FOFF build.
 

This however will be my first build with a nod to scale touches.

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3770/dscf0726t.jpg

I had a wheely king that I enjoyed as stock for a while but soon got bored. I wanted to change it up a bit, so I got a crawler kit. Naturally the lengthened wheelbase had me trying on old Savage shells and various Madforce covers. I kind of came to the conclusion that I wanted to build a FOFF (Formula Off Road) vehicle out of it.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7065/670x377imagel.jpg

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/1973/dscf0734v.jpg

Teardown begins in ernest. We will only be needing the axles and center tranny for this build...

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/7558/dscf0741h.jpg

Performance is still very much the aim here. Servo has been lumped on to the axle and there is little heed given to 'anatomically' correct suspension. However, I plan on using a Gmade R1 tube chassis for now, then building my own custom tuber frame in the new year. I have always wanted to make one from scratch.

Motor will be clocked round to sit on top of the tranny, which will be layed down, bolted to the bottom of the Gmade chassis. Axles will be converted to 4-link using some new top link mounts to make mounting the links to the chassis easier.

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/967/dscf0739c.jpg

The stance I will be shooting for, links just over level.

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/5360/gtblack1.jpg

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9092/paht470f.jpg

Wheels and tires I have ordered.

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1...hassisset1.jpg

Gmade chassis, in case anyone has never seen one.

This build won't come out looking anything like the example above, so don't hold your breath. However I hope it will capture the spirit of the FOFF concept, and when I get round to brazing up a chassis in the new year I hope it will get pretty close to the 1:1.

RE: FOFF build.
 

Being stuck in the UK is fine so long as you don't want any decent quality parts.

Stripped the center gearbox in anticipation of some stronger gears and removed the top link mount and links from the axles. Also did away with the STRC lockout I had on the rear axle to make way for a more elegant solution which will take into account the new 4 link upper mount.

Royal Fail dropped a 'we missed you, like we always do' card through my letterbox today whilst I was at work so hopefully some shiny bits have turned up. ^_^

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1315/dscf0742c.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/9692/dscf0743d.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7500/dscf0744a.jpg

RE: FOFF build.
 

Got the Gmade chassis, trick little bit of kit.

http://img542.imageshack.us/img542/7016/dscf0745.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/6595/dscf0746u.jpg

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8514/dscf0748x.jpg

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/4573/dscf0749n.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6350/dscf0750eo.jpg

A few observations:

1) May have to stand the Wheely King tranny up to fit it between the rails. sits on it's side fine and a couple of the pre drilled holes actually line up with it, but the massive spur gear is going to be an issue. I'll wait and see how tight I can package the tranny before I consign it to the bin and go with an AX10/Gmade tranny though.

2) Wheelbase is smack bang on 13.5" with the extended 'King lower links, so these shall be reused for this. New top links shall be made. Well chuffed with how that worked out. :chug:

3) The long wheelbase means that (after some measuring and musing) the 90mm Zero Gmade shocks are a perfect fit to maintain the low slung stance. A set has been ordered.

4) I'm glad I ordered a new set of Junfac shafts for this thing, they are 10mm longer each. My present shafts are too short.

5) Gmade chassis is immensely cool, and I am now thinking of gettin an R1 as it looks like it'd be a quality item to go crawling with anyway. :nice:

6) I may chop the front shock mount tubes off and fit the shocks to the chassis lower down depending on where they come out with the size and look I want to maintain.

RE: FOFF build.
 

Just mocking up possible shock positions.

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/6814/dscf0753n.jpg

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9021/dscf0757u.jpg

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4403/dscf0758r.jpg

This rig is going to have about an inch of articulation, so not too fussed about axle steer

RE: FOFF build.
 

looks nice

wish I knew about that back axle piece a few months back would have helped me greatly in what I'm doing to my wheely king [:@]

RE: FOFF build.
 

cool looking rig, and a good choice of beers. cheers!

RE: FOFF build.
 

I have always like the Gmade crawlers.. But could never really justify spending the money on something that would sit on a shelf for about 10 months out of the year.

RE: FOFF build.
 

