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Got myself a Super Clod Buster off eBay over the weekend. It had been a shelf queen for the past year and has only been used once.

Have fitted a light kit to it so I can use this time of year at night :lol:

I am going to strip it and rebuild with rubber sealed ball bearings and a replace the nasty purply blue bits with classic red Clod parts as the shell has already been painted red.

Had a quick run with it last night and it has highlighted a few short comings and wondered if people could give me some advice please! :)

The suspension - could it be more any more basic??! :( It sounds very "toy" like when its using its pogo-sticks - are oil dampers an option? If so what ones to people recommend?

ESC - what options are there? I think its probably fast enough with the silver can motors - I was thinking about a 15t Mtroniks - would this be powerful enough?

Obviously I cant leave it standard so what other mods do you Clodders recommend? :P

clodlunchiefallguy1.jpg

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Nice one! These are great fun.

For an ESC to run the standard silver can motors, I have always found the SilverStart Ultra to be very good: From Modelsport

There have been many discussions on whether it is designed for twin motor or not, I've got 2, and my brother has 2 as well. He runs twin Venom 19t in his truck with no problems. Somewhere on here Twinset has done a "how to" on getting 6v out of the BEC instead of 4.8v. Will make a big difference to how well it steers, and fitting a high torque servo will make that much better.

Finally, beware the steering servo's. On the Clod they are stood upright through the front face of the gearbox (rear face on the back). These are a real weak point, especially of going off road. I know someone makes alloy replacement, just not sure who...

Hope this helps, but other members can shed more light

Steve

p.s. Forgot to say, the TLT / Jugg gold shocks should fit without too much adjustment, just that they are smaller bore. Otherwise you could try aftermarked ones, but the tps often foul on the chassis...

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Thanks for the reply!

Its such a huge beast - its more for laughs really but I do want it to drive a little less toy like!

Finally, beware the steering servo's. On the Clod they are stood upright through the front face of the gearbox (rear face on the back). These are a real weak point, especially of going off road. I know someone makes alloy replacement, just not sure who...

Not sure what part you mean here?

As for the ESC - I was hoping not to spend that much! :lol: Will have to read everyones Clods in the showrooms and see what people have done...

Cheers!

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Ah WoW, Congrats on getting the Clod....Still remains one of the finest in the Tamiya Fleet.

I have a fully ball raced Super Clod and love it to bits, although it needs a newer paint job at the moment. It munches the off road like no other Tamiya can. Ok so it isn't so fast but what fun. And on silver cans the battery lasts 20-30 mins.

The rattly suspension is proper 80s hard-core..... Why change it. Ok some nice dampers wouldn't go amiss but given the restrictive suspension travel anyway, the benefits would be limited.

Not really the truck to be racing at speed, so bounce from the suspension should be well manageable. With a burning desire for some dampers you could try Tmaxx ones or similar nitro truck goodness with spacers to get the correct offset fit.

The semi pneumatic tyres act as a good portion of the suspension travel and damping on this truck. Hence why they are a soft compound, and compress easily, unlike the large nitro trucks which rely on the suspension linkage system.

As for the ESC, I use the Ripmax No Limit, available from all good #cough# hobby stores for about 40. Why this one. Technically they can handle any motor limit in a single motor set up and as a bonus the peak current load they can handle, is ridiculously high. If the dual motors go under heavy load then it isn't a problem with this controller. Currently I have this set up to two Tamiya Silver Cans that come with the kit, but I wouldn't hesitate to put some much lower turns in it. In fact the Tamiya Super Stock BZ is an ideal choice for this truck.

Pick you motor very carefully in these. They are a heavy truck. The Tamiya Super Stocks are fantastic motors as they produce so much more torque compared to similar specced/turn motors and are ideal for the trucks. I would compare a Super Stock RZ (officially 23T) to a Reedy Quad Mag 19T in a truck. And those Reedys are some of the better 19T motors.

The Clod, by virtue of the steering mechanism and the fact it seems to steer from the back means that anything below a 19T or equivalent motor will make the truck a tad unreliable in the handling dept because of the speed. The handling on the Clod can be improved for speed but not by a huge margin. For crawling the handling can be much improved but you cant have it both ways on these unfortunately.

The main essential basic must do mods for the steering are:

1) A high Torque servo which is a must, spend 20-30 on one of these at least.

