The Clod challenge

[mr_pushrod]

After DJ Theo's words of wisdom on no cost Clod improvements I started to wonder how cheaply a crawler could be made. As I am a student, finances are pretty tight so there is no way I could spend £600 on modifications. I already have a doner Clod and plenty of RC gear floating about so wondered if I could make a decent crawler for under £100 using bits I already had. At the moment it is looking pretty sorry for itself with a broken chassis, dodgy steering links, one broken front body post and one missing B11 part. I have already removed the external shock rubber and removed 4 shocks which has helped greatly as can be seen here;

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=13646&id=79

Next I plan to lower the shock mounts to stop the gearboxes hitting the chassis (cheers again Theo) and will then try to improve the steering. I have little workshop abilty and not a great deal of tools to work with but am prepared to give things a go and learn. So, any ideas?

RUNNING TOTAL: Clod doner £25

[netsmithUK]

I think Quicey has one which is almost all home built out of plastic sheet. I saw it a sneeterton this year and can vouch for its performance.

Chris

[Virus]

WOW thats an amazing clod Quicey has and all home built []

Paul

[fatboyslim]

Take a look here this lad did wonders!!

www.mattsrcstuff.com

[Virus]

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/xforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13214

these would add the bling bling needed to my clod wheels when i have it.any ideas where i could find these in steel? that could fit i think the ones on shodogs GT 2 look [8D]

Paul

[Virus]

oooops question answered

sorry [:I]

Paul

[mr_pushrod]

I had seen Quincey's clod before although had been slightly put off by the cants as they appear to add complication. Matt's site appears to be a great source of info, cheers fatboyslim!

[DJTheo]

I exactly also see it as a challenge, as the Clod chassis is very simple and can be modified very easily.

Can also recommend industrial 550 motors for extra toqrque (plus they can run with no problems with double cells for some naughty power [}]), I paid 4EU for each.

Also I added a new no name high torque servos (90Ncm!) for only 22EU, vast improvment, together with stiffening up a bit the servo savers (servo can kope with it as it has metal gears and stearing is very elastic)

Total cost till now for http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=22316&id=16 :

Clod with RC and ESC: traded for old PC parts 0EU

Mount and damper mods: 0EU

Tamiya alu dampers : 30EU (optional)

Painting body: 20EU

550 Motors: 2x4EU

90Ncm Servo: 22EU

Sum till now: 80EU

Cheers

[Virus]

now thats one cheap clod [8D]

well done DJtheo [^]

Paul

[mr_pushrod]

I think servos, shocks and an ESC are going to be the most costly bits. I am currently looking at maybe T/E-Maxx or Savage shocks as there are plenty of people getting rid of them in favour of alloy items. A look on Ebay revealed 8 Savage shocks with a BIN of £20 and bids no where near this amount. If I only use 4, then I should be able to sell the rest and get some money back too. I am hoping that I can get away with only one super high torque servo and one of a lesser strength such as that for the steering on a Maxx truck. I figure that as standard the rear wheels turn far more than the front due to drag on the ground, a weak rear servo will lead to a more predictable handling truck. As for ESC, if I am using high torque motors I should be able to use 1 or 2 cheap ESCs depending on how many cells I want.

[minijosh]

Hey Alan, I have a stock chassis at home just waiting to be modded. Would you like to take my truck and do the same for it as you have done for yours? As you know, I forgot to get the wind screen from you last time.

[mr_pushrod]

Still, got that windscreen in a box of bits waiting for you, lol. You want me to just take the rubber out and remove 4 shocks or do anything I do that works, lol.

[SJoerD]

quote:Originally posted by mr_pushrod

A look on Ebay revealed 8 Savage shocks with a BIN of £20 and bids no where near this amount. If I only use 4, then I should be able to sell the rest and get some money back too.

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Maybe you can sell those for half of 20 to me - as I'm thinking up the challenge of a cheap modified Clod as well! Maybe you would prefer buying a pack of aly ones and split that with your one and only best friend? []

[Virus]

are these open to bids if uk based [)]

ill rasie sjoerd £1 []

Paul

[mr_pushrod]

The shocks can be bid on as well so they could go for less. I would be up for going halves with someone if 8 shocks had to be bought although it looks to me like Savage ones are thinner than normal. Could someone confirm this or tell me that I need new glasses?

[fatboyslim]

Another good site I got is www.mudcow.com another 'Shoestring ModClod' builder!!

