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JennyMo

ebaYJeep - aka. "Daydream B'leafer"

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A few more photos with the cage installed, and some additional accessories:

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photo. Ozzy looks worried... he shouldn't be, this is pretty well sorted now!

 

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photo. Tamiya YJ body stretched behind the doors to fit longer Trailfinder 2 wheelbase leaf-sprung chassis.

 

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photo. custom wooden deck in load-bed covered with junk and accessories now!

 

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photo. full interior, with checker-plate floor and door panels - there are two 6-cell stick packs hidden under there too (one for the motor and one for the winch).

 

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photo. a mix of ProLine workshop accessories, 3D printed milk-crates, Yeah Racing scale cardboard box and scratch-built shop towels, rags and grinding wheels (the rags are soaked is real old engine oil too!)

 

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photo. a fully stocked ARB fridge in the centre console - beer, whiskey and vodka!

cont.

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cont.

Some more detail shots:

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photo. RC4WD Warn 8274 working winch with wireless remote control - strong enough to lift the whole car vertically off the ground!

 

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photo. Ozzy Osbourne figure modified to fit Axial Racing Corbeau seat (with Yeah Racing belts) - sweat-pants repainted as dirty jeans, and tattoo's removed! (he had a bit of a haircut too ;o)

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photo. foam padding around roof-rack/cage bars, RC4WD working HiLift jack secured to scuttle (with quick-release R clips).

 

And finally, with the lights on!

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photo. YeahRacing scale checker-plate (4 bar design) along sills, OME (Old Man Emu) scale shocks, custom metal tube fenders at the front and grab rails along rear body.

 

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photo. RC4WD white 8-spokes, 115mm tyres Maxxis style tyres and scale brake discs all round.

 

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photo. Stinger style front bumper (modified), and RC4WD LED lighting kit.

 

The good news is, I have a backpack this just fits in - so I'm going hunting for some trail scenery soon!

Jenny x

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Tools - check. Fully charged batteries (x2) - check. GoPro - check.

Spare wheel nuts just in case...

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photo. ...ah.

Best carry some spares next time I think - at least I got some video before I lost a wheel-nut somewhere in all that goop!

More soon!

Jx

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7 hours ago, JennyMo said:

Tools - check. Fully charged batteries (x2) - check. GoPro - check.

Spare wheel nuts just in case...

i-BPKkSmj-XL.jpg

photo. ...ah. 

Best carry some spares next time I think - at least I got some video before I lost a wheel-nut somewhere in all that goop!

More soon!

Jx

That is exactly what happened to me when I took my Bowler out last. Except that I hadn't had a chance to even take a photo..

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4 hours ago, Badcrumble said:

That is exactly what happened to me when I took my Bowler out last. Except that I hadn't had a chance to even take a photo..

Yep - although they were ny-locs, they had probably been on and off one too many times... blue thread-lock in future - on all four wheels!

Jx

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Turns out it's best not to leave your truck too long without cleaning it after running it in semi salt-water (yes, I know - but I was trying to get some realistic rust on the wheels you see):

i-g9QDXb6-XL.jpg

Fortunately it cleaned up ok with an old toothbrush and some WD40 - while retaining a suitably 'weathered' look to the underpinnings... I did have to replace the battery connectors on the ESC and both batteries though - they had started to go really funky, and initially I was worried that the corrosion meant I'd actually shorted and fried both batteries... fortunately it turned out it was just the terminals in the plugs which had corroded.

Phew!

Jx

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Maybe a touch of Dielectric Grease on your terminals & electrical connections would help stop the corrosion from a good soaking? Its worked great on my motorbike.

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I check back on Tamiyaclub from time to time, and wow, your skills at these scale builds has really gotten to be incredible!

 

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On 6/1/2019 at 12:10 AM, Re-Bugged said:

Maybe a touch of Dielectric Grease on your terminals & electrical connections would help stop the corrosion from a good soaking? Its worked great on my motorbike.

Hi Re-Bugged - yes, it was my fault - the temptation to get the wheels (and then the rest of it) wet was too much! I'm also going to seal the wires into the battery connectors with hot-glue to stop water creeping in that way - although I suppose ultimately for wet running it's better to replace the Tamiya style connector plugs with proper waterproof [supaseal] style ones too perhaps?

