RC4WD Bully Project

Page 1: Assembly

The Bully comes in a thin square box without a lot of decoration. At first glance there isn't all that much inside since the axles come already assembled. The build is pretty simple, but that's not surprising given how little there is to this vehicle. It is really just a pair of axles and some links.

Here's the most significant part of the build: making the links. You can see that each pair of titanium links is different than the others. The final two are for steering. The right hand image shows the two carbon frames attached to some simple cross members along with all of the links. The polycarbonate panels on the side are just flat sheets and could be skipped without changing much.

Now I've added the internally sprung shocks. The shocks are already built but do not have any oil in them. I added a bit of oil, but it doesn't change much with the small diameter of the shocks and low speed of the model. You can also see that I've added another pair of carbon frames to the upper sides. In the right hand image you can see the axles attached. The axle housings are machined from aluminum and all the gears are steel. I opened up them up to check for proper lubrication and everything looked fine. That's it! This "truck" is pretty much done.

Here's a gratuitous articulation shot. Note that the rear axle is tipped the other way. I didn't take any photos of the build of the beadlock wheels, but I should have. There is no "wheel". The outer lock ring is a flat plate which also serves as the wheel. An aluminum hub bolts into the middle.

I chose a pair of new Reedy 5-slot brushed motors for their incredible smoothness at low speed. To control them I got a pair of Hobbywing crawler ESCs. There isn't much room to put electronics so it was a bit tricky.

There's no obvious place for batteries, but there is a platform on the front axle which seemed like an odd, but good, spot. I considered making a Y-adapter but instead decided to just use two 1300mAh batteries which last a long time in a model of this weight and low speed.

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