Home Made E-Maxx Chassis

[Philderbeast]

I was thinking about building my very own chassis for my e-maxx and I was going to make into a 4 servo steering ( 2 front 2 rear). I know I will need to leanthen the chassis a bit, but I am unsure if my idea will work. I was thinking of running all 4 servos off of the same channel. I thought I would use 3 of the revo splices and connect 1 to the receiver, and 1 to each end of that. do you think this will work?, and do you have any pointers on how to go about this. I already have a sheet of aluminum around 3/16ths thick, I know it will be heavy, but I do not really care about the weight as my truck will not be doing much jumping.

[Navtrtl]

One option would be to get the receiver from the new E-Maxx. It has two steering servo spots in it. You would then only need two splitter. This would help to simplify the set up. Have both fronts on one and both rears on the other. It wouldn't hurt to use the new E-Maxx receiver box either since it is water resistant.

As for the rear steering with two servos, I would think you could do it if you reversed the axle carriers on the rear so that the turnbuckles are on the front of them instead of behind, then all you would need would be to trace your stock chassis onto a piece of aluminum covered in masking tape and make both sides the same. The only issue is that you will want to keep it the same length so that the chassis braces will reach from bulkhead to bulkhead. If you do end up needing to make it longer, try to copy the length of one of the extended E-Maxx chassis' or a big block T-Maxx chassis so that you could incorporate the chassis braces from that chassis.

I had rear wheel steering on my old E-Maxx a couple of years ago and didn't find it to be very useful. I mounted the servo between the bulk head halves right where the bulkhead brace would be. The servo saver connected directly to the two rear turnbuckles. It worked great. I needed a servo wire extension for it though. If you use one really strong servo in the rear like I did, you don't need two. One in front, one in rear. Plus, it allows you to save your aluminum for another project. I will try to dig up a picture, but I don't know if I still have one.

[Philderbeast]

I was going to do away with the chassis braces entirely by shaping a peice of aluminum to form the front skid spate, connect it to the bottom of the chassis where the braces go, and continue on all the way to form the rear skid plate. This would allow me a little more ground clearance in the center for climbing larger obsticles. My chassis would be flat exept for were I would use some angle braces for the sides of the battery box. I need the rear steer because I am running a quad setup with my wheels and with spool diffs, it does not like to turn well. You heard the song "give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around"...Exactly!!! I like your idea on the new maxx reciever, but I am trying to keep my costs low, and I already have 12 servos, all are original for maxx trucks, and new, and I already have the aluminum, so I just need a way to incorporate them. I will be starting the chassis soon i guess, so unless I find an easier way than what I already have drawn up, wich is the double sided extended chassis, I will get her built soon and post a couple of pics. thanx for the input, I do like your idea on the water proof thing, I may have to spend some $$$$ and build her "waterproof"

[pottsgroverc]

The only problem is, if you want to do it right, the rear wheels should turn at a different rate than the front wheels. Basically when you turn the whole way to the left, the front wheels should be pointed further left than the rear wheels are pointed to the right. Watch a video of real monster trucks to see what I am talking about. This would require your front and rear steering to be digitally controlled at a separate rate. Never tried it, but if you use different length servo arms and played with the variances, you can probably make it mechanically work.

[JeLeAk]

The only problem is, if you want to do it right, the rear wheels should turn at a different rate than the front wheels. Basically when you turn the whole way to the left, the front wheels should be pointed further left than the rear wheels are pointed to the right. Watch a video of real monster trucks to see what I am talking about. This would require your front and rear steering to be digitally controlled at a separate rate.

no... just set up the rear servos with less throw... its not that complicated :rolleyes:

personally i dont see why you want the rear tires to turn less than the fronts

[OldSchoolRC]

rear steer can make a vehicle very unstable at speed. it's great for crawling and slow speed manuverability, but at anything above a crawl, it's tricky to do right. Full size monster trucks have rear steer, but only slow speeds just for that reason. Same with the Chevy/GMC trucks that had the 4ws option - the rear tires only turned a max of 10 or so degrees, and only below 10 mph.

To demonstrate, run your car/truck ful forwards and crank the wheel back and forth...then try doing it in reverse - you'll find it's much harder to control especially the faster you go.

in a perfect set up - epsecially for a maxx that is capable of high speed, you'd have full time 4ws only at a certain speed (maybe just first gear), and be able to lock it out as you go faster for more stability

just adding my $.02!

[Philderbeast]

Well for the most part my maxx only runns around 10 mph topps in 2nd gear. I can re gear it for higher speeds, but that is what my revo and rusty are for right. I want the 4ws setup for one reason only....turning radius. Like I said b-4, 8 tires and posi front and rear make for some slow turning, even at say 25-30 mph. When geared for high speeds, I can after about 20 mph, crank over the steering , gun it, and make it slide around for a tighter turn, but ONLY in very loose dirt.

[JeLeAk]

with 8 tires, i dont think rolling over is going to be a problem for you, unless you have mondo power like a high power brushless system, and it seems like you use the e-maxx for mudding and crawling type purpose and not high speeds so i see no probs with 4WS for you

only thing i would suggest is to use 2 servos instead of 4, 2 is going to really cut down on cost and difficulty

so for chassis recommendations from me, i say keep the single servo up front, and use one in the rear, try to basically mirror the front of the chassis to the rear, and for connecting the servos they make reversing Y harnesses for about the same price as a regular Y harness

[OldSchoolRC]

lol - okay, okay i didn't know the gearing. 10 mph and dual wheels with diff lock....i'd say 4ws is a good call here! :)

there's a kit out there that's not super expensive that bolts onto the back of the maxx somewhere and uses the rear links as steering links and is a bolt on affair - i forget who makes it offhand. Not a bad idea since the links are back there anyway. it is more fun to custom make things though....

[Philderbeast]

I totally agree oldschool. I will be custom building everything I can on it, just so I can look at her and say....Damn I'm good. lol

I built front, center, and rear skid plates out of a fan blade I got from work. It was one of those 48 inch shop fans, and one of the blades broke from a jolt when it was on full blast. So, with the bosses permishion, I got to work on skids. They did not last long though, seems 30 mph, 15-20 pounds, and a huge rock to ramp off of are hard on thin aluminum. I will see if I still have them and take some pics, the front one is tore up.