BigSquidRC.com

R/C Car Action decided to make a special edition issue dedicated to r/c rock crawling. This was a feeble attempt that cost $7.99 plus tax. WOW!!! Seems like a lot for a thin "Special Issue". Logically you would assume there would be rigs from some of the best crawlers across the country. Sadly no. It was a mere ad for any manufactured to give all their crap to Matt Higgins (Executive Editor). Instead, editors were ask to make rigs for the magazine.

When it came to the scaler rigs I was furious to find out that not one rig had a winch, frame mounted steering, and an interior. This is my motivation for my rig. I am doing this build here because of the brown nosing editors and manufactures control RCC. If you don't believe me then make a post on RCC about DNA's dig that is negative and you will be booted.

Please feel free to disagree with me and write your comments.

I am building on the cheap so most of my stuff was purchased through eBay or RCC.

My truck is aimed right at Matt Higgins. So I am going to use an X-Trail frame.

I pick this roller up used. Some extras it came with are the 35T Drifting Motor, alum skid plate, Axial Racing Plastic Rear Axle Lock-Out, and RPM rims.

Some down falls of picking this roller on RCC was the fact that there was a mix match of metric and standard hardware. All the nylock nuts were gone and replaced with very cheap nuts. The truck was not in good shape, luckly have have plenty of spare AX10 parts laying around. These are all things most people would not be able to see in pictures so buyers beware.

I picked up a super cheap Traxxas 2075 servo on eBay and XL-5 esc. Due to the influx of Slashes these parts can be found relatively cheap. I know this servo only has 125 oz of torque so I might be upgrading soon. In this picture I have mounted the servo onto the frame. Using the Axial servo plates as templates make this a easy job.


the placement isn't final yet until I get the shocks I am going to use.

In order to have an interior with an Axial tranny there needs to be heavy modifications or I can mount it up where an engine should be.

I mirrored the transmission so that the motor is on the passenger side and I can notch the skid plate around the steering servo.

For transfer cases I am going to purchase and try out the Eritex unit. http://eritexinc.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_8&products_id=20&zenid=qh28iplb7hed9oegrcmqqd1id3

This will be pretty crazy if this works. As for the center skid plate I ordered up one of the last batch of CDW's skid plates. I'll post pictures when it comes in.

What's next?
1. Need to figure out a body(Reasonably Price/ Donate some old body)
2. Once a body then wheelbase
3. Win a Hitec 645 on ebay for a winch
4. Cheap brake line (roll cage baby)
5. Styrene
6. RC4WD 90mm shocks( the dual spring blue ones)

I received some goodies in the mail today. The Crawler Design Works skid plate, Axial straight axle, and the X-Trail hardware kit.

This skid plate is nice and will soon be no longer available. So if you you ever condsider a CDW skid plate go for it


One of the problems with the X-trail is the fact that the lower links hit the frame. But this skid plate moves them in.


Here is the rear end. When I opened it up I found it had sand in it. Seems like the previous owner never cleaned anything. Once again another danger of purchasing used.


Looks like I should consider a dinky link for a more realistic look.

Hey there,

First off.. thanks for the posts! Great job on the vehicle build up and information! Please keep it coming!

I also got that issue, and yea.. you pretty much nailed it. I know we get a lot of crawler fans that read the page, if only I could get them to post....

The only thing missing from that build are the Big Squid RC stickers!

Thanks again man!

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Brian(at)BigSquidRC.com
http://www.BigSquidRC.com

thank you

ops I forgot the sticker. future pics will have them

I'm sorry that you didn't like the rock crawling special mag. I think the scale rigs that were done were really cool, and something that the average joe could build and put together. As such, there is always more dedicated guys like yourself that want more detail and scale realism, and I can tell you that we are working on some cool articles that you will enjoy.

Its be a while since i posted pics of the truck. Well, some things have changed. The project was originally going to be a 2.2 Jeep. But some manufactures step into the scale market. I have changed the plan but still stayed a true scaler. Lets see some pics now.


These leafs are great. They still flex pretty good. But as you will see, I added leafs to make up for my steering

I bought rc4wd 80mm shocks with intent to mount them in the upper holes. But found out that the steering hits the frame. So I had to move the servo onto the axle and move the shocks down to the lower hole. Now, only the drag link hits the frame.

These are axial 1.9 beadlocks and they are cheap. I threw some proline flat irons on there. These tires are huge for 1.9. Its like having comp worthy 2.2

I had to mount the battery up front because the truck will do wheelies. That is a 9.6V 8 Cell 4000mAH battery from cheapbatterypacks.com This truck is quick.


I am now rolling with a proline scale body. these bodies are awesome!

Next up is paint. Which will be tough because my gf drives this truck now. I don't have room any more for my servo winch. But i saw that stage3racing is making a bigger winch. So I will go for that when it comes out. we'll see what happens with this truck. Later

TCS makes awesome stuff. My next rig will also be X-Trail based.

...and RCCA is always fail. Xtreme RC is much better ^_^

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