An excellent place to go for anything Clod is the forums at www.clodtalk.com

I can see this becoming like 'Scrap Heap Challenge' who can build the cheapest ModClod!!

[siv429]

Off the topic slightly here but in my super clod manual it says i only need one servo for 4WS!! Ive always been led to belive that i would need two servos for steering! When the manual says one for msc and one for steering!! Someone help me pls this is so confusing!! (to me anyway[)])

Justin

[mud4fun]

The stock clod uses ONE servo for steering, it is mounted in the base of the chassis and has two long rods connected either side of a steering servo horn. The single servo can thus turn both sets of wheels at the same time. However, the servo needs to be a pretty powerful, torquey one!

With a 3+ channel set you could mount a servo on each axle which would give the added advantge of being able to steer the axles by differing amounts or same direction to 'crab' sideways' etc. The stock 4WS only gives opposite steering which gives a very tight turning circle, however it is also a nuisance when trying to drive quickly as the vehicle isn't easy to keep in a straight line. Many racers lock up the rear axle steering and steer only on the front.

Any mounting for a servo on the axle will be an aftermarket kit.

[siv429]

Cheers Ian! you never let anyone down do you [] Would my s3003 cope with the strain?? and could anyone enlighten me on how to lockup the rear wheel steering??

Justin

[mud4fun]

There are proper kits available to lockup the rear steering but a cheap and simple method is to remove the rear steering rod from the bottom of the steering horn/unit and replace it with a fixed rod from the wheel to a bracket on the gearbox. This prevents the wheels turning but it is a bit crude and still allows for a small amount of play in the wheels. The proper solution would be to remove the pivot mechanism completely from the rear uprights and replace with solid fixed uprights but that would call for custom made parts which would be very expensive.

To be honest the stock Clod Buster is not a high speed vehicle so I wouldn't worry too much about locking that rear steering up.

I personally would lock the rear diff up (and possibly the front too) and keep the stock 4WS which you'll need if you lock the diffs as that causes severe understeer and lack of turning circle. The ClodBuster isn't as great as you'd imagine, its poor stock articulation means it lifs wheels easily and without a locked diff you'll find it spends lots if time spinning wheels but actually going nowhere! You'll be best advised to glue the tyres to the rims too, especially if you fit a more powerful motor.

The S3003 Futaba servo isn't really man enough for the job, especially rock crawling. You can get relatively cheap hi-torque servos from JP/hitech etc for £20-30 each.

[TWINSET]

quote:

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Originally posted by mud4fun

With a 3+ channel set you could mount a servo on each axle which would give the added advantge of being able to steer the axles by differing amounts or same direction to 'crab' sideways' etc.

Any mounting for a servo on the axle will be an aftermarket kit.

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For rear steering, make sure the 3rd channel is 'variable' and not an on/off switch like the Traxxas, HPI and various other trigger radios, otherwise, the rears will steer permanently in one direction, until you flick the switch, whereby they will steer permanently in the other direction.

I use a 4ch R/C on Gravel Rash, am thinking of a use for the 4th channel still []

For aftermarket servo mounts, RcGuy and Thundertech both do options, but it's a fairly simple bracket to fab up. The RcGuy one mounts to the gearbox using the existing holes used for holding the gearbox together.

RcGuy version

Thundertech;

[mr_pushrod]

Twinset, is the Thundertech central servo mount any better than say the RC Guy one? I've been doing some reading and saw that apparentely the TTech one with steering arms both connected directly to the servo saver is more accurate. This looks much harder to replicate so am wondering if it's worth the extra hassle

[fatboyslim]

It's a shame there isn't somebody here at TC(who has easy access to machining equipment NO names mentioned[][](ANDY!!)) doesn't get some bits like these made!! If the price was right I'm pretty sure they'd sell a few!!

[DJTheo]

Bought and added 2x Graupner 600 Race for 15EU each last weekend, good punch and very nice top speed for not too much money and too high battery and ESC requirements, recommended! [8D]

Videos will be added on my site, one day when I find time []

[mr_pushrod]

Cool, I am currentely looking at easy ways to sort gearboxed mounted servos. Am going to experiment with aluminium 90 degree angle bolted to the bumper mounts. A servo will fit between them and should make for an easier soloution to anything I have seen. Only problem could be the plastic flexing but I will have to wait and see.