Objective: Build a dedicated rock crawler, purely intended to go slow and climb everything.
My first rock crawler (the original Project Thunderchild) worked very nicely, and introduced me to this more sedate RC pastime. It has now been passed down to my daughter, and I’m looking to replace it with something even better; I’m thinking an MOA design could be fun! MOA stands for “motor on axle”, and means the crawler has a motor mounted directly on each axle, rather than a single motor in the middle with driveshafts connecting it to the axles. This should give the advantage of a lower centre of gravity, plus the ability to control the front and rear motors independently. The drawback is that it makes the electronics a little more complicated.
My first choice, an Axial XR10, has been ruled out due to the fact that you just can’t find them anywhere. This leaves my second choice – the Bully from RC4WD.com. Strictly speaking, this is the name of the axles, not a whole vehicle – but I’ve gone for a full chassis kit, rather than have to decide on links etc myself.
So, here’s the rundown of what hardware I’ve ordered:
- Bully MOA Crawler – RC4WD.com
- Bully 2.2 Heavy Duty Axles – RC4WD.com (should give more steering)
- Various pinions for the Bully axles (these are different to normal pinions)
- JP custom competition crawler body
- Rok Lox 2.2 tyres (the kit comes with X-Lock tyres, but I want to try a more aggressive tread as well)
- Dick Cepek DC-2 wheels (again, these are in addition to what’s in the kit, so I can quickly swap out wheels for testing – plus these lock better than the ones in the kit)
- Star-cut foams for the Rok Lox tyres (these allow for more tyre deformation, giving better grip)
And for the electronics:
- 2x Tekin FXR ESC & 45T motor combos – TT2103 (one for each axle)
- Savox SW-0231MG Waterproof High Torque STD Metal Gear Digital Servo (waterproof, digital, reasonable torque and metal gears)
- Either Futaba 4PX or Spektrum DX4S transmitter and appropriate receiver, haven’t decided yet
