josh h

Hey guys. I know verry little about crawlers but want one so bad I can taste it. I would like to build a 1/18 scale crawler using the drivetrain out of another vehicle and build my own chassis and suspension myself. My idea was to make a graphite chassis and use a mini-t tranny, losi mini crawler axles, and a rocker arm suspension setup using mini revo stuff. What i need to know is how the suspension linkage all works. Actualy, any info about anything that has to do with building a crawler would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
-Josh

The Real Dogman

Hey Josh, Welcome to the addiction..

Your first move is, go to rccrawler.com and read, read, read. There is a huge amount of good info there. All you have to do is read it.. But I highly suggest you do the research and learn a little something before asking this question over there. Your answers will not come instantly, you have to mine the answers and use what fits your build!!

I know reading and doing the research sounds so boring, we all had to do it at some point, but if you want it as bad as you say, then it should not be that bad...

Good Luck and be sure to post your build

josh h

Ok, my computer keeps saying the page ca't be shown on their site. So in the mean time i've been searching all over the net and reading about crawlers. After looking at several crawler chassis such as the ax10, geco, losi crawler, etc, I've come up with some wild ideas. But what do you guys think about the rocker arm suspension I menchioned in the post above? Surly if a revo has like 30% more travel than a typical suspension setup on other vehicle types, my crawler should benifit from it. But, how about a stiff shock between the rocker arm and axle instead of just a push rod? That should give me more travel than the linkage will alow. So, if mabe I can come up with some kind of setup that alows more travel for the linkage, we're looking at the ultimate crawler if I can get it to all work. These are all just ideas I've come up with in my head and drawn on paper. Well, tried to draw... Let me know anything you guys think about this build.

monsterbombs

people have used cantilever setups with solid axles
but it can be a headache. depending on suspension setup
work will probably need to be done mainly for brackets
to attach everything to the axles.

places for links to attach and springs.
look up cantilever rc crawler build, you should
find something.

DRAGONFIRE81M

the new traxxes summint uses the same suspension as the revo . and i can say it does pretty well on the rocks . not as good as a full rock crawler but good for what it was disaind to do

The Real Dogman

Too much articulation is not always a good thing. There is truely no need to get any more articulation from a rock crawler than 45-65 degrees. There are some arguments on how much is good but in my opinion 45-65 is a good range to work with. The suspension on rock crawlers has been refined to a science so there is not much more room for improvements. BUT, by all means try to prove me wrong and post your findings!! Thats how rc crawlng got started, experimenting!!

josh h

Why would more articulation be a bad thing? Verry new to this and still trying to figure it all out. As for the summit, I don't see it being a good crawler. might be wrong but it looks like it'd be top heavy and heard independent suspension is not good for crawlers.

DRAGONFIRE81M

I havent seen it on the rocks yet but in the shop hitting some stip odjects it does pretty good . they moved the batterys to the bottom of the chassis . but its funny about traxxes they say its a 1/10 but i looks like a 1/8 i parked my venom creepier next to it and it looks like it would crush it

monsterbombs

your dead right. numerous threads have been made on weather
the summit is a crawler or not. can it tackle some rocks? yes.
does it crawl over them? not really. no its not a crawler.
too much articulation will leave your back wheels behind, instead
of lifting them over the obstacles causing hang ups.

josh h

Well, the way i was going to build it, it'l have adjustable ride heighth by the radio. So is the ground clearence the problem with the hanging you're talkin about?

monsterbombs

i just meant as far as articulation goes, if theres too much
the back wheels will stay on the ground (get left behind) as
the front axle lifts to get over an obstacle you want some
articulation to get the front wheel on the rock, then lift
the back axle as it climbs, not leave it behind.

its a bit hard to explain and im losing what im talking about
but basically when your running amongst rocks you want it
dialled in to climb over them, you dont want the front wheels to
get over and leave the back behind to get hung up.

maybe someone else can explain this better [&:]

djzachtyler

My Feedback: (4)

+1

too much articulation is definately bad, and can lead to getting bound up in tight corners... any good comp setup will twist to about 60-65 degrees comfortably, and go no further than 80 degrees when pushed hard...

Suspension and link geometry IS a science with these things, and it takes alot of research and tinkering to learn what works best for different runs, etc... Most serious comp guys I know besides myself are running all aftermarket stuff that has been further modded to achieve the precise demands needed... a true competition rig exemplifies the peak of RC engineering at it's finest and when tuned should be able to tackle just about any terrain.