Big Rock Shank's "Fat Dog" BRCC roller coaster **PIC HEAVY**

[ShankAaron]

Hey yall. Someone told me this was what all the cool kids are doing with these build posts, and since I'm the creator of cool....yeah. you get it.

Let me help my fellow members of the "Absolutely ZERO Attention Span/Patience" Club with the TLDR

Added
HR 12mm hex hubs- (Removed)
Arrma 4S 57T Metal Spur Gear (ARA310945)
HR Big Bore Shocks- (Removed)
Pro-Line Racing Powerstroke Shocks (PRO635900/PRO635901)
Duratrax Sidearm MT- got a crazy deal on them. and although I haven't run them yet, I have concerns about rubbing with this width tire- (Removed)
Pro-Line body mounts (PRO637500) because I HATE body clips
Arrma Centerline chassis brace
Pro-Line Trencher 2.8 MTD (PRO117010)
RPM A Arms F/R (80762/80842) for the winter
RCAWD 12mm hex +10mm hub extensions
GLOBACT Aluminum bellcrank and steering link kit
Metal shock towers- for the extra shock adjustments (enroute RC Madlabz)
And definitely a Wing, because my 7 year old said "Chicks dig it, dad"
M2C Chassis Brace
RCAWD Alloy Bell Crank and drag link
25k servo
Kimbrough 124 servo saver
RCAWD Alloy A Arms
Dual heat sink clamp fan mount
1 Rocketfan, and another delivering today along with the JST-Y splitter



On Deck
Traxxas 5525 Rod Ends
Upgraded metal motor plate
LED lighting kit (Recommendations welcome)
Metal hubs in the future? (Recommendations welcome)
Full Metal Diff's (Recommendations welcome)





In case you're not familiar with my Introduce yourself post, let me briefly catch you up. So, I'm back into this after a 25 year layoff now that my boys are old enough to enjoy it as well, and our first Arrma truck (BRCC V3) got delivered last Saturday night just in time for me to do a couple of things before our first skatepark bash session with it. I didn't take pics of the shock install, but I had a set of big bore shocks for the BRCC from RCAWD and installed them. I also threw some loctite on the axle ends (thanks @razorrc for the Top 5 things to upgrade video). Other than that, nothing else was done for the first bash. Fast forward to the next day + three jumps.....

Landed in grass on all fours, but still broke the RR shock tower and A Arm. Oh well, I planned to add all kinds of parts to this rig anyway. The replacement RPM A Arms, shock tower, Proline shocks, 57T metal spur gear, and 12mm hubs got to my local Hobby Shop (ALWAYS buy local) and I installed everything last night. Here's how she went to bed.

Digging the look with the MT tires, but if I'm going to run this size tire, I will need hub extensions. Nothing drastic, probably 5mm at the most. Center brace and parts, Trenchers, body mounts, and Typhon wing will deliver to the shop tomorrow. I'm planning on installing everything over the next few days and will update then. Thanks for checking in, and if you have any recommendations, or opinions on which brand parts to look at in my upgrades list above, please feel free to comment.


Oh, and here's my tool kit because I think it's cool. One stop shop for any tool I'd need while out and about bashing. I have a similar set up for all of my golf club building tools, so it was simple to set this up having an idea of what I wanted the kit to be. If I missed anything that should be in the bag/s, chime in. Thanks.

-Shank

Main pouch

Center pouch

Outer pouch holding various spare parts, spare hardware, and all my grease and fluids.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Ey, Brosky!


Couple things I didn't notice and highly recommend for the ol' big rock...
1. Ditch that heat sink! It's not doing you any favors when it comes to cooling. Pick you up a clamp on mount such as the Powerhobby one or similar I've shown in the pic. While your at it grab up any high speed 30x30 or 35x35 aluminum fan. Mines the SurpassHobby rocket fan- freakin love it. Those 2 things will massively help in keeping your motor temps down, especially on fatter treads. You can even run double fans on that mount if you wanna. I've bashed mine hard on 1 fan in 112 degree heat in tall grass and kept it cool just fine though so 2 is overkill in my eyes on that motor w/ stockish gearing.

2. Pull the diffs and clean em out. Fill them proper with a good quality diff oil such as Team Associated (its made by Lucas oil-good stuff) and re-grease the pinion/ring gear (diff gear) with some Lucas Red n, Tacky. Shim if needed. Arrma has a habbit of only filling them a tiny bit- not enough. Good to get in there and get them turning proper.

3. Send it & report back

Look forward to seeing the trenchers on there for sure. Thats the tires I wanna throw on my rock!

 

[ShankAaron]

Ey, Brosky!


