RC Bashers

Well, I came across a deal on a venom creeper kit minus the rims, tires, and body. I have some aluminum beadlocks and proline chisels so I'm set. If you aren't familiar with the creeper, it's similar to the axial but with some IMO better features. It has selectable lockers that can be activated by small servos. Stock CVD axle shafts capable of 40 degrees of steering. Lots of aluminum parts, though I'd rather have aluminum knuckles and plastic links instead of vice versa. I'll take pics of the build process, though I don't know if I'll build it completely stock at first or not. There are many very simple mods to make this thing comp level.
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DAY 1

Didn't spend a lot of time on this but did get started. Got the transmission assembled.



That's about as long as I could stand being stock, haha. I have some other chassis plates I am going to try, since I plan to lay the shocks down and not use the battery tray anyway. I lined up the stock chassis and drilled the new holes. All mounting points are the same as the stock chassis, but with more extension for shock mounts. So geometry isn't changed due to the chassis.


I changed out the rear upper links for ones with straight rodends in anticipation for running less triangulation of those links. Eventually I will probably replace every link with something different. Trying to go slow with the changes though.

Last is my idea for steering lockouts for the rear axle. Not sure if plastic is going to be strong enough though.?

Day 2(yesterday actually)

I shaved the diff housings, trimmed the axle shafts for better steering, and worked out the suspension geometry. Stock Creeper upper links are triangulated to the center of the axles. Stock Creepers have a lot of torque twist. I am copying a member on RCC's link design and from his videos he has little to no TT.I'm using even more Himoto parts, now chassis plates and upper links front and rear. Next time I work on this I'll be building the axles, including JB Welded diffs. The selectable locker is a cool idea but apparently a weak design.

Day 3 maybe? Who knows, I do little things every day but wouldn't consider it an actual day of work.

So I stripped all the aluminum down to silver. Locked the diffs with JB Weld. Straightened one of the bends in the rear lower links to make them high clearance. I covered the rear lower links with some plastic hose to help them slide, aluminum isn't all that slippery. I used a soldering iron to melt scrap plastic into the axle housings to cover the selectable locker holes and then sanded it all smooth. Got the shocks, driveshafts, and CVD's assembled. I found a 9/64 drill bit fits inside the male end of the driveshafts to help them from twisting. Can't remember but I got a lot of little things done. Here's some pics of the links, axle housings, and the driveshafts.

Next installment. It's pretty much a roller but I want to tweak a few things so I left it in my wheelbase jig. The himoto chassis didn't pan out so I switched back to the stock venom one. Itá all in the shock placement and the himoto didn't have a lot of adjustment. Not in the pics but I plan to run the steering BTA and get the max 52 degrees out of the steering. This is not the easiest task so I'll probably be rearranging things for a few days. Also tossed in a pic of the beadlocks and chisels which are assembled with 2 3/4" stick on weights inside and I'll add some more to the fronts either on the axle or on the back of the rims.

Nice, new build thread. Just what I needed with a clear workbench and no RC funds right now. Hmmmm someone pass me a beer please.lol Grats on the new rig Jams.l8r,w.

Getting closer but still working out the steering. I have the tierod sorted but the draglink is going to be tricky. 2 options are a bent draglink, or a fabbed arm on one knuckle and the servo facing forward with a straight draglink. Not really much more done, I just wanted to see what it looked like with the tires on.

crazy looking links there! looks better tho, get er done

Yeah, those links on the front are stock, with two bends in each. I actually straightened out one bend in the rear links. They work out in the front though, clearance for the tight steering angle. I don't think I mentioned the electronics or any other info. I have a 35T lathe with a 12T pinion in there, probably on 2s lipo. Not sure on ESC, really need a good one with drag brake and an external BEC. For now I'll run a cheap one I have.

that is some kiler steering you have there. have you had any binding?
check out novak. you can get some nice refurbs. that still have the warranty.!

Thanks, the steering is actually limited by the hardware holding the lower links to the axle. I may leave it like that the keep from pushing my luck on angle though. Supposedly the stock short CVD, and the steering knuckles, are designed for 52 degrees. However for some reason, the long side CVD is machined improperly and need some dremel action to match the other shaft. I also have seen comparison shots of the venom, losi, and aftermarket axial CVDs and it shows the venom to be the beefiest. Still people do manage to snap them in full on comp conditions. I may not get that extreme though, and don't plan on running DIG on it either.

Novak makes some nice stuff, might check the refurbs out. I also seem to remember the speedo from a lisi mini crawler(MRC) has drag brake. Not sure if it could handle a 35T 540 can motor. A refurbed rooster would be nice though.

i have a super duty, barely used... probably a little over kill though
i have yet to build a crawler. i had plans for the twin but cannibalized an axle for the SC. still have tons of parts for it though. could build one pretty easy with what i have left.

52 degrees is pretty nuts.

Yeah you should build a rock racer out of the twin and buggy leftover parts. Running 2.2 tires you'd never break anything.

Experimenting with the steering. Made a knuckle arm out of cutting board to see if it will work. If it works I may make one out of aluminum. If I do I'd like to capture the tierod rodend on top also for double shear.

lol people at the store see you coming they hie the cutting boards haha.
Looking and creative!

Yeah, I love this stuff, cheaper than delrin and aluminum, though weaker too. But it works great for prototypes or parts you may or may not use. For example, a more knowledgable guy on RCC told me he tried this already and it isn't best. It requires a stronger servo, which I am lacking in already. So I'll probably be copying his design, including laying the shocks down like in the rear, new bent upper links, and new steering linkages to turn the servo backwards. Maybe one day I'll run this thing, haha.

Nice work Jams. This thing is really moving along. Berg rims look good on there.l8r,w.

gotta love R&D to me thats the funnest part of this hobby. great job so far and its really moving along

I've been tinkering with this thing while waiting on other parts to arrive. Mostly just rearranging to get it all to work. Went with the up and over steering setup. Put two bends in the stock tierod and needed spacers to get it back to correct length. One side is a simple spacer and the other is a piece to attach the draglink to the tierod. This pies is made from an old 1/4" key from a lawnmower, I think. I haven't put all the electronics back in to test it but it should have full steering now.

I also made some axle housing skid/protectors. I used a heatgun to shrink water bottles over the housings, then cut for only what was needed, and painted them. They'll be held on with zipties and maybe some shoe goo.

Holy crap that is awesome! Those bottle came out pretty kool after painted like it was meant for it dam smart!

You may remember, I've done a lot of playing around with shrinking bottles. It's nice for it to come to some use for once, haha. I painted both sides, not sure how regular paint will stick to water bottle plastic though.

Seems I recall I little but I see so many threads I honestly cant keep track and forget shoot anymore with age im lucky to remember my own name lol.
Maybe the krylon fusion? Good stuff.

They'll just get scraped up anyway, that's the purpose. I just wanted to cover up some of the "white" spots where I fot it a little too hot and it started to melt.

Nice work yet again Jams. Awsome Idea with the bottles. Might have to "barrow" that one down the road.lol This puppy will be heavily modified and full kitted even before it tuggs on some rockage. Always a good read when I check up on this thread. Thanks Jamus. l8r,w.

Well, got some pin lox from Rockymountian Designworks today and installed them on the CVDs. Also put this thing back together after making a quick tube on TVP chassis last night. Nothing great, just something to run instead of a lexan body.