I have been thinking about building a crawler for years.  I friend of mine recommended the comp crawler and so I went for it

06/01/10
I ordered a bunch of stuff from a bunch of vendors.

Tower Hobbies:
    (1) TM-14 and R6014HS receiver (this was to convert my Futaba 12z to 2.4Ghz)
    (1) R6004FF receiver
    (2) Futaba S9157 servos for steering
    (1) Futaba S9650 servo for the dig unit

A Main Hobbies:
    (2 sets) Aluminum Servo Mounts

Horizon Hobbies:
    (1) Losi Comp Crawler
    (1) Xcelorin Sensored 17.5T Brushless ESC and motor

CKRCcrawler.com:
    (2) Aluminum C's
    (2) High Steering
    (2) Aluminum Knuckles
    (2) Hardended axles (front)
    (2) Servo mounts

06/02/10
Ordered 2 sets of 0-deg lock plates from BizarreHobbies.com and (2) Losi 1350 11.1v batteries from NitroHouse.com

06/03/10
The servo tabs from A Main Hobbies and the TM-14, RS6014HS & R6004FF from Tower arrived today.

06/04/10
The Comp Crawler, ESC, motor from Horizon Hobbies and the 3 servos from Tower all arrived today.

Ordered 1 set of 0-deg lock plates from some guy on eBay.  I tried to get 2 sets from him, but he wouldn't communicate.

In the evening, I assembled the crawler with the parts I have.  2-wheel steering for now, but it's still a ton of fun.

06/06/10
I tried painting the body, but that went horribly wrong.  I painted the coats too heavy and too often.  The metal flake in the paint all ran down to the roof (painting the inside of the body, upside-down).  I was able to use a paper towel to wipe out the paint at the roof.  Bruce helped apply a proper coat to the roof area and it looks better, but still not very good.

06/07/10
The batteries from NitroHouse and the o-deg lock plates from the eBay guy arrived today.  The order from CKRCcrawlers.com should have arrived by now.  Will call them.

I've left a voicemail with the BizarreHobbies guy regarding the 0-deg lock plates.

06/08/10
Ordered

Tower Hobbies:
    (1) Duratrax Powerpole Connectors (20)
    (1) Robinson Racing pinion, 12T

A Main Hobbies:
    (1) LCC body
    (4) HPI Rover tires
    (4) Newage 3-spoke aluminum wheels
    (1) Losi shock oil (40wt, 2oz)
    (1) 4-40 mini nuts
    (1) Losi Com Crawler Screw Kit

I spoke to the guys at CKRCcrawlers.com.  The tracking information at UPS still shows they haven't given them the box yet.  The manifest is there, but not the box.  CKRC is boxing up a new order and sending it.

I've emailed the BizarreHobbies guy regarding the 0-deg lock plates.

06/09/10
The orders from A Main Hobbies and CKRC arrived today.  Three of the wheels look perfect.  The 4th is missing a bead lock ring and it's screws on one side.  I'll call them tomorrow.

Filed a dispute with Paypal regarding the BizarreHobbies guy.

Bruce worked on the paint job on the replacement body.  I had picked up some 1/8" pin strip masking, so he laid down a pin-stripe down the side, on the hood and on the trunk.  He also masked out the windows.  He painted the blue, then removed the window mask and painted black.  He also removed the pin-stripe mask, but he's going to paint the yellow pin-stripe tomorrow.

06/10/10
I called A Main Hobbies.  I was on hold longer than I expected and the guy I spoke too wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but he was very helpful.  They are shipping a replacement wheel and they don't need me to return the one missing parts.  It'll be nice to have a spare wheel.

I escalated the Paypal dispute to a claim regarding the BizarreHobbies guy.

I started putting some of the gear on the crawler, but I have some missing items.  I need a set of king pins and a couple bearings for the rear axle.  I'm not happy with the aluminum knuckles at all.  They don't capture the bearing tight enough.  Once everything is assembled, the wheel can rock up/down, left/right too much.  Bruce painted the yellow pin-stripe and removed the clear lexan cover from the top.  I'm VERY happy with the paint.

