Dakratfink 967 Posted September 11, 2022 I had a Hi-Rider Corvette I used to run in my Club’s Monster Truck class back before converted RC-10s and stadium trucks made the M/T class less “fun” ( read less chaotic and easier to control/faster ) Sure I got to drive an Optima Mid, Yokomo YZ10, and and a slew of on road carpet cars , the Hi Rider was “mine” the first hobby grade bought for me to play with , the others were Dad’s race cars that he let me drive as. It was a goofy blast to drive. Im currently looking at getting what appears to be a double dare with a hi rider body installed purely out of nostalgia. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mongoose1983 3335 Posted September 11, 2022 Hope I'm not too late... So let's get HI with the HI RIDER Corvette Y'all have a good week!! 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy L 56 Posted September 12, 2022 14 hours ago, mongoose1983 said: Hope I'm not too late... Never too late 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferruz 11702 Posted September 14, 2022 On 9/9/2022 at 11:07 AM, Crazy L said: As for Driveshafts. Mine were pretty work out. so I taught myself a different CAD package, then designed my own, and a few goes on the printer later later, I have steel reinforced plastic dogbones. About 11 months old now and still going strong. Was thinking of seeing if anyone wanted to buy a pair or two, if so, PM me. Interested. PM sent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy L 56 Posted September 16, 2022 OK, so this just arrived for my Big Brute. Hoping to get it installed and running. Looking forward to having a bit more go. Never heard of this company before, but I've read good things from other people. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy L 56 Posted September 16, 2022 I'd like to show you also, the hubs I made last year, as 2 of mine were broken when I got the truck. I have 4 of these fitted. I don't think I'll have a problem ever again. lol 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saito2 6686 Posted September 16, 2022 Nice work on those hubs. I realllly wish Thorp was still in business making their myriad drive train upgrades/ball diffs for various trucks and buggies. It would be killer to have a full Thorp set-up with telescoping axles in my Car Crushers. I'd love to mod my Double Dare and drive it with gusto. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Crazy L 56 Posted September 17, 2022 I second that @Saito2. I remember when I was a nipper and picked up an issue of RC Car Action in my local newsagent. So much stuff for trucks in the ads, compared to our buggy centric magazines, and I remember seeing a Thorp ad over a whole page, with the above hubs, stuff for other cars, the driveshafts you mention, and their apparently famous nut drivers. Have you seen how much used Thorp Big Brute Diffs and drive ups etc go for on ebay? Utterly ridiculous. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saito2 6686 Posted September 17, 2022 7 hours ago, Crazy L said: Have you seen how much used Thorp Big Brute Diffs and drive ups etc go for on ebay? Utterly ridiculous I paid a little of those ridiculous prices recently. One of my Double Dares came with Thorp axles and dogbones but oddly, not the diff outdrives. The previous owner had just jammed the Thorp 'bones into the stock plastic Kyosho outdrives and ran it like that, quite sloppily. I wound up buying the proper Thorp outdrives to complete it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferruz 11702 Posted September 17, 2022 23 hours ago, Saito2 said: Nice work on those hubs. I realllly wish Thorp was still in business making their myriad drive train upgrades/ball diffs for various trucks and buggies. It would be killer to have a full Thorp set-up with telescoping axles in my Car Crushers. I'd love to mod my Double Dare and drive it with gusto. I... third that (third? Can you even say that? 🤔 anywoo I do!). 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferruz 11702 Posted September 17, 2022 Well, after being so enthusiastic recently about praising the reliability of the Big Boss, I just encountered a bit of an issue. Of course! No big deal really, but I thought I'd be worth mentioning here. It's good to show it also because, at a closer look, it seems that it's once again just a little thing that can be prevented with a tweak, rather than a major flaw or a part failing. Therefore, I once again vouch for the toughness of the Boss! Here goes. The other day I was having fun with the truck as usual when suddenly, towards the end of my run, I started hearing a pronounced clickety sound coming from the gearbox. I stopped it at once and went home, eager to find out what could possibly have happened and imagining at the same time the worst case scenario, such as irreparably damaged gears and whatnot. Once I opened the gearbox, I was greeed by this: A small pebble, but yep, an actual pebble, made its way in between the