First ROCK CRAWLING TEST!!! With the Mini Rock Crawler project - Part 16
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Today we finally get to test drive this mini rock crawler build. We test out the flex of the suspension and the 4 wheel drive setup. For this project I'm using the Fox 2.0 Air shocks. These are air only shocks and can be made hard or soft just by adding more nitrogen pressure. The fox air shocks are super easy to adjust and really light weight, perfect for these smaller projects but they can also work well in jeeps and other light rock crawlers. King air shocks are also a great option if your build is like mine, but I feel like the Fox airs have a better factory valving setup. The Fox air shocks should go together really well with the mini rock bouncer as that's really what they were designed for.
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Im actualy surprised AND impressed. I think either lowering the air in the tires OR some tires with more bite would help the bouncing while crawling abit but besides that, well done sir!
Yeah he definitely has to much air in his tires and his suspension isn't made for what he's doing
@@petermakeithappen8336 what would you suggest it’s made for?
Most definitely air down the tires. Fantastic job.
Agreed need to take some air out of the tires and air up them dang shocks!!! If you are worried about it not riding in a compressed state then add a winch from the frame to the axle so you can draw it down like the big guys do.
Yeah, WAYYYYY too much air in the tires.
Hi Doug welcome to the channel 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
I promise I will stop saying nice and come up with a vast vocabulary ✌️
I have watched your channel from the beginning and have been impressed with all your builds. This one has moved you to the top of all You Tube builders I have watched.
I always look forward to seeing your channel on Sunday morning here in Oregon
You might have to add springs to the suspension so it pushes the vehicle back upright. I know those are air shocks, but it appears that you have the pressure so low that there is no force to push the chassis back up. I know those aren't the shortest air shocks fox makes. Maybe shorter ones aired up properly would be the solution to that issue. The shocks you have when properly aired up make that a monster truck.
Definitely needs more preload. He could move the upper mounts if he doesn't want to increase ride hight. Assuming that doesn't limit downtravel too much.
Yes coil overs will help immensely
And less tire pressure
All the air in these shocks does is set the ride height. 1/3 of the shaft showing is roughly where you want to be at ride height. The dampening is done in the valving and the amout of oil in the shock. Those shocks are make for MUCH heaver rigs. Toyota truggys are about the lightest thing you will see on them. The pressure of the nitrogen in the shocks will 100% not help with ride quality .
You need enough air in the shocks for the to function properly. There so low and the shocks are straight down to axel makes them stiff. Relocate you shocks so there angled and can stretch out more. Run limiter straps and bump stops and a lighter sway bar. Thicker for fast thinker for more flex and smoothness
Hey! Finally a real test of this thing! Glad to see it finally going under it's own power and doing decently well.
Might be time to add roll cage padding to help with the head knocking a bit wont stop it, but wont be as hard on the helmet or brain pan.
Looks great, but I think id put more air in the shocks and less air in the tires. They look rock hard
Small onboard air compressor to maintain air pressure in shocks and the ability to raise and lower tire pressure would be nice add-on.
agree....
Your dad Doug said it’s all about the throttle at some point but my big opinion hit me at that moment and I’d have to advise it’s all about airing down those tires Mr. Welding.
He said it all! NICE! Just like always man! No never let me down! Been here for years now and I'm not going anywhere! Your my favorite! No holds barred! 💯
Dude your mini rock crawler you built is legit !! So freaking impressive my guy ! Your cage is killer also !
Thanks!
I think we can all agree Doug is r spirit animal
well done ! and it didn't brake !!!! you must have built it right ! NOW you can be proud of it !
Great bit of kit, a few upgrades and it'll be top notch, all builders/manufacturers have to do developments along the way, good to see it done in a shed/workshop
Awesome to see it crawling. Cool to see both of those machines in action.
If say it works perfectly . The best machine you have built yet imo
Nothing broke on the rock crawler! congrats! and the camera man did well getting good angles also, which I'm sure made your time on the trails easier not having to stop so much to set up the camera
Yep, some said it already, dropping the tire psi is an easy mod for better crawling and softer ride. With new tires, you could run super low psi, think 2 or 3 lbs. Gotta get new tires broken in and folding quick. It’s something you’ll have to test for. Nice job Chris, we’ll on its way to being great.
