Cool!!! Can't wait to see the chassis installed!!

tyres?
mashers!!:yipi::lol:

GERBE in French means JET :lol:

Mashers look like they would give good traction on a lot of surfaces and that they would last a long time but they make the truck look like farm equipment :lol: I prefer the look of Moabs or something similar.

Kershaw Design Chassis
 

The Kershaw Design Chassis came in this morning so I had the pleasure of opening the box and inspect the components.

FIRST OBSERVATIONS:
- The top plate is made of heat treated 3.08 mm thick aluminum. The machining cuts are nice and clean. The plate seems to have been finished by giving it a light sanding on a belt sander.
- The two vertical towers are made of ABS plastic.
- The bottom plate is made of 2.2 mm thick heat treated aluminum with nice machining cuts and seems to have the same belt sander finishing as the top plate.
- The whole chassis with all the hardware weights around 520 grams. I will have to weight it again once it's all assembled, weigh the stock Nylon composite chassis for comparison and also compare the weights of the ERBE RTR with stock chassis and with Kershaw chassis.

POSITIVES:
- Fast shipping to Canada and good communication with Dan. I dealt with him in the past and Dan has always been helpful and professional.
- Everything is there, no missing parts and it was nicely packaged.
- All the hardware is packaged in individual numbered bags corresponding to the different steps of the assembly.
- Once the ERBE is all put back together, I suspect that this chassis will be very stiff and durable. There will be lots of room to use different dimension Lithium Polymer and Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. The batteries are placed much lower than the stock Nylon composite chassis so the CG will be much lower.

NEGATIVES:
- It would ad a considerable amount to the sale price but this chassis would look so much better if it was anodized.
- I hate to complain about this as I have tried myself to make and sell parts before but the price is a little high. $125 to $140 range would be more reasonable. The present price should include anodizing.
- No designated spot to mount the receiver box, although it can be mounted on one of the servo spots if only one steering servo is used, or it's a very easy mod to fabricate a small plate to mount the receiver box where it should be.
- Dan if you are reading this, go buy a new counter sinking bit. The one you used on my chassis is dull and the counter sinks are grungy looking and off center a bit.
- The ABS side towers were a little rough looking but a light sanding of the edges cleaned them up nicely. I might dye them black as they are a dark gray in color.

Looking at the different parts on my work table, there is one thing that just screamed CARBON FIBER at me. That lower plate is a flat piece of aluminum that will be easily duplicated in carbon fiber. So I ordered a 3 mm thick sheet of carbon fiber and will make myself a bottom plate.

More to come as I slowly start to make the swap.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...w_chassis2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...w_chassis1.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...w_chassis3.jpg

Great review !

Dan is a nice guy but his custom chassis look a tad too "rustic" IMO :mdr:
It's a pity because they are rather well-designed !
He needs better tools :whistle:

But I'm sure your Revo will look great as usual :yipi:

Hmm, I was thinking of getting one of these chassis, now I'm unsure....I'll have to see whhat you have to say about it MC....

mrcrash...
we were just beginning to assemble my friends KD chassis yesterday.

everything you said is 100% the same, even the grungy countersunks!!

because we run our motors on top of the tranny rather than on the E-revo mount, we wanna flip the tranny 180* so we are gonna need to mod it to work:slap:

A few more observations about the Kershaw chassis. It is heavier than the stock Nylon composite chassis. I compared the completely assembled Kershaw chassis (battery straps and all) with my complete stock chassis (battery doors and all). The Kershaw chassis is around 80 grams heavier. But when the swap is completed and I compare a stock ERBE with a Kershaw ERBE, the Kershaw ERBE is only 30 grams heavier. This is due to the fact that you don't use the stock middle skid plate and the Steering servo skid plate. 30 grams is no big deal and should not be noticeable. By placing the receiver box in the second steering servo spot, that 30 grams is up front so I find this very good. I like to have as much weight up front as possible on my Revos.

I weighed the two different versions of the ERBEs using two digital scales, one beneath the front wheels and the second beneath the rear wheels. Both versions had a rear weight of 1714 grams. The stock ERBE had a front weight of 1599 grams and the Kershaw ERBE had a front weight of 1629 grams. I weighed the ERBEs without wheels, body or batteries.

