You need too stop gripping the steering wheel with your thumbs or you will break them! And run lower pressure in the tires, sort out the shocks and it should be good 👍
If u forget to air down just stop and do it on the trail don’t beat your self to death even if u guess at tire pressure it’s better than getting beat up on rocks
Bead locks, bigger tires 33 35 37 and 5 psi. Lockers back and selectable fronts you'll go anywhere you point it. Beautiful build, you have a great imagination as a high level craftsman much respect!!
Chris , it is so great that you can get out and enjoy your engineering. You are a gifted young man and an inspiration to those that follow your channel.
Good work Chris, this machine seems to be working extremely well and you've already pointed to a few things to tune on it. Lower tire pressures will probably be your biggest gain for traction.
For all the grief the suspension and drive this is giving you now, one thing has to be said. You did a great job with this project. This wasn't done by a team of professionals with years behind their back in building crawlers, this was done by you and your hard work. That's an accomplishment few can boast. Good job!
you really need to run less air pressure in the tires. should be 5-10psi. will give a MUCH smoother ride. also, could use a tighter steering angle and a rear sway bar that actually flexes a bit would help its ride tremendously. maybe move the rear upper shock mounts up so you can keep the same ride height but have some travel?
Chris, you sounded like you were having way too much fun out there. Glad you were able to get some more testing done with this beast so you know what you need to improve on.
Only comment I would make is to keep your thumbs out of the inside of the steering wheel. If you hit a snag and wheels spin left or fight you stand a good chance of breaking them their thumbs
Great job bro..this is Your creation.. you should be proud. I've been watching you since you started this channel.out of welding college. Love every video. Your my favorite youtube creator. Ty for the years of great enjoyment..❤
I've got a feeling remounting the upper shock eyelets higher would help your suspension tune a lot. Most air shocks aren't meant to be run at 80% travel at ride height, usually 50% is good. You'll need to run more nitrogen, but the suspension is effectively softer the higher in the travel you are because it ramps up in stiffness the deeper you go. Also airing down is key 👌
I was gonna say, the suspension looks waaaay too stiff in the rear. Obviously he knows that, but i think your right. The only thing that's truly gonna make the shocks handle the way they should is by raising the travel. It looks like he's riding at 80 to 90% compression with maybe 200mm of travel. He might have to do a pretty big revamp on his suspension geometry to make it stable and feel soft. It already wants to lean to one side pretty bad sometimes
Air shocks alone are not the best solution to an off-road build like his. He really needs coilovers or different valving on the air shocks. Those thing are designed for much heavier vehicles. Even with the changes he made I don’t think it’s enough.
amazing that you built every bit of that machine and it does as well as it does on the Second real hard ride. and you drove it back. its incredible man. ps you need more T-shirt designs
With larger soft wheel to absorb the bumps you will gain a massive amount of grip. Soft wheels grips way better on rock edges. The Polaris have way better suspenison but you can reduce that perf gap with larger aired down tires so you dont loos all your grip to wheel bounce. I think if you use the right foot carefully the driveshaft would handle it. The way you drive puts more torque on the axles than a few inches of bigger wheel wich would give a huge performance increase.
Air your tires down. A lot of your traction and a bit of suspension softening can coke just from not having rock hard tires. For what that machines weighs you probably have twice as much air as you need.
Is it capable to hang with the bigger boys? Yes. Is it capable to hang easier? Defo yes! Bigger tires OR air these down to proper crawler specs, sort that unlocked hub out and dail down the rear suspension. Do all of that BEFORE you go on a track again, as in rather doing it today that tomorrow and it gets its full capacity. Keep it up mate, you are doing great!
When you are able to impress experienced offroad drivers you did a good job. And with he tuneups and that fourth wheel fully functioning it will only get better. 👍
Great build! The test went well. You may want to rev a little more, because motorcycles make power at the upper end. Keep doing what you do, and loving it!
