Going Green

ricm · #1 07-24-2015, 12:48 AM

Building a 'heavy haul' King Hauler. Body will be mostly standard, mainly changes to the drive line to give some real grunt. Work in progress....I'll point out some mods on the way....

Chose 'British Racing Green' for colour. It's a bit of a joke for this build 'cos 1) I'm a brit and 2) this truck will only be crawling, even in top gear :-D

The flash on the camera makes the colour look MUCH lighter than it really is, I'll see if pics without flash work better.

front arches modified for twin lights

I cut up the rear bumper to make these as twin headlights. They fit really well but have decided to get some in polished Aluminium to match the grill and front bumper from same material.

drilled holes in chassis cross members to route the wiring and diff lock cables on the other side

machined the outside edge of the front shock brackets to get better steering lock

4:1 reduction from Garden Trucking bolts directly onto rear of gearbox. Great quality job, internal gears are hardened steel and comes with ball race bearings throughout

replaced the original KH 2-part selector forks with later single piece cast part. Had to file the web on the front one a bit, to allow clearance to the large gear when in 1st. Also used the ball knuckle from the Euro style trucks, which has the stabilizer rod so the selector shaft can't rotate

got a pair of RC4WD locking rear axles

Since all my trailer use motorized support legs, it's critical to get the 5th wheel to sit at the same height as a standard truck otherwise trailer coupling is a shocker. These axle shaft is about 0.5mm lower than the surface where the suspension mounts to the axel, compared to the Tamiya standard, so need to remove 0.5mm of material from this surface for this. Also, I'm using the 4-leaf springs from the Euro 4x2 trucks on the back end, much stiffer than standard 3-leaf version which comes with all 6x4 trucks. But the extra leaf adds another 0.5mm, then the spring itself has slightly more curvature...another 0.5mm. So in total, need to removed 1.5mm from the axle mounting points...

Chassis pretty much finished. Changed motor for 33T 'Torque Tuned' truck motor. I don't really go for cosmetic hop-ups but I did replace the coupler servo plate with Tamiya's Aluminium upgrade. I think it looks really good, glad I got it.

Axles look more realistic, you can see the locking control cable

checked coupler height with a box trailer with motorized legs....the coupler first touches the trailer striker plate directly above the coupler hinge point, exactly how it should be. This means that when the prime mover hits the king pin, there is almost no pressure between the trailer and coupler when the trailer legs are extended....so got the machining on the axles it just right....phew......

bigford · #2 07-24-2015, 05:21 AM

nice tidy work

Ken Orme · #3 07-24-2015, 09:15 AM

Looks good. I like it.

126happy · #4 07-24-2015, 09:57 AM

very nice!!

The Wurst · #5 07-24-2015, 12:02 PM

Looking Good. I like the Green.

ricm · #6 09-14-2015, 11:36 PM

got a bit more done...chassis almost finished apart from finalising the location of the Rx and MFU, and tidying up all the wiring.

built a shelf above the battery compartment for the diff lock servo and somewhere to put the transmitter board for the wireless trailer stuff. Diff lock servo operated by 3 position switch... 1) both diffs unlocked, 2) front diff only locked or 3) both diffs locked. Added a micro switch working off the diff lock servo horn which turns on a 3mm red LED mounted in a spare hole in the coupler servo plate, the LED comes on if the servo is in any position other than 'both diffs unlocked'.

standard cab apart from beacons and twin headlights. one pair of headlights plugged into MFU as standard, the other will be on another channel for 'high beam' which can be switched on/ off or flashed independently from any of the MFU light functions. Yet to make the lenses for the headlights but I plan to cut up some standard king hauler head light lenses to fit as these look much better than using the trailer reverse light lenses. This photo is also a better representation of the real colour!

ricm · #7 07-03-2016, 03:47 AM

spent almost all weekend sorting out internals - MFU, wireless kit, speaker, etc. whilst keeping the seats and dash. Locking diffs make a huge difference on my drive which is on a decent slope....my Scania can't make it (not for lack of torque, grip is the problem). This guy makes it straight up no problem...!

All working, just need to finish up with polished front bumper but apart from that I'm done with this one.

Northern Farmer · #8 07-03-2016, 04:43 AM

Looking good!

Doggy · #9 07-03-2016, 05:05 AM

Very nice work. Are those rc4wd axles plastic? Do you have any inside photos?

ricm · #10 07-03-2016, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doggy

Very nice work. Are those rc4wd axles plastic? Do you have any inside photos?

yes - they are the RC4WD plastic axles. I didn't think it was worth investing in the metal ones, unless I break the plastic ones first. The diff crown wheel in these axles is on the opposite side to the Tamiya axles, and you can't simply them upside down because of the linkage for the diff lock. So I had to reverse the motor connectors.

when you say inside photos - you mean some pics without the cab on?

Doggy · #11 07-04-2016, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricm

yes - they are the RC4WD plastic axles. I didn't think it was worth investing in the metal ones, unless I break the plastic ones first. The diff crown wheel in these axles is on the opposite side to the Tamiya axles, and you can't simply them upside down because of the linkage for the diff lock. So I had to reverse the motor connectors.

when you say inside photos - you mean some pics without the cab on?

I dont see a way to brake a plastic axle hehe.
I ment photos of inside of the axles, I am interested how they setup the locker on it.

ricm · #12 07-05-2016, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doggy

I dont see a way to brake a plastic axle hehe.
I ment photos of inside of the axles, I am interested how they setup the locker on it.

Ah - I did pull the axles apart when I got them, to see how the worked....but didn't take any pics...not wanting to pull apart now, sorry! there is a dog clutch on one half shaft which slides across to lock the shaft to the crown wheel. It does have a spring return inside the axle, but it's not strong enough to pull the cable back when the cable tension is released - the diff lock stayed 'on' even when the servo turned back to 'off'. So I had to design the servo horn so it also pushes the cable back to 'unlock' when the servo turns back.

Supermario · #13 07-08-2016, 10:22 PM

Truck is coming along great! I like your steering mod

I just found this steer link not long ago which also gives max turning angle. A friend of mine has been making out of threaded rod but these are solid and look great.

http://www.rigidrc.com/shop/rod-ends...eye-121mm.html