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OldSchoolRC1

2.2 CC01 "Beast" FJ

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Hello Tamiyaclub! I've been an Avid Tamiya fan for 25 years, and have been on this site daily for years. It's about time I finally got off my duff and started posting. 

This is is finished project, but thought I'd post the build here to catch up, as well as set the stage for any future changes. 

I love working on these little trucks - no two are the same in the end. Pretty sure there's not another going to be one like this out there anywhere. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's what I started with. A rough chassis that was used pretty hard as an FJ in a previous life. (Actually, this was about 1/2 way through mockup. ...)
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This chassis had a homebrew gear reduction that I worked up with some 5mm bore pinions and some spare parts. I've never ran it, but it tests out nice and smooth. It's about 2.5:1 as it stands, but I can change the pinions to vary the ratios. Nice little mod for about $10 in parts.  
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I wanted to go a different route here, so I dug through my big Tamiya suspension box and found some old Wild Dagger/TL01B arms and hubs and made everything fit. Works out to a 220mm width from hex face to hex face so it's about Axial XR mod width (ish). Rear is spaced out with some hex wideners (for now)
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Dug around for some shocks in my big box of mostly old shocks, and found some Kyosho shocks from a Nitro ZR-1 Vette that have amazingly held oil for nearly 25 years, and were in very good shape. They were close enough for the rear. Some old kinda matching Kyosho nitro TR-15 shocks were the perfect size for the front. They have a built in notched adjuster for preload that is so simple and handy that every shock should come like this.  In any case, I cleaned them up, dumped out the oil from both sets, drilled the pistons for crawler duty, and filled them both with 20wt oil.  Started with the stock CC01 shocks out front and some Wraith purple springs out back. Total guess on the setup...very much subject to change.  
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Rear shocks for mounted to some old CR01 (staying in the family this time!) chassis parts modded for shock tower duty and braced up for stiffness. Cleaned the chassis up quite a bit here too. Fuel tank here maybe?
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Fronts get Hot Racing aluminum mounts up top (some upgrades I apparently forgot to rob for my other CC's)  which give 3 different upper mount locations. I made a front tie bar to stiffen everything up as well. Really, it was just an excuse to drill up some speed holes. 
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While I was at it, I made a new radio plate just for giggles. 
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Here's where this is going kinda maybe sorta not sure yet but I like it:
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Used up the last of my brass pieces on a simple little cage for the back. It should be strong enough for CC duty. Not exactly 100% straight, but then it will probably match the body work perfectly. :)
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Made a mini bumper for the front. Didn't have any more tube, so I just made a delrin stubby. I kinda like it. 
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Dropped in my cheapo electronics and got it wired up for a test run. Everything's just mocked up, I'm just glad nothing fell off while tooling around the basement. Well, the body did since I never really mounted it, it's just sitting there.  I did find some binding up front, and the steering and camber angles were awful. I'll tune on it  when I rip apart for final build/paint, etc. 
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Onto body work....I have zero patience with body shells, I am a function over form guy for sure.  Started with 2 used and abused FJ shells. The brown one is really beat, so most likely using the red one. Need to get some glue and what not. 
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Had the whole CC01 family out today for a group pic since I was swapping axles and experimenting. You really can build anything with this chassis. :)
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Finally, after shipping all over the country, FedEx finally found Pennsylvania. Let's build an axle! What's theis blasphemy? Vaterra axle on a CC01??
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Compared to the stock CC01...it's still a little narrow compared to the fronts, so I'll still have to use wideners. 
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I made a bearing carrier out of an old hub and used some old drivetrtain parts to mate up the CC01 output to the Vaterra axle. This allows for a lot more breakover clearance. 
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Mounted up! Now have a 6% underdrive in the rear..should help with climbing and turning. 
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A closer look at my homemade GRU... couple of pinions, 3mm bearings and an old shock shaft. Works good! BUT the highest ratio I could get 2.5:1.....good for a 1.9, but not enough for a 2.2. I dug out an RC4WD 4:1, switched the 65t for a 35t and swapped it all out. Other than waiting for some front CVD's, the drivetrain is finally done. 
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Time for some chassis protection. When wheeling my 1.9's, the biggest issue I deal with is getting the chassis hung up when breaking over something. So with this longer WB rig, some skidplates were a must! 

Started with some Gmade sliders....these things are cheap, simple, and save a ton of time. I bent them up a bit, used the spacers that came with the kit and angled them to fit the body. Came out perfect. 
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Then started cutting on some of my favorite skidplate material....thin crust pizza pan! I worked at Pizza hut in my teens and they tossed out a ton of old industrial aluminum pie plates...I took a few for future use, and have been slowly cutting them up over 25 years. It's fairly soft aluminum and easily bent/cut, and though it's too soft for structural stuff like chassis and what not it is perfect for skidplates and other odds and ends. They come with a nice grease patina....:).  I've made 2 CC01 skids in the past, so I had a template to work from. 
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After some cutting, bending, drilling, and filing I've got a center skid. Bolted the sliders on top of that, and made a transition plate from the front suspension. Cleaned the grease off and it's all good to go. 
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Now have a nice smooth chassis bottom, with a nice link and driveshaft transition. 
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Wheels bolted on....just waiting for CVD's to come in, otherwise mechanicals of the chassis are finally finished! 
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Didn't spend a ton of time on the body since it was already beat. Just made it presentable. I suspect I'll have some shock work in my future, but won't know for sure until I get out on a trail run. For a low budget build, came out great. In fact, this might be my best CC creation to date. 

