Maniac05

My Feedback: (2)

Having heard many opinons from the die hard Clod Axle fans and the Scale Driveshaft fans, I still have no definite answer.
What exactly classifies a truck as a Crawler?
I know they must be able to crawl over rocks and boulders and are generally electric and not nitro powered, but what else is there?
Certain amount of Suspension Flex?
Dual or Single motor?
Special Tires?
Gear Ratio?
Brushless motors?

Can somebody please help me out? I would like to build my own custom Crawler and I need answers.
Thanks,

Maniac05

AddictedtoRC

Well, you need decent ground clearance, lots of axle articulation, good low end power(integy lathe motors are great for this), super soft tires for max grip and a low c of g helps as well. I've had both types of crawlers clod and drive shaft trucks, they both work well but I find that the clod axle setup is by far better, you don't have to worry avout drive shafts and you can make the truck as big as you want because of the fact that the motors are on the axles, heres a pic of my latest project clod

Mazlem

My Feedback: (1)

Crawlers generaly have:

70-80 degrees of flex
Longer wheelbase - ~16-17"
Higher center clearance - ~4-5"
Single motor for shafties and dual motors for Clods
- Gear reduction for shafties with down to ~140:1 gear ratio
- 8/9 tooth pinions for Clods; gear reductions are more rare
Soft, sticky, tall and narrow tires w/ low air-pressure
Brushed motors as brushless is just unnecessarily expensive
As low a center of gravity as possible
4wd w/ locked diffs and as little hanging off the diffs as possible, (so the tires contact the rocks before anything else)

And here's a gratuitous shot of mine [sm=cool.gif]:

AddictedtoRC

Why tall and narrow tires? just asking

crawlinmaxx

tall is for ground clearance and having the rims narrowed pulls in the sidewalls. that gives better side bite. plus it adds more ground pressure for better bite. as for having alot of flex, flex is overrated. you do not need 70-80 degrees of flex. that is too much. too much will hurt you at times. most people only run 60 or less

Mazlem

My Feedback: (1)

I know less is more; just wasn't exactly sure how much less people are using lately. So yea around 60 should be good.