spur and the diff gear. I was surprised and relieved at the same time. Surprised that this could happen, relieved that the simple removal of the rock would solve the issue. The gears involved were left with a bit of a dent in the teeth where the rock was, but we're far from TRF or racing whatsoever here, so I decided to just give them a nice clean, regrease and chuck them back on. The entire gearbox was due for some TLC anyway. Here's the spur gear involved. A little mangled, but after all just one more scar, an inner one this time, that the truck will wear with pride. Upon further examination, it turned out that there was quite some debris at the bottom of the gearbox. I believe that the holes for the suspension shafts were the culprits, since I could see daylight through them from the inside of the gearbox: I therefore decided to try and solve the cause of the issue by sealing those holes with some heavy compound, thick grease (so that if part of it ever falls into the gearbox, it's just grease and not another foreign body). If this turns to work out in time, I might intervene with something more permanent later. There may be some other concurring causes to the ingress of debris in my gearbox, such as other hidden "tolerance holes", maybe even some flex, probably wear -come to think of it, I don't know how many other Big Bosses on earth see such extended and consistent use nowadays- but we shall see. As of now, everything is installed back to normal, and with some cleaning and re-greasing and careful spacing of the pinion gear, the truck is now smooth and more silent than before (like I said, it was due for some maintenance anyway). Just took it for one more test drive and yes, everything is back to normal ✌ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toolmaker72 507 Posted October 20, 2022 A picture of my double dare. I bought this new a long time ago. It’s got a few marks on it but not bad considering it’s age. The only parts I’ve repaired are the pegged wheel drive adapters. I machined a brass ring to press the plastic part into and that stops it spitting into 2. It’s been fitted with ball race bearings and a electronic speed control recently and a dab of oil on the original stock motors. when it was freshly built I used to run it on 8.4v nicd batteries and it moved rather well. Now I’ve been using a 2s 7.4v battery. Still goes well 😊👍 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saito2 6686 Posted November 27, 2023 Updating this thread from last year with some finished projects. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakratfink 967 Posted November 30, 2023 Throwing a little of my $.02 in. I had a Hi Rider Vette back in the day. Dad and I had a Mid as “our” race rig and eventually saved up to buy me the monster vette tp play around the neighborhood and I also raced it in our club’s MT class. I don’t ever remember breaking anything major on it and handling wise it held its own against the Blackfoots that were prevalent at the time . We ran a Kyosho motor that was longer can than the standard 540 size. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markbt73 5316 Posted December 1, 2023 Hey, now I can play too! Here's the Hi-Rider Corvette that I restored earlier this year. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saito2 6686 Posted December 1, 2023 Glad to see another Car Crusher added to the pack here on Tamiyaclub, @markbt73. What do think of your vintage Kyosho monster experience so far? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markbt73 5316 Posted December 1, 2023 I like it! It handles well, and doesn't feel as tippy as I thought it would. The steering still feels awful to me, so I'm working on engineering a solution for that. And it feels overgeared, but most monster trucks from that era do; they were all trying to get more speed out of them. Otherwise, I'm impressed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saito2 6686 Posted December 1, 2023 Curious to see what you come up with for the steering. I have a Double Dare runner project, and having twice the sloppy steering leads to twice the awfulness. Perhaps something along the lines of the Sassy Chassis bell cranks would work. I noticed that overgeared feeling as well, like it takes a bit to spool up to top speed. I don't think the USA-1, with its Clod-sized tires is much different which probably explains its use of the torquier Mega 360 (relabeled Lemans 360ST I think) 550 can motors to move that beast. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dakratfink 967 Posted December 3, 2023 On 9/11/2022 at 6:14 PM, mongoose1983 said: Hope I'm not too late... So let's get HI with the HI RIDER Corvette Y'all have a good week!! That’s the same metallic purple mine was . Memories Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManyTamiya3 15 Posted December 9, 2023 I forgot about the Corvette, wasn't that a rather rare kit? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites