewhere before! - I want to pick up the rumble tire for it but will settle for imex pullers if that is not a reality soon. For the body, I have a pretty cool idea but I am gonna keep that under wraps for the time being.

 

[MiRatlhed]

So maybe your sentence has the key word of the new body?? "Wraps" LOL

 

[ChisaiKuso]

That is an awesome start to what I'm sure will be an amazing machine. Please keep us updated throughout the rest of your build process.

ChisaiKuso

 

[Budhatrain]

Thanks Nate! Here are the axles mounted to the CPE chassis and wheels. I have to say that the chassis is off the hook. This feels like it's sitting on rails. The wd40 can in one of the pics is the full size can! Talk about adjustability- there is no end to the possibilities, this is another "glad I bought that" deals. :shk

I had a tough time with one of the wheels with the wideners. I must have overtightened or misdrilled or something- but one of the tires has a real bad shake rattle and roll now that's its mounted. Since you have to modifiy them so much to make the wideners work- it's a total loss and I have to pick up a new set or something.

Other than that- I am super stocked to hook up the electronics and get this thing moving. Plus I have to add that it looks like the steering is maxxed out- if I can't turn this thing with this setup... I'm using the wrong radio:willy

I have a question- in dirt and or carpet racing, what would be the benifit to lock or add a ball diff to the axles?

Ohh- pictures taken with my cell phone!

 

[Hermit]

^^^^^

On carpet, leave your diffs open. Carpet has tons of grip.

On dirt, A ball diff with limited slip in the rear only and keep your front open will work fine. If the ball diff is not in the budget, lock the reas with
lock tite. does good for awesome Cyclones.

 

[Budhatrain]

I think once I put the motors on the axles I couldn't keep this project out of my mind. I have done more with it in the last week than the whole winter- I don't know why all the parts have been sitting there:bang

I wired the machine up today. That was a ratnest but I think I have it all sorted out. I had some inconsistent steering issues but that was solved once I planted the huge ofna servo saver in there. I robbed it from my Big Pete build- need to call CPE and get another one.

I finally juiced up the turnigy lipos for the first time. This has been another project just sitter there. But made all the solder connections and it was easy peesy. I am gonna write up a review- I picked up two 5200 turnigy 30c hard case lipos and the accucel charger.

Plugged it all together and bashed around the back yard- just missing my kids running scared. There were a couple of problems, the motors were not doing the same things... it was wierd- but that was solved once I put the castle link on there and matched up all the settings. One of the sidewinder combos was used and had a previous owners settings in there. One motor was hotter than the other- reverse was initiated alot quicker in one etc....

I cannot say enough about how cool it is to be able to program these babies. This feels like a high doller mean machine- WOW:shk I definetly feel like I have options both with the chassis and now the power system- which is important.

The CPE frame with the assosiated shocks just plant this monster on rails!!!

Quickly I found out that I lost all my nonlocked nuts and bolts. My tires are the weakest link now. But I hope to resolve that soon. Sidenote: for some reason I never glue my tires... I'm an idiot. I remember last year going to my first race and rounding a corner and there goes a tires. You would think I will learn.

QUESTION: it seems it is a little quicker in reverse than forward... I messed with the settings and to my knowledge it shouldn't be doing this. Anyone else deal with this? I will probably just call Castle on Monday.

Tomorrow gonna show off to my friends. I will vid the beast and post soon. hope I can sleep- tomorrow's church and I am one of the Pastors. Nothing like preaching but thinking about Clods...

 

[Hermit]

hope I can sleep- tomorrow's church and I am one of the Pastors. Nothing like preaching but thinking about Clods...



Oh Father , how can I make my clod more better...........OHHH!!!!!

 

[Budhatrain]

Called up Castle and they helped me fix the problem very quickly. I had the trottle direction switch on my tx in reverse. Flipped the switch went through the programming sequence boom boom badda boom and ready to go. Worked great.

Beautiful day outside after a very rainy season. I went two times up the street and back with big O grin on my face. Went for the third time and hit a stinking puddle that I couldn't see.:bang

My two esc's now shut down Can't I have anything nice? I am embarrassed and mad and sad and depressed and mad and crying all at once.:willy

Hopefully everything will start up after it dries out...yeah right wishful thinking :ack

I think the flat rate non-warrenty repair will be $35 per unit. Not a total waste but I did want to buy some other things before that. This is life and a hobby and.... this is my luck sometimes. I am gonna spend the rest of the day with my kids and smile again!:wnk

 

[kwkride]

I would remain optimistic. Castle stuff is very high quality.
As long as you didn't see any smoke, there's a good chance that it will work when it dries out thoroughly.

Good Luck,

Jim

 

[Budhatrain]

Ended up just frying my battery and not the ESC's- $20 turnigy lipo, that's why I got them:tmb WOW dodged a bullet there!

Well I knew as soon as the press release this was the shell for my truck- picked it up direct from Jconcepts- Ford Raptor for the Revo- bold style, big wheel wells I tried to copy a couple of different concepts I found on the web. The rootbeer color seems to be the similar one (I know not exact) Ford launch this with. The actual side graphic and hood I took from the 2009 sema truck- except it was white.

Gotta say this- Jconcepts is a solid company to buy bodies from. Very high quality poly and the window masks are crazy sticky/tough. Fit and finish of all the extra decals are great. They are definetly a place to look at for bodies and the clod. To me, this revo size seems perfect for a "more scale" appearance. Plus to spice it up- Jconcepts sent me a free 1/8 scale wing for ordering a MT body- boom! Just don't know what to put it on yet:bang

In addition, I used a thin masking tape to do all my detail cutting in before using the 1/2in or 2 in tape. This seemed to work real good against bleed through and gave me clear crisp lines. This is probably one of the cleanest- I'm satisfied- trucks bodies I have done myself. I have an rc10 body I want to tackle now.

With the side graphic- I used some vinyl and cut out the logo on the reverse side- and used sparadically liquid mask. Thought it turned out pretty cool- I was crossing my fingures through the process.

So here's what I came up with. I transfered a logo cutout on the reverse side of some vinyl and liquid mask halfhazardly thrown onto the side

Can't wait for the rumble tires to come out from RC4WD!

 

[MiRatlhed]

WOW, that looks killer man!! Glad you did not fry the ESC's, that would have been a bummer. If your cheeks would not have been at 120% grin factor your eyes would have been open more to see that puddle....:laugh

Congrats on a sweet truck Mike!!

 

[Budhatrain]

I wish that CPE and TTR would include little stickers in their product so you could display them on the truck?

Whelp guess I have to get an RCMT up there first:rock