[Some pix back in P5] - "Blue Is Better" TRX-1 Resto-Mod (2017/07/07

[Coelacanth]

Had a closer look at the rear end, looks like even a millimeter or two will help free things up. To keep the rear shock springs from obstructing the camber links, I had a couple more ideas, but involving the way the camber links are mounted, instead of the shocks. If you already got the rear suspension working smoothly already, it may be unnecessary; but it could also help you get a more favorable shock angle, because you're tweaking the camber link position rather than the shocks.

You could add a 1mm or more spacer where the ball-studs attach to the rear bulkhead for the camber links, which would push the links rearward a bit. Another thing I did when I needed a ball-end to be as low-profile as possible is to simply cut off the bottom hex part of the ball nut with a hacksaw or Dremel, then screw it in from the opposite end with a 3mm screw. Since the ball nuts are threaded right through, you just need to make sure the screw isn't long enough to protrude through the ball when it's bolted on. That'll also help to push back the camber link a millimeter or two. I wish I had a better picture to show this, but if you cut just the hex part off a ball nut like this, you'll be able to screw it very close to the top of the rear carriers.

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0.jpg (9.87 KiB) Viewed 2565 times

[Lonestar]

Hi Marc

those are good ideas. the only risk with a "cut" ballstud is that you are missing the "larger" fooprint of that flat, extra-to-the-ball part, which is basically your best insurance for the stud to not break right where the plastic part stars. For now my assembly seems to work, the next step is to actually shim the rear inner camber mount back to get another fraction of millimeter back. But I'm getting there. As said, worst case, I will change the wheelbase via removing material at the front/rear of the (resp.) rear/front arms

I've looked into electronics... the more I think about it, the more I want a brushed setup for this baby, which will suit the "lazy" driving characteristics (and ball diff) of the TRX1 better than anything brushless. Gotta start looking for an inexpensive but high-quality blue-anodized brushed speedo. LRP is the only one that comes to my mind. Which is interesting as I could use a (metallic blue) LRP Phaser RX, and black/blue LRP motor, which I have a few of.

Problem is, new IPC's still sell for $70-ish

decisions, decisions....

cheers guys
Paul

[TRX-1-3]

This might work. Don't know exactly what you're looking for. With shipping I guess it could get cost prohibitive.

http://www.teamassociated.com/parts/details/LRP80800/

[Lonestar]

This might work. Don't know exactly what you're looking for. With shipping I guess it could get cost prohibitive.

http://www.teamassociated.com/parts/details/LRP80800/

Ha, yes, thanks! That's actually about perfect for what I want. AE WH won't ship abroad though... if anyone's willing to help...

Paul

[Mr. ED]

http://www.haertle.de/RC+Modellbau/Drehzahlsteller/LRP+83730+IPC+V5+1+Generation+Digital+Fahrtregler+Vorwaerts+Bremse+RC+Modellbau.html

[Lonestar]

http://www.haertle.de/RC+Modellbau/Drehzahlsteller/LRP+83730+IPC+V5+1+Generation+Digital+Fahrtregler+Vorwaerts+Bremse+RC+Modellbau.html

you are a STAR

i spentsome time on ebay germany yesterday but this beats it all

vielen dank

Paul

[Mr. ED]

My pleasure.
I've bought from them before, but not regularly: their shipping costs to Belgium are a little high for my taste

[Lonestar]

I gave up trying to source an "late" IPC from Germany... they're either OOS or vendors don't ship abroad, and when they do the shipping fee is outrageous! I decided to tap into my existing stock of electronics. I'm not going to race that buggy hardcore anyway... so that should do:



the project is on-hold for now until I get my stash of blue balljoints and washers. Then we'll reopen this file and try to sort it out

Paul

[TRX-1-3]

Paul,

Are you running the Traxxas front axles that come with the black 2737 steering blocks? If so, have you noticed that the machining towards the threads is poo. The diameter gets smaller and you can see tooling marks and streaks. This leads to some slop at the outer wheel bearings and makes getting the front wheel nut setting pretty tedious. I've been trying to run the older axles (from the white steering blocks 2737 as they are true). I guess the QA folks were out to lunch when they made a billion crappy front axles.

I am looking foward to seeing your trx1 come together. Really neat build.

Mark

[Lonestar]

Hi Mark

as I was testing bearing/wheel fitment on the front axles I didn't notice anything weird... but I haven't looked much closely really. I will check. Thanks for the watchout.

EDIT: I actually don't use 2737's... or maybe I do I'm not sure! I use some unknown spindles which I just happened to have in my box-o-parts and that actually look a lot like the stock parts. The axles themselves come from another bag. Usually I like to keep all bags tags so I can find out what I used in a build but it looks like some of them have disappeared. No matter what, the bearing fit looks fine, I just checked. Weird.

The last batch of blue goodies came in yesterday.... once I'm done with next week's offroad indoor race I will work on that car again... After that I have no excuse



Paul

[Lonestar]

Holy Crap... this was more than 2 years ago that I stopped working on this one due to other priorities (10T to build for the French VORN which I ended not going to, a new 1:1 project, a new hobby, then a new job, some health issues yada yada). Now that dust is settling again, I pulled that project out of the box it had been stuck in for 2 years - and got back to work. This is still a thing of beauty

Starting "fresh", this is what came out of the magic box yesterday at 9pm:



By10pm I realized what needed to be done (more or less...)

First I pulled the front end out and put more blue ("blue is better", right?) on instead wood screws:



Now shims under the spindles - had to redrill as they were M3 and as you might know the hinge pins on the TRX-1 are 1/8"... duh... Plus some AE turnbuckles, and 3R ballcups and studs (which are top-quality btw for a crazy reasonable price )



then, the steering. Always a PITA with a TRX-1, always have to fiddle with the drill, dremel and all.

This was my first attempt, already with some hacking, and Jake's initially suggested architecture:



But you can already sense this wasn't meant to be...

TBC'ed

[Lonestar]

I tried a good two or three other solutions for the steering, drilled, dremeled and used a lot of cusswords - the one that makes the most sense is this one - somehow I managed to NOT take a pic during the assembly so you'll have to do with this one. The trick is to find how to not have all bullstuds and screws and stuff interfering with each other. I'm pretty proud of that one grub screw with made my life much easier!



For now the car looks like this:



And some more eye-candy with the rear-end, before more blue replaces the shiny stuff



More to come, hopefully not in two years

[TRX-1-3]

I was wondering when this thing was gonna get dusted off. Glad you fired it back up. Just a really cool project.

If you want the purpose made spindle shims they are Traxxas 2633

https://m.traxxas.com/products/parts/2633

Mark

[Lonestar]

I was wondering when this thing was gonna get dusted off. Glad you fired it back up. Just a really cool project.

If you want the purpose made spindle shims they are Traxxas 2633

https://m.traxxas.com/products/parts/2633

Mark

Cheers Mark, I wish they were blue alloy anyway, damage's done already, I've bored out the M3 ones. The screeching noise of the dremel drilling metal was spectacular

More pics coming this afternoon. I've got the steering nailed down for good now, took another evening but we're there

Paul

[Coelacanth]

That's looking all kinds of cool. There's something to be said for attention to detail and color consistency, especially when even the nuts & bolts, bits 'n' bobs are considered. It takes a build to the next level.