1/5 scale monster truck project

[Coelacanth]

For once, I won't be annoyed if someone says "Nice ride!"...because you COULD actually ride it!

[Steve71]

Caught up enough with real work related stuff to finally get a chance to get back to this build for a bit now. Got the other steel tube header fabricated up the other day and hot them with some hammered silver paint. Quite pleased with how they turned out.

[Dadio]

You really need a smoke generator for them , the Heng Long tank smoke units are dirt cheap !

[Steve71]

A big part of the current 1/5 scale build finished up tonight. This is something that has actually been worrying me because it's such an important part of the build. Fabricated the motor mount for the 780kv Castle motor over the past couple days and finished it tonight. Made it out of some 3x3x1/4 6061 angle aluminum, cut and trimmed, drilled with some cooling holes and chamfered the edges then polished it. Very pleased with how it turned out. This is pretty much the final hurtle I had so now I can simply finish up the rest of the final braces in the chassis and then take care of the few odd & ends and then get it all assembled and batts in for a test and then it'll be ready to take apart and send the chassis to powder coat after that.

[therigliveson]

Nice job on that mount, looking forward to some testing vids!

[Steve71]

Lipos came today. Had a bit of an issue, but disaster averted. I went with some of the most powerful 4s I could find which were the smc 9700mah 120c graphene plate lipos, and they are BIG as you can tell in the first pic lol. So the battery trays needed to be revamped. So I ended up cutting off the back of the chassis, making a poly plate which I cut and extended/mounted the battery trays too. This will be bolted to the chassis but ran out of 1" steel flat stock so had to stop for tonight. Once that's in then I'll weld the rear of the chassis back on only 1" longer and grind the weld down before powder coating so it won;t be noticeable. Not fun but not as bad of a issue as I thought it would be when I first saw the batts. Just one of those things you run into with a custom build.

[Dadio]

Nightmare ! but you found a solution .

[Steve71]

Yeah man I admit the first look at the batts when they came I really had that "ooooh ffffffuuuuudge" feeling in my stomach LOL

Getting ever so close now. After spending a couple days extending the rear of the chassis to fit the two smc lipos I got her almost together now. Just have to wire in the ESC, do the steering and then rear steer lock out, few odds & ends like links for the sway bars and add limiting strap mounts, then it'll be ready for testing before going to the powder coater. The rear chassis length now is perfect as a wheelie bar as well. Had to do the good ol' drop test toi see how the suspension works. Lands with minimal bounce and soaks it right up. Set it up with about 25% droop then 22.5w oil in the shocks and progressive springs. I think it's gonna be a real good big air truck.

[Dadio]

What colour are you going for at the powder coaters ? That last picture really brings home the size

[Steve71]

Yeah it's a beast. Put it on the scale and it's 48lbs. Chassis will be coated yellow. The body I plan to airbrush like a pro mod style car I saw which is blue, yellow, orange,red,white so it should all tie together nicely.

[Steve71]

Another thing checked off the "to-do" list on the 1/5 truck project. Fabbed my own rear steer lock out. I was going to do it like Bari & others do with the baja shock shafts/rod ends, but couldn't find just the bare shafts without other parts (high cost) so decided to make my own lock out myself out of solid 5/16 steel round stock. Filed some flats on it then welded some 1/8" steel plates on the ends. squared the housing face to the side face of the hub so it was 90 deg and located the holes. Finally had something on this project go off without a hitch! lol. rear tires are dead straight and solid as a rock.

[Steve71]

Spent the past 2 days airbrushing up the body for the 1/5 scale build. Once I get the chassis sent to powder coat and it comes back in bright yellow this will be going on top of it.

[coxbros1]

Thats ridiculous! 1st u can build custom trucks from the ground up....then paint like that!!

[Lowgear]

That paint job definitely took some talent, and fits the theme perfectly. Just don't drive this too close to the sun with a name like that.

[Steve71]

Didn't have very much time to dedicate to the truck this weekend. Had some rod orders to work on (damn real work) but after finishing one rod this evening I did manage to spend about 3 hrs fabricating a drivers seat out of some sheet metal and 1/8 round stock. Still have more to do such as make a racing harness, mount, then put the driver in once it gets here but came out pretty slick looking so far.