bent chassis

[mylilmarder]

Hi just got my leopard and love it. It handles much better than my marder. But I had a failure with the receiver and the fail safe did not return the servo and fill the fuel and it took off across the parking lot. Lucky it didn't go out into the street or hit a car or person. It did hit a light pole at 3/4 throttle and bounced off and keep going then hitting a curb that is where I finally caught with after ending up on its top before the motor went ballistic. Has anyone ever bent the frame and bent it back. If so how did you get it strait. I will get some pictures as soon as possible. It is not to bad. All so bent the outlet of the pipe. How do you get it strait. Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[Bigger the Better]

Pictures will tell a thousand words. Get the photos up and we can see where and how its bent, same with the pipe. If in the front I know they make a stiffener for the Marder chassis front end that could substitute for strength not sure about yours. If in the center it may be a replacement job if real bad.

 

[cyclops1970]

the marder front chassis stiffener wont help on a leoppard chassis being the chassis doesn't have a kick up , so saying theat its pretty simple just going to pound the crap outta it on a flat hard surface and get it as striaght as possible , or get a fab shop to make a new chassis and use the old one as a template ,i find the stock alum chassis is poopy . keep in mind i don't race my truck so i made a chassis outta 7075 T6 alum .250 thick or 6.35 mm and it will never bend unless it got race over by a tranport . its so rigid now NO flexing at all . but anyways just something toconsider .. heres a old photo but the old one was my monster beetle /marder chassis and the flat longer one is my mutant monster leopard chassis

 

[mylilmarder]

Here are the pictures.

The one of the pipe shows the only damage which is the stinger is bent which makes the pipe not exit the shield where it is supposed to. The frame is sitting with the back of the frame flat on the bench the front is about 1 inch or so up in the air. Any Help would be much appreciated. The bend is mainly around the middle of the chassis.

 

[Bigger the Better]

I've heard of filling the pipe with water and sticking it in the freezer so that the frozen water expands pushing dents out, but not sure if it will help in pulling out the bend next to the exhaust pipe. I would recommend going to a good aluminum welder and having them cut it off and re welding a new one on, that would be cheaper (Maybe) then replacement.
I bent a chassis in the same spot, right in the middle, and ended up getting a new one thinking that bending it back would weaken it. I think I would give bending it back a try - Hope not to have that bad a wreck again. (Mine was a well head, smacked right into it! ) Think of a way of jigging up a large amount of weight (Auto, lawn mower, weights from weight bench, exc.) and sitting it on the chassis slowly forcing it back into shape over time.

Good luck!

 

[cyclops1970]

if your not sure about it take it too a fab shop with a METAL brake and have them straighten it back out for you .. i also agree about weaking it ..

 

[mylilmarder]

almost like new

I took it to a machine shop today and had then look at it. as you can see it is almost as strait as a new one. I will see how it does. Since the didn't use heat to straiten it the properties should not have changed much. They use a manual press and some boards. They did not use a hydraulic press that would have been to much press. I have to say it was the best $5 dollars I have spent on this hobby. A new chassis would have been $167. Still have to work on the pipe. Does anyone know it the Marder pipe would fit under the Asgard ST truck body for the LEO?

 

[Bigger the Better]

Congrats on the chassis! Hope it performs for you - Can't expect it won't, but what the heck it was 5$!:cool2:

 

[cyclops1970]

i don't use these but you can also make some rod ends with turn buckles and attach them too the shock tower and you radiio tray " if it alloy" then it will really strenghten up any flexing going on .
glad you got it straightened out and im sure the guys at the shop were interested in the machine as well

 

[mylilmarder]

all I took in was the frame.

where exactly did you mount the stiffners. I hope to get it put all back to gether this week. half way there. Will give an update when I can run it and see how it stands up. That and I need to work on the pipe some.

 

[cyclops1970]

i don't need the stiffeners but i have seen the personally on FG's and one leopard . mount the rod ends too your front shock tower brace and another end on your radio tray " only if its alloy" and make the rod inbetween nice and tight ..

 

[mylilmarder]

A Little update

Took her out today. Ran good until I broke the conection between the fail safe and the throdel/brake servo. I think that was the problem last time also because it took off again lucky this time it did not hit anything hard to stop. So my run time was short because I don't carry extra servos with me. Now replaced and will run again another day.arty-time: arty-time: