I've moved the discussion of my CKS mods to a new thread as that last one was getting too long.

In our last episode of "As the King Snake Crawls" I discussed the trials and tribulations of my electronics swap. HAving made it past those issues (new motor, gears, TX/RX, ESC and front steering servo) I've decided to move onto further refinements.

My latest mod is dropping the battery even lower in the front. I made another servo mount from 1/8 aluminum and extended a tab backwards to create a flat mount for the battery. I bent this tab to follow the angle of the top links. The battery is held on by two cable ties - very snugly I might add. Haven't had a chance to really test this new battery position yet. Here are a few shots:





As for the original mount I made for the servo, this will most likely be going back to the rear axle for 4WS.

Cheers,

Sean

MR. SEAND, you did good work on your crawler.

Modifications that you to bring to him will make of him a very powerful crawler. This new site for the battery, will help him to keep the wheels of front anchored well on the ground.

I see that your passion for these crawler was not reduced with time.

Just got back from a lunchtime crawl and initial impressions are favourable. I still need to do some work on my shock setups but that will come with time. I dropped by Princess Auto today and picked up a small Cable Tie Gun for 2.99. This little sucker really helps clamp the battery to the mount with just a few suqeezes of the trigger. Perfect!!!

Tex, the passion has only really begun. At some point I will make a new custom chassis, swap out the stock shocks, add 4WS, replace rims/tires etc etc.

I'm just trying to learn as I go and not take on too much at once. I'll do a mod, test it, refine it and then move on the next one on the list. Right now though, the CKS is a very capable crawler.

Sorry no vids lately.

Sean

nice ! ! - how's that 55 that you ordered holding out ? - well I hope

Its holding up quite nicely. Combined with the 96/15 gears, this thing is pretty slow - not at all like the stock setup. I haven't given it full throttle in a "stuck" situation yet as I am afraid I will break something. Under strain my rear tires and shocks will comress to the point where the belly of the crawler is almost on the ground - its pretty crazy.

The front axles I made out of welding rod and hex keys are holding up great. I did some good crawling over the past few days and they are still perfect. I am running two DIY axles in the front now as a test to see how the design holds up. I will pull them tonight to see if there is any sign of wear/fatigue. I now have three spare front axles and I have the process down now where I can make one in about .5 hr - much better than ordering and having to wait!!!

Sean

ha - love it - you're gonna end up in the "vendors" section of the other board if you don't watch it ( seems you have a couple of popular designs on the go !! )

for rims and tires i suggest the moabs (of course) these tire really help. even with my stock WK it does better. and for rims i got those axial beadlocks of towers look awsome and perform great. but a pain in the azz to put together. and if you do buy them make sure you have a 1.5 mm hex alan wrench

get mine tomorrow I hope.... glad to hear that they are performing well........

the alan wrench is waiting patiently

I decided that I wanted to mount my battery parallel with the front axle to push all the battery weight even further forward. Last night I came up with a new servo/battery mount that will, hopefully, do this. Again, all I used was an old drill press, an old hacksaw, a dremel with a small cutoff wheel and a file. I will need to trim my chassis slighly - just under the front nose and I have a very slight case of tire rub but just barely and nothing that can't be taken care of easily enough.

Ta daa!!

SeanD, I've been following your posts on your WK mods, and I am very impressed on your progress. I like the idea of moving the battery over the front wheels.
I've just gotten a WK and am deciding what mods to do to it. I don't have a good rock pile to crawl over so I am thinking of a trail rig.

This installation is very well built.

The weight will be in the good place….

A small idea ...... I would paint aluminium in black flat, and it skid-plate too.

MR SEAND....On ((BLACK-CAB)) I had to install my tires with your manner…. but my crawler had difficulty in climb. then, I have to change my tires of direction (V) and now it climbs 100% better.

I read on another forum, what they did was reverse mount the front tires (V) and the rear tires in normal direction

This message has been edited. Last edited by: gumbi,

now that is a "great" idea - I think that a "patent attorney" should be consulted - I can see this one going " broad band "

ps: thanks for the "zip gun" idea

quote:

Originally posted by gumbi:
I read on another forum, what they did was reverse mount the front tires (V) and the rear tires in normal direction

the way that I look at this is that if the tires are " ^ " - there is only the leading point to grab onto anything - if the tire is " v "
- there are two leading points to grab the rocks
- I dunno -

whatever works best for your rig

On forum (RCCRAWLER.COM) a member had said to me to place my tire of another manner, and it is what I did… Then I am to go to the mountain, and I have to start to make climb ((BLACK-CAB)) but I have to stop,… he did not want to climb there or he usually climbed. I have to turn over at home, and I have to replace my tire as I had to install them, and I am to turn over to the same mountain, and I immediately saw the difference ..... ((BLACK-CAB)) climbed very easily there or it had misery before.

It is there that I have to decide to leave them like that (V) = seen front.... all 4 tires


PS… this is my esperience ..... ON the ROCK… made your experiment and tell me your results…

Just got from a short lunchtime crawl. There is a DEFINITE difference with the battery mounted right over the axles. The climbing angle is greatly improved - even over the battery mount I made just the other day!!!

I say short crawl because I busted a front axle - one of my DIY ones but I knew that it wa going happen because I ground down the shaft too much. Too bad because it was turning out to be a great crawl. I crawled on three wheels and even that was alright!! Then my TX low-battery light came on and I decided it was time to pack it in - besides I have a meeting in 2:00 minutes anyway.

Cheers,

Sean

p.s. I am not sure which is the best way to run the tires - I've only tried with the v's reversed. Maybe I should do a test someday.

p.p.s You can't go wrong with the 2.99 Cable Tie Gun

some people would say that having it reversed helps funnel the rock into the middle of the tire and kind of catches it, and having it regular would help clear mud and water, both would have strong points so i like how the back and front are different, just keep playing with the setup until you find one thats right for ya!

After breaking one of my DIY front driveshafts, I decided to try something different last night - I made one out of stainlees steel rod. It took a fair bit longer because of the hardness of the materials (harder to drill and file) but the result is quite good - sorry no pictures.

This is a highgrade SS. Does anybody know if SS has a higher shearing strength than other steels?

yeah, its way harder than regular steel, but not as hard as stuff like bearing steel, then theres the super strong shi t like a shaft from something like a screwdriver... im going to guess its harder than stock