Great job! A little tuning and you'll be even better. Glad to see and hear the engine running great. The driveline, other than the right-front, appears to be spot on, and plenty capable. The tire size and tread may not be the best for wet rock crawling, but you got it done! Always a tradeoff. My butt was sore just watching you bounce around and giggling the whole time 😆😆
OK, that reminded me a lot about hunting, the best part you find out is staying home and thinking about it LOL. You found some weak areas, the whole point of the trip and your build did fantastic.
General rule of thumb for those shocks is have 1/3rd the travel length showing at ride height. So if you have 12" shocks. You want roughly 4" of shock showing. That will improve your ride a load. There are a bunch of small things you can do to help that rig. 37" tires and like 8 PSI in them would be nice. Also unless you are gonna hit hills like a rock bouncer then gearing it lower would get you up more things.
Chris mate you are a absolutely amazing awesome lad what you create on your own is unreal that rock crawler is sick af.Ive been watching you for a good few years now and you never fail to impress me keep it dude truly amazing
Airbag seat or gas struts as used on Rigid Inflatable Boats seats to preserve your spine, in saying that once the suspension is correctly set up it becomes less of an issue when you stop hitting the bump stops
I still think you need to find some cheap axles off an XJ. Dana 30 front, Chrysler 8.25 rear end. They're small, light, and narrow enough to be perfect for that. They'll fit bigger tires, can get lockers for them, and they'll definitely be plenty strong enough for that 👍
I think if you got the 4x4 working and maybe ran a bigger sticky tire like maxxis rockzilla’s and got the rear shocks dialed in this unit would do awesome
Looks like it did really well! Even only having 3 drive wheels and it got through anyway. I bet it gets way better with the hub fixed and some pressure in the rear shocks. A roof and some side panels and you wouldn't have even gotten wet on that run. I know it's just a test run.. anyways, awesome machine bro! 👍
I have two PRO Rs and ill never take them for granted after watching you follow the pro r and turbo r lmao but i still like the car you built it looks cool but needs bigger tires if possible. It reminds me of a mini rock bouncer.
You can adjust the suspension, by raising it 5" more than the lowes frame point from the ground. Putting the same weight on the sit as yours and droping it.
Slightly lower tire pressure Slightly higher suspension pressure and that front right locker working correctly would make that thing almost unstoppable super cool build ...
Chris I don't think it would hurt anything if you put air into the shocks at least temporarily. Then you could carry a small compressor and adjust shocks and tire pressure on the fly
Man that things sick. I’d say it deserves some bigger tires though would be much smoother of a ride. Maybe some 31’s or 33’s? I forgot if you’ve mentioned that being/not being an option?
As of all the work you did your Great work paid off for your first run and you pretty much kept up with the Big Boys you know what I mean !! Now here’s a thought what do you think about putting Clear plastic for a windshield and maybe on top to cut down some of the rain ??? You had some good videos this time with the help of your friends . You need to get you frame painted or your going to have a Brown Rock Climber 😂
Next build one using a vw TDI engine...a guy i raced many years ago built a buggy with a TDI....thing was awesome...he was the only one to never have to make a stop to fuel up
Seems like most of your articulation is coming from the front axle. your suspension could be a little better balanced in sharing the load in that regard. That is where some of the rough ride is coming from because it s almost like its solid in the back when one tire goes over a rock it pitches the whole chassis over .also if you have any bump steer it will be more prevalent because the front axle is doing most of the work. nothing you cant fine tune. And man that thing sounds awesome when your rowing thru the gears
Let's be real. The mini rock crawler is waaaay cooler than any sbs. However I think you should add some netting to keep your arms in the crawler in case if a rollover.
Just out of curiosity, why didn't you just go full independent suspension? Was it just easier this way? or was this a active choice? Also good video, looked like a good ride, very impressive build man.