Couple things I didn't notice and highly recommend for the ol' big rock...
1. Ditch that heat sink! It's not doing you any favors when it comes to cooling. Pick you up a clamp on mount such as the Powerhobby one or similar I've shown in the pic. While your at it grab up any high speed 30x30 or 35x35 aluminum fan. Mines the SurpassHobby rocket fan- freakin love it. Those 2 things will massively help in keeping your motor temps down, especially on fatter treads. You can even run double fans on that mount if you wanna. I've bashed mine hard on 1 fan in 112 degree heat in tall grass and kept it cool just fine though so 2 is overkill in my eyes on that motor w/ stockish gearing. Awesome, thanks for taking the time to post that. I hadn't even thought of either upgrade, but theyre both on the On Deck list and ordered. Appreciate it.

2. Pull the diffs and clean em out. Fill them proper with a good quality diff oil such as Team Associated (its made by Lucas oil-good stuff) and re-grease the pinion/ring gear (diff gear) with some Lucas Red n, Tacky. Shim if needed. Arrma has a habbit of only filling them a tiny bit- not enough. Good to get in there and get them turning proper. Oh, thats happening this weekend, just waiting for the 20k CST diff fluid to deliver tomorrow.

3. Send it & report back

Look forward to seeing the trenchers on there for sure. Thats the tires I wanna throw on my rock!- Those come in today, along with a bunch of other stuff. I'll get them all mounted tonight and get pics and an update up tomorrow.

Replies above in green.

 

[ShankAaron]

A buddy of mine gave me a Typhon 6S wing to mess around with. I lined it up on the bed of the truck, but didn't do anything to mount it just to see what it could look like. What do you guys think? And keep in mind, a wing is going on this tub no matter what, just visualizing for now. Thanks for checking in.

-Shank

 

[Saladshooter]

I like it....

 

[ShankAaron]

On this episode of Take your rig to work day, I installed the center chassis brace, and the Proline Body Mounts. I wound up having to cut off the extra legs for the front to clear the front shock tower. Once I get out of this idiotic Teams meeting, I'll run the cut off areas on the belt sander and smooth them out, but I like how it turned out. I've got more goodies waiting at home, including the 2.8 Trenchers.

 

[kratonwatch]

Dang this makes me want to upgrade my big rock. Sweet build

 

[ShankAaron]

Dang this makes me want to upgrade my big rock. Sweet build

Lol, I literally just got here to post another update from today's addition when the notification for your reply hit.

 

[ShankAaron]

Because Trenchers, baby! Going to experiment with the wing, hub extensions, and a couple of other things over the weekend.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Because Trenchers, baby! Going to experiment with the wing, hub extensions, and a couple of other things over the weekend.



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I freaking love the trenchers on there man! They're a heavy tire but good lord do they look and perform good!

I think I'm for sure gonna break down and buy em for my big rock... got too...

 

[ShankAaron]

1/22/24 Update

My boys and I got the RPM A Arms F/R, +10 hub extensions, and the aluminum bell crank and steering link installed over the weekend. I haven't been able to run it, or reset my end points, but I'll get that done after I install the RC Madlabz shock tower braces.

My key takeaways from this round are:

1. The steering slop all but disappeared with the bellcrank install. We'll see if it holds up to bashing, but if I'm judging it off of the bench visuals alone: 10/10.
2. If you've been following this, you'll remember that I wanted to push the wider wheels out a little to avoid any rubbing and originally wanted to go +5mm. I found these from RCAWD made specifically for Arrma 3S models. One more time, no clue on durability, or affects on the truck, but going off the bench visuals- 10/10. REALLY like the wider look.

 

[Bustedaw11]

Man that looks sick!

The 10mm will put more stress on the wheel bearings and axle stubs for sure. Will bend axles a little easier and wear the bearings faster. How fast or easy? Idk.... probably not enough to matter. Folks do it all the time with no problems.

 

[ShankAaron]

Had to massage longer 4mm bolts to get the wing fit, but there it is. Got the shock tower braces from RC Madlabz installed and it was an instant improvement in my suspension. Now, all I have to do is get the front end toe angle to act its age and I'll be ready for the bash party going down in Jersey this Sunday.

 

[ShankAaron]

Well, it's been a while, huh Mav? Sorry for the delayed updates, but work and the Texas 6-man football team I call a family kinda got in the way of the upgrades here and there. In the past weeks, we've thrown on the M2C chassis brace, RCAWD alloy bell crank/drag link and A Arms, a 25k servo, dual fan clamps with rocketfans, and a Kimbrough 124 servo saver.

After a quick bash over the weekend at the local dirt track, me and my oldest found that we'd completely bent both toe rods and both right side camber links. I didn't have replacements on hand at the time hence the blue alloy links as a band aid. I'm only a couple of parts away from having the Fat Dog built the way I saw it in my head. Once I cross those off the list, I'll be on the hunt for a solid 4S upgrade combo so Fat Dog can keep up with the Outcast 4S V2.5 that's on deck for it's own build page. Take care, y'all.