06/11/10
The replacement wheel from A Main Hobbies and the order from Tower Hobbies arrived today.  The wheel from A Main looks perfect, but Tower messed up when they packaged my order.  They had the 12T pinion gear, but no power poles.  Instead, there were 2 wheels for a Traxxas car in the bag.  I'll call them on Monday and get it straightened out.

I picked up a set of king pins and bearings to complete the rear-steer.  This evening I put everything together.  It takes some serious brain power to keep track of steering 2 axles, throttle, front/rear dig & steering mixes.  After everything was assembled I realized that the steering kits I bought from CKRC don't really work right.  Well, they steer fine, but they move the steering servo so far back in the chassis that it hits the coil overs almost immediately when the suspension is flexed.  I don't like the new tie rod sticking so far out in front when the knuckles are installed traditionally.  I used the stock tie-rod in the front and I modified the new tie-rod by bending it up steeper.  It looks a bit funky from the back, but it works decent.

06/12/10
I striped one of the set screw holes in one of the aluminum knuckles.  I tried to find an EZ out small enough, but that's asking a lot.  I tried to drill it out and it didn't go as well as I would have hoped.  I'm not happy with these knuckles anyway because of the loose bearings, so I ordered (2) Losi Aluminum Spindle Sets from A Main Hobbies.

Something else I noticed today.  Occasionally, the crawler will go full throttle reverse all by itself.  The only way to stop it is grab the crawler, pick it up and turn off the ESC.  While it was freaking out, I checked the steering and it was working fine.  I also tried turning off the transmitter, but that didn't have any effect.  After turning off the ESC, I took the cover off and the antenna for the receiver is clear of all metal.  It doesn't seem to be receiver related.  I'll have to contact Losi (Horizon Hobby).

06/14/10
I called Tower Hobbies today and let them know they messed up my order.  They are shipping the replacement Powerpoles today.

I discovered that Losi has a firmware update for the ESC.  Tonight I'll check to see what version of firmware I'm running. (Update: turns out I'm running the latest firmware already G.01.01.05)

06/15/10
Today the ESC started misbehaving in an all-new way.  Without any changes from me, reverse no longer works.  Also, if I run the crawler for more than 2 minutes, I lose forward as well.  After rebooting the ESC I get forward, but still no reverse.  I tried multiple batteries and they all behave the same.  I called Horizon Hobby (Losi's parent company) and discussed the problem with Scott.  He wants me to ship it in for them to examine.  He's feels fairly certain that they'll look at it and ship a replacement.  I asked if they could cross-ship, and he said only if I paid for another one first.  Reluctantly, I agreed.

When I got home I reset the default profile.  I now have reverse, but who knows for how long.  I wasn't able to run it long enough to see if it was going to freak out.

Also when I got home, my Losi Aluminum Knuckles had arrived.  The main design flaw with the Hot-Racing knuckles is that they don't capture the bearings very well.  There is a ton of wheel rocking and toe-in / toe-out.  The Losi knuckles capture the bearings properly.  The design advantage with the Hot-Racing knuckles is the way they captured the king pins.  The Losi versions have allen set screws that lock the king pin to the knuckle.  This means that the kin pins must rotate in the aluminum C's.  With the Hot-Racing knuckles, they include extra aluminum "L"s that hold the king pins from the top.  This allows the king pins to rotate either in the knuckle or in the "C"s, whichever supplies less resistance.

06/16/10
I ran the crawler for a little bit this evening.  I was curious if after resetting the default profile on the ESC and getting reverse back if it was still going to full throttle reverse all on it's own.  It does.  I also measured up the tie-rod.  I'd like to make my own high clearance tie-rod that uses proper connectors at the knuckles.

I heard from Paypal today.  They've resolved my claim against Bizarre Hobbies and have refunded my money. 

06/18/10
The replacement Xcelorin ESC and motor arrived today.  I went with the 21.5t this time.

06/19/10
I got the replacement ESC and motor installed and running.  Everything is good so far.  Reverse works, no freaking out on its own.