| Project "Paddle Foot" |
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| This truck was born a Tamiya King Black Foot, and is now the Beach patron terror i call the Paddle Foot. I ran it around stock for awhile just to break everything in and make sure everything worked. this truck is suprisingly good on rocks and hill climbs for being 2wd. its no way near a good 4wd like my monster pirates, but it is suprising, especially for the small tires. also the handling is good for a truck despite the stone-age suspension, but it will roll if pushed too hard. wheelies are no problem with my reciever pack in the back, and it also does some cool reverse to forward 180s. Strut Front Suspension - I was trying to think of a way to cancel the amount of camber rise and overall crappy geometry of the front end. Then i thought about the struts they have on real cars, and it came to me. This was pretty easy to figure out, but heres what i did. I drilled a hole between the upper and lower suspension mounts on the spindle carrier, and tried to bolt the shock in. The eyelet was hitting the wall of the carrier, so i melted it down with a soldering iron. Now it fit. Next, i tried using a bolt to pinch the eyelet in and stop it from moving, but it was too big again. This time i used a drill press through the upper arm mount hole, through the eyelet, and out the opposite hole. When i installed it i realized the stock mount was both too high and way too narrow. If i used it the tires would have about 30 degrees of camber. So i drew one out, and cut it from aluminum plate with a bandsaw, filed it and drilled it, and hooked it up. This front end is excelent, it is a massive improvement over the original, shown in the pictures below. Limited Slip Differential - After my rubber band locking wore out after about a total of 2 hours, i needed a better setup. I ran the truck around with an open diff for a while, but it just sucks that way. I considered trying to wrangle a torsen diff from an inferno 7.5 or ofna buggy in, but it is to wide. I also thought about permanent locking with glue, but then i would never be able to get the tranny apart, since the outdrives would be glued and the tranny halves cant slide over the drive cups. A few days later i was reading a magazine like poular mechanics or something, and a saw a nice cut-away drawing of a clutch style limited slip unit. After a minute or 2 i realized i had the answer to my diff problem. I went to my workshop that my dad calls the "The Skunk Works"(famous lockheed design firm), and took out my transmission and diff. It only took me a minute or 2 to make this. I cut a circle the size of the crown gear out of an old on-road tire, and then cut a hole in the middle big enough to go over the small step on the crown gear. I put it back together, and tightened it up, it was a tight fit, but it works. I also figured out i can adjust it by tightening or loosening the screws that hold the diff cover on. It works great, i have it set enough to where it still barely moves on one wheel, and low speed turns on the street can still activate the diff. I just need to see how long this will last Other Info - This truck has great power with 6 cells and a 15 turn motor. It has a little less bottom end over stock, but its much faster from 5-top speed. I cant wait to try it with the escs 8 cell max. The proline paddles work better in mud and loose dirt than they do in sand, mainly because the truck tries to dig itself in. The rear suspension design was much better than the horrible one they used on the front, and the only thing i had to do was make a new shock tower extension to accomodate the longer shocks, and so the dogbones wouldnt pop out. I put full bearings in, and they tighten the whole truck up, especially the rear wheel carriers. I never really saw what extent they improved the top speed or run-time by, because at the same time i put the 15t motor and MtRoniks esc in. Time to go mud bogging. |
| PaddleFoot Scale Specs Horsepower - 360 Torque - 956 lb/ft 1/4 Mile - 7.62 sec @ 232.8 MPH Top Speed - 233 mph Tires - 44/20 r22, Paddles 38/18 r22 Weight - 440 lbs |
| PaddleFoot Setup(read below for details) Custom Limited Slip Diff Custom Strut front end Bell Crank/slider style steering F/R Monster Pirate Aluminum Shocks HPI deep dish chrome wheels/stock tires stock wheels/Proline Paddles/ribbed tires MtRoniks Sport RV 15 ESC Orion 15x2 bb motor, 10 degrees timing Custom front/Rear shock mount |
| Some mid-project pics i took as i was testing various parts and trying to determine what to do about different problems. This is right after i got the paddles in, and when i was still using the 16t duratrax esc. You can aslo see the ridicuilous factory front suspesnion and steering. |
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