My Old Blackfoot (and A 2nd One From Ebay)

[jwrAMC]

Yo! New member here, so I figured I'd show you my toys as an intro.

Back in 1987, I bought a brand new Blackfoot (the original). The kit was $100, and after gearing up with all the necessities I was at $250 and wondering if I was nuts. Within a year, I was a thousand dollars into that truck...and clobbering everyone and everything. I'm one of those guys that believe monster trucks are meant to be abused, so I added everything I could find that improved strength, reliability and, yes, waterproofing. When rain would start at local race meets and everyone was yanking their dainty rides off the course, I was turning laps, aiming for the puddles.

Well, the original body was too heavy for racing and tipsy as heck, so the chassis wore several lexan shells over those years. And in the many years since I've run it, it has sat in a box, awaiting a return to some kind of use. Here's a photo of my original truck's body that I just hosed off and wiped down. Doesn't look bad after all those years in hiding!

I also decided to grab another Tamiya...the Xtreme Blackfoot, and am currently in that build, with all new gear (Futaba controller/servo, 2 batteries, peak charger, etc). I hope it can take the abuse I heaped on the original! My driving style has NOT changed in the years between!! Here it is having an LED kit tested.

Prior to grabbing the Xtreme, I went hunting for a parts truck for the original...but ended up buying a shelf queen off eBay instead. Now my original will become a basher, wearing all the hop-up bits I have and can find. The other will remain a display piece, and has now been treated to new Traxxas wheels, Dirt Hawg tires, a chrome roll bar, and my old truck's detailed grillework.

I also have a TL01 coming, but that's another thread for later.

Thanks for the read!

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

Welcome to the site!!!

The shelf queen blackfoot looks excellent, nice work!

[tamiya monkey]

Hi and welcome to tc, just got an original blackfoot myself, they are a great looking truck.

[jwrAMC]

Thanks folks. Of all four BF body variations, I still love the first most. The 1980 F150 stepside is just so perfect a style. Second place I'd give to the King BF, as it's hood is stock looking as opposed to the Xtreme version. I'm a 'stock-look' fan as far as bodies are concerned.

I'd love to find a Juggernaut / F350 Hi-Lift body kit for a good price. I'd immediately abandon the Xtreme body's work to do one of those up! (Leads welcomed!)

[highflyer]

Welcome,

Nice to introduce yourself including background, you'll be at home here..

JERSEY is in the house!

[jwrAMC]

Welcome,

Nice to introduce yourself including background...

Did somebody say 'background'?? Prepare for incoming text barrage:

A lengthy bit of personal history...just because:

My first race with my then-fairly-new original Blackfoot was accidental...and about 20 years ago. I bought the truck for fun, but one day was at a local hobby shop looking for more hop-up parts. Other than my steering blocks, the truck was fairly stock. As I was waiting to be helped, I spotted a flyer for a local club that had a dirt track. I asked when and where those folks met. I was told 'right now, across the street'. How cool is that? I went over to find about 40 cars in a lot parked around a huge dirt oval with a baja-inspired infield track. As I arrived, my battery was nearly spent, so when a club officer asked if I wanted to enter a race, I figured 'no way'. Well, a dad who was there with his 9 year old son offered to loan me a charged battery and to charge my current one in the meantime. Cool! So I handed my truck to the track monkeys and as luck would have it, that 9 year old's all-stock blackfoot was lined up right next to mine in the second row of a 4-wide, 3-row heat. On the start, we charged into the frst turn where the kid's front left tire bumped my right front. This is how I confirmed that the stock knuckle is truly weak, as his wheel went flying and my reinforced BF kept going (that's how fast you can wear out your welcome!! Oops!). Now, most of the drivers were teens, but a few were adults like myself (25 at the time). But it seemed I had spent far more time actually driving my truck, as I was quickly picking off one modified truck after the other with my stock motor, pinion, dog bones and tires. It was a 4-lap race, and just after the half-way point, I was in second place. As we headed into the infield I was on the leader's butt. We evened up as we bounced thru the washboard and as we turned left into a hairpin U-turn, I stole the inside line. Seemed he couldn't get his wheels turned as far left as I could, so he had to take it wider. I kid you not when I tell you I had less than 1 inch of clearance between he and I on one side and the curb and I on the other. The pass ocurred so smoothly that applause and shouts of approval rang out all around the track. This made me way more nervous, as I feared Murphy's law would kick in and send me flipping over an embankment. But my familiarity with the truck's handling really paid off as I held it on course and won the heat with about a 25-foot lead. Total strangers were slapping my back and shaking my hand. It was quite a rush. Several folks said they couldn't believe how well my truck handled and they wanted to see the mods...then were shocked to find only the new knuckles. I was invited to continue into the semi-final heat, and went to retrieve my own battery. The reception there was a bit cooler as I'd ruined the kid's day, so I made the swap, thanked the dad and skulked away quietly (today I'd toss them $5 to go back across the street to the shop for replacements, but...). By the time the semis were to start, tho, rain came in and everyone was pulling their cars off the track. Being the 'me' I've always been, I figured the races wouldn't get started so I'd waste my battery charging the mud and puddles (I had balloons on the motor and stock speed control, so no fear there). This torture was also met with big laughs and clapping as I rooster-tailed the puddles and covered my rig with mud.

