Hmm, seems like the smallest pinion Im going to be able to use is probably a 17T due to the screws that are just underneath the motor... Cant bring the motor down far enough to use any smaller pinions. Hadnt forseen that when I made the motor mount... Right now I can get a good mesh with an 18t pinion on the brushed motor, with a brushless I think I could get 17t because they have no flux ring on the can and that will give me another millimeter or so to drop the motor.

...just cut the posts shorter...I did on mine :D

I think youre talking about the black plastic posts in FRONT of the motor, right? Im talking about the screws that stick out UNDER the motor! :) Cant really get around that... Ill probably just have to use a larger pinion and lower Kv motor, not really a problem.

there are some monster sized motors on hobbycity. i'm most likey going to use a kb45 series motor. i've seen people get tons of torque with the L motors. the XL motors are just SICK! a feigao xl motor is 36x74 while a kb xl is 45x78. the only downside is you will need to either find a 30mm spaced motor mount or make one with 30mm spacing for the mount screws.

Yeah the KB45 is a beast, but Im going to stick with a 36mm diameter can I think, I believe that will be more than enough power for me! If I want more I can just make a new motor plate :)

I got the axles on and the shafts in and everything is pretty much good to go...

Well I just rolled it around a little and moved the wheels with my hand, and there is a TON of resistance. I know its coming from the diffs, but not from the gears. I think its from the green goo thats on the diff casing and on the big bevel gear. The little pinion gear now has all the goo on it too and its really thick, so I think thats creating the resistance. Im hoping that after the first time its run the goo will get flung around and will barely be on the gears letting it move alot more freely. Does anyone else have this problem? Does it go away after the first run?
__________________

Could be a case of over tightened diff housings (If you are using plastic gear housings). Try loosing each screw for half a turn.

Thanks littlegiant Ill check it out.

Just to make sure, the buggy/truggy pinions are usually Mod1 48p right? Im having a hard time finding a pinion like that under 10 bucks.... :confused:

More pics...

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...unny/full1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...unny/full2.jpg

You need to use MOD1 pinions, no 48p or other p!!!!!!!!!!

Greetz,
Joram

Well i went back to the senior design workshop and found the perfect sheet of aluminum for an esc plate. The holes are EXACTLY the right size for an M4 screw and were in the EXACTLY perfect spot to line up with the holes already in the chassis for the GP motor mount braces. So I snipped it up to size and here is what I have for an esc mount now. Notice it leaves just enough space for the motor to clear the top of it. Man I lucked out on this one!

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...y/escplate.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x.../escplate2.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x.../escplate3.jpg

Looks like a fun build joey. Make sure you get the pinion perfectly meshed with the CD/spur. Seems as of the motor is tilted towards the mount making the pinion set lopsided onto the cd/spur. If you ruin it this way it could give you issues with heat and excessive wear.

Hmm you have a point.. I just checked it and its actually no problem at all though, very miniscule I think it will be fine. :mdr: I did notice that the CD, from a top down view, is actually angled a TINY bit. Like the left side is slightly forward and rigth side angled towards rear. But its VERY small and I dont think it will be a problem.

More updates please. And more pictures. It will be best if u have a video of it running. I am waiting.

Hahaha LG Im wishing I could have something new to update! For now Im deadlocked into studying day in and day out... no time for fun.

I have 3 packages in the mail... Bearings for the servo saver to replace the 4 bushings, hinge pins for the lower axle to arm joint, and duratrax warhead towers. The shock towers on the savx are too high for my liking, and I already have some warhead shocks (about 128mm) so Im going to try to hack up the X tower and mount in the warhead tower for some low riding goodness. Updates when I can... video... not for a while ;)

Oh and I balanced my wheels. They were WAY out of balance. I used small strips of duct tape on the inside of the rim and it worked great. Took the dogbones out and used the free spinning axle to balance, worked well. They are about 90% balanced now, definitely good enough but I may try to get it perfect sometime... just hard without a high quality balancing shaft thingy.

The wh towers are nice. Alot of shock adjustment options.

Seems like its gonna be more work than I thought to make those warhead towers work. Ill see what I can do when I find time.

