My "little" hardcore rock crawler

[mastacox]

:lol: :lol:

So I've had an E-Maxx sitting around for a while with a set of burned up motors. I thought about converting it to a super-fast brushless machine, but decided it was just way too expensive and I already have Nitro trucks for going fast...

So, I decided to convert the E-Maxx into a budget crawler :) I will be able to have a lot of fun with it until I get a more "respectable" crawler (I'm eying up an SCX-10 for later).

Mods:

Front & Rear Spools
4-Wheel Steering
Single springs at each corner, double shocks
Aluminum Skids
Traxxas 2075 waterproof servos for steering
Traxxas EVX-2 ESC
Kershaw Designs 550 Crawler Motors (55T I think?)
72T/10T combo (hope to go with 80T/9T later)

The rig:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7666.jpg

It flexes pretty well for an E-Maxx, not as good as a Revo but alright. Locked diffs will help make up for lack of flex :mrgreen:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7668.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7676.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7677.jpg

4-Wheel steering to help tighten turning. I need to set it up as independent control, but for now it's wired through a reverse Y-harness.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7674.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7671.jpg

Aluminum Skids, I've already broken them in pretty good:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7672.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7673.jpg

I went and found a cool place to crawl around, and wedged a tire in a crack. It made short work of the shaft 8)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/IMG_7675.jpg

[mastacox]

Video of me crawling around near my home: Traxxas E-Maxx Rock Crawling (http://www.vimeo.com/7124123) (make sure and watch it in HD!)

Some screenshots from the video:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling1.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling2.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling3.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling4.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling6.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling7.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling8.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l70/mastacox/RC%20Crawler/RCCrawling9.jpg

[mastacox]

So overall I'm pretty happy with the performance of this thing, but as you might have noticed in the video the tires didn't have much flex, and tended to roll off rocks...

So I went ahead and removed the foams, and vented the tires with a couple of holes punched in the tread. I also turned the tires so the tread is reversed, hoping they will tend to grip "inwards."

I took the rig out to the same spot in the video, and the grip is a night and day difference! I was able to hold the tires on rocks far better, and the tread flexes around rocks much better, giving a lot more forward traction. :thumbup:

[Good Times]

wow I didn't know you can snap a shaft on these rc cars. I guess anything is possible :)

Watching that video (though it was long) was pretty awesome! You can definitely learn a lot from driving/watching rc cars do amazing stuff and be more aware/alert when you're doing similar stuff!

lovin it!

[Seanz0rz]

im diggin the fact that it has 6 lug rims!