Badcrumble

New tyres have arrived! I did some thinking and have swapped by back-ordered 75mm dampers for 85mm as they might fit the chassis a bit better. They are, however, not due in stock for aaaaaages. Which gives me plenty of time to sort out other bits....

Neat cover! I reckon a well weathered tan interior would look good with the mostly white body. I also rate those Tamiya blades. I can't saw straight either 😂

That rust effect is really good. Reminds me of my Mum's old Corolla!

Thanks @Andy-Roo ! It is getting there! The Pit Bulls Rock Beasts are slightly smaller at 114 versus 120 for the BFGs and 109 for the MT109s. We'll see if I can get them on and maybe move the dampers back up one hole so I can re-attach the panhard link. But nothing is ever that easy with this truck! I can see if I have drilled enough holes to angle the shocks but I think a box 'lid' will be the way to go - just means we need to eat more lollies!

A break for lunch then back into the garage. Tidied away the drill, puit the Dremel back together (had been using the detail grip and drill chuck) would up and put away the extension lead and turned my attention to the GCM 3D printed battery hangers. These are to bars with holes to mount against the damper mounts and pegs to slot the straps on - held on using small body pins. Ingenious. Except that they are meant to be used with particular holes on the original damper mounts and whilst I had copied them, by changing the orientation of my mounts the battery hangers would be vertical! Grr. Back out came the extension lead, Dremel and attachments and not too long after, the battery hangers were fitted. I also swapped out the screws holding the mounts and battery hangers as the screws I had used protruded into the battery space and were too thin - floppy mount! Next steps - build and fit the other pair of 75mm dampers when they arrive and fit the Pit Bull tyres when they turn up and assess the panhard situation. Also, review the mount height - do I need to bring them down to just below the bed level so I can fit my wooden deck?

So on to the rear. I removed one of the rear to use as a template. Version one had a few wobbly holes so I tried again, making both mounts at the same time with all holes templated from the original mount. Removed one of the 75mm front dampers and popped in on the rear then got the body and tyres back on. Hmm, looks very much like it did before. Hang on, have I not made those mounts tall enough?! So I flipped the mount round and.... I'm still waiting on the second set of 75mm dampers and the new smaller tyres so popped on one of the previous short rear dampers. Enough holes in the mounts to make it work.

Skive Day has arrived! First off, dropped the front dampers a notch. The big BFGs sit better, it seemed to sort out the clearance between driveshaft and transmission but.....now the panhard link is too short!!! <Oops, no photo> I decided to remove the previous panhard link. Having rounded out the hexes, I attacked the with the drill. An hour later and the link was off with only minor chassis damage. Now, whilst I don't think I'll be using that link again, perhaps I can use it as a template for a new one if required.

How dare you make us wait in this age of instant gratification!!!! Loving your work...

I have joined the Outlaw Owners Club! Thanks to everyone who has provided guidance in this thread, it has been a really good read! When it breaks, I can’t say I wasn’t warned...

I have occasionally glanced at this thread and ... oops - I've just bought a 'lightly used' brushed Outlaw!

CAD exercise on rear deck cover. Need to eat some more ice lollies! EDIT: worked out a pattern for the planks. I need 17 in total, I have 12. Nom, nom, nom.

Such a shame about the Ham transmission but glad you could get the rig running. Looking forward to seeing the work on the bodywork!

Thanks @Andy-Roo. The ball is now rolling again - I've secured a 'Daddy-skive Day' in a couple of weeks and the funds to buy a soldering iron. Yay!

In for £0.01p, in for £many. Rock Beasts and soft springs for the dampers have been ordered... Couldn't help myself! I've been following a build of a LWB JK on SBG and the Rock Beasts just look..right.

Super fast delivery from Modelsport. My delrin sheet arrived too! The Modelsport order included some paint and soldering gear (hoping for an iron for my birthday) So I have some paint to do some detailing on the interior. The dampers are on backorder, due in October...

Dampers and ESC ordered. Whilst the dampers aren't due to arrive until next month, I can work on the battery placement and the rear deck. If I get the opportunity! It will live one day...

Thanks for the tips @stimpy. I’ve got some 9mm hexes I could test out. I lost momentum for a bit but it is coming back to me. I could do with more tinkering time! Close to placing an order for the ESC but the dampers aren’t in stock until early October. If the 120mm tyres don’t work out when I drop the front dampers down then I think it will be time to look at something between them and the the MT109s - such as Pit Bull Rock Beasts. Probably stick them on my GMade wheels initially to keep costs down.

Unable to put off the inevitable - ordered some Acetal.

Small update: 62mm dampers back on the rear. 120mm Pro-lines installed. Body screwed on. OK at the back but a lot of rubbing at the front. Then I realised, I haven’t dropped the front dampers far enough. Grr. Popped on the 103mm MT109 tyres - way too much space between tyre and arch. Feels like I’m back where I was two pages ago in this thread! Still not that happy about the lack of travel from the 62mm dampers but probably fine for light trail use. So I need to bring the front dampers down and have another look with the 120mm rubber. Where I trimmed the body could do with some tidying up too - I’d cut at a slight angle so the body isn’t quite flush to the sliders. Then on to the rear - something to put that battery in and something to cover it!

A little progress today, put the GCM mounts back on the rear, located my ABS sheet from my stock. Unfortunately, it is way too thin to use for damper mounts. I'm going to have one last go at putting the 62mm dampers back on the rear and see if I can continue to use them - perhaps with the big Pro-Line tyres. If it doesn't work, I'll be ordering some Acetal and another set of 75mm dampers. I also dug out the rear cage and had a look at the new battery. Really pleased that I can still access the battery with the cage in place. EDIT: had another look at the front driveshaft - compressed the shock and no contact made this time. Another issue though - steering arm rubbing on the servo case at full compression instead! Going to move the damper down and throw on the bigger tyres.

I’ve not tried the chrome pen yet. It is a Molotow, 2mm, I saw one used on a JK interior and thought it was about time I gave one a go. I got it from Amazon - as cheap as anywhere else I could find.

Thanks @stimpy, this truck is a real learning curve for me. I'll take a look at the links before I start repositioning the dampers (again).

Some good news - My battery and a chrome pen for some interior decoration. I have been collecting lolly sticks for a battery cover - either a crate or a flat bed. As soon as I get a handle on the revised ride height / tyre choice I can put in my order for the ESC and a ton of other bits

I spent the last month thinking about rear body mounts. Thinking, planning but with no real time to myself I couldn’t do much more. Home alone for my lunch hour, I dived back into the garage and removed one of the existing rear mounts and one for the long dampers from the front. I brought the chassis inside so I could start doing some measurements and had a realisation... ...with the axle level and the dampers at full extension, the driveshaft is rubbing against the base of the transmission. Brilliant. Just as I think I have sorted ride height, tyre choice, etc... This could be a reason why my first run round the garden wasn’t brilliant! So back to the drawing board. Next steps are... - Drop the front dampers a hole back down to the previous level (not a fun task unless I remove the motor too). - Re-fit rear dampers - may not need longer rears now and original rear mounts may come back into play - stick the body on and remind myself how **** it looks with a huge gap between the tyre and arch - decide whether I need new wheels / tyres or throw on the big ones I have and start hacking at the body again

Welcome and hope to see you soon in the Scale Crawler / Rock Crawler sub-forums! There are some very knowledgeable people there - not me!