CC-01 Landfreeder Build Mod Crawl

[Kingfisher 1171]

My first CC-01 and what a treat it was to build. Here's pics of start to finish. After this initial post, I intend to follow up with pics/video of it in use when time allows, as well as questions on future mods and changes. Photobucket has pretty much destroyed all of the good CC01 threads, so maybe we can make a new one that covers everything. We'll discuss the goods, the bads, what to mod, and what not to mod. Feel free to post pics of your CC01 mods or just show off your CC01 in general. 

Pics of my build:

I added a 65T RC 4WD Crawler motor.

Following the advice of several YT videos, I took out the slack in the rear diff using bushings and a washer. Also, both front and rear diff are locked. I locked the front diff using the method where you add an extra spider gear. I used AW Grease to seal up the rear diff and front gear covers.

The only change I have made to the suspension so far is that I added the Stroke Extension Kit.

 

 

Body is all trimmed up.

 

 

I may remove the front bumper in the future. I can see how it could get hung up on obstacles, and I also can now see why everyone cuts the front brick.

 

Showing a bit of articulation.

 

 

I didn't take any pics of the electronics, but I am using the Hobbywing Quicrun 1060 Waterproof ESC. I have a spare receiver box from a TT02B that I sealed up my receiver in. I'll be smearing a light coat of clear silicone around the seams of the receiver box just to make sure water doesn't get in.

 

The body is painted. While painting it, I also painted a new body for my M06 chassis.

 

 

Stickers are complete.

 

 

Some pics from the back yard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My next question pertains to springs/shocks. Would longer dampers give me more height, or would I be better off going with the Tamiya barrel springs for better choice of spring rate?

[graemevw 823]

Love these, nearly bought one last week but went in a different direction.

These are still in my radar though. Maybe next month.

[Nobbi1977 1793]

I spent ages and loads of cash on mine and never got it finished. I need to finish it or get it gone I think. 

Only the body to paint if I recall so I will have to drag it out and see. 

[Kingfisher 1171]

10 hours ago, Nobbi1977 said:

I spent ages and loads of cash on mine and never got it finished. I need to finish it or get it gone I think. 

Only the body to paint if I recall so I will have to drag it out and see. 

What all did you do to it? Got any pics? With only paint work left, have you ever driven it?

[Nobbi1977 1793]

On 13/08/2017 at 5:03 PM, Kingfisher said:

What all did you do to it? Got any pics? With only paint work left, have you ever driven it?

I had a build thread but all the pics are lost. Never driven or finished.

think the mods were much the same as yours if I remember. 

I love your body (in the only way a man in to RC can) and think I might get a shell if I resurrect this project. 

 

 

[Supercoolnothing 721]

I did pretty much the same mods as you with my cc-01, although I made my own stroke extension system using a couple of TL-01 camber links. I also fitted absima steelhammer 1.9's although you need to trim the wheel arches to get the necessary clearance to stop the tyres from rubbing on the body. I also put as many wheel balancing weights into the chassis as I could fit to drop the centre of gravity and changed the front bumper for a radshape alloy one which doesn't get caught up on the terrain as the stock one did. 

[Nobbi1977 1793]

Let me see..

Cut finger open with scalpel trying to cut out side pods

 

 

ESC and RX in there so I might have had it moving around the kitchen

 

 

Servo in there and upgraded steering 

 

This rear end was a PITA if I recall

 

 

Different wheels and tyres

 

 

These shocks and springs were not cheap if I remember. 

 

 

 

 

sorry for the hairy legs and shorts

[Kingfisher 1171]

18 hours ago, Nobbi1977 said:

Let me see..

Looks great so far. You're almost done. You should finish it. The Unimog looks good when painted.

18 hours ago, Nobbi1977 said:

sorry for the hairy legs and shorts

Didn't notice until you mentioned it. 

 

20 hours ago, Nobbi1977 said:

I love your body (in the only way a man in to RC can)  

That should be on a T-shirt. 

[Kingfisher 1171]

After driving mine around the back yard some more, setting up small obstacle courses with sticks and tree roots, I have decided to do something with the front. The front brick/bumper area gets hung up on everything, and I keep getting high-centered on the round gear cover for the drive shaft. Also, the stock tires are a bit lacking. I found a few tutorials on cutting the front brick. I'll measure for tire size. Are there any skid plates anyone would recommend, or advise to stay away from?

The 65T motor isn't fast at all, and I was getting annoyed by the brakes, so I disabled it on the ESC. It now just has Forward and Reverse with no brake. I like it much better this way.

[graemevw 823]

Do you think these would hold up to normal rc car bashing? Normal motors and screaming round the back garden, small jumps etc.

I really like the scale principal of operation without the ultra scale looks, but id probably 2wd it and thrash it.

 

I know its not what its intended for. 

[Kingfisher 1171]

1 hour ago, graemevw said:

Do you think these would hold up to normal rc car bashing? Normal motors and screaming round the back garden, small jumps etc.

I really like the scale principal of operation without the ultra scale looks, but id probably 2wd it and thrash it.

 

I know its not what its intended for. 

 

 

Why 2WD? Keep it 4WD and don't lock the differentials. An unlocked 4WD is pretty much 2WD anyways, lol.