Very nice so far! I will definitly be following this build!

RE: FOFF build.
 

Looks good man [8D]

I was dying to build a FOFF rig a while back, but decided against it when i realized i dont have any nice big sand/smooth dirt hills to climb. I do go to the local rock quary some and climb. I love hill climbing and do it every chance i get with my BL Monster GT, but its really not worth it for me to spend the $$ on a FOFF.

Anyways, keep us updated! :D

RE: FOFF build.
 

Very nice indeed. Im wanting to take my scx in this direction. Lets see this baby run!

RE: FOFF build.
 

Have a bit more progress to show you folks.

Spaced out the front shock setup properly in it's new position and made up some top links, 50mm rods with gmade rod ends fits niceee. Fitted a Gmade option shock brace to the rear. Really happy with the stance and travel with present arrangement.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6586/dscf0767w.jpg

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/8061/dscf0771u.jpg

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/9554/dscf0766t.jpg

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/2197/dscf0772d.jpg

Flexin'...

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3370/dscf0762ii.jpg

With body panels...

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5145/dscf0783t.jpg

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/6822/dscf0778nx.jpg

Royal fail's traditional christmas farce is playing merry hell with my build schedule. Not sure how they are never ready for Christmas, it tends to happen every year. Need top mounts and my clocked motor plate so I can get the suspension together properly and rebuild the tranny. decided i'm going to convert the spur to mod-1 then cut down the excess plate to fit it in the Gmade chassis lying down. Had I known it was going to take this long i'd have made the parts myself :banghead:

RE: FOFF build.
 

looking good...

RE: FOFF build.
 

Hehe, cheers for the comments guys. Christmas came a day early today. Top links are now properly mounted, panther sand paddles mounted up on the rims, rear end locked out properly. Got my clocked motor plate and metal gears so I can start building up the tranny. Only short the Zero shocks and the Junfac shafts and then I can load the radio/power into it. Love this Gmade chassis, it's so light that the oil in the springless shocks supports it!

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/6121/dscf0786.jpg

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/774/dscf0787pu.jpg

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9707/dscf0788c.jpg

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/8484/dscf0789i.jpg

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7498/dscf0790q.jpg

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/9750/dscf0791i.jpg

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5009/dscf0792u.jpg

RE: FOFF build.
 

I'm full of turkey and cheap imported lager, but pushed on with the build today. Sat looking at the tranny for about an hour before deciding to throw caution to the wind and go about it and the cage with a knife. Cut down the tranny mounting nubs down one side, fitted the new motor plate, filled it with alloy (for now) gears, bunged the spur back on it and sized it into the available gap.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8224/dscf0793f.jpg

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/3108/dscf0796q.jpg


Bit of cutting to the battery and radio plates, drilled new tranny mount holes in the chassis floor and 'released' a bit of space around the spur and bobs your uncle, she was in. In order to line the spur up in a convenient gap in the cage I had to move the entire chassis plate backwards. This required me to re cut all my links as they join to it and were no longer the correct length... Joy! Upside is they are now finalised and I am happy with the geometry. Only thing I have really left to do on the tranny is just fit a top brace to support the motor. Presently it is supported by only three screws in the bottom and there is more movement than i would like.

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/3386/dscf0798t.jpg

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9155/dscf0799s.jpg

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/7443/dscf0800n.jpg

Also mock fitted my electronics, battery will go right side and be a small 3s pack of about 22-2500 mah.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8541/dscf0806k.jpg

Now just waiting on my shafts and shocks. :nice:

RE: FOFF build.
 

Can't wait for some action shots and video..:D

RE: FOFF build.
 

the build is looking good!

Here is a video to keep you motivated. Makes me want to build one.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7d8H2HnLoU&list=LLvwHY0wHFW3a5QFqQRkaKGQ& index=1&feature=plpp_video[/youtube]

RE: FOFF build.
 

Yep I know what you mean.. I have enough parts lying around to build a SCX10 FOFF but I haven't had the extra time to do it.

RE: FOFF build.
 

