Not happy with the wildcat unpleasantness I decided to utilize
a slightly less shite chassis to harness the mighty brushless
Pletenberg.
Rustler
video- 6.1mb
Not happy with this the Rusty has taken a lot
more punishment recently with very little in the way of a breakage.
A novak brushless setup was in there for a time, but soon switched
back to to faithful 9x3 as we awaited an even stronger Feigao
motor. As you can imagine trying to break the big floppy rubbery
rustler is no easy task and so much sitting around and drinking
of tea was required to brainstorm new and interesting ideas
for power and jumps. After some debate over gearing we finally
decided on a 19t pinion for the 9x3, initial speed tests were
good. However after 4 minutes of abuse it was more than a little
warm, smoke quickly followed and before we knew where we were
the motor was toast.
Rustler,
9x3 - 4.5mb
|
Some serious steering issues in this
video, in fact no steering at all towards the end. Some
language in this vid too. |
STILL waiting on the speedo, getting a bit boring now,
back to brushed power, a 11x3 has taken up the challenge. After
some gearing issues (20/78 instead of 10/78) we are well on
our way again.... until the diff broke.
Some araldite later and it back in the action, albeit with
a locked diff. The next run was going fine, except my motor
plate didnt last 5 minutes. Then we managed to break both diff
outdrive yokes at the same time, a drastic solution was called
for and I think I have addressed that need. A solid steel bar
with some steel UJ's from a truck are now in place, these are
going nowhere!
Just a quick video to show the handling
hasn't improved any. |
|
aaaaahhhh the trial and tribulations of running the rusty,
after constructing a mahoosive jump in the carpark we were catching
some serious air time. So much so that on a particularly heavy
landing it blew an o-ring out the shock and all the oil promptly
fell out. This made subsequent landings rather hard, net result
of this was the cells kept falling out and also the receiver
fell out, unknown to us (it was a bit dark) we only realized
after steering was lost, this was due to the receiver being
dragged a foot behind the truck only connected via the receiver
plug from the speedo! So in true belt and braces fashion ive
added my own "quad shock" conversion to the rear.
Oh yeh and we lunched a spur gear too, so ive upped the ante
with 32 pitch gears, shame the gear cover doesn't fit over them.
Same Rustler, different night, the quad shock setup has stiffened
the rear a little too much, controlling it is not harder than
usual. Apart from that all is well except the little lights
keep falling off.
Rustler
- July 06 - 53mb
Brushless has finally arrived, the warrior I was waiting on
has been canceled and an Mtronikc Genesis Pro is now in charge
of things in the little rustler. Initial testing went well,
geared conservatory, topping out at 37mph and lasting for aaaaaaages.
Managed to break a front hub! one of the first things I couldt
(be bothered) to fix so £3 was invested in a new pair.
Rustler
Brushless - August 06 - 44mb
Im running out of webspace so its down to google video to host
it now!
Ok, its broke, the idler gear is no more. A metal one has been
added at the cost of about £8, shocking i know.
Rustler
Brushless 2- August 06 - 12.7mb
Is the rustler destined to be entirely held together with cable
ties? I think so, managed to break a rear wishbone tonight but
we didn't let that stop us. Remember we are professional idiots
on private ground, so dont try this at home.
Rustler
Brushless 3- August 06 - 38mb
I fear the nights are drawing in, soon winter will be upon
us and the rustling will have to stop. For now though we must
press on, some random pics, including a very rare shot of Tony
running!
Another night, another idea. It seems that breakage's are more
frequent now due to the increased speed the rustler is crashing
at so a solution was called for. We put a pile of boxes where
we thought the rustler would land to cushion the blow. However
aiming for this was harder than it looked so after some thought
we decided to stick the box on the rustler then it would always
have a box to land in/on. The increase in stability when driving
the truck we can only attribute to the downforce and the extra
weight giving us some extra traction. The breakage was a major
one, the uj is still intact however TONY managed to separate
the axle from the UJ, I thought these were a sealed unit.........
obviously not, oh yeh and he poped the UJ on the other side
too!
Rustler
Brushless (cardboard box) - August 06 - 24mb
In true bodge fashion rather than buy another Rustler axle
I had a rummage through my stuff and found some rear hubs and
axles from a Losi XXT. After some hacking I got them fitted
and attached the all metal axle to the slider shaft. I had to
make a turnbuckle too as the stock plastic top link was the
wrong length.
Well the next weakest link turned out to be the driveshaft,
the plastic slider snapping in two. I found some Juggernaut
2 propshaft parts and set about making some replacements.
These seem to be holding up ok, a wheel bearing disintegrated
but I think it was a bit dodgy anyway.
Rustler
Brushless - August 06
Boy did it take a beating tonight, so much so that one driveshaft
made a bid for freedom, i have rebuilt them stronger than ever
now.
Maxx Rear Shaft and Hub Conversion
After constantly breaking the driveshafts I decided enough
was enough, the traxxas sliders are very strong but a little
too small on the rustler, the logical step up is the T-maxx
stuff, much stronger but not a straight swap because of the
Maxx using 6mm shafts rather than 5mm, this was a 4 hour job
but quite happy now its done.
Just about had enough now
The Rusty is to be decommissioned, the time has come, its at
the point where as much time driving it is spent fixing it.
Sadly the driving is also lacking now as it doesn't go where
you point it anymore, too much power and the chassis is too
far gone, still it served its purpose. For this final installment
we upped the power form 8 cells to 10!
Video
