I got my first Rubicon in February, after I had eye surgery, and couldn't see very well but needed something to do. My wife went out and bought me a New bright Jeep Rock Crawler. I built a 'mountain' from card board boxes and covered it with astroturf, this was in my shop so fun and warm and cozy.
I was impressed with it's climbing ability, and had tons of fun with it. So much fun that I completely wore out the front end (steering knuckles). When I phoned the New Bright parts guy, and told him my story, he shipped me a new one on warrenty.

This is what i did with it.

Here is a view of the sub-frames. I like to keep things looking original as possible, so I used the origional tub.

Because I like to keep things looking stock I sacrificed some articulation, still, it beats my E-Maxx.

Of course you gotta have rear steer

Sorry, wrong pic, here ya go ...

Hey nice work Tikoni..good lookin crawler.

Looks cool. You don't have to sacrifice flex to look stock. Here's my use of almost all of the original frame and suspension...

A couple of items I felt needed improvement was the lack of power, I very seldom got stuck due to traction, but rather a lack of power. So, I decided to cram in an extra motor on each end.
The second issue was the short run time on the battery. I deided to add a second battery in parallel with the origional. I installed E-Maxx body posts to make the second battery easier to get to, and I can use some different bodies.
I'll just post some pics in the next few posts.

Thanks for your comments and interest.

Here you can see the motor mount I created. It has 2 jacking screws to adjust gear mesh, and a 'J' bolt to hold the motor down. The Rubicon weighed 4.25 pounds out of the box with battery installed. My modified unit weighs 5.4 pounds, with both batteries installed, and has twice the 'horse power'.

Here is the motor in place as I was designing the drive (I cleaned all the crap off the gears before final assembly)

Here it is all together

Here is the underside,

here it is with an E-Maxx body on it ...

AAHHHH !!!! Look out ! We'll all be squashed ! (snicker, snicker)
Here it is with a Hummer body.
Now I have to work on the crappy steering. Does anyone have a suggestion for servos that are more powerful, same voltage, works with existing radio? My biggest problem is getting the rear steer to return to center after a turn. I set the caster to 8 degrees on the rear end, and that has helped a lot, but still a pain in the butt.

Hi LouLou,
They are the stock motors, the new one is wired reverse to the origional as it is installed 180 degrees from the first. All motors and servos run off the existing radio. I hope it doesn't go up in smoke when I give it a good workout.
I do have 2 spare boards, just in case

wow, very nice work, man...

quite inventive Tikoni..nice work. I recommend using a futaba s3003 standard servo for steering. They have around 57 ounces of torque at 6 volts.

Are you an engineer or something? I'm really surprised at your level of accomplishment with this truck while you're also going through recovery..Good Job man

Greg

So ......... I did the torture test No smoke from The boards ! What a pile of fun
Rocks are in short supply in my area, but I found a few and some logs and made a very tough little approach to a bridge just wide enough for the Rube to sit on. So, the objective was to get up on the bridge with all 4 wheels, go accross the bridge and down the other side. (well ........ ya gotta have rules, right?)
First thing I noticed was the snort this little beast now has! Lots of power (I still want more ...) That combined with the extra pound and a quarter make it climb like crazy! Only got stuck once, rolled about 6 times (hehe) But **** ..... scratched my under carrage
I drove the thing very hard for about 35 minutes trying to successfully complete the course. I think I made it about 4 times. The dual batteries worked great. I noticed a bit of fall off after about 5 minutes, but it ran strong for the next 30. No sign of a problem with the electronics, It handled the 4 motors and 2 survos just fine.
I have 2 problems to solve,
1) The rear tires rub hard on uneven ground with the wheels tuned. I guess I'll have to trim my bumpers.
2)The stock steering servos just aren't going to do. I mean you can still control it, but after driving my E-Maxx, well ....
I'll have to look into the servo GV28OZ suggested.
LouLou I can make you a schematic, just give me a couple of days
I'm not an Engineer, just a 50 year old Electrician turned Supervisor in a big Pulp mill. I have worked there for 31 years, and have aways found mechanical workings very interesting! I used to be a hot rodder in my younger days. I used to put big motors in small vehicles. (327 full blown into a 1971 Toyota Hilux pickup truck, things like that.
I find these things almost as much fun, without the geasey mess

Have a look at my pics
http://rcboards.com/eve/forums?a=albumtopic&TOPIC_OID=5511048152&f=8401055751

would it have been easier to just swap out the rear axle for a front one and then reverse the wiring. would seem pretty easy.

very nice work!

what are those metal supports on your axles?

AND ................. I SURELY WILL GIVE 2 ADDITIONAL MOTORS TO (((CRAZY- CRAWLER))) IF THE PRINCIPLE WORKS ........YA .......WELL

Thanks for your comments BigJon, you;re right ....... it would have been easier to just install a front end in the rear and reverse the wiring. In fact this is a front end, but I wanted more. I wanted to add a second motor to each drive train, and add 4 link suspension. The pic I have attached shows you the axle mounts you asked about.
The reason I have the rear end facing the same direction as the front end (servo and steering linkage to the back) is because steering works better in a 'drag' configuration than it does in a 'push' mode. In other words, the steering is more likely to return to center if it is following the axle rather than leading the axle.
Sorry LouLou, I do not have the means to take video for you.
Thanks all for you comments and feedback, I'm glad to see people recognize a cool toy when they see it, and it doesn't have to cost $1000.
New Bright Rocks