The Frankenbuggy

[Frankentruck]

With a whole bunch of parts laying around waiting to be used, it seems like its time to start a buggy project. The community build got me interested again in a trailing arm setup. I have a spare B3/T3 transmission that might be just right. I''d like to mid mount the motor, but rear arm mounts are really close to the endbell. If I can make mid mounting work, it wouldn't take too much extra effort to make it swappable between mid and rear motor. I have to pick up some flanged rear bearings though before I can make any significant progress with the rear layout.
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[Frankentruck]

I'm running into an issue not having enough space for the motor next to the right side trailing arm. I want to be able to run either 540 brushed or brushless motors. Space is tight for the mid mounted brushed motor, and insufficient for the brushless motors with their closed endbells. My options appear to be:

1. Mount the trailing arms 1/4" further outboard for a 1/2" wider rear track. I've already determined that they are a 20 deg out and 5 deg up mounting position, so it just a matter of picking the position.
2. Consider using a B6.x laydown transmission that pushes the motor further forward.

For #1, it would still likely be no wider than a B4 rear track, so it's within reason.

For #2, I don't know if the outdrives of a modern transmission differential would be compatible with the oldschool dogbones, or if they could be slighlty reworked to fit the older dogbones. I really would rather stay with my oldie T2 transmission, but I also want to do the mid motor setup with this chassis.

[juicedcoupe]

Although expensive (very), Holmes Hobbies does have stubby motors. They have brushed and brushless.

Probably not the option that you're looking for, but an option nonetheless.

[juicedcoupe]

Or...... If you or someone you know are handy with metal, you might could build a different motor plate.

Something similar to the E-GT plates. Using a larger spur and pinion, allowing you to move the motor forward.

[Frankentruck]

I've thought about reclocking the motor plate with the motor slightly raised for clearance, but I want to keep the mass low on the chassis. I also considered a GT trans but if I get a different transmission I think the laydown gives me the best chance of success. I just don't know how well the old dogbones would fit. Probably ok...?

[juicedcoupe]

That input shaft looks much longer than a typical V1 shaft. Or is that a slipper elimitor?

Could it be re-pinned to move the slipper assembly out? Then the motor plate could be moved to match.

[Frankentruck]

It is an extra long shaft. I don't know what it's from, but it came with some Losi parts. It was just a place holder with a slipper eliminator, but I have what I need to put a working slipper on it. I hadn't thought about taking advantage of the extra length and offsetting the motor plate. That's worth experimenting with.

[Frankentruck]

Spacing the motor plate out to better center the motor looks like it's going to work out well, plus the motor will be centered. There might be a little more tweaking but it's working out well enough that I'll go ahead with mounting this T2 gearbox to the chassis so I can start on the rear shock tower setup.

I should be able to make a slipper setup work, but otherwise I have an eliminator I can use.
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[Frankentruck]

Instead of drilling the top shaft for a new pin location I made an extension for the inner slipper hub. Using the parts I had available, the T2 transmission ended up with a B2/B3/T3 inner hub mated to B4/T4 spur gear, slipper pads, and outer slipper hub, with a Traxxas spring on what might be a Losi top shaft. The top shaft came with this T2 transmission and some parts of a Losi slipper setup. The inner hub had to be trimmed to the same diameter as the outer hub to work with the B4 spur gear and pads.
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[matt1ptkn]

Very cool idea and nicely done. Plus, I mostly like anything with Novak power.

[Frankentruck]

A little more progress. The chassis has had a pocket and mount holes added that let the gearbox be in either rear or mid motor. I also reduced the drive spacer height so the spur tucks in closer like it should.

It works well with some dogbones that came with a parts lot a while back. I'm hoping they are a length that matches up with a set of Custom Works CVDs.

A rear gearbox mount and shock tower support is next.
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[Frankentruck]

The rear is pretty much done. Just needs some 90 degree adapters added to the shock tower so the shocks can pivot at the top without binding. One quirky feature of this transmission arrangement, the left trailing arm mount obstructs access to the lower motor mount screw. Not a big deal and I might be able to do some tweaking to improve it. Not a priority though.
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[GoMachV]

Where are your shock mount adapters? Or did the new angle of the shocks mess up their usage?

[Frankentruck]

I have the adapters that came with the kit. I might use them, or I might experiment with making some. I also think I might have something from my recent bulk purchase of NOS parts.

[Frankentruck]

For the front suspension, I planned to use a B4 bulkhead but because I slightly misdrilled one hole position in my nose plate I ended up with a 3D printed version to match my hole pattern. I've always been interested in the laydown front suspension in the Boomerang and Top Cat. Because of the space requirements for the Top Cat setup, I'm thinking I'll start by trying something more Boomerang-ish. I'm using B3 arms and B4 caster blocks right now. If I end up needing to narrow the front, I would likely print a set of custom front arms.
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