A COUPLE PROBLEMS WHILE BUILDING

- My ACE 1015 servo did not fit in the opening so I had to use a file to enlarge it by 1 mm. Not a big problem and easily fixed.
- The two vertical towers made of ABS plastic have some flex to them and you have to watch out how much torque you put on the long screws that secure the towers to the top and bottom chassis plates. Anything more than ''snug'' squishes the towers and distorts the top plate. I seriously think the towers need more meat to them or maybe a different material should be used. I’m seriously thinking of making new ones myself to make them stronger. Below is a drawing of what the Kershaw towers look like and beside it is what I would intend to make.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...w_towers_1.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...w_towers_2.jpg

- My rear diff did not stay in place, it pivots and the front end of the diff goes upwards making the joint of the output shaft hit the top chassis plate. I had to make something to keep the diff from pivoting.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...hold_down1.jpg

- There are two big holes in the back of the bottom plate that accept two long M4 screws that go in the rear bulkhead. These are to stiffen up the rear. The holes are mis aligned so I had to make two new ones in the correct place. I also had to make spacers to go in between the bulkheads and the bottom plate to keep the correct spacing when the screws are tightened down. You can see in the pic where the two holes are, just behind the ‘’KD’’ in the back of the bottom plate, and where I drilled new holes where the M4 screws are.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...wer_plate2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ar_spacer1.jpg

I still did not have the chance to go to a suitable bashing site and beat the truck. But just by fooling around in front of my house on the street and grass and making small jumps, I can tell this chassis performs better than the stock one. The stock chassis is very good and I like it a lot but the lower CG of the Kershaw chassis makes a very noticeable difference. More room for bigger lipos or LiFe packs is very cool. I have been shopping around for batteries I never used to look at before. The chassis is stiff, once everything is put together, it feels really solid and with a few tweaks, it could be even better. I will have to tinker with it this winter.

I don’t regret buying this chassis because it delivers what it says it will. It is stiff, it is easy to make the swap for an experienced RCer, the CG is much lower than the stock chassis, it gives a lot more options for batteries. The following is just my opinion and I’m allowed to speak my mind so here goes. I like the chassis but the price left a ‘’bitter taste in my mouth’’. For that price, I would expect a better finish, anodizing and better chassis towers. If these can’t be achieved then, the price should be a little lower. But it really does make the ERBE look like a high end Monster Truck rather than a big and expensive plastic toy.

I will end with some pics of the finished truck (is it really finished :lol:)

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...assis_rear.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ssis_rear2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...sis_front1.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...sis_front2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...is_tranny1.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...is_tranny2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ectronics2.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ectronics1.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...w_chassis4.jpg

Looks sweet!!

I was thinking of getting the "nitro" revo KD chassis for my conversion.

It doesn't look as sweet as a Gorilla chassis but it does look good. I will be doing some things to it to bring the sweetness level up a bit.

On a side note, I received my Turnigy 4500mAh 2S2P 30C LiFePo4 Pack and tried them in my ERBE. I charged them up at 3C, they were balanced and ran really well. A lot less top speed of course but still very strong batteries that I ran with no LVC on the MMM. Really cool to not have to worry about your batteries, charge 'em up, run them 'till the truck looses power, recharge and repeat. These will be absolutely perfect for my son's ''GERBE''. I ordered another pair of these. The price just can't be beat.

(1) Are you telling me that this is the way the chassis comes machined?
(2) Are you telling me that this is the way the counter-sunk holes come?

http://pics.offroadextremes.com/rc/kd_crap.jpg

If so, wow! I mean, Dan is an awesome guy, and usually has great products, but if this is the way this chassis comes, there is no way I would buy it.

Just my thoughts on this.

Oh, wow.....hmm.... not very good machining work there.......makes me not want to buy one, especially for the price...... I may just pass....unless another option becomes available

Sweet man!! Please report runtimes!

Great review! Much better than the work Jetlag does!

The truck overall looks great with the chassis! Improvement over stock for sure!

A 1518 would never fit would it? Unless you made a custom motor plate that mounted the motor higher.

Chad its good to see you!!