2) The servo horn at the servo is quite a small diameter as standard. The link arms off this to the front and rear steering racks don't move far enough imo. This should be replaced with a longer arm one which will probably come with the high torque servo. Usually the 4 arm servo horns with 3-5 holes on each arm are suitable. The further out from the central point you go the greater the leverage and the further your steering will move.

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Great reply thanks! :(

I already have an MG995 servo that I will use when I rebuild it#

Main thing is just to astound everyone with its sheer presence! B)

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Great reply thanks! :(

I already have an MG995 servo that I will use when I rebuild it#

Main thing is just to astound everyone with its sheer presence! B)

Yep they do do that, just waiting, soaking in the admiring looks. They still hold there own against the Nitro Trucks in that dept as well, mainly as they go so slow people get time to have a good look at them.

I am going to do a Big Foot paint job on mine at some point in the classic early 80s big foot marine blue. The era the chasis was based on and all that.

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Just a word of caution if you'll upgrade to modified motors: Since they'll run in opposite directions, you'll need two matched zero-timed motors. or if the motors have adjusted timing, one should be advanced in the opposite direction. Otherwise your axles will run at different speeds.

As for the ESC upgrade, make sure you take the motor specs into account. If you run the motors in parallel (the clod "speed" side-switch on "faster") two 19T motors will apear to the ESC as one 9.5 turn motor. Otherwise the overheat shutoff feature on the ESC will kick in before you get a complete run off the battery. and will happen sooner on repeated runs.

As for the suspension. Without a total aftermarket overhaul there's not much to do besides upgrade to dampers over the stock bouncy springs. Unfortunately befcause of the chassis design that doesn't help suspension travel much and you'll still only have 1" at each end. If you want to add to suspension travel, check out the ESP clod lift kit it's relatively cheap: 12:95: http://esphobby.com/clod.htm (mid-page)

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The rattly suspension is proper 80s hard-core..... Why change it. Ok some nice dampers wouldn't go amiss but given the restrictive suspension travel anyway, the benefits would be limited.

The Clod, by virtue of the steering mechanism and the fact it seems to steer from the back means that anything below a 19T or equivalent motor will make the truck a tad unreliable in the handling dept because of the speed.

Totally spot on there Prescient!

The suspension does it's job and keeps the truck rolling like a true 1980's monster truck - bouncy and loud!

The stock steering setup will always steer most from the back even with a high torque servo, because the rear wheels are being pulled along they are working more freely, in a similar way to caster wheels on a super market trolley B)

You'd risk smoking an RV 15 esc with the stock motors.

I run mine with an Mtroniks RV 11, which is well within its limits with two 27 turn motors (two 27's is like running a single 13 turn motor), run time with that esc and a 3300 nimh pack is excellent. I remember the days where you'd be lucky to get a clod running for 5 minutes on power mode, with a 1400 ni cad and the MSC! ;)

The best upgrade to a stock clods chassis (apart from the obvious bearings esc etc..) are aluminum replacements of the B11 "Anti rotation brackets". These are plastic brackets, one on each gearbox, which hold it to one of the lower links. They can break due to the gearbox getting hit by an obstacle, or just by the sheer torque of the motors. I made my own aluminum ones but you can buy them as proper after market parts.

getuserimageasptidimg2088_130920061.jpg

Other than that, the chassis is pretty tough! Your super clod already has re enforcement of the chassis tub center, so you can ignore my trucks big alloy chassis plates :huh: The original used to snap in that area.

The gearbox mounted servo savers can break if you do them up too tight. Run them as the instructions say and you should be ok.

If its just for fun, i recommend keeping it fairly standard - there is nothing wrong with having a standard clod! My one is 20 years old and still works perfectly, its had a few new bits but nothing major has ever given up. Its one of tamiya's best designs, and thats why they still make them :(

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Decisions have been made! Walawala rubber sealed ball bearings throughout - Mtroniks RV11 ESC - original Clod red F parts to replace the yuck blue Super Clod parts and thats going to be it!

It will get used off road - but I will always have my XC for serious offroading - I just wanted to own a Clod! B)

Used it again this evening - have junked the reciever pack and hooked the lights up to the main battery power - still didnt run out my 3300 nimh in over 10 minutes on "power" mode and that same battery was used yesterday for 10 minutes too without a charge in between! Looks like with the ESC and bearings I should get at least 30 minutes which is pretty blooming good I think!