You've built a pretty cool buggy but I honestly believe you should build something more inline with the way the Razors are built. And you definitely want bigger wheels and tires for rock crawling
A few casual observations: The rear's a bit too stiff, when compared to the front. I'd bring back the front just a hair, not much more, and loosen the rear a wee bit. You defo don't want it to be loose, that'd get it to rock too much. Travel needs to get a little more look at, something ain't right in the back and the front, maybe straps... maybe. The tires should be a bit wider, i feel. Not by much. Since this isn't a street vehicle, i'd cut the rims in half and extend them with a band for the next size wide tire (of course, if you find the right rims, even better. I might confuse it with another build, but i think you said you couldn't find wider rims for this??. Might be confusing the builds. You defo need some kind of roof plastic. I'd recommend you get a sheet of plant house acrylic (thin, UV resistant, easy to bend) and use a heatgun to bend it right on top of the roof. If you have some junk plywood, try to plug up the holes between the pipes to make it easier to bend the plastic. To make them easily removable after, you could use silicone glue to keep them in place.
Maybe u should add guards for shocks ? U know those guards for mut and dirt for dirtbikes something like that, so seals last very long ? :) Also cars have those
With the obvious caveat that there had just been a heavy rainfall which would have resulted in quite a lot of runoff pouring down the hills, it almost looked as though that trail had been intentionally designed to channel the flow of the local creeks right down the trail in several places.
You need atleast a 30 inch tire. If you cover shipping I have a really nice set of tires with only a couple rides on them I’ll send you. They are maxxis sxs tires for a 15” rim and I believe 30/10/15 or close
I decided to split this into two videos. This is day one I’ll upload day two later today
giving me anxiety watching you wrap your thumbs around that small steering wheel
You need too stop gripping the steering wheel with your thumbs or you will break them! And run lower pressure in the tires, sort out the shocks and it should be good 👍
@@metaldog7128 Steering stabilizer shock is highly recommended. 😉
If u forget to air down just stop and do it on the trail don’t beat your self to death even if u guess at tire pressure it’s better than getting beat up on rocks
@@Grim0954 they help but the tire hitting off a rock can still spin the steering wheel fast enough to smash your thumbs up real good 👍
Bead locks, bigger tires 33 35 37 and 5 psi. Lockers back and selectable fronts you'll go anywhere you point it. Beautiful build, you have a great imagination as a high level craftsman much respect!!
Definitely agree on the tire pressure. I didn't see much flex at all on the sidewalls which means he's missing out on a bunch of traction.
100% agreed
i too agree
Chris , it is so great that you can get out and enjoy your engineering. You are a gifted young man and an inspiration to those that follow your channel.
Whole heartedly agreed.
The best part of your "riding videos" is how you uncontrollably laugh like a little kid. I love it. Great job man.
He's probably really gonna giggle the first time he gets laid.
It looks like an RC go-cart next to the 4 seat polaris but it sounds badass and looks awesome crawling up the rocks, great job building that thing.
dude this vehicle is way cooler than it looked in the shop
great fucking job
Hey, no broken chains or banana shaped jack shafts! Good job!
Good work Chris, this machine seems to be working extremely well and you've already pointed to a few things to tune on it. Lower tire pressures will probably be your biggest gain for traction.
for that it was built in a shed its amazing and i would take yours over a polaris any day. i love your projects and they work awesome
For all the grief the suspension and drive this is giving you now, one thing has to be said. You did a great job with this project. This wasn't done by a team of professionals with years behind their back in building crawlers, this was done by you and your hard work. That's an accomplishment few can boast. Good job!
I think it could use some bigger tires or the same tires they are using on the sxs
You should be mega proud buddy, you have made one heck of a machine that's definitely as capable as the polaris, much respect from Scotland 🏴
Love when it crawls through the water!
you really need to run less air pressure in the tires. should be 5-10psi. will give a MUCH smoother ride. also, could use a tighter steering angle and a rear sway bar that actually flexes a bit would help its ride tremendously. maybe move the rear upper shock mounts up so you can keep the same ride height but have some travel?