I have a scx, but i wanna keep it a crawler.
may want to buy a second roller to make a F0FF. I think a brushless system is best tho...
Right now im turning my SCX into a rig more capable in the snow...fatter tires, raised body, custom bed, axle extenders ect.

RE: FOFF build.
 

Roight, so like I said I had a few reservations about the setup of the tranny in the R1 chassis. I ended up cutting the cage to fit it and didn't like the weakness it introduced into the chassis.

So I binned that idea and went on the hunt for a new chassis, finding out that Gmade had just released a new 2.2 version of my favouritest chassis ever, the Stealth. I decided to stop messing about and ordered a gmade tranny to fit in it properly as well. The stealth tranny is about 10mm wider, so there's more room to breathe in there. Got the shocks mounted, and as she sits she needs shafts and the leccy bits mounting (received some 2000mah 3s 40c lipos that fit nice).

Ran into an issue with the shafts because of a stupid oversight I made, Gmade output is 5mm and wheely king axle pinion drive is 6mm. So to use the nice carbosteel shafts I got I will have to file a mm of material off the axle drives. :banghead:

Anyway, enough babbling. Here is how she looks now.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/1985/dscf0823e.jpg

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8854/dscf0812.jpg

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/7014/dscf0822s.jpg

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4527/dscf0815t.jpg

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/1340/dscf0816q.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/8121/dscf0821bg.jpg

As you can see, it sits under a Blitz bodyshell nicely, and has quite a bit of flex still. I will limit the movement of the shocks before use to kill the ride height a bit. Looks a bit 'tippy' to me.

RE: FOFF build.
 

think it looks cooler without a body ;)

RE: FOFF build.
 

I will have to agree with you it looks "HOT" without the body. It looks really nice, I can't wait to see some video of it in action..

RE: FOFF build.
 

Bodyshell is just to show how big it is, roughly the same size as a 1/10th shortcourse. It will, of course, be run naked. It may sprout some alloy or carbon body panels but they will be purely functional to keep dirt and sand out of the more vital workings of the truck.

Right, this isn't going to look like much of an update, but I've pulled a 5 hour stint tonight getting some stuff sorted out on the Foff.

The shafts are in and linked up, along with the motor. This required a total strip to pull the hardened pinion drives out and grind them down to 5mm to fit the driveshafts. This was done with a vice and a flat file. :blink: So it put me back a bit.

Next I dry fitted everything, only to find that my pinion angle on the rear was too great, and was binding up the shafts. To add insult to injury, when I fitted the motor it meant that one of my rear link mounts was interfered with, so I had to make new rear links, again, and re-position them on the truck. Had to get a bit funky with them too, so they are now bent and mounted to the outside on the rear. Seems to work ok, not too much wierd suspension movement. This is probably the most complicated and tricky suspension I have worked on, never messed with 4 link before and it's probably consumed 20 hours just fiddling with it to get it working right.

Lastly, I pulled the shocks off and rebuilt them in droop setting, IE swapping the inner springs around so they all have around 6mm of compression and 25mm of rebound. This means the truck sits slammed on the ground, has about 5mm of uptravel so is better for hill climbing and still has around 50 degrees of articulation when it is required. I believe this is the best of all worlds and is really the only way to go with this truck.

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1422/dscf0848r.jpg

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/105/dscf0842tw.jpg

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/5747/dscf0845n.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3890/dscf0847s.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/267/dscf0850i.jpg

Wheelbase sits at 13.2" now, and all up weight with electronics and battery mocked in is only 4.6 lbs so performance should be pretty dynamite on 3s. Tomorrow will be electronics fitting time and I may strip it and rebuild it to make sure everything is just so. I think it looks bad ***, so it will not change anymore now.

RE: FOFF build.
 

That's a very sweet build my friend. its veryawesome looking

RE: FOFF build.
 

Wow..... I'm speechless!!!! That is the most bad ***** thing I have ever had the opportunity to lay my eyes on, you sir have something amazing going here, it's been added to my notification list and I will be watching this build closely!!! Good job!!!

RE: FOFF build.
 

I meant to ask what tranny gear kit is that you got?