The Beater Builds Thread
 

THE ULTIMATE BEATER TRUCK THREAD!!! Post up your beater truck builds or just the beater truck itself. For the truck to qualify as a beater, it must be able to be bashed very hard, survive, and come back for more. This means landing crooked off of jumps without breaking most of the time. This means being able to withstand the abuse of the insane drivers out there. And I know most of us dont beat our trucks to within an inch of their life, but the purpose of this thread is also to encourage people to build a truck to withstand anything you throw at it and come back for more.

For my beater truck build, I am starting out with my 3906 E-Maxx (the old one). It currently has a Tekno RC wing mount, custom made steel sheet full center skid plate, custom made steel lower rear A-Arm guards, custom made front single bar 1/4' round aluminum rod stock bumper, custom made dual rate springs/shocks, wing mount bracing using some Traxxas turnbuckles, an Hitec HS645-MG servo for steering, and my custom driveshaft mod.

Here is some stuff I plan to buy for my E-Maxx to beef it up a bit.

RPM Brand A-Arms- http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXMZT3&P=SM

THS Racing CVD Set- http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKSJ7&P=7

Traxxas Drive Shaft Center E-Maxx Front/Rear- http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXPNK4&P=7

And so I can do night driving...
Ram Ultra Bright Lites w/White LED- http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXDKR7&P=ML

What do you all think of what I plan on purchasing? And for waterproofing, I have my own custom stuff I will make to water-proof the truck.

Here are some pictures of the truck in it's current form.



So post up your beater builds here people!!! Trucks and builds, anything goes, as long as it is electric and you can beat the snot out of it and it comes back for more!

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

My best beater truck to date is 1) a Pede with VXL internals in the gear box, RPM carriers with the larger bearings all around and a speedgems 15T motor. Everything else is stock. Can't hurt it no matter what I do. This is my favorite toy for the skate parks. 2) Is an olds school Hornet with a home made truck conversion. Losi truck shocks on the front, Assoc Team truck shocks on the back. OLD speed gems 19T motor. Never tried to fly this one at the skate park but I haven't broken anything in about 10 yrs.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

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RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

POST SOME PICTURES TOO PEOPLE!!! I suprised I havent gotten a bigger responce, but thanks for all of those who have posted so far. POST UP SOME PICS TOO!

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

ATTENTION ATTENTION!!!!! UPDATE UPDATE!!!! PLEASE READ!!!!!

Well I ordered some stuff for my E-Maxx on monday, and here is what I got

THS Racing CVD's
Traxxas center CVD's
GH Racing Aluminum Bulkheads (Front and Rear)
Traxxas Motor HeatSinks


And here are some pictures of everything...

The last 2 pictures are of a custom "Hitch/Tow Bumper" that I made with a Tamiya Ball Stud and some parts out of the Clod Buster Parts Bags and a couple links of small chain. I made this bumper not only for looks, but to tow out any stuck trucks ( :) ) and I also plan on building a custom trailer for my E-Maxx to tow around, so I decided to go ahead and make the tow bumper.

Enjoy!

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

thats pretty cool hows your it running?

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Thanks! There is actually a pretty big perfomance jump with these upgrades. The motors stay cooler and I have noticed slightly longer runtimes. Also, with a full set of CVD's, center and all around, there is much faster power tansfer out to the wheels. When I had the stock shafts in it, the driveline felt "squishy" and didnt have a very crisp throttle responce, and with the CVD's that "squishy" feel in the driveline is gone and the throttle control is much "crisper", as in when I hit the throttle, the wheels go right then, when with the stock shafts is seemed like there was a bit of a lag.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

For water proofing/water-resisting my E-Maxx, do you guys think a sealed lexan plate box around the reciver and ESC would work, and buy the water proofing kit from Traxxas for the servos? I am not sure how I would go about sealing the lexan boxes around the wires, maybe use some hot glue around them where they would go through the box? Post up your opinions on the idea. Thanks.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Anyone? Idea's anybody?

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

When you say "Beater" makes me thing along the lines of something to bash hard while keeping costs down. Not necessarily bulletproof but certainly being robust helps, and heck even ghetto mods or repairs should be quite acceptable.

