Element Gatekeeper - Rock crawler Build
Element Gatekeeper Trail Buggy / Rock Crawler
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After more than two years of serving as a test crawler in the fleet, we felt it was time to get our Element Gatekeeper its own page on the website. The performance on the trail has been excellent, and overall, we believe this is a fine RC rock crawler and trail buggy. Modeled after the Ultra 4 4400 class of off-road racing machines, the Gatekeeper is designed to combine aspects of technical rock crawling with high-speed desert racing into one platform. The Gatekeeper is built off Element’s Enduro platform but differs slightly in that it runs a trailing arm in the rear rather than solid links. It also incorporates Element’s unique behind the axle steering linkage and stealth transmission. |
From there, the rest of the platform is fairly standard 1/10 trail truck layout with a 50/50 skid placement, aluminum c-channel chassis rails, centered transmission / motor mount, and chassis mounted servo.
Element has now discontinued the Gatekeeper, but while it was in their lineup, it was offered as a RTR as well as a kit. Like most avid crawler builders, we selected the kit for our needs and saved the pain to scrapping the OEM electronics into the rubbish bin.
Element has now discontinued the Gatekeeper, but while it was in their lineup, it was offered as a RTR as well as a kit. Like most avid crawler builders, we selected the kit for our needs and saved the pain to scrapping the OEM electronics into the rubbish bin.
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Deficiencies
The Gatekeeper’s roll cage is surprisingly heavy, coming in at 440 grams on the scale. When compared to a basic lexan crawler body weighing around 120 grams, it’s substantially heavier with the weight well above the centerline of the skid plate. For a time, we swapped out the roll cage with an Ecto body, and the performance on the trail immediately improved. What was too steep an angle to crawl with the cage became possible with the much lighter Ecto body. That said, the truck then became an Ecto and lost the visual feel and driving characteristics of the Gatekeeper, so we opted to switch it back. Another troubling feature is the hindered approach angle due the front of the roll cage sticking out past the front axle housing. |
Element's Ecto body mounted on the Gatekeeper, thus becoming the Ecto.
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Plenty of suspension articulation when you drop the rear sway bar.
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Modifications & Setup
Rather than writing a long essay walking through the upgrades, I opted to make a bulleted list and then note some comments where needed for clarification. Electronics
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Mods
Wheels and Tires
- Motor flip mount ( this places the motor forward of the transmission )
- Extended steering arms
- Removed excess weight and sway bar
- Aluminum chassis braces
- Aluminum shock towers
- SSD Knuckle weights, rear axle weights, and aluminum C-hubs
- Internal springs on shocks, 25 wt oil.
- Front battery mount
- 88 Tooth 48p spur gear
Wheels and Tires
- Injora aluminum beadlock wheels
- Crawler Innovations 4.5” two-stage foams
- JConcepts 1.9” Holds
Here are a few close-up images under the Gatekeeper's hood. The steering linkage extenders are a good upgrade for steering around tight terrain on the trail, and the SSD weights down low on the axle help off-set the heavy roll cage.
All things considered, the Gatekeeper is well balanced on the scale and it shows when tacking off-camber technical terrain. |
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Closing Thoughts
At this point, we are ready to put the pencil down and call this Gatekeeper build complete. It performs quite well on the trail and on the steep rocky terrain, no doubt being aided by the open-wheel design and improved weight distribution. Element decided to drop the Gatekeeper from their current product line, but since it’s fundamentally an Enduro with trailing arms ( or what they now offer as the Ecto ), keeping the Gatekeeper outfitted with spare parts should be of no concern. For the time being, you can even get spare roll cages and the scale parts from Element, but I suspect you would really need to work hard at wearing out the original cage before you would need a new one. |