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Finally the driveshafts arrived. I started to install them and for once everything went according to the plans and without any modification!

 







The next step is to install the hydraulic units. Well, the box I was thinking of modifying to store the hydraulic units was not satisfactory, because it was not strong enough. The doors don't close as I wanted and for that I had to build a new structure.
So plan B. I installed in a solid toolbox from Lesu with solid and functional doors to hide the 5 channel hydraulic unit of the crane.

 

 

I will order a second box to hide the hydraulic unit of the bucket so that it is not left in the open. 
Once the location of the hydraulic units was fixed, I started to mount the lines for the crane operation.

Upper view



In the meantime i re-installed the oiltank and the box next to it that will hide a part of the MFC and some other electronics





Due to the lack of space, the best solution for the location of the hydraulic pump was between the two front axles. As a crane support is located there in retracted position, I had to modify the pump support to move it as far back as possible inside the chassis. 
I also took the opportunity to modify the supports for the AdBlue tank to keep some realism.








 

All the components finally take place and every place is used it is not easy to find a passage for the numerous hydraulic lines.
I finalized the installation of the pipes for the part of the bucket.

 

The return line to the tank is still missing.
I still have to find a solution because the one has to make an almost 90° elbow and I'm afraid that the section will straighten too much if I don't do it properly.
In the meantime, the next step is to install the ESC for the pump control and program the remote control for the hydraulic units control.
In the meantime the truck is waiting for me on my workbench

 

Thanks for looking

That's awesome Manu. Too nice work

Don't forget to fix the clocking of those universal (Cardan) joints on the drive shafts with significant angle.  The u-joints on each end need to be aligned to avoid heavy vibrations.

blakbird wrote:

Don't forget to fix the clocking of those universal (Cardan) joints on the drive shafts with significant angle.  The u-joints on each end need to be aligned to avoid heavy vibrations.

Thanks for that ! I will check that.

I started to install the electronic elements like all the servos needed for the operation, the regulators for the different motors (hydraulic pump and the one to turn the crane) and started the installation of the axle locking system as well as the central differential.

To install the steering servo on the rear axle I had no other choice than to remove the whole thing because of the lack of space.
Considering the space I had left, I had no other choice than to install this servo in horizontal position. To do this I had to modify the servo mounts to allow mounting between the chassis spaces.
Of course, I could have installed a smaller servo, like a mini for example, which would have made the installation easier, but considering the weight of the truck I think it would not have been strong enough.





I voluntarily installed a servo saver to be sure that the servo would not break.

Once this was done, I took advantage of free space to start installing the cables for the front and rear differential locks.
I thought I would have more room to place the cables, but the hydraulic lines took up all the space I had planned to use.
I installed the previously ordered servo with its bracket and will install and mount it tonight.





Seeing this micro servo, I have some doubts about its ability to have enough force to pull on the 4 cables. I'll do a test tonight and I'll be sure!
I had planned 1 servo to lock all the differentials and a second one to lock the transfer gearbox. We'll see if I'll have to modify my plans or not...


 

Other than that not much progress was visible on this project. 
I spent a large part of the week learning how to program the remote control, pair the receivers and find the best commands for operating the crane controls.

For this I have two receivers that will be assigned to two different models for the same truck. I explain: 

Receiver 1 will be used to drive the truck and to use the tipper because to put the tipper down the truck must be able to move forward. For that I need to have 4 channels to drive the truck, 1 channel for the steering of the last axle, 1 channel for the differential lock, 1 channel for the hydraulic pump and 2 for the hydraulic unit of the tipper. 
This brings the number of channels to 10.

Receiver 2 is intended for static use of the crane and for lifting the bucket only. For this I need 7 channels for the hydraulic units, 1 channel for the pump and 1 channel to turn the crane.
This brings the number of channels to 9.

The main problem is that my remote control is designed for flying machines like airplanes or drones.
This design has the disadvantage of having a pre-programming for these with predefined curves and mixes for the ailerons and other flight controls.
So the first step was to create a specific model with no pre-programming. This operation alone took me several evenings to figure out how to do....



Once the model was created, I had to assign a receiver to it. Another important step that I learned after a few hours to lose my nerves because it was impossible to make adjustments. Only after discovering on a forum that it was imperative to have a paired receiver to make the settings.

Once I found out how to do all these steps, I paired my receivers with an S-Bus decoder which allows me to double the number of channels. So I have 16 channels per receiver. All this had to be programmed during the receiver pairing procedure. 
Once all functions were assigned to the different channels I could test the operation of each channel.
Normally everything should have worked...but no servo was moving!



Again I visited the forums to try to find the cause and I finally found it. The S-Bus encoder firmware was not up to date. Once this one updated....Haleluya it works!
Almost everything works....except that the motor to turn the crane does not work....it turns only in one direction and cotinuous.
After various tests with other remote controls and receivers, the diagnosis fell: the MSC is defective.

My diagnosis was confirmed with the arrival of the new one because everything works now.

 

Wahooo..  that's a crazy setup. 

stingray-63 wrote:

Wahooo..  that's a crazy setup. 

ha ha ha yes indeed.
You almost have to be a IT guy/programmer to make it all work