I picked-up a used E-Savvy specifically for this purpose. While originally my plan was to go ghetto as necessarry, I can't seem to quite go there with it just yet. The only big investment in it is a nice full set of 8 stronger shocks. Initially I thought I might just go with one per corner to keep costs down to keep to my plans to keep from spending a bunch on this, but i figured I would eventually end up paying for it in downtime and bent/broken shock shafts. Anyway beyond that my upgrades haven't been too spendy, and I'm trying to keep on that track. So I'm trying to maintain it as a reasonable looking truck, but not go so high end on stuff that I feel like I need to show any significant degree of caution with this thing.

Existing Mods:
- Inexpensive metal wheel hexes
- Traxxas universal shafts
- Traxxas 550 motor heat sinks
- Aluminum shocks
- RPM bumpers front and rear
- Deans Ultra Plugs
- CC Bullets
- Shoe Goo reinforced body shell
- Hardened Diff Bevel Gears

Planned Mods (need to order supplies this weekend):
- Futaba S3305 Servo
- Bithead Shock Screw Mod

I need to take a new chassis picture. Maybe tomorrow. I de-labelled/de-stickered the thing when I installed the motor heat sinks. The label on the ESC was looking pretty ratty and starting to peel. Plus I made sure the wires were protected and routed nicely when I changed out the stock motor connectors to CC Bullets. Really gives it a nice uncluttered look without dumping a ton of money into it.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Sounds awesome man!!! And yes, by definition of "beater", I do mean "low cost, high strength, durability where it counts" kind of mods. Basically like what you have done to your E-Savvy. Overall, I have only spent about $150 on my E-Maxx, and all of that cost is from buying CVD's all around and center, and front and rear aluminum bulkheads. The rest of my mods (rear arm guards, center skid, wing mount braces, aluminum tube front bumper, and my up and coming water-resisting mods) are all very cheap and/or free.

Anyway, sounds like you have an awesome truck, and I would love to see some pictures of it.



ALSO!! I am having a bit of a problem with the shocks on my E-Maxx. I have to run heavy springs, as in max preloaded stock springs with Team Associated Gold MGT Extra Heavy Springs cut into 1/4's and I use them for additional pre-load and as a custom dual rate spring setup. I have to run such heavy springs because with the batteries in, the truck will sag pretty badly, and has terribly rear squat on acceleration. Also, because of the heavy spring setup, I run heavier shock oil to keep the truck from being bouncy. But this is where the main problem is. Because I do run heavier/thicker/more viscous shock oil, if I land too hard on one wheel from a jump, all 10 pounds of truck compresses the shocks for that wheel at a very high rate of speed, and the heavier/thicker/more viscous shock oil cant move through the holes in the shock piston quickly enough, and it squirts out at the shaft around the seals at the bottom of the shock body. Now I could use shock pistons with more holes, however that would produce an effect that of a much ligher/thinner/less viscous shock oil, and would make the truck bouncy again. SO, MY QUESTION IS, how can keep using heavy springs and shock oil and not get the terrible side effect of the oil squirting past the seals and all over the suspension arms?

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

UPDATE!!!

I decided that since I had a bunch of Monster Energy stickers, I might as well make me E-Maxx a Monster Energy themed truck. So I threw some decals on the truck, bashed it for a while with them on the truck to scracth them up to make sure they made the truck look as "beater-ish" as possible.

And now that the truck is Monster Energy themed, I have decided to rename the E-Maxx to... *drum roll*............................................. ............................ THE M-MAXX!!!! M-Maxx now stands for "Monster Maxx", which sounds alot better than "E-Maxx".
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/3...3650005qu6.jpg

Now, the truck is renamed, lets take a look as some of the Monster Energy decals. Check em out!
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/2...3600001jq7.jpg
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/3...3610002eg0.jpg
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/9...3640004lb1.jpg


To continue with the Monster Energy Green throughout the truck, I used some green wire loom on the motors that is similar in color to the Monster Energy Green. However, I do plan on getting some brighter green to be an even closer match to the Monster Energy Green. Also, to add a bit of style, I wrapped the wing mount braces in the green wire loom, and it actually looks pretty cool. Here are some pics.
http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/7...3750010kj6.jpg
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/1...3760011rk0.jpg

And to those who are interested in getting some wire loom, you can pick some up at most auto parts stores.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Cool, nice truck. Heres my beater.