Chris, you sounded like you were having way too much fun out there. Glad you were able to get some more testing done with this beast so you know what you need to improve on.
Only comment I would make is to keep your thumbs out of the inside of the steering wheel.
If you hit a snag and wheels spin left or fight you stand a good chance of breaking them their thumbs
Great job bro..this is Your creation.. you should be proud. I've been watching you since you started this channel.out of welding college. Love every video. Your my favorite youtube creator. Ty for the years of great enjoyment..❤
I've got a feeling remounting the upper shock eyelets higher would help your suspension tune a lot. Most air shocks aren't meant to be run at 80% travel at ride height, usually 50% is good. You'll need to run more nitrogen, but the suspension is effectively softer the higher in the travel you are because it ramps up in stiffness the deeper you go. Also airing down is key 👌
Reading your comment as I'm yelling AIR DOWN at the screen
I was gonna say, the suspension looks waaaay too stiff in the rear. Obviously he knows that, but i think your right. The only thing that's truly gonna make the shocks handle the way they should is by raising the travel. It looks like he's riding at 80 to 90% compression with maybe 200mm of travel. He might have to do a pretty big revamp on his suspension geometry to make it stable and feel soft. It already wants to lean to one side pretty bad sometimes
Limiting straps will be his friend on this build I think
Air shocks alone are not the best solution to an off-road build like his. He really needs coilovers or different valving on the air shocks. Those thing are designed for much heavier vehicles. Even with the changes he made I don’t think it’s enough.
Very cool first shakedown. That thing is really capable! A little fine tuning here n there and you're golden. Very impressive.
You build the coolest rigs on youtube. That's all that needs to be said.
12 forward gears 6 reverse gears . You did good Chris
amazing that you built every bit of that machine and it does as well as it does on the Second real hard ride. and you drove it back. its incredible man. ps you need more T-shirt designs
That machine of yours is brilliant and handles that trail well. Great work.
With larger soft wheel to absorb the bumps you will gain a massive amount of grip. Soft wheels grips way better on rock edges. The Polaris have way better suspenison but you can reduce that perf gap with larger aired down tires so you dont loos all your grip to wheel bounce. I think if you use the right foot carefully the driveshaft would handle it. The way you drive puts more torque on the axles than a few inches of bigger wheel wich would give a huge performance increase.
Built not bought! Love it! Well done.
Air your tires down. A lot of your traction and a bit of suspension softening can coke just from not having rock hard tires. For what that machines weighs you probably have twice as much air as you need.
Is it capable to hang with the bigger boys? Yes. Is it capable to hang easier? Defo yes! Bigger tires OR air these down to proper crawler specs, sort that unlocked hub out and dail down the rear suspension. Do all of that BEFORE you go on a track again, as in rather doing it today that tomorrow and it gets its full capacity. Keep it up mate, you are doing great!
When you are able to impress experienced offroad drivers you did a good job. And with he tuneups and that fourth wheel fully functioning it will only get better. 👍
Great build! The test went well. You may want to rev a little more, because motorcycles make power at the upper end. Keep doing what you do, and loving it!
Articulation in the suspension is awesome. It really works well. Like you said just need to fine-tune it. It should be a beast. Good job.
Great job! A little tuning and you'll be even better. Glad to see and hear the engine running great. The driveline, other than the right-front, appears to be spot on, and plenty capable. The tire size and tread may not be the best for wet rock crawling, but you got it done! Always a tradeoff. My butt was sore just watching you bounce around and giggling the whole time 😆😆
Wayyyyy to much pressure in those tyres. Great video as always 👍
OK, that reminded me a lot about hunting, the best part you find out is staying home and thinking about it LOL. You found some weak areas, the whole point of the trip and your build did fantastic.
