I have been sneaking around looking at what you're doing and like everyone else, I'm blown away by what you're doing here. :yes: I love the steering bellcranks you made but I have to ask you if it is necessary to join them together with that turnbuckle. Did you incorporate it in your steering system to have the option to run one servo? I suspect you did. But it wouldn't be needed if you ran two servos, unless I'm missing something. :smile: Everything you're doing is so beautiful and clean. After it's done, with all the work and thought you put into it, I would love to see every aluminum part you made anodized. It would look soooo purdy.

The draglink is necessary. If you'll refer to post #15, my original setup was with the servo savers instead of the standard horns. I was hoping to simplify things by using independent left/right servo savers. But as I mentioned in that same post I was still using my old dished 3/4" offset rims. The added leverage imposed on the knuckles was enough to pull both front wheels inward (extreme toe-in) on throttle, and outward on braking. Given stiffer direct-mount style servo savers it would work, and it may have worked much better with the zero offset rims. I decided to try solid horns before I made the new wheels, so that combo never got tried. Occasionally I do try to reinvent the wheel, and occasionally it works :) but not this time. Some laws of nature you don't mess with...

The draglink was added purely to keep the front wheels parallel, but as an added bonus I do have the option of running one or both servos. It did require some subtrim to get the servos symmetrical, same as I had to do without the draglink. And having two savers linked should firm up response quite a bit. Steering is plenty fast even on 5V, I plan to run a Hyperion BEC on 6V soon. Running 6S I'd prefer to disable the MMM's BEC. I am much happier with the new steering, I haven't run it yet but I have no doubt this will be the ideal setup for the long term. Just have to look into the servo that got damaged, it's a bit notchy now and I hope it only needs a gearset. I know the 5645s ain't much compared to the tierod snappers most of you run, but having 2 makes that pretty much a non issue.

Anodizing probably won't happen, you have to keep in mind the finish isn't that great on the majority of the surfaces, paint hides all ;)

Thanks for the comments 'crash :mdr:

I totally forgot about your first experiment without the drag link. Sorry 'bout that one. It's flawless then :mdr: That steering system looks really tight, no slop at all. The little things you think of in this build is awesome, like turning down the heads of cap head screws so the bellcrank bearings slip on them. I love this kind of stuff.

Yeah me too, I gots tha disease....

Expect some updates and with new pieces in the next day or so :yes:

Ok been a few days, here's the beast in all it's non-glory.

I noticed after a few runs the two screws holding the shock lower mounts getting loose. So I made some additional pinch plates, just tapped the mounts vertical. And the little plates double as protection for that area of the A-arm. Also made some ultra-cheesy bumpers and a 'roof' to protect those vital components. On my third run tonight I managed to flip it on pavement and dug up a corner of that pretty good, so very happy that protection was in place! That's why we get pictures first :whistle:

Three runs with the new steering and it's working well. I'm running a single servo, (my second is in for surgery) so it's not up to full potential.

Now on to the shape... um, yeah. It's looking more like an AMC product, that's not good..

Seriously, I have picked better looking crap off the bottom of my shoe.

It's gonna take nothing short of a miracle to come up with a cool body-type thing.

But the performance is there, absolutely thrilled with the handling. COG is quite low even with the motor top-mounted. I was gonna mention in an earlier post, I know it must be weird seeing Muggy arms without fist-sized shocks on them... but I'm not really big into jumping. I'm after a good handling platform with excellent climb-ability. If I wanna get big air I throw a plane up :mdr: The shock setup I compared to a Revo only in the respect that it "paws" over stuff much like a Revo. But this setup doesn't have the Revo's progressiveness, obviously. The preload can still be increased some before I hit spring cramp. So even with some additional body weight I think I'm well covered. I did a one foot drop test with my buddy's 3905 which is slightly tubby with a cage, etc. and mine fared better. Not that I'm even worried about bottoming out with this chassis..

Overall I'm giving myself an 8.8 on handling, as in what I was looking for, and a 3 on looks lol. I'll be working on that.

More..

And more

Very nice build. Jason you have a one of a kind nice build! Keep the inspiration alive my friend!

Crazy one off build - I like it!

Nicely done! I really dig all the fab work.

Thanks guys...

A few items not in the photos, I have a piece of foam taped over the Rx with a hole in it to keep the Rx & antenna from going into the gears. And an inch-wide vecro strap to keep the packs in place. They are also held by velcro on the bottom side of the packs to keep them from sliding. The MMM is kept in place by a strip of velcro on the side facing up, and some thin weatherstripping on the side facing down.

Gonna try for video in the next few days :)

Regardless
 

Regardless of your own misgivings on this project this thing is a very cool build. Considering how ugly some major manufacturers make their platforms this build looks pretty good. Your work is neat and clean and very cymetrical, which is a plus for me. Looking at the fact that this is a home grown one off self fabricated project it is impressive. If you can do this out of your house or garage, then it sends a message to the big wigs that they need to do a better job considering all of the resources available to them. In fact I believe it makes them look bad.

Now, what's so bad looking about that?? :neutral: I personally love the "mechanical" look much more than the "finished" look. The first thing I did when I got my car was take off the dumb plastic engine cover! :lol: As far as a body goes, something like your other project a while back would be cool.

Funktastic man, A+

looking sweet!

really cool build... i would give it a much higher score for looks, kinda mad max-esq!

i would put some kind of nylon cage around the servo setup, for a bit of protection...

but other than that... looks awesome!!

video!!!