Budget Estimate

     Hey Everyone, I've come up with a budget for the whole project. I've been thinking on this for a while now trying to decide if I am going to make it a super high end project with all new stuff or a low budget project and I've decided to go with the low budget project, this does not mean that it wont be high quality by any means it just means that I am going to be re-using a lot of parts from other projects and doing a lot of fabricating myself as well to keep the cost of new parts I need way down. My goal for this project is to keep it under $3,000. This does not include any tools or software I buy to help the build along but only what actually goes on the Rock Crawler including frame materials, shocks, axles, wheels, seats, tires, and everything else. This may seem like a measly amount to build a whole Rock Crawler from but I'm confident that it can be done with a little extra work.

     Another reason that I chose to go the low budget way was to show other people who may not have $20,000 to buy a pre-made tube buggy that for less than a sixth of the price they to can have a quality, powerful, and purpose built Rock crawler.

     Here is a buggy another builder did and kept it to $5,000...

     Not too bad right? I mean if I owned that I'd be pretty happy but lets see if we can't to better. Also let me know if you think I am taking the right path, leave a comment below!

Steering Design - Options

     Hello again everyone, so I am trying to decide on what kind of steering to use, I have a couple options. First I could do full hydraulic ram steering, I could do conventional steering with hydraulic assist, or I could just do purely conventional steering.

     Full hydraulic steering is definitely the best because you don't need a steering shaft going all the way to the front axle and it has the most steering power but it is also very expensive and since I am trying to make this a low budget project it would be hard to get all the needed parts and stay under budget. Here's a picture of a full hydraulic setup, the shaft going to the front axle is the drive line, not the steering shaft.

     I have for the most part checked hydraulic assist steering off my list of options because it still has the high cost of hydraulic steering and yet it still needs a steering shaft going all the way to the axle so it really defeats one of the purposes of hydraulic steering.

     Conventional steering with a steering shaft going all the way to the axle into a power steering box is usually much cheaper than the other two options but doesn't have as much steering power. Here's a picture of a more conventional steering setup.

     Although it is going to be hard to find all the parts to put together a good full hydraulic steering setup and have the project stay within the budget I'm going to give it a shot. I'll have to scavenge some parts off some old machinery which will take a lot more time to refurbish and get back to good condition than just ordering them new but when trying to stay relatively cheap that's the way it's got to be done.

     I would like to hear your thoughts about the best steering setup, which one do you think would be best? Let me know in the comments below.

Suspension Setup

     Hey everyone, here's just a quick update on the design of the "Indestructible V8". I have finalized the design and decided what componets to use for the suspension. I am going to use the traditional 4-link suspension design in the front and back to allow for lots of travel and lots of axle tilt. Here is a picture showing the basic design of a four link suspension setup...

This is not exactly what it will look like but it gives you a good idea of what the basic 4-link looks like. In the picture the left side would be attached to the frame and the right side would be welded to the axle.

     For the suspension I am going to use air shocks which are filled with nitrogen. I choose these shocks because of their low cost, especially compared to coil-overs as well as their high performace and ease of use. There will probably be 18 inches of travel in the front and rear.

Have a better idea? or just a question? Leave a comment.

Design Software

     So I have decided on which program I am going to use to design the frame of this machine; I choose to use Bend Tech. I choose this program over others such as SolidWorks because it is much cheaper, under $300, and it is very easy to learn and use. Bend Tech has a couple different versions of the program and you can get one that is specific to designing a frame or chassis, the process goes very quick and after your done the program also tells you how to bend, how long to cut, and how much each and every peice will weigh. A bonus for Bend Tech is that it has a feature in it that is used specifically for designing exhaust headers so after your done designing you frame you can make up some killer headers to go with it and give the rock crawler a rock solid look.

If you want to see what the program looks like click here to see one of their demo videos.

Here is a picture of a chassis that was designed with the Bend Tech program...

Have you used the Bend Tech program? Let me hear what you think of it, leave a comment of how it worked for you.

New Design

Hey everyone,
     Things have gotten off to a little slower start than I would have liked but with the engine now up and running I can focus my efforts more in other areas. Soon I will be buying the 1 1/2 inch tubing that I will be using for the frame and I will order the Model 3 tubing bender from JD Squared and get a start on the real building. I have decided to change up what the frame will look like, I have decided to model it after this RC rock crawler instead because it is much less "tuby" (not so filled up with tubes going every which way) and looks much cleaner and in my opinion better, let me know what you think of it.