Nice work Chris the crawler done a great job on those trails looking forward to part 2 after you sort out those couple of issues 👍👍
damned impressive machine for home built... you have nothing to be ashamed of... you should be proud
General rule of thumb for those shocks is have 1/3rd the travel length showing at ride height. So if you have 12" shocks. You want roughly 4" of shock showing. That will improve your ride a load. There are a bunch of small things you can do to help that rig. 37" tires and like 8 PSI in them would be nice. Also unless you are gonna hit hills like a rock bouncer then gearing it lower would get you up more things.
Chris mate you are a absolutely amazing awesome lad what you create on your own is unreal that rock crawler is sick af.Ive been watching you for a good few years now and you never fail to impress me keep it dude truly amazing
It’s hard to comprehend how good those rzrs are. The r&d is insane
Wondering if a air bag ride under the seat would do you right. Great job guy. Kinda like a Ridgid motorcycle. 👍👍✌️🍺🍺
That's what I was thinking too.
Airbag seat or gas struts as used on Rigid Inflatable Boats seats to preserve your spine, in saying that once the suspension is correctly set up it becomes less of an issue when you stop hitting the bump stops
What a machine! I'm really impressed and that looked so much fun
Capable but doesn’t look fun to control. I think you could fix that though. Can’t wait to see the trophy truck in action
I still think you need to find some cheap axles off an XJ. Dana 30 front, Chrysler 8.25 rear end. They're small, light, and narrow enough to be perfect for that. They'll fit bigger tires, can get lockers for them, and they'll definitely be plenty strong enough for that 👍
You should think of start putting cabin panels on some of these projects
I think if you got the 4x4 working and maybe ran a bigger sticky tire like maxxis rockzilla’s and got the rear shocks dialed in this unit would do awesome
Looks like it did really well! Even only having 3 drive wheels and it got through anyway. I bet it gets way better with the hub fixed and some pressure in the rear shocks. A roof and some side panels and you wouldn't have even gotten wet on that run. I know it's just a test run.. anyways, awesome machine bro! 👍
Pretty awesome, man.. I'd up the tire size when you fix the 4x4 problem. It would help with the jolts.
Man this thing did well it’s good to see it getting some use keen for part two
This was awesome. Makes me want another grave digger trail episode
I have two PRO Rs and ill never take them for granted after watching you follow the pro r and turbo r lmao but i still like the car you built it looks cool but needs bigger tires if possible. It reminds me of a mini rock bouncer.
tips, keep thumbs outside the steering wheel the spokes can take them clean of.
Can't go rock crawling without a little rain
Looks like it's workin awesome bud!! I'm so happy for your success 🙌 😊
You can adjust the suspension, by raising it 5" more than the lowes frame point from the ground. Putting the same weight on the sit as yours and droping it.
Have you thought about using solid jeep axles? Might be a bit more reliable with larger tires than the welded cv's
Great video! Almost seemed like we were there. 👍👍
it amazing what it has done you did an amazing job building it
Congrats! I wonder if you go up tire size a little bit... you would have more clearance then the Polaris'. Also incredible it pulls through the river.
Great job man home made toy make it more excited 🔥💪💯
It was necessary to lower the air in the wheels a little for a better hook.
Heck of a shake down cruise. It is doing great.
Slightly lower tire pressure Slightly higher suspension pressure and that front right locker working correctly would make that thing almost unstoppable super cool build ...
Chris I don't think it would hurt anything if you put air into the shocks at least temporarily. Then you could carry a small compressor and adjust shocks and tire pressure on the fly
Samurai axles coming soon
Apart from the low nitrogen, rock hard tyres an lots of rain, it seemed like a lot of fun. Awesome experience, learn, improve and do it again.
Yes it was!
Would larger tires help with rocks?
unbelievable build...mine blown!
You need to let some air out of the tires. You made that mistake every other time too
when's the trophy truck coming back also great video
Man that things sick. I’d say it deserves some bigger tires though would be much smoother of a ride. Maybe some 31’s or 33’s? I forgot if you’ve mentioned that being/not being an option?
Not bad for a first revised build.