Truck is very durable. Has-
Swami bar
Rpm arms
Aluminum shocks
Steel tranny
Black output yolks (vxl)
Tie bar
Rpm bearing carriers/5x11 bearings
vxl motor/MM esc
Rpm wide bumper

Probably more that I can't think of... :eek:


http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...a/DSCF1134.jpg

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

this is mine. novak hv maxx 6.5, rpm rear shock tower, traxxas wheely bar, hextronik HX12K servo,MIP CVDs in front,RPM wide maxx arms in front, aluminum bulkheads in rear, aluminum skid plate rear, traxxas center cvd's,deans, Kimbrough servo saver, alum steering, RPM True-Track Rear A-arm Conversion, 3.3 axles in rear, rpm skid plate set, rpm bulk head braces, steel Idler Gears, RPM rear bumper, alum front bulk head, RRP slipper kit, traxxas light weight trans out put shaft, alum diff cups w/ bigger screws, lightweight input shaft, big bore shocks, alum front skid plate, titanium arm pins, RPM front bumper, RPM front shock tower, Zombie maxx tires.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

what batterise are you running on the Novak HV 6.5? i am looking to buy that motor for this summer! i will most likly be running 2 2s protek 4000mah lipos

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

I dont have good batteries now but I am going to buy IB 3800 7 cell batteries.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

do you like the motor? are you running the ESC the motorcomes with in the package or a different one?


EDIT: never mind i just looked at the picture:D

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

novakmaxx and Intense, awesome trucks!

novakmaxx, I really like the beefy look of that hummer body! What company makes that body, and do you know if they have an SUT (truck) version of the Hummer H2? And how is that Novak HV6.5 brushless system, as in how is the speed, torque, runtime, overall power compared to stock?

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

The motor is a lot faster than stock. If I give if full gas in 2nd gear it would flip over backwords. I dont know what brand the body is I bought it used. I thing proline has a h2 and mady a SUT. The motor has more runtime them stock too.It is the esc that comes with the motor. My setup is very good. I like it.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Jolly Roger Pirate, I like your costom parts

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Heres mine with new body. It also was widened. I will probably do it again but i had to put it back to normal do to racing issues.

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

also heres is my brother's rustler. And here is a link to my videos on youtube. my brother also has a e maxx that is on the homepage right now. There are videos of it on the youtube page i posted. I dont have any pictures right now but i can get some on this computer.
[link]http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=c6corvettekid13&search_type=[/link]

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Thanks man! I just have ALOT of time on my hands after school (and now that I am out for the summer I have alot more free time), so I just tinker out in the garage and make stuff for all of my trucks.


Thanks for the info on that Novak system and on the body. I am seriously thinking about getting the same Novak setup that you have. And I found the Pro-Line Hummer H2 SUT body on TowerHobbies, and I am going to get it because the stock body on my E-Maxx has seen better days (the roof has holes in it from flipping and skidding on the roof on pavement.).

Here is what I am going to get from TowerHobbies probably tonight or tomorrow-

-DuraTrax Skid Plate Set Aluminum F/R T-Maxx E-Maxx (the stock plastic front skid keeps breaking)- http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXWH74&P=7

-Pro-Line 2005 Hummer H2 SUT - http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXGXK3&P=0

-Tamiya PS-7 Polycarbonate Spray Orange 3 oz (3 of these) - http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXFFS7&P=7

-Parma Aggravation Paint Mask - http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXAKD4&P=SM

-Spaz Stix Color Change Gold/Orange/Purpl/Red 3.5 oz (for the flames) - http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXJLV1&P=SM

What do you all think of that product list? Any reccomendations?

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

Nice Rustler! I am really liking that body! And your brothers rustler is pretty sweet too! And your dog is totally awesome too!(looks just like my dog) Is the dog 4 wheel drive, and is he stock or modded?

RE: The Beater Builds Thread
 

The dog is 4 wheel drive all the time and she runs off straight octane fuel. If we give her one of those ener-g drinks she just freaks out and kills things. lol but for real she likes to chase these trucks. If i turn on my truck or my brothers and she heres the twinkle of the MM or sidewinder (she always does) she comes running in to see what i am doing. lol what a funny dog.