Just put my short shocks on the savage with the stock towers, obviously the droop is completely gone but I did it just just so see how it rolls.

Well........

There is a HUGE amount of noise coming from the diffs, sounds like they need to be shimmed bad, but I didnt think savage diffs had that problem in stock form. Whats going on?!?!?!?!

Update with pics
 

Getting there....


http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...isfunny/t1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...isfunny/t6.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...funny/t2_2.jpg

Update with pics
 

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...isfunny/t4.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...isfunny/t5.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...isfunny/t3.jpg

Great truck! I have a couple questions for you. How much have you spend to date? Would you mind making me a list of the parts you bought? Thanks very much!

Suspension arms: --------------------Bought for $13 shipped.

Bulkheads + Diffs + Shock Towers: -- -Bought front and rear for $47.20 shipped.

Bumper + Skid assembly: -------------Bought front and rear for $8 shipped.

X TVPs: -----------------------------Bought for $15 shipped.

Axle dogbones + cups: ---------------Bought for $25 shipped.

Center diff/tranny and mount: --- ----Bought for $27 shipped.

Bellcrank/Servo Saver assembly: -----Bought for $6.50 shipped.

Axle carriers + bearings: -------------Bought for $13 shipped.

Suspension arm hinge pins: ----------Bought front and rear for $4 shipped.

Screw set + misc: -------------------Bought for $12 shipped.

F/R Turnbuckles: --------------------Bought for $6.70 shipped.

Radio box: --------------------------Bought for $8 shipped.

Center dogbones: -------------------Bought for $15 shipped.

Chassis braces: ---------------------Bought for $10 shipped.

Extra screws/hardware: -------------Bought for $8.

17mm hex hub set: -----------------Bought for $10 shipped.

warhead towers + shock mount kit -- Bought for $15 shipped

Total cost so far... ----------------- $235




I already had the shocks, wheels, and servo. Hope this helps!

Im wondering if all the little 4mm holes I drilled in my chassis at some of the more narrow points has weakened it. How easily do these chassi bend?

I decided to redo the center area as I just wasnt thrilled with some small mistakes I made. I ordered some 6061 aluminum and am going to re build my CD and motor mounts. Basically there will be two "C" shaped plates, one for the CD and one for the motor. The CD plate will allow me to mount the CD like it should be, screwed in from the bottom. The legs of the C will screw to the chassis. The motor C plate will have the legs attach to the inside of the TVPs and the body of the C will be facing the front so as to be close to the spur. Maybe hard to follow... have a look.

I dont know why I didnt think of this in the first place, its so much simpler than what I did before and uses many less parts.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...y/newmount.jpg

Just found out that 6061 aluminum doesnt like to bend at all. So I wont be bending the alu to shape, just cutting the parts that were going to make the "legs" off and use some L shaped aluminum brackets. Getting more complicated again, but shouldnt be too bad.

Alright Im about 75% done with the new mounting scheme. I had to use only tools I have here at my moms house since Im home from school now. So all I have to work with is an electric drill, a hacksaw, and some small clamps. No workbench, no metal files... UGH its hard and sloppy but I got the job done.

Its obviously not totally finished and its a rough draft mock-up right now but you'll get the idea. I think its going to work well, I just hope I used thick enough aluminum for the motor mount.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...sfunny/3-1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...sfunny/1-1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...sfunny/2-1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...sfunny/4-1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...sfunny/6-2.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...sfunny/5-1.jpg

Heres a video so you can hear the noise my diffs are making. It stops for about 1 second if I push the input cup in towards the bulkhead. I can feel it move about a millimeter and when it rolls there is no noise until it moves back out after about a second. Anywhere here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YflTirLdhXQ

Dangit, how do you embed video on here???

sounds like the shimming is off... might need to make it a little tighter to et rid of the noise.

Well I took the rear diff out and put 2 shims between the pinion (? smaller gear of the 2) and the bearing it spins on to keep it pressed more against the big gear (bevel?). This seemed to kill about 50% of the noise, though it still makes a little. Its much better than before so Im happy and am just going to leave it as is. The front still needs it but Im in no mood to take the front apart to get to it right now haha.. (even though they are easy access diffs, my warhead tower mounting bracket is in the way and its a pain to get off...)