Jx

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19 hours ago, Skottoman said:

I check back on Tamiyaclub from time to time, and wow, your skills at these scale builds has really gotten to be incredible!

 

You are very kind Skottoman - I'm doing my best to keep the salt-fires burning here on your behalf ;o)

Jx

 

ps. I think you're going to like this latest one too:

 

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Thank you all for your kind words!

Yes, this build really was an experiment in packaging and detailing, including a few new things I've wanted to try - the working side windows and wooden floor for example, plus having a real working winch and also to see how well these leaf-sprung chassis could be made to perform.

It really has proven to be a fun runner so far (once I'd remembered to take out all the loose 'display' accessories of course!), and I'm looking forward to trying it in some more realistic scenarios!

I've also had one or two other ideas that I think will work well on this Jeep platform, so am currently debating whether to modify this body further, or buy another Tamiya shell and incorporate those features into essentially another variation... which will probably mean getting another chassis and everything else eventually too of course!

Jx

 

 

 

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I've been busy re-photographing all my models (to update my showroom) with the latest modifications, not least as I wanted to catalogue the YJ before I took it a stage or two further...

While I love having all the scale accessories in the load-bed, practically speaking they need to be removed for trail running (or alternatively glued in), and they also hide that wooden floor which I so painstakingly created. So having recorded the original interior layout for posterity, I decided it was time to 'trail mod' the Jeep a little further:

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photo. while I love the open cab, practically I think covering the roll-cage with this rubber door-netting helps to disguise the rather weedy diameter tubing of the CCHand roof-rack frame, while still allowing you to glimpse the detailing in the cabin.

 

Inspired by this mesh, the other thing I wanted to do was see how it looked without the rear tailgate:

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photo. Dr Dremel is on duty!

 

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photo. tailgate hinges also modified/removed - but left 'scrappy' as would be fitting on a well-used trail-rig.

 

Which in turn would allow me to mount the huge spare wheel in a realistic location, while also revealing some of the wooden floor beneath:

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photo. I decided the cut the netting to just cover the roof section (with the foam 'pool noodles' still in place for authenticity), which will still allow a GoPro camera to be mounted on the cage (between the seats) for those through the windscreen videos.

 

I'm still debating whether to also fit some spot-lights and/or a light-bar to the top of the cage, so the plan for the time being is to fabricate a spare wheel mount, re-attach the licence plate the rear cross-member - then get back out and hit the trails!

More soon!

Jenny x

 

 

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Spare wheel mount

A couple of 6mm diameter rods, a plastic rod end (with a metal sleeve inside), and a couple of M3 set screws:

i-wqcZBJb-XL.jpg

...and a custom made spinner using an M3 wing-nut with the tabs ground down, and two lengths of aluminium tube slid over the stubs (the holes/edges will be filled with Quik-steel before sanding and painting) - the same as I did for the SRB Cage Racer spare wheel too.

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photo. Filled (with quik-steel), sanded and painted.

 

Jx

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A few more photos in the latest 'trail'* incarnation:

*ie. where stuff doesn't fall out of the rear load-bed!

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Jenny x

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I thought it was finished... but they're never really finished are they?

Ozzy has been shopping on eBay again!

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photo. a quartet of roof-lights - currently not wired in as I prefer them with the covers on anyway...

 

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photo. 'ARB' diff-lock, well diff-cover (since the diff is already locked in these axles anyway!)... I've got yet another project in mind, so ordered a front axle with a red diff-cover, and swapped it for the black one.

 

I really do think that is about it now for this particular build, but you never know!

Jx

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I took Desmond and the ebaYJeep down to JJ Customs RC store and indoor rock-crawling course this afternoon, and the lesson learnt is don't bring a knife to a gun-fight... or at least a leaf-sprung trail-rig to an extreme rock crawling course!

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Yep, Ozzy has broken his front axle again!