I bet it didn't feel good only having a few inches of travel in the rear maybe move the rear shocks to a higher mounting point on the top mount. This test was awesome tho. Trial an error is how you learn the best. Nice job.
To improve things as far as handling and capability I’d recommend a taller tire with softer tread, less tire pressure, and more shock pressure especially in the rear. The rest of it looks absolutely great
That little crawler sure turned out great! It looks so much fun to ride.. and those Trails, so nice and pretty.
13:33 the best part is the honesty in this segment.
Just have to get the kinks worked out! Very impressive build! 4 way steering would be a game changer.
One thing you might want to consider it oiling. Motorcycle engines aren't engineered to draw oil at extreme angles. When a bike corners, centripetal force keeps the oil in the bottom of an the oil pan and keeps the oil pickup submerged. Since you won't be pulling hard corners anytime soon, driving at an extreme angle has a real chance of sloshing oil away from the pick up tube and causing oil starvation. Just a thought. Happy rock crawling!
An example would be what happened to Superfastmatt's s600 with a motorcycle engine swap, Just search "I Blew The Motor In My Motorcycle Powered Car".
Just a thought... when you have the rock crawler at more severe angles there is potential for oil starvation like when wheelie-ing a motorcycle. You'd have to be going harder on the engine and be at angles for longer amounts of time, but if you were to try and push the suspension to the limit you might push the engine past its limit.
Loved getting to see the crawler in action!
It's not the behavior of a crawler but this thing is definitely a rock bouncer as you had imagined at the start of the project. Well done!
Building this crawler would be alot of fun. I wish I had all the machining skills and equipment you have. Great work! Love the content!
Great job on both Machines… ✨😎👍✨
I shall drink everytime I hear "nice" 😁
Man, I am absolutely amazed that you built that. You've come so far since I first started watching you, where I was already impressed by what you could do....but this thing is just gnarly.
Yes finally what we all have been waiting to see good job man love it 💯🤟😎
I wish you could make these special order for people because I would definitely buy one in a heartbeat and I love watching your video they’re simply amazing thank you hope you have fun because it looks so fun
Also may need straps on each corner
Don't get me wrong but I like to see that kid making things and ride them, God bless you
So good so cool great job agree on tire pressure And shock placement You don't give yourself enough credit You do a great job Keep it up
Rock On! 🤘 and I agree with whoever said you should record an into so your name is associated since you put in a lot of effort and do great work
that would look alot more professional to,.... not that anyone who is a loyal follower would care... but you might catch a bunch more subscribers by making a short intro for your posts ! that's a good idea !
Great job yes test rides are good to work out bugs
Think you need like a raceing seat with more padding and so you can tighten your body harness more effectively
Now that was cool it's time to see it out in the trail 😁👍💪✌️🇺🇸
You could try and move the rear upper shock mounts up, then get some more air in those rear shocks. I’d say the front shocks look okay but you could feel if they needed more. If there is any way to move your fan behind you with the fan pushing or pulling the air out the back it could help a lot with visibility and temperature. It sure looks like a fun ride!
Too cool! I’d dial in that suspension.
You should have aired them bad boys way up! Love the build man! Keep up the Great Work!
Vveryone is giving good advice here but I think the biggest problem is the length and travel of these shocks. They would work great, on a wider and longer wheelbase. I'd imagine it would be much better with sligtly bigger tires and less pressure, and shorter shocks.
Great video, I love watching you go out after spending so much time on your cool projects. Wish I had the motivation lol
Yeah like eveyrone else said, lower those tire pressures, and you're golden. This thing is beast!
This thing is badass good job I have a couple suggestions though. lower tire pressure add pressure to shocks and wrap the cage bars closest to body parts with pool noodles or some sort of foam
I absolutely love that thing BEAST MODE
It's a shame you weren't that pleased with it. It looks so cool! Wish we had forests like that in the UK that anybody could access.
All the articulation is working exceptionally well and it has plenty of wheel travel, Needs less compression damping in the rear shocks and the tires are hard as rocks
Yep, we forgot to air down the tires for this test😂
@@ratherBweldingChris Sorry, i knew you knew that.
@@ratherBweldingChris congrats men!!! amazing job
For what it’s worth I think it’s a great build she’s more than capable on the trails 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾
Nice test! Great build! I am going to also say that you need to air the tires way down. Airing down will give you more comfort and traction. Looks like you need to do a spring over; it does not look like enough rebound.
