Monster beetle mods

[Terz1 745]

Hi guys. I've decided to do some mods to my re-re monster beetle. I bought it a couple of years back for £80 with transmitter, charger and batteries. The shell has no scuffs and the rubber spikes look hardly worn. It looks like they've built it, run it once or twice and then sold it. 

I've done a bit of research, googling and asking around and what I've decided to do is get the MIP ball diff. I know there's cheaper fixes but this seems to be the one that let's you run the faster motors and batteries without worrying about it. I fit bearings as soon as I got it. I've already fitted the larger frog skid plate at the front and aluminium 'P' plates. I've seen lots of aluminium parts on ebay but I've decided to buy some aluminum sheet and make my own. So far I'm thinking of making some plates were the shocks attach at the back and may be the front shock tower too. 

Another mod I'm doing is to relocate the servo in the middle of the chassis. I've got the threaded rod and alloy sleeves to go over them and a metal geared servo and kimborough servo saver. I've also got some fastrax rose joints which should be red, they look more pink though, doh! 🤦‍♂️😄. I've also got some 4mm spacers to raise the servo arms. Hopefully these mods will improve the steering and eliminate bump steer. Finally I've got an alloy brace that goes between the rear body posts. 

I like tinkering and the beetle has quite a few areas that needed tinkering with so I'm happy 😄. I heard they raced these back in the day so I know I'm not doing anything new here but I'm going to enjoy doing it 🙂. Oh I've got a beetle lexan shell too for running. That should withstand the rolls better and lower its centre of gravity too. 

Anything else I can do? I'm thinking may be foams for the tyres? Love any suggestions and to see what others are doing to their monster beetle, blackfoot and mud blasters 😎👍

[Terz1 745]

Frog front skid plate... 

[Terz1 745]

Monster beetle front skid plate... Beetles is much smaller. 

[Frog Jumper 3285]

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/91616-blackfoot-12mm-front-hex-mod-project/

[Terz1 745]

25 minutes ago, Frog Jumper said:

https://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/91616-blackfoot-12mm-front-hex-mod-project/

Great thread 👍. When I've finished with these mods I'll have a go at what you did. Seems like you had fun and success with it. 

[Saito2 5279]

Some stuff I've done with the Monster Beetle's stablemate, the Blackfoot. I'm not sure if the driveshaft bit will be of use since the MIP diff constrains you to using the universal shafts I believe. Some of its small, tedious stuff but I like digging into the details. 

[Terz1 745]

42 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

Some stuff I've done with the Monster Beetle's stablemate, the Blackfoot. I'm not sure if the driveshaft bit will be of use since the MIP diff constrains you to using the universal shafts I believe. Some of its small, tedious stuff but I like digging into the details. 

Thanks Saito some great stuff you've done to the blackfoot 😎. I've been digging around the internet and I haven't come across some of the mods you have done in to yours. I've done some of the shimming like you mentioned as there is a lot of slop on these ORV chassis. I'm going to check look at all the mods you mentioned but particularly the pen spring and the sponge piece to stop the UV shafts popping out. To be honest that hasn't happened to me yet but i want to future proof it. I think you were spot on when you mentioned that these ORV monster trucks are flawed but a fun design, plus I totally agree they're a blast to drive. I've got and original blackfoot from the 80's, a mud blaster from the early 90's and this re-re monster beetle. Love them.

[Kol__ 2685]

Hi mate,

I'm currently working on a Monster Beetle. Bought an original 80's MB and restored it with mostly rere parts. Some of the old parts are super brittle and I have some cracks in the rear shock forward mounts you mentioned above. I'm also considering picking up some sheet aluminium and making myself a stronger set. I wonder however if I replace too many parts with stiffer ally sheet will it simply transfer shocks to more rigid and expensive to replace parts of the chassis. And the Frog skid plate is on my list too, it's a good call.

Also, it's worth checking out Ampro's parts on Shapeways. There's quite a few part he's designed that I'd love to pick up for my MB, not least because you can colour code them. I particularly like the front suspension parts to reduce/remove the bump steer, plus he has YouTube vids on pretty much all the parts, demoing the installs.