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I have to say, the Jeep performed surprisingly well on the rocks, with plenty of traction other than when it would get hung up on a few of the more extreme obstacles... in fact it did better than Desmond on the whole - albeit mainly due to his battery being less than optimum these days (and four blazing headlights - time to revamp that again I feel)...

So the question now is, do a replace this broken axle for like (and stick to trails in future), or upgrade it with something stronger, if a little less scale?

Jx

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I think I'd replace like for like on this rig @JennyMo, then you have a perfectly legitimate reason to build an AC/DC themed Rock Crawler.

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On 9/12/2019 at 6:00 PM, Re-Bugged said:

I think I'd replace like for like on this rig @JennyMo, then you have a perfectly legitimate reason to build an AC/DC themed Rock Crawler.

 

Ha ha, funny you say that Re-Bugged - I did that just recently here !

Definitely Back in Black ;o)

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Jx

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A quick update to this thread... I'm happy to say the YJ is back on four wheels and two axles again now (I bought a direct replacement after all), and as part of my preparations for the RC4WD West-Coast Scale Challenge this coming weekend, I thought I'd finish off one glaring omission from the Jeep dash, that is some actual instruments.

Having been utterly immersed in scale detailing recently with Hopper's HiLux, I similarly wanted something as '3D' as possible - so fabbed up an instrument panel with a piece of styrene and six pin heads as screws, and attached a selection of Wild Willy 2 decals to some 1mm thick plastic rod spacers, and a washer for the larger speedometer:

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A flash of satin black paint, and sanding back the pin heads to reveal the metal:

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Mounted with superglue - I'd say that is pretty effective?

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And finally, more superglue to attach it to the existing dash panel:

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note. you might notice that there are no gear levers in the above photo - that is because as I was attaching the dash panel, I broke the gear lever and try as I might (including drilling and pinning it with a tiny screw), I couldn't get it to fit back together neatly enough... so the only thing for it was to remove the body, unbolt the seats and centre cubby, remove the original glued-in gear-shifter assembly and 'do a proper job' as they say...

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photo. Ozzy now has two new shifters (and no surround) - using Wild Willy 2 levers trimmed into single arms, the transfer lever shortened and fitted with the original gear lever knob, while the main gear lever now has an eight-ball style knob.

What with letting the paint dry on the replacement shifters, the whole procedure ended up taking me most of the afternoon - which was a lot of messing around just to get some instruments in there! - but also good opportunity to check everything over while it was apart of course...

I'm really looking forward to getting this one out on the RC4WD trails over the weekend!

Jenny x

 

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Just back from the RC4WD West Coast Scale Challenge event... Ozzy didn't win anything (but Hopper did ;o), and worse - he went and broke his front axle again!

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I guess those super scale 'Yota II'* style axles are just not tough enough for serious crawling with these size tyres and the weight of this particular vehicle - well, that is my excuse anyway - as the saying goes, to break one front axle is unfortunate, to break two looks like carelessness...

*It should be noted that these are not the genuine RC4WD axles, but the ones you get on Ebay (via China). 

The issue - much as before - was I bent the dog-bone/stub axle in the front swivel, and while I tried to straighten it (the axle itself is surprisingly tough, even though it initially bent under the torque loading when the wheel jammed in a crevice), it was still wonky enough that when I reassembled everything and tried to continue driving it back towards the carpark, it eventually snapped the cast metal housing where the king-pin screws connect... what I should have done of course is not tried to carry on driving and preserved the cast casing, and fixed/replaced the stub-axle when I got home - another lesson learnt.

It will be interesting to see if the genuine castings are any better quality metal that the ones I've had previously, otherwise I fear Ozzy is going to need a more substantial axle upgrade in future if this is going to be anything more than a gentle trail-runner and shelf-queen.

Jx

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A few frame-grabs, before it all went horribly wrong for Ozzy!

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photo. Pinto lent me his Bronco and trailer to tug the Jeep to the trailhead (as the Jeep is so low geared in comparison).

 

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photo. saves carrying it!

 

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photo. tiny cameras and tiny trucks work so well together!

 

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photo. all good things come to an end... in this case, a [broken] axle end.

Jx

 

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So a quick update to this thread too...