👍
That thing is wicked. Nice job, bro!
Very nice first driving vid!
Looks like a lot of fun !!!
Awesome build 🔥 I'd bring a portable air compressor so you can set the air pressure as needed. The tires looked a bit stiff. You would get much more grip with less air pressure.
Cool first test. The mini rock crawler ROCKS 🔥👍✌️
This is neat, years ago when I was doing real trucks I wanted to build a very similar vehicle to what you have done with the exception I was going to use Toyota or D35 axles front and rear, the idea was small and light so they held up to 35" tires and be reliable. I was going to use a FWD car engine and trans as well with the diff welded up. I never actually built it. It was just a dream.
Some beadlocks and really low tire pressure would soften up the ride and 10x traction vs aired up. Might not be a good thing with those axles, but that's an easy fix too lol. Some old Jeep XJ axles for $100 and Lincoln lockers would hold any tire size you want and be more than enough for that little beast lol
Great first test Chris , you both worked well with each other . Tuning the crawler takes time . I'm glad your drive axles performed well . They always seem to be a weak point on most crawlers when they add the beans .
Surprisingly caple! NICE!
They call it a "shake down" drive for a reason. This is how areas that need improvement are found. Awesome video BTW.
Yeah it's called the research and development stage.
Well ,the welding held up. Looks like fun.
I really enjoy brown mountain. I love riding my dirt bike over there. great video.
Observations. You need some kind of return to the sway bar, something that gets you back to neutral even when the system is unlocked.
Your shocks, pump them up hard for when you make it to the trail, then loosen them back down when you're at the trail you want to, little by little. A small electric motorcycle hand pump should be part of your gear for this. The rear suspension defo needs more juice than the front one, even if it doesn't seem like it.
Springs?
No reason to even have a sway bar. It makes no sense. You don’t need a sway bar on a daily driver car nvr mind a wheeling rig. Needs tons more pressure in the shocks but absolutely not a single need for a sway bar. Not even a give or take conversation. It’s strictly has zero purpose. The only reason it has a sway bar is because for some reason he won’t put the correct amount of air in the shocks. A vehicle needs to be able to upright itself on flat ground when you lean it over. Like in vid he leaned it over by standing g on it. When he stepped off it stayed leaned all the way over. Hello. The shocks don’t have enough air pressure in them to even support its own weight. Witch means one tho g and one thing only. More air pressure in the shocks. Not a sway bar. Baffled because the dude is extremely talented and extremely good fabricator and to see that test and to come up with the thought it needed a sway bar vrs the fact that it just needs more air in shocks is just baffling. This isn’t theoretically this is pure fact. The thing can’t hold its own weight up.
Well it was a first test run.
@@acurarl9929 LOL You have no idea what you are talking about
@@acurarl9929 Pretty much every single car has sway bars, and lots of hardcore off-road rigs also have sway bars. They do have a purpose, otherwise they wouldn't exist. Yes, Chris is using it as a sort of band aid and the suspension needs a little reworking, but stop shitting on someone when you have no actual knowledge of what you're talking about.
Badass rig!! Only thing I can say is mabe air the tires down a little more if possible. Great job though!
Beleza fazendo trilha 👍👍😎😎
Super nice, i wish you all the best, and have fun
Hi, buddy! The first like is mine! 😁🤙🏾
Champ, dude. So champ.
Other than the obvious thing about being able to see, to me that was a pretty successful first test. The 4 wheel drive system works great shocks need more air or springs and tyres need less air. But to be honest I was impressed well done man 👍
Of all your projects, I’d have to say this one fits you best, Chris. 👍
Freaking awesome brother! Be safe :)
I dub thee THE CLOWN SHOE Looks so fun ✌️🖖
Haha
I would say it done quite well for the first time out, sure it needs some tuning but trust me Chris you will get it to work.
This really needs to be a competition class if it's not already!
That thing is awesome! You gotta take a trip out to Moab and try some of the sketchy runs. I'd be interested in seeing how it does out there.
Don’t add more Nitrogen to get it to not bottom out. You want your links close to level to the ground as possible. Makes going over obstacles easier.