[graemevw 823]

Why 2wd?

I just want a vehicle that is a arm front and live axle rear and rwd, like most 70's stuff.

I also want the motor at the front and inline.

In an ideal world it would be 1/12 and 1/12 scale 14" slot mags would exist. But 1/10 would be good too.

Not really into scale speed/ability though, full speed jumps and general silliness is more my style

[Kingfisher 1171]

1 minute ago, graemevw said:

Why 2wd?

I just want a vehicle that is a arm front and live axle rear and rwd, like most 70's stuff.

 

Gotcha. Nothing wrong with that, and if you ever decide that you want to make it 4WD again, it's only a matter of putting the dog bones in.

[Kingfisher 1171]

Removed the front bumper. Added Tamiya Rock Block tires and a Junfac skid plate. These 3 things made this truck so much more fun now. Roots and tree branches that I was getting stuck on, it now just climbs right over them. Next, I plan to cut the front brick. I also noticed that when you compress the rear suspension, the lower links flex preventing the coil springs from doing their job.

 

 

 

 

[Kingfisher 1171]

I took the Landfreeder for a walk through a park that ends at a small beach area. 

 

 

While crawling around through the sand, I noticed one of the wheels wasn't spinning. On closer inspection, I found that one of the dogbones had popped out of place and somehow got stuck in the front spring. I was able to put it back in, and continued the walk back to my 1:1 truck. On the way there, I was crossing through some grass and the same thing happened again. I found the dogbone in the grass this time, and when I went to put it back in, I noticed that the upper control arm mount was cracked. I brought it home and began disassembly to see what happened.

 

 

 

 

The whole tower appears to have just shattered. I highly doubt that I over-tightened this piece during assembly. I remember putting it together, and this particular area is a screw that goes through a plastic tube and has the ball mount on the end. I remember slightly snugging it up and using threadlock on it to keep the ball end from working loose. Of course, pushing the upper control arm onto the ball mount was a bit difficult, so I guess there's the chance that maybe I was too forceful getting it on? Looking at those cracks, I seriously doubt that was the case. Looking at the way it cracked and flaked out, could this have been a defect in the molding process when the tub was made? Who knows?

 

When I removed the screw, the plastic on the top just fell away.

 

 

Surely, there's no way I could have over-tightened it to this point. This isn't my first build, or my first time using hand tools, lol.

 

Looking back through the pics of when I built it, I see that it could have been cracked from the start and I didn't realize it. Look in this picture at the bottom right, where that screw is. It looks like it was chipped just at the screw. 

 

 

For the cracked areas on the bottom, I used a 2-part epoxy to mend it. On the top where the screw passes through, I built up the area around the screw with JB weld, and then went over that with the 2-part epoxy. I lightly greased the screw, then wiped the grease off, just leaving a very thin coat of grease on the screw. After the JB weld started to set up, I gave the screw a turn to make sure it wasn't bonded to the JB weld. It's not pretty, but it's fixed. In the picture, it looks like I sealed the gear cover with JBWeld and epoxy. I am certain, and have confirmed that I did not. I just made a bit of mess while applying it.

 

 

While I had it apart, I also decided to cut the front brick following this tutorial from TheLEDwheel.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdvHlppzj7Q

 

I made a guide from aluminum angle iron and cut it off with a hacksaw. After cleaning it up on the belt sander, I cut out a metal skid plate just as he does in the video.

 

 

 

 

Showing the angle of the cut.

 

 

Having the front brick cut makes a big difference on what it can go over. Where it would get stuck on obstacles, it now just slides up and climbs right over them. I used to not be able to climb up onto the wooden deck in my back yard, because the front brick would come in contact with the side of the wood. Now, it's not an issue.  

[Kingfisher 1171]

The repair to the upper arm didn't hold. I was sitting on the deck in my back yard running the truck around when a squirrel showed up on my fence. I decided to harass the squirrel with the Landfreeder. I have the Landfreeder set to Forward and Reverse only, with no brake. I was working the trigger between forward and reverse making the truck do small lunges (slowly reverse, then jump forward at full power) at the squirrel when I heard a small pop sound and saw the front wheel camber out badly. When I picked it up, this is what I found:

 

 

 

The front drive axle popped out again, wedging itself between the cup and pushing the wheel out. This caused it to pull out the epoxy repair that I did last time, as well as break out more of the plastic tub in that spot. I found one of the O-rings for the drive axle was split in two. I replaced that O-ring. 

I have some hollow fiberglass rods that I got with a house plant. They are the perfect diameter to barely fit an M3 screw through. I cut a piece and used epoxy to hold it in place. Once it set up, I used more epoxy to build up the area around it. Here's pics after the epoxy had set and I was making sure everything went back together in the right places. I did accidentally make a mess this time , and will most likely have trouble getting that front gearbox cover off if I ever need to. 

 

 

 

Once I had it back together, I trail tested it in my back yard. I've also reduced the power down to 70% on the remote. So far it's holding. If this breaks again, I plan to find some metal tubing and weld together an upper arm mount that will have more support. That, or just get a new tub, which at this point, I think would have been less time consuming than both repairs.

[_oliK 108]

That's what you get for harassing squirrels.