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Nikko85

GF01 Heavy Dump build with working tipper

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The GF01 Heavy Dump is a great little vehicle, but it always frustrated me that the tipper bed does not function. Lots of toy grade RCs have this ability, as did the Mammoth Dump Truck so it's not impossible, surely? Yes, you can lift it manually with your own arms, but where is the fun in that? 

I recently got a GF01TR and set about making a Heavy Dump with working tipper bed.

No idea how I was going to approach at the start, but with mighty whole A level in physics 18 years ago I thought there had to be a solution I could come up with somehow.

Aims were something that went up and down, stayed down when not in use and did not need any large modifcations to the truck in case I wanted to go back to the original.

As this was built from a GF01TR I started with the black chassis for this build, and to be honest I much prefer it, simply because Tamiya did a poor job of colour matching the parts on the Heavy Dump and the chassis was a much paler sickly yellow than the body. I added CVA shocks, Radio Shack tires and the Lunch Box bumper mod to change out the front bumper to something less massive. Oh and the stainless steel suspension shaft set.

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so far so standard.

To add the lifting bed I first made a servo plate from 3 mm acrylic. This was then bolted onto the battery cover using the two 3 mm holes already in the tray and one hole I drilled in the middle.

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Servo mounts added and servo put in.

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Connecting arm is a servo horn attached to an MF01x upper arm attached to a 3mm rod end.

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The battery tray is then attached as normal. You have to be careful to not get too long bolts so you don't foul the battery but there is space for an M3 locking nut on the other side. The single nut in the middle is m4.

A single hole is drilled near the end of the bed, which links the arm to the bed.

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The bed pivots on the rear mounts. When the arm is up the tail of the bed is pushed up, keeping the bed locked down.

When you flick the servo the arm rotates anti clockwise and the bed is lifted at the cab end.

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....press a button...

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Lift off! Pressing the channel 3 button will lift the bed but the second I let go it will drop down again and be pretty much locked in place. I can use the body clips to lock down fully for off road bashing. There is a little flex in the acrylic sheet, which gives the mechanism some give. That is good as there is no servo saver!

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So that's it. I think the truck looks great with the bumper, black chassis and RS tires. Massive thanks to @TurnipJF for the body, when he is older my son is going to love this I think! Will probably store it in loft or on shelf till then.

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Electronics are the ubiquitous HW1060 with eTronix 15kg servos and cheap TX which has a nice 3 channel function.

Driving is good.

Only slight negavite is previous maker locked the diffs with goey stuff so the lovely tiny turning circle is gone. Probably better off road, but I miss the sparky character the chassis has with open diffs. May open up front diff as compromise? 

Also lots of sag in the suspension like the CVA super mini  arms are too short, I want it riding a little higher. Sure my other dump never had this issue.

EDIT: Lifted 1.6 kg evenly on the bed, this seems to be the limit of the plastic. Scaled up (1:40) this is around 100 tonnes, which is a little less that the real thing, but still respectable. Any more and I would need an aluminium servo mounting plate, stronger hinge, enforced bed and the weight would go up which is not worth it for me.

 

 

 

 

 

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Fantastic mods, making it your own.

As a small boy many, many decades ago my Tonka Toy dump truck was one of my favourites, I’m sure your son will love this truck and it will hold many fond memories for him in years to come. 
 

46567-C10-95-C1-41-AF-8-E1-F-CE3-F5687-C

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Thanks guys, I was very happy with the tipping mod, its so simple I am amazed I've not seen it done already. I saw someone attach a long lever arm to a servo so it pushed the bed up but, but it didn't bring it down in a controlled way.

Happy to provide measurement and more details if anyone wants to try this, or has a 3D printer as that would be the ultimate. In fact you could make an interregrated servo holder and battery cover, meaning zero need to drill anything other than the very end of the bed. 

As for future plans, well I never sold my 1/24 Nikko Road Express in the end, so we will have a scale trailer truck to match. Well, actually not reallly scale as the Nikko is 1/24 and the GF01 is more like 1/40 (compared to the truck I think it is based on) but close enough.  Hopefully we'll enjoy tipping potatoes from the dump to the trailer and driving around in a few years... sure my wife will love it.

Probably going to park this in the loft so can be given as new. 

PS suspension sorted. Stretched out the springs and added a M3 nut between  the shaft and the 5mm adjuster to give a little more length.

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Awesome work, @Nikko85!!   Pulling the end of the bed down to lift the front is very smart! 

Thanks. Mechanically speaking I don't think it gives much benefit over pushing the bed up from the other side of the pivot and in fact a negative as the bed is not perfectly rigid and so this method bends the bed a little. Although the servo is not super strong, it's the bed and the plate and the body arms that are the weak parts. Amazing it can bend 3 mm acrylic like that. Pushing against the load directly would be better, but by overhanging off the edge it allows for much greater space for the arm to move, and there is also more space in under the bed as the battery slopes upwards towards the cab.

Could add a second servo to push, but no really worth it, it can lift a beer or potatoes.

 

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Great mod. Nikko85 Certainly a shame the dump truck doesnt do this as standard. Now it can drive a can of beer from the fridge to your arm chair :) Any chance of a video of it in action?

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@Nikko85 would you please post a picture of the shock mod?

Our LB has got a saggy front end after putting the CVA’s on and I need to find a fix for it.

 

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7 hours ago, Grumpy pants said:

@Nikko85 would you please post a picture of the shock mod?

Our LB has got a saggy front end after putting the CVA’s on and I need to find a fix for it.

 

Yes, it's really just a way of extending the length of the shocks by not screwing the end all the way down the shaft, whilst also allowing for the security you feel when it's locked in, and also consistency of keeping them the same length. 

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