Final specs are 280mm total width, 290mm wheelbase, and a fairly svelte 2742g weight (6.0lbs) with a 55/45 front bias. 

Only change I would make is to move the sliders back a bit or make some new ones....May or may not do it later. We'll see!
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A few flew shots of course..
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The beast finally gets out in the wild! (Not for long though) 

First impressions were pretty good. Balance was good, grip from the who knows how old Moabs was surprising, underdrive in the rear seemed to work really well when going vertical, and the suspension seemed well sorted overall, maybe a bit soft out back. .

However, it was geared a bit high and was lacking for torque, the steering was iffy (though I stripped the plastic servo horn in about 5 minutes which might have had something to do with it) and I had a touch of torque twist. 

Broke the rear axle - used screws that were too short apparently. I have a spare to swap over though.

All in all, decent first run though it was a bit too short. Going to have to think about that gearing, a 4:1 might be in the works. 

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Time for some changes...since I had the back end ripped apart, I decided to add in a swaybar. First one I've tried on a CC01 chassis. Came out pretty good IMHO. 

First thing I did was drill across the chassis and added a steel sleeve. I epoxied it in, and it's a nice smooth pivot point for the swaybar. 
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Cut down an Hot Racing swaybar for the Wraith and modded it for the narrower chassis. 
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Mounted up to the Ascender axle. Found some red spacers that worked out perfect.
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Finished up rear end. Lots going on back there, but everything cycles very smoothly. 
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Swapped out the front springs while I was at it with some slightly softer Tamiya ones. Front was somewhat stiff while wheeling, thins should free it up. 
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It doesn't flex as much - might need to tune that swaybar a bit, but overall it feels great on the bench. 
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Took the beast out for it's first trail run. Did GREAT! High approach angles, grippy tires, and a fairly low CG let it go pretty much wherever I pointed it. Very impressed with this little CC chassis. 

The only problem (as always) was the steering. I needed about 1.2 acres to make a turn. The problem was not the steering rack (for once) it was the geometry of the steering. I has to use longer inline knuckles to clear the suspension arms, and it led to some wonky steering angles. The outside wheel turned a lot further than the inside, and while I thought it wouldn't make much differnce, it really did. 

So time for some changes! I robbed the upgrade TL01B arms from my other 2.2 CC and swapped everything over. They are thinner and use the same geometry of the stock knuckles. Plus bearing C hubs...Compared to what I was running previously: 
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All mounted up. I also addressed some slop in the suspension that had developed. I drilled out the arm mounts and glued in some tube that had a perfect 3mm inside diameter.  So now the arm mounts are steel tube sleeved - should be much stronger and on the bench it's now slop free. 
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Angles are much better = at least the tires are pointing in the same direction now. I can trim down the arms a bit for more steering - that's if the CVD's allow. Want to get a test run in first before I start hacking away. It for sure needs more angle...work in progress! 
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Hit the rocks this past weekend -  a bit more challenging than its first maiden run. The Beast did GREAT!! Steering was much better, though could still use some improvement. I'm amazed at how stable this rig is, COG is pretty low and it just grips, sidehills, and decends with zero drama. Far more stable than my SCX based rigs. The underdrive rear axle really makes a difference - didn't notice it so much with the 'Zu, but it really stood out here. Going to be modding my other rig to match. Now that these old Losi tires are breaking in, grip was excellent. 

The bad - motor started to go towards the end of the run - stuttering a bit and seemed seriously down on power, so it needs to be swapped out. Also have to drill out the trans case and bolt it down - started skipping a bit under heavy load. The Integy steering rack held up ok, but seems to have developed some play (surprise!) - just need to check it out. The play is not on the main shaft, seems to be the drag link, so got a fix in mind. 

All in all - Love this truck!
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Looks good!

Is that F150 Lighting a CC01 too? I've always thought about making a 'correct' F150 or Mustang.

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This is so great one day, I'll have to test drive a crawler...But then I might buy one...:blink:

What's beneath the Jimny? MF-01?

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thats some nice work there, I will be stealing some ideas for my CC-01 build, whenever I get around to it :blink:

 

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21 hours ago, GooneyBird said:

Is that F150 Lighting a CC01 too? I've always thought about making a 'correct' F150 or Mustang.

It is, 3500kv brushless and drift tires. Fun little truck - the CC chassis drifts surprisingly well

21 hours ago, _oliK said:

What's beneath the Jimny? MF-01?

Was, yes. Couldn't quite make it work the way I had hoped, so the MF is now on road only and the Jimny body is orphaned at the moment. 

 

Thanks for the kind words fellas! 

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