Get the next size lower for the shock. And have more shaft showing and actually usable.
Need to go somewhere where it has whoops and ruts and do a small shock tube session. And find what exact PSI works best for your application and needs. Increase 2-3psi increments each time as you video how the suspension reacts.
You want 1” of shock shaft not being used so you don’t bottom out the expensive shocks.
Definitely lower tire pressure. To just when they start to feel soft when you push it with your foot/kick
Much love brother. Keep kicking butt👊🏻🤘🏼
Just wanted to pass on knowledge
Camera man’s having a blast not to shabby footage wise either as time goes on you two will become very good at working together if this is permanent thing
Doug! Probably the best name for a camera man, in my opinion... Lol
It seemed to perform pretty well. I think you need some more head room though. Good job Chris
The rock bean is looking good
Love the build! Adding coil overs would make it a way better experience overall. You’ve got plenty of dampening but minimal rebound which makes it uncomfortable & unstable.
5 words.>That is Awesome.Well done!!
Raise the rear shocks and keep the front kinda low, that'll help get a slightly better view! Cool build Chris
14:03 Sway bar is fighting the springs too on the rear. The arms need to converge nearer axle center line. This is why you see a ever slight bow in the lower axle link at its meeting point.
Is this all we are going to hear now .. niceeee
Looks awesome man!!!! soften that suspension up a tad and it'll be easier on you and rig's backs lol. Might could go for lower tire pressure too. Just finished up vid, not bad man. Good stuff!!
Love it Chris... too bad it beats the crap out of you. It's definitely capable for sure though
Airing down the tires would definitely provide more traction and a softer ride. Looks like a fun ride !
Well Done!
I love this, I am working on a smaller version for my boys
Great job Chris, that would do way better with the sway bar disconnected and the air pressure way down like to 5-8 pounds and more nitrogen in those shocks but man so impressed on how well it did as it is.
You should add some skid plates on the sides too ! But damn that thing is sweet !
You’ve got to like your project it run for what you wanted it to do and I enjoyed it it looks like it runs great and does what you want it to do thank you it was well worth it
dropping tyre pressures will make this a whole new machine!
Your friend's laugh is just unnerving. 😒
😄
#beavis
You know.... I have been following you sense your very first video your Home built lathe got me hooked because you had so little to work with but you did the best you could under the circumstances. not even God could ask for more.... and you continue even with all the tools now that you have you still do your best and my hat is off to you for that ,,,you haven't gone down the road of throw money at it to fix it .... it's more of how can i fix it ...and that is Rare on You-tube and I thank you for that. I'm still waiting for you to build a home made Milling machine... but sense you have one now there is little point.... or is there?
your Mechanical ability has no rivals my friend keep it up and some day you will be rich
but that won't happen over night ... but if Elon sends you a letter you best answer it !
they need guys like you at Space X..... thank you for the entertainment over the years and all the great ideas....keep them coming !
I'd say it's more of a rock bouncer than a crawler. Either way it's badass brother. Thats so cool.
3 things to learn from this, and I’m not sure if you’ve changed them since this came out: 1. Air down your tires when you wheel. 2. Your low range is still waaaaaaaay to high. You want it to crawl, you shouldn’t have to give it gas to get it into gear in low range - that’s how low it needs to be. 3. You completely screwed those shocks when you let the oil out of them… if they were working you wouldn’t be consistently leaning over like that, and since you installed them it’s been leaning to the right while you’ve been driving it. It also looks like it’s a few inches from full compression, you want it to sit in the middle of the shock range. There’s no reason why it can’t be slow in low range and fast in high range, that’s what you have the motorcycle rpm range for. It’s got great potential!
Looks like the rock bouncer is working well. One thing that might help with suspension tuning would be reducing rebound damping and increasing compression damping.
that is really good for a first outing I would try more air in those shocks and maybe 5 psi less in those tires I dont know what you are running but that would probably help
Cameraman Doug likes it. Thinks it's nice.
Considering your didn't air down, and you have nothing for a return spring, it did a great job. Good job. I'm sure it will be back even better
Put limit straps on the socks and add more pressure in them also lower gear more throttle you will have better control! But it's pretty cool
Brown mountain is only 1.5 hours from my house. Would love to bring my Geo Tracker out and ride with yall sometime! Excellent build!