The shims I used werent the right size (too big diameter) but they arent big enough to make it a problem... hope not anyway!

So I decided to mount the battery trays just barely below the CD plate, but just barely above the skid plates. So again if the truck bottoms out the battery trays will be fine, but if I curb the center part it will only hit the platic trays and not the CD plate, at least thats the idea. There will only be about 1 mm to spare on either side if this goes right. This is the only drawback to the way I decided to make this setup, but I dont plan on doing any rediculous bashing. Im going to be pretty careful with it, too big of an investment to trash around.

Heres an idea of what I was saying.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...yisfunny/m.jpg

The extra bonus is that it gets the batteries REALLY low on the chassis. All the weight will be very low on this truck to Im hoping itll almost be a Savage Muggy when its all said and done haha... :mdr:

Got the motor plate pretty much done. If I need to drill out the hole a little more for the medusa it wont be a problem.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...y/DSC01144.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...y/DSC01146.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...y/DSC01147.jpg

More stuff came today, getting closer... running out of money fast..!! Good thing I found a part time summer job (still looking for full time...).

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x.../morestuff.jpg

I also changed my mind (again) on the "battery tray as a skidplate" thing, it just wasnt a good idea, plus the trays are pretty flimsy. Im just going to order some thin aluminum and make a real skidplate.

Where does that center diff come from?

It looks like a damn easy way to make a brushless savage conversion... and it must save weight as well? Hmm... and on top of that you can center the motor. Nice :)

The CD is a losi 8ight-t model. It is pretty easy to do the conversion, the hard part for me was lining all the holes up correctly and making the cuts correctly as I have VERY limited tools (read: electric drill, hacksaw, and metal file). I made tiny errors in lining up the holes all the time and had to constantly drill out the holes extra to make things fit. Other than that it has been pretty easy.

I wanted to be able to side mount the CD in the chassis so I could lower the motor and mount it on the side opposite the CD, but there wasnt enough room to have them side by side. On the savage-central forums in the project area, theres a guy who made a custom chassis and widened the area between the plates, and he made a CD mount for his nitro truck and has the nitro motor laying next to the CD, very cool idea.

Got the body all cut and drilled, its an HPI nitro GT-2 with spoiler. Now to decide on a color scheme... I dont want to do something typical, but Im having trouble finding something I like that will match the yellow wheels. These pics are without batteries or motor, so when finished the truck will sit a little lower. I wanted the body to sit as low as possible, and this is it with these towers.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...unny/body2.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...unny/body1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...unny/body3.jpg

I like what LarsenRacing has done with this body below, might give that a try.
Still alot of options to choose from, just gotta pick the right one for me.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...linkage014.jpg

That is one hot looking truck. I like the low stance. Kinda like a truggy now.

I really love the looks of it.

Wow I like it, that body looks great on your setup. now all you need is a wing mount :)

Have you decided what your exact setup will be?

Thanks guys. I would have gone with a wing but it would be really hard with the way my towers are set up... Not sure the rear tower could handle some heavy landings on a wing. Its too bad I cant get the body lower, theres so much empty space between the top of the chassis and the top of the shell!

...looks great Joey...I look forward to you getting it driveable...

Well, here it is. I did this all late last night, and without proper masking tape. I only had 1" thick tape and no pinstriping tape. So the black line turned out not to be much of a smooth line, but more of a varying width, splattered paint looking line! But it worked out well because I like the look, gives it kind of a wild look instead of a perfect smooth line. The paints used were white, black and flourescent red-orange. Though it looks like pure orange to me (its even more orangy in person). I wish the color had a little more red in it but hey I cant complain for a first time paint job. It had so much flat orange I threw a bunch of decals on it, Im tempted to throw a bunch more on but I dont want to overdo it. The white on the truck bed is just some leftover material from the window masking sheet, I wanted to add some color in the rear, it was too orange!

EDIT: I just realized I had the camera set on "flourescent white balance" so the color is off a little. The orange is more rich and "pops" alot more in person.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...unny/paint.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...nny/paint2.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...nny/paint3.jpg

Looks great joe :)
What else does it ned to run

$.88 paint? LOL or did you go for the cans?