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loco_oso

loco_oso's 4WD Rustler project

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Hey all, I've dropped in a few times to post over the last year, but have mostly been lurking. I was somewhat active here a good while ago (about 3 years I think), but decided to start posting a bit more. I enjoy reading and keeping up to date on these forums and really like the friendly atmosphere here :). My plan for the truck is to make it resemble the Rustler, with a more monster truck stance. The wheelbase will be roughly 10", while the width is about 12". I'm planning on using two transmissions - one for the front and the other for the rear. The front will have independent suspension and there will be a solid axle in a rear (using the stock Traxxas transmissions).

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I found that 1/2" EMT conduit is the perfect size to fit into TT-01 front knuckles, and when cut to length it's what I'll use for the solid rear axle. I'm not too sure about how to attach it to the transmission yet, though.

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Projects and i usually don't get along too well, but I'll give this one a shot regardless haha. Anyways, it's good to be back :)!

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Sounds like an interesting build, looking forward to seeing how this turns out, good luck :-)

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Thanks!

I think I've got how I'm going to attach the conduit to the rear transmission.

solid%20axle%20bracing.jpg

On either side of the output shaft I'll have one half of a triangular hinge bent 90 degrees at the bottom and screwed to the side of the transmission housing. The hinge will then have screws running into the conduit at the top and bottom of the hinge. On the left view above you can see the triangular hinge with the mounting points, and the conduit running up and down. On the right view is the side view of the transmission, with a straight on view of where the L-bends will be to secure the hinge to the housing.

The drawing is a bit rough, and it could be shown better with 3D CAD, but hopefully it makes sense.

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Got a bit more done over the past couple days. I've cut the conduit to the correct length (3.5"), and filed/reamed the edges. I also polished one of the pieces as you can see on the bottom vs. the unpolished on the top.
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The TT-01 knuckle posts have been cut, and screws go through them into the conduit to keep the knuckle in place. I hastily cut up the transmission tonight, and here you can see the general set-up for the rear solid axle minus the supports for the axle tubes.
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And here's the layout with the transmissions in place. I'm putting the front transmission the same direction as the rear so I don't have to run a reverse motor.
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Sorry for the picture quality! I took them with my phone.
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Not much progress on this so far. I've been a bit scared off by the back so I decided to start work on the front end (this was a month or two ago). Because I'm using a rear transmission at the front I had to use rear arms as well. With the width that I wanted, regular Rustler arms and Nitro Rustler arms were too long. I had an extra set of regular arms but needed to trim them down.


I started by removing the "x" brace nearest to the outer hinge pin, then drilled a hole where I wanted the new hinge pin location to be. I used a Dremel to clean up the appearance a bit.


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(Stock on left, modified on right)


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After all that, I wanted to make a radius on the arm instead of just cutting off the excess plastic with a saw. I drilled a hole in a piece of wood, and used the router bit and connector (?) to the Dremel as my 'mill'. Then I affixed the Dremel to the wood, and made a 1/8" hole near where the bit came up.


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I put a hinge pin through the hole and then put the arm on that. The arm would swivel around it's new hole location, causing the 'mill' to trim off excess plastic in the shape of an arc. I would gradually increase the height of the bit so the Dremel wouldn't struggle so much and the bit wouldn't deflect as far during each pass.


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After all that, here's the results:


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It turned out pretty well I think, considering everything. In the last picture, the arm will need to be turned around, but I'll worry about that later.

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I hate to do this, but I'm going to be putting this project to an end. I'm sure it could be done, but I don't have the energy, means, or time to do so now. My drive to complete this has waned as well to be honest. My plan is to use the two transmissions in separate vehicles to do further experimenting in the future.


Thank you all for your support - it means a lot! I hope to come up with something else soon :).

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