As of all the work you did your Great work paid off for your first run and you pretty much kept up with the Big Boys you know what I mean !! Now here’s a thought what do you think about putting Clear plastic for a windshield and maybe on top to cut down some of the rain ??? You had some good videos this time with the help of your friends . You need to get you frame painted or your going to have a Brown Rock Climber 😂
Pretty dang impressive, Nice build 👌🏻
BEAST! Be proud of yourself! 👍💪
Might as well turn the idle up higher when rock crawling. Less stalls that way and you have low gearing too so it won't negatively affect anything.
A fan for your imagination and skill
awesome machine man! cheaper than a Razor as well.
Next build one using a vw TDI engine...a guy i raced many years ago built a buggy with a TDI....thing was awesome...he was the only one to never have to make a stop to fuel up
Considering the sound of the rpms while your driving and your speed it seems like you could go up in tire size
I see so many people not air down wich is so important especially for rocks
That sure does look like fun.
Look like sweet spot
Lower the tire pressure, your riding on solid tires!
I suggest putting on bigger tires. It seemed to struggle with those little ones
Bigger tyres/wheels??
Seems like most of your articulation is coming from the front axle. your suspension could be a little better balanced in sharing the load in that regard. That is where some of the rough ride is coming from because it s almost like its solid in the back when one tire goes over a rock it pitches the whole chassis over .also if you have any bump steer it will be more prevalent because the front axle is doing most of the work. nothing you cant fine tune. And man that thing sounds awesome when your rowing thru the gears
Let's be real. The mini rock crawler is waaaay cooler than any sbs. However I think you should add some netting to keep your arms in the crawler in case if a rollover.
Just out of curiosity, why didn't you just go full independent suspension? Was it just easier this way? or was this a active choice? Also good video, looked like a good ride, very impressive build man.
Almost seems like it would have been smoother to use shocks off a razor or similar. I haven't got a clue on price comparison though.
You've built a pretty cool buggy but I honestly believe you should build something more inline with the way the Razors are built. And you definitely want bigger wheels and tires for rock crawling
Great video man 💯 👍 you need some 30 or 32in roxxzillas for sure
you should put some 33 inch tires with bead locks so u can run them low for more grip and smother a ride
A few casual observations:
The rear's a bit too stiff, when compared to the front. I'd bring back the front just a hair, not much more, and loosen the rear a wee bit. You defo don't want it to be loose, that'd get it to rock too much.
Travel needs to get a little more look at, something ain't right in the back and the front, maybe straps... maybe.
The tires should be a bit wider, i feel. Not by much. Since this isn't a street vehicle, i'd cut the rims in half and extend them with a band for the next size wide tire (of course, if you find the right rims, even better. I might confuse it with another build, but i think you said you couldn't find wider rims for this??. Might be confusing the builds.
You defo need some kind of roof plastic. I'd recommend you get a sheet of plant house acrylic (thin, UV resistant, easy to bend) and use a heatgun to bend it right on top of the roof. If you have some junk plywood, try to plug up the holes between the pipes to make it easier to bend the plastic. To make them easily removable after, you could use silicone glue to keep them in place.
Maybe u should add guards for shocks ? U know those guards for mut and dirt for dirtbikes something like that, so seals last very long ? :) Also cars have those
This crawler is awesome, Chris. One thing, though, is there any way to get a sharper turn radius?
You need to fix that turning radius for the black trails.
You should Fab up some kind of removable sheet metal roof
I feel like a bigger tire with a more meaty tread would be allot better. And less air
With the obvious caveat that there had just been a heavy rainfall which would have resulted in quite a lot of runoff pouring down the hills, it almost looked as though that trail had been intentionally designed to channel the flow of the local creeks right down the trail in several places.
You need atleast a 30 inch tire. If you cover shipping I have a really nice set of tires with only a couple rides on them
I’ll send you. They are maxxis sxs tires for a 15” rim and I believe 30/10/15 or close
Your bound to figuring out the suspension sooner or later