Having now got a genuine RC4WD Yota II front axle to replace the second broken Chinese eBay copy, I thought I'd do a quick side-by-side comparison for anyone who might be wondering what the actual differences are:

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photo. RC4WD Yota II axle in the foreground.

As you can see above, superficially they are VERY similar - and indeed until I'd actually got an RC4WD version in my hands, I presumed they were made in the same factory, so close were they visually (on an eBay listing at least).

However, once you get them side by side there are some immediately obvious differences - not least that the eBay special comes complete with the 4-link brackets and a servo mount (plus the tie-rod and drag-link) in a plain cardboard box, for your $45 or thereabouts...

Conversely, the genuine RC4WD Yota II axle comes in some quality packaging - including a foam cut-out and branded plastic box, but is only the bare axle - the 4 link brackets and servo mount, and drag/tie rods being available for additional cost if required.

For my installation (on a leaf-sprung build with a Chassis Mounted Servo) these were unnecessary, and I already had my existing steering linkages of course.


In both instances, the part which broke on my previous axles was the cast end of axle casing inside the steering knuckle. What tended to happen was the dog-bone of the stub axle jammed in the cup and bent under extreme duress, and once the axle started turning again this in turn caused force on the two king-pin bolts, and in both instances, one or other of the cast tabs snapped off the main axle case - rendering the whole casing unrepairable and useless... (see the photos above from the RC4WD event for the most recent example).

i-d8wDxbr-XL.jpg

As you can see above, the ends of the RC4WD axle casing (foreground) ends are much more substantial and almost completely encase the axle cup in comparison to the skinny tabs on the copy axle... hopefully this will prove much stronger and less likely to fracture in future.


The next obvious difference is in the quality of the supplied 12mm hexes:

i-bcnJ96t-XL.jpg

The RC4WD (again foreground) axle having much better quality machined (in steel?) hexes - complete with locking set-screws.

As you can see, both axles have the same design steering knuckle (with tie-rod brackets fore and aft), and although visually and dimensionally almost exactly the same, the copy axles use what turns out to be a rather clumsy brass bush between the axle casing faces while the RC4WD axle is machined much closer, and the screws (which are also much better quality) thread directly into the axle casing.

It's worth noting that the copy steering knuckles can be used as replacements for the RC4WD ones (since there is more free play and the brash bushings used), while the RC4WD knuckles do not fit on the copy axles due to the tighter tolerance of the king-pin faces.

i-H62LRp2-XL.jpg

The differential housings are again very similar - the only real difference being the black (and again better quality) socket-head screws on the RC4WD version. As with the diff cover plate on the other side, I'm sure these components would be interchangeable if required.

Similarly, the inside of the differential looks very similar, as do the straight-cut crown and pinion gears:

i-gxsZCCf-XL.jpg

As with my Chinese copy axles, I found the pinion gear shaft did need shimming slightly to stop any thrust play - although in comparison, the RC4WD shaft only needed a 0.1mm shim, rather than 0.2 or even 0.3 I've used on the previous copy axles.


And finally, another view of the more substantial axle casing ends - a quick visual inspection would suggest the axles themselves are made from better quality metal too.

i-DsJJvh4-XL.jpg

Overall, the finish and quality of the RC4WD axle is just 'better'. You can tell it is the original, and the eBay special is the copy - a close copy dimensionally and visually, but with some detailing and build-quality issues. That said, the copy axles are still well finished for the price.

I hope that helps anyone who is looking to purchase these scale style axles for a build, and that, in my experience having snapped two of the cheaper eBay axle casings now, I would suggest it's worth paying the extra $20 or so for the proper RC4WD version - although it remains to be seen how much stronger it is actually likely to be.

note. as I understand it, ultimately is also a good idea to fit the XVD (CV) axle internals (rather than the standard open dog-bone style) to this axle, although those are a substantial $39.99 extra... although at least that ought to eliminate the dog-bone binding and twisting that the previous axles suffered from, while maintaining maximum scale looks.

Jenny x

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At the end of the day you get what you pay for. If your just doing gentle trail/off road stuff the Chinese ones are ok but if your going to push it to the limit you need to pay a little extra.

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