And yet another... FLM Savage Build
 

OK, almost done. I finally got some time to work on this last weekend. A couple details to still finish up like solder the Deans plug on the ESC and a little wiring cleanup and it'll be ready to roll. Unfortunately its 3 degrees F here, snowing, 50+mph wind gusts and the wind chill is like -20 degrees F. So the maiden voyage is gonna have to wait a while.

This is a savage I converted last spring using all the stock stuff with a makeshift motor mount and batteries strapped to the side of the TVPs and other than that it was a totally stock Savage. This is the thread on it in the old temporary forums and when I started on Saturday it looked identical except it was dirtier. http://www.rc-monster.com/tempforum/...read.php?t=258

The setup is a proven setup as I was able to run it all summer on this same esc, motor and gearing and it ran great. No need to change it. Its a BK 12020, 1940/7, 5s a123 or 5s lipo depending on what I'm doing with it. Big air jumps and such get the a123 packs and speed runs get the lipos. This setup was good for just about exactly 50 mph (GPS 50.3) on 20/47 gearing running the 2 speed and mechanical brakes.

The weight of the stock truck with the carbon fiber battery trays and basic motor mount I had weighed 11.23lbs without any batteries. Batteries add anywhere from 1.25 to 2 lbs depending on what pack gets used. The new converted FLM Savage weighs in at 11.14lbs. It actually lost weight! I was very surprised by that. I was expecting weight gain not loss.

Additions to the truck for this rebuild were the FLM Tranny Forward kit (obvoiusly), the FLM towers and FLM LST shock kit and then of course the addition of the LST shocks. What you see in the pictures are actually the Muggy rear shocks. They are MUCH lighter than the LST2 all aluminum ones but are slightly shorter so there is a little bit of reduced up travel on the wheels, but the chassis can still bottom out so I doubt it'll be a problem.

All in all a great kit FLM nice job!! Some minor little things that need to be ironed out but overall this kit is really sweet.


OK... all anyone cares about are the pics anyway so here they are.

The starting build up of the chassis:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/866f823c.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/3ae3c645.jpg

Fitting a TrueRC 5s 8000mah pack in it. Man thats a brick of a lipo.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/347f187d.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/031cf4a5.jpg

Almost finished build:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/ba0a0199.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/5faa36e2.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/75db286c.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/92ee4213.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/2d92d2bf.jpg

With a stock length body:
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...e/4f6ce874.jpg

Looks good jhautz, nice truck! I too am putting together a tranny forward savage. Need to put the finishing touches and wire it up. I like the lst shocks, I may have to upgrade to them!

Hi jhautz,

Congratulations ! Looks really good.

Regards,
Joe Ling

Nice jhautz!,

I am finishing mine as well. I noticed your brake servo setup. What type of arm/spring setup is that? It looks perfect. I used the stock Savage X SS setup and the servo arm really isn't long enough and I don't have room to use a spring.

Thanks Guys. Now I'm gonna be die'in for some decent weather around here so I can test it out. I bet it wheelies alot less now with the new 2" longer wheelbase.

Yea I found the same thing with the stock brake arm/linkage setup. I would love to see the servo mount plate a little wider and have the servo offset closer to the side for the brake. It would let you use the stock servo arm then. This is what I used. http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=JRPA236
with this for the slider linkage
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXNXL5&P=7
The actual connecting rods in the linkage are the stock ones and the little aluminum piece holding it all on the end of the rod is just a standard collar with a grub screw that came off of a old nitro brake assembly I ripped off of something when it was converted to electric.

I actually had all of these parts just sitting around in a parts bin left over from some other project where they didnt work out, but yes they did work out well for the arm length just by luck.

Nice. I can't wait to see videos of some of these converted savages being bashed.

Looks great jhautz!! Looks like an awesome set up. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how everything holds up to bashing. I think I may have to cancel my 1/8 buggy or CRT.5 project to make one of these.

Forgot to ask... but do you know if a TrueRC 6s2p 8000mAH pack would fit? Maybe on its side perhaps, or in any way?

this makes me want to go find a savage to buy

Very nice. Can't wait to start on mine.

The pictures with the big light blue pack are of a TrueRC 8000mah 5s pack. The 6s would be just a little taller. I think it will fit. The way its setup right now would be very tight for the 50mm wide pack. But I ordered a 52T spur to replace the 47T thats on there now. It should move the motor over another 3-4mm and then there would be enough room for it for sure. 6s would be a tall pack!

One last question... when putting in all the numbers into BrianG's calculator, what do you put for the transmission gear ratio? I have all the other numbers, just not sure of that one. Also, should i add the Savage "Additional Gear Ratio" when finding the top speed or looking for the right motor to run?

Thanks again in advance. :smile:

How well are a123 cells going to fit into this thing? With dimensions of 26x65mm it looks like it's going to be a tight fit.

I just choose the savage 2nd gear on a 2 speed tranny and the savage secondary gear ratio and then spur and pinion.

I plan on rebuilding the packs into a configuration like this and then setting them on their end. they will be a 5s2p configuration and 65mm tall.

I was thinking of the same config just to get the width down. Is that going to be too tall for that top hold down? It isn't the best config for CG is it.

Not sure if its gonna work with the top hold down or not. I'm planning to just use straps anyway so the top hold down doesnt really matter to me. I wansnt planning on using it.

And no, its not ideal for COG. When I get to assembling the packs I'll look to see if there is any opportunity for a betterconfiguration, but its just a basher anyway so I'm not gonna get worried about it. If it were to ever race I would use the lipos anyway. But Savages arent for racing, that what bugggies and truggies are for IMO.

WHAT did you do to fix the images!?!?!

:na:

Wow!

Now I'm thinking if it was better to do a Savage conversion instead of a MRX-4X.....maybe later.

Yeah, it's one cool ride for sure.

I am hoping my shocktowers turn out nice.

I'm looking forward to see those towers of yours as well.

Here are the towers;

Those look awesome! and how did you do that rotating 3-D thing in PDF. That was very cool as well.

One question. With the buggy shocks arent you going to have reduced up-travel? How will that effect handeling and landing jupms and large bumps? Have you tried this?

To be honest, i have got no idea what to expect.

I got the 8 ofna shocks anyway, so i'll just give these a try. I like the savage to be relative low.. With the stock shocks i always limit their travel as well.

As long as it bottoms out before the shocks hit the limit it will be fine.

The one thing that I worry about with shorter shocks is not the bottom of the stroke as long as the chassis hits before the shocks bottom out, but I worry about the full extension of the shocks. If the shocks reach their limit on the extension before the arm runs out of down travel the shocks are taking the entire load and this can be very signigicant in any kind of crash. What prevents the shocks from litterally being pulled apart? Either the cap or the rod end will be pulled off.

I am wondering cuz on my savage I have the rear muggy shocks on it instead of the LST aluminum ones for weight reduction and they are just a little to short to allow the chassis to bottom out and have the arm be able to reach full extension without putting th extension load on the shock. It seems like it could be aproblem to me but Im not sure.

Any thoughts, just wondering if you or anyone has had to deal with this in the past and if its an issue or not.

simple add a steel wire between the upper arm and the shocktower. This should help.

the ofna shocks are way tougher than the stock savage shocks.