I noticed a significant speed increast when I fitted a TEU101BK to my Lunchbox - will the Clod be the same? Although to be fair its quick enough as it is!

Cheers everyone!

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Wow, someone keeping a Clod relatively stock! How refreshing! So many today wind up wittled down to merely gearboxes hanging off a ton of aftermarket bits. I like the big bouncy stock Clod. I have a TXT-1, and my mates are always befudled when they see me tooling about in my stock Super Clod. They wonder why I even spend time driving it. They just don't get the fun of driving one of those old beast. Pity.

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Obviously I cant leave it standard so what other mods do you Clodders recommend? :(
Just don't go anywhere near Twinsets showroom, that's when it all starts going downhill B)

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Wow, someone keeping a Clod relatively stock! How refreshing! So many today wind up wittled down to merely gearboxes hanging off a ton of aftermarket bits. I like the big bouncy stock Clod. I have a TXT-1, and my mates are always befudled when they see me tooling about in my stock Super Clod. They wonder why I even spend time driving it. They just don't get the fun of driving one of those old beast. Pity.

Growing up, I saw the Clod stomp into the scene just after I migrated to racing RC-10s and 12Ls. In between heats and after the final main racers and/or their kids would pull out their Clods and I've always admired their s size and relative agility at the time. Now, amidst my Juggernauts and TXT-1 I finally got a Clod of my own which I decided on maintaining stock. Initially planned on sabotaging it for crawler axles but with a TXT and ESP Juggernaut in my stable, I changed my mind (besides, the bowtie grille and undamaged condition of the shell immediately qualified it for a shelf queen) After testing, I replaced the worn motors with new stock mabuchi cans and ballraced the axles. When I get the time I intend on rebuilding the steering, following the manual to the T, as the wheels don't seem to want to turn lock to lock, (got it used.) And now that I've had a chance to enjoy it, it's quite stunning as a shelfer and the occasional runnner.

I agree with skip to keep it stock, refresh the appearance and bring the powerplants up to date, The more you muck with it the less of a classic it becomes :D

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Its such a huge beast - its more for laughs really but I do want it to drive a little less toy like!

Ok , not trying to pic on you or anything but a stock Clod/Super Clod is as perfect to scale in its looks as it is in the way it drives ( even the funky steering issues ) . Its based on the 80's monster trucks and if you can get a hold of any old video from back in the day you'll see that Tamiya did a perfect job of making the Clod drive and bounce around exactly like the 1:1 trucks it was meant to resemble .

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Decisions have been made! Walawala rubber sealed ball bearings throughout - Mtroniks RV11 ESC - original Clod red F parts to replace the yuck blue Super Clod parts and thats going to be it!

It will get used off road - but I will always have my XC for serious offroading - I just wanted to own a Clod! :D

Used it again this evening - have junked the reciever pack and hooked the lights up to the main battery power - still didnt run out my 3300 nimh in over 10 minutes on "power" mode and that same battery was used yesterday for 10 minutes too without a charge in between! Looks like with the ESC and bearings I should get at least 30 minutes which is pretty blooming good I think!

I noticed a significant speed increast when I fitted a TEU101BK to my Lunchbox - will the Clod be the same? Although to be fair its quick enough as it is!

Cheers everyone!

Yer, the esc makes a huge difference to the clod. A bit more speed as the stock MSC is not very efficient.

As for motors, I would seriously consider 2 of these Tamiya BZ Super Stocks. At officially 23T, they run happily off the Tamiya TEU101 ESCs but their actual RPM rating is that of a 19T albeit they seem to be more efficient so ideal for running in single ESC dual motor apps. The torque is perfect for the Clod and you will have no probs running them in both gear boxes or even 1.

http://www.stellamodels.net/catalog/produc...roducts_id=2541

I have now noticed Tamiya are now doing a twin motor version of the TEU101. I would imagine this would be great in a clod. I ran a 13x3 on my TEU101 and it coped in a car without blowing up although it got very hot. I would hope the twin motor version would handle 2x23Ts

The stock steering setup will always steer most from the back even with a high torque servo, because the rear wheels are being pulled along they are working more freely, in a similar way to caster wheels on a super market trolley

You can alter the rake of the rear steering using the method I described of setting it up on a larger servo horn.

