One of my first sets was the 8845 Dune Buggy. Since then I've always been intrigued by serious suspension travel. So for this contest I focussed on suspension and built the model I would have wanted if I would still have been a kid. Instructions are available on Rebrickable.

Features:

• HoG steering
• Rear wheel drive with differential
• Fake V8 engine
• 2 studs ground clearance
• 2 studs suspension travel all around
• Double wishbone front suspension
• Trailing arm rear suspension

Spoiler

Work in progress:

 

Edited May 4, 20204 yr by Didumos69

Wow.... extremely interesting drive train.....I will watch this thread with gusto....

A steering system by @Didumos69 that is not formlocked but relies on friction...? These are strange times indeed...

Jokes aside, it looks cool, I'm curious to see how it ends up

Thanks @nerdsforprez and @Rudivdk! @Rudivdk, yes, I have an alternative, but when the friction is enough I'll hold on to the friction-locked version.

Glad to see you participating! Will follow closely, guess it will be another MOC of yours I would like to build myself:)
Allow me to suggest another alternative with formlocked solution using this part:


Did you consider reducing gear number using the old type differential? 

41 minutes ago, Limga said:

Glad to see you participating! Will follow closely, guess it will be another MOC of yours I would like to build myself:)
Allow me to suggest another alternative with formlocked solution using this part:

Did you consider reducing gear number using the old type differential? 

Thanks for the suggestions, The would be even better. I'll try both options. I won't be using the old differential. I need a beam in the center running between the rear suspension arms at the same level as the differential. So having a longitudinally placed differential is not going to help me.

Good to see @Didumos69 in work again! 

As I feel, I must start to collect parts for this (I hope it will be released for the audience), looks very promising! Love the steering setup.

One idea: if You want to keep the original look with the relatively high cab, might be an idea to put a spare wheel as HOG on the hood, instead of that "random" gear. In my head it could work well: hides the feature, while gives a bit spice to the character.

Edit: one more thing, I see you use 44292 wheels, might be just by nostalgy or mistake, but it is not available in black.

Edited April 13, 20204 yr by agrof

1 hour ago, Limga said:

Form-locking

Like it :)

Always a pleasure to see a didumos build. Good luck, enjoy :)

Edited April 13, 20204 yr by amorti

I tried the friction approach but did not work. at first it was %99 working but when I had finished the pickup it was like %60 working. tire's friction was the problem. I ditched the friction idea and made below instead. requires some height, additional gears and space but works perfectly with proper angle.

2 hours ago, scynox said:

I tried the friction approach but did not work. at first it was %99 working but when I had finished the pickup it was like %60 working. tire's friction was the problem. I ditched the friction idea and made below instead. requires some height, additional gears and space but works perfectly with proper angle.

Nice! I tried my setup and it works as expected sofar, albeit very direct, because of the amplying effect. But tire rub under weight might make it slip. But then I still have the form locked options. I'll keep your solution in the back of my mind though.

Edited April 13, 20204 yr by Didumos69

3 hours ago, agrof said:

Good to see @Didumos69 in work again! 

As I feel, I must start to collect parts for this (I hope it will be released for the audience), looks very promising! Love the steering setup.

One idea: if You want to keep the original look with the relatively high cab, might be an idea to put a spare wheel as HOG on the hood, instead of that "random" gear. In my head it could work well: hides the feature, while gives a bit spice to the character.

Edit: one more thing, I see you use 44292 wheels, might be just by nostalgy or mistake, but it is not available in black.

Nice idea about the HoG, but the wheels are practically as big as the hood itself. I'll see what I can do as I progress.

Didn't know about those wheels, actually I didn't check their availability at all. I like them because they have 2L long axles holes, so hopefully more friction compared to the more common wheels. So I'll switch to LBG.

Edited April 13, 20204 yr by Didumos69

As usual you have unusual (or let me say very original) solutions 

Oh man I’m so down for this, it looks sick

Thanks guys!

Here's an update:

Edited April 15, 20204 yr by Didumos69

It looks very good.

Cool vehicle 

Could you show an image of the rear suspension without the wheel? I'd like to see how the springs are attached to the swingarms.

Reason is that I expect that when the angle between the arm and spring increases too much when the suspension is compressed, it doesn't work as well as you'd want. (In the extreme case when the angle reaches 180 degree, the suspension force would be zero.)

1 hour ago, Erik Leppen said:

Could you show an image of the rear suspension without the wheel? I'd like to see how the springs are attached to the swingarms.

Reason is that I expect that when the angle between the arm and spring increases too much when the suspension is compressed, it doesn't work as well as you'd want. (In the extreme case when the angle reaches 180 degree, the suspension force would be zero.)

I understand your concerns. For me this is actually a tribute to 8845, hence the spring position. Btw, the angle will never reach 180 degrees.

I will be using soft springs and they will sit there mostly for cosmetic reasons. At the bottom of the swing arms I will attach silicon bands or a rubber connector to add tension. Also, there will be a ant-roll torsion bar between the swing arms. Here are some images, but please note this is all still work in progress. When I start building in real life I will most likely need to finetune and redesign etc.

Btw, here's another closeup showing how the A-pillar is mounted. Everything in-system.

Edited April 15, 20204 yr by Didumos69

Very nice and looks similar to the elder brother greyhound!

It´s still a baby, only one light on the roof 

Thank you all!

I added seats. Here's a short Stud.io impression. Please let me know what you think.

Edited April 16, 20204 yr by Didumos69

They clearly add to it, IMO. Pretty neat buggy by the way! Love it!

Yepp, but I am sure, You can squeeze in a steering wheel too! 

11 minutes ago, agrof said:

Yepp, but I am sure, You can squeeze in a steering wheel too! 

Probably! 

On 4/15/2020 at 1:52 PM, Didumos69 said:

Btw, here's another closeup showing how the A-pillar is mounted. Everything in-system.

I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but 41678 is sitting below the red beam in this picture, right? 

Very nice work by the way, the ground clearance looks pretty good for such a small wheel size.  I also had the idea of replacing the 20z steering gear on top of the hood with a spare wheel, but I think it may be oversized.