By:
Brandon Wilcox, Thomaston CT
June 20, 2007
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Recently I haven’t been doing much
with my super class truck. There isn’t much terrain
around my house for a larger wheelbase truck, and I
usually don’t feel like traveling 30 minutes to
play with one of my toys. This all changed when I went
up to a family picnic at Burr Pond State Park, in Torrington
CT. Once I got there I saw the endless expanse of rock,
and I knew that I would have to give the rock a solid
testing using one of my crawlers. To my surprise, the
terrain was extremely difficult, and my tlt rigs weren’t
cutting it. I knew I had to resurrect my Clod Buster,
and this time, I would have to make it the ultimate
RC rock crawler.
One of the reasons I got frustrated with
my Clod Buster and put it on the back burner for a while
was because every time I took it out, I would strip
one of my steering servos. This was very annoying, as
servos cost anywhere between 26 and 40 bucks for something
halfway decent. Just like anyone else, spending that
kind of money every weekend to replace my servos was
out of the question, so I did some research and found
the perfect drop in replacement for my super truck.
The Hitec 5998TG was the perfect solution to my problem.
It’s a titanium gear servo with 250oz of torque
at 6v, and .19 seconds transit speed. This is more then
enough power to move the wheels, and the transit time
was more then fast enough for a rock crawling application.
One plus to this servo is that it’s a drop in
servo; you don’t need to buy a separate controller
to program the end points or to make adjustments. If
I break the titanium gears in this servo, im sure Hitec
will send me a trophy, as these things are built practically
indestructible.
One of the most important parts of my
new truck is the chassis. You need a dependable and
well proven chassis to navigate through difficult rock
formations. I choose TheCrawlerStore "The Stick"™
chassis for my ultimate setup. Not only is “The
Stick” a proven design, winning countless competitions
across the country, but it’s also the lightest
chassis available, and in rock crawling you want your
weight to be limited, having most of your weight down
low to get traction to the ground. Choosing “The
Stick” over a torsion design was a no brainer,
TheCrawlerStore “The Stick” has the most
ground clearance of all the designs out there, and still
allows you to articulate by using shocks. Unlike other
torsion designs, “The Stick” will articulate
freely, while a torsion design will force itself over
on off camber climbs and difficult maneuvers.
Before rebuilding my axles, I decided
I needed to beef up the components. I’ve broken
axles in the past and there’s nothing worse then
going out for 10 min then having to comeback inside
and rip apart your axles to replace a component. After
a call to Thunder Tech Racing, Darren was happy to hook
me up with some Clod Buster CVD axles. They are a lot
beefier then a stock axle, and have the much needed
bonus of improving my turning radius significantly.
I installed these on both the front and rear axle, I
wanted to make sure I wouldn’t have to rip apart
these axles again. For knuckles, RC4WD sent over there
improved Clod Buster aluminum knuckles. Not only are
these knuckles stronger then the stock ones, they are
also lighter. Like the Thunder Tech Racing CVD’s,
RC4WD includes the needed bearings to install the part
onto your truck. Installing bearings all around the
truck makes the truck feel smoother and more responsive,
and they wear out a lot slower then a stock bushing.
After installing some aluminum diff lockers
in my axles, they were pretty complete and ready to
hit the rocks. I needed to install my steering kits
and then mount them onto the chassis. For steering in
the front, I wanted a better approach angle for the
rocks. I also wanted a geometrically correct steering
system that minimizes the negative Ackerman effect.
Once again Thunder Tech Racing came though. Their Aggressor
steering kit was just what I was looking for. It’s
a steering setup that works behind the axle, so there
is no chance of smashing it head on to the rocks. It
also was precisely engineered to remove the negative
Ackerman effect and eliminate slop and lag. For the
rear axle, I went with a beefy steering system from
Mico Engineering (rcguy.com). I have always been a fan
of their products; they are beefy and well designed.
Their steering kit will easily handle the power from
my Hitec 5998TG.
For motors and electronics, I went with
the well proven Tekin Rebel 2 for my speed control.
The Tekin Rebel 2 easily handles 2 brushed motors, and
has a huge 5amps at the BEC to run the receiver and
servos. For motors, I went with Integy 75 turn motors.
Integy motors are proven in rock crawling, and their
new orange can design looks great. With some rcguy.com
8 tooth pinions, Ill have plenty of torque at my wheels.
For my receiver and radio I decided to stick with a
Y harness for true 4 wheel steering, utilizing the popular
Traxxas TQ3 radio and receiver. While temped to go to
a more elaborate radio, I realized that I was accustomed
to the pistol radio, and my driving would be better
with a familiar setup, compared to driving it with a
more advanced system.
My first day out with the truck was a
blast. The truck moved with authority and precision.
Not only did I have killer steering, but the power behind
it was awesome. I can easily move the tires back and
forth without even moving the truck. I loved the speed
of the Integy orange can lathe motors. 75 turns is perfect
for me, I like to be able to navigate slowly thru the
rock, and have plenty of time to choose my line wisely.
Every time I move up a wind on my motor I like it more
and more, rock crawling is about finesse, and if you
take your time and drive slowing, you will do well.
A couple days later, after the rain cleared
up, I went to my local hot spot, the Thomaston dam to
get some practice in for the CT rock crawlers’
competition coming up. The truck works great; I love
how “The Stick” chassis handles, if I can
get the front tires up on a rock, my Giant Trac tires
will easily pull me up. The truck also handles incredibly
well in off camber situations. The tires worked great,
I’ve been a fan of the Pro Line Giant Tracs from
the beginning. “The Stick” has a unique
feature that I didn’t even know about till I started
driving it. The back axle is angled up for a better
approach to the rocks. I notice this improvement when
im going over smaller, more pointy rock. The truck doesn’t
get hung up like some of my other trucks would. As expected,
the ultimate rock crawler was a success.
To really test out my truck, I headed
up to the CT rock crawlers point series competition.
The courses at the comp were extremely difficult, and
there was a group of experienced drivers as my competition.
The competitors’ rigs ranged from homemade torsion
designs, to fancy 4 link setups, to proven winning designs.
At the end of the day I managed to get a 2nd place finish,
not bad at all for a fairly new truck to me. After a
long day at the comp,
I sat down and decided I needed to make
some small changes to the truck. My 2nd place finish
was honorable, but I think I could have managed a better
score. Here is the list of the changes that I will be
making to the truck.