Depending on what height you set the rear steering link on the servo horn will alter the travel. Essential you can bring more steering to the front. At the extreme you would have the front arm at the furthest point from the servo horn centre and the rear arm at the closest point to the centre.

Of course you loose the classic Clod feel by doing this.....which is a shame.

It is nice to see the Clod making a comeback in standard form though. Too many crawlers which are essentially Clod axels but none of the soul about these days. I really must buy a boxed Super Clod to keep in store.

I remember as a kid we used to go shopping in Leamington Spa in the early 80s and the toy shop there 'Toy Town' iirc used to have loads of Tamiyas on display inc the Tanks and always a Clod Buster. The Clod left a lasting impression on me. Of course back then, we were the same size.

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Thanks everyone you really have inspired me! It WILL stay stock looking I have decided - some of the clonking was due to the body hopping around on the mounts - some sponge has cured this and I agree that the suspension is fine considering the limitations of the chassis.

Looking forward to rebuilding it - its so huge I am a little nervous about pulling it apart! :D

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Looking forward to rebuilding it - its so huge I am a little nervous about pulling it apart! :D

I take it you have the instructions? It is a really good fun build and pretty simple to boot, until you open up the gear boxes.

Are you happy wiring up the ESC to dual motors?

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I take it you have the instructions? It is a really good fun build and pretty simple to boot, until you open up the gear boxes.

Are you happy wiring up the ESC to dual motors?

Yup I have the instructions and the truly enormous box!

Are the gearboxes not simple then? I thought they were fairly straight forward like Lunchbox gearboxes with an extra spur gear?

I will be wiring it up - from what I have read I can just cut the wires off the MSC and join them to the motor wires on the ESC?

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Yup I have the instructions and the truly enormous box!

Are the gearboxes not simple then? I thought they were fairly straight forward like Lunchbox gearboxes with an extra spur gear?

I will be wiring it up - from what I have read I can just cut the wires off the MSC and join them to the motor wires on the ESC?

I found the gear boxes surprisingly delicate when putting together in regards to stripping the plastic with the screws. Mechanically they are straight forward, if you are building with ball bearings before you run the thing.

If not you need to be careful that the grease goes in the right place as dust getting in, which is a common occurrence with these. Grit and dust can mash up the bearing/bush holder cups due to the torque where it is very tricky to block seize the gear box and rather it just grinds on through. Quality 80s injection moulding tolerances and all that.

As for the ESC, you need to splice it in properly. Do not use the Tamiya Wire, its is not good enough. I tried the Tamiya stuff and it wasn't a happy mix. Instead buy some high quality high current wire from Maplins (50/0.25 at least) and some proper splices. Or solder the connections well, which is the better option allowing for corrosion and water ingress. You can buy the Tamiya connectors to connect to the motors and crimp them on. ## edit This stuff http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?Module...Book&U=Ecat

Make sure you wire it up in parallel.

You should also get some heat shrink piping to make it all neat. Great stuff and will shrink with a hair dryer,

I will get some pics up of mine as soon as I can.

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Having done the bearings in recent weeks I found the gearboxes fairly straightforward. Not hard to remember where everything goes if you take note of the setup when opening the case. (there's always a high res manual on tamiyausa.com) since one of the shaft housings are deep, one side of the axle housing will need to be removed to access the e-clip that retains the shaft so you can change the bearings on that side. as for the dust, a thin layer of oil or greass along the case edges where the who halves mate should help keep dust out.

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Looks very nice Craig!! What does Amy think of your ever expanding collection??!!

Its an uphill struggle - but I am getting there! :)

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First parts are here - time for a rebuild!

2x red (original Clod) "F" parts

1x full rubber sealed bearing kit from walawalastore

Just need an ESC now - but will wait until new year for that...

Really pleased they have arrived before Christmas - give me something to do! :)

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Got an Mtroniks RV11 ESC fitted now - I chopped the wires going to the Power/Economy switch and just fitted the ESC in place of the MSC so I still have the switch (dont really need it though). Works fine but reverse seems to build up slowly - is this a trait of the RV11 or have I got something wrong?

Other than that its going well :P

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