Months later, my second-best meet was where a few buddies and I had entered as a lossely-cobbled-together 'team'. My BF, a monster beetle, and a few buggies were our gear. My most hot-headed bud got T-boned by a teen with a truck wearing a 69 Chevelle body that had way too much power for the small, indoor, carpeted track. He was just bashing into everyone, winning his heats by attrition. Well, I won my two prior heats, and was with this kid and four others in the final. I'd built a full lap lead on the field and had just lapped Chevelle-guy when my bud gave me the 'cut his throat' hand signal from across the track, so I got to the end of the straight and intentionally spun out. As the Chevelle bore down to pass me, I floored it in the wrong direction. My BF rode over his bumper and drove through his rig, under the body. I came out the other end with a splash of his electronics raining down around me. I pulled a quick U-turn, hit his front/left wheel to move the carcass out of my way and completed my last lap to the cheers of a bunch of folks that had been retired by that joker the same way earlier. But, since it was clear I hadn't done it 'accidentally', I was invited to compete elsewhere in the future. Even now, tho, I think it was worth it.

Well, less than two years into the hobby, my hamster's attention span dragged me away, and my BF sat in a box until a few weeks ago. I've dug that same Blackfoot out, hosed off the mud and started a rebuild. We're back...but don't let the grey hairs and expanding gut fool ya. 'Blackie' and I have not mellowed with age.

[billg4]

great story, thanks for sharing

[jwrAMC]

Thanks for reading it! It's a tad wordy!!

So...as I've said, I've got 2 original BFOs now- one I've had since new (and tortured mercilessly) and another just won on eBay that's 90% stock and near-mint that I'm taking back to 100% box-stock. Well, here's a few updated shots of the stocker, now more so.

I was swapping pieces between the two trucks, putting the cleaner/better pieces on this one. Off came the Trinity Speed Gems 2 Topaz 11T Triple motor and Mtroniks Viper RV15 ESC. It now has an original red battery door pin (not the white CRP plug), original MSC with resistor (with freshly painted metal grille), a sticker-less servo cover (with new cable ties securing the back end down), and the stock 540 motor from my new Xtreme kit. I also decided to remove the new Traxxas wheels and Dirt Hawg rubber I had added in favor of the original yellow wheels and V-paddle tires. I've got the original power switch around here somewhere...but misplaced it in the last week...gotta go dig. I've also got the parts tree that contains the correct black trailing arm caps coming from Tamiya to replace the one Frog aluminum version it is wearing now. Little else to correct after that. It's coming along nicely.

Anyone know who made this piece...and why? Never heard of or seen this thing before. It will come out for originality's sake, but is it worth adding to my other 'basher'? My guess is that it's there to prevent the rod ends from popping up and off when the tires take a good impact. If so, my basher won't need it with its ball-end/allen screw setup on a CRP servo saver.

Oh...anybody got the original black servo saver from one of these lying around in good shape?

Later!

[jwrAMC]

Sooo....I received a package of CRP parts (front shock tower support, rear shock mounts, rear body mount post supports),...

...and as I was test-assembling the pieces (off the truck), I was annoyed to discover that the post supports can only be used with the stock body posts (A) *IF* I do NOT use the stock brace between the posts. The alternative is to use CRP's own body posts and brace (B)...which appear to be unavailable.

So I resigned myself to leaving out the brace and dug out my old BF to begin disassembly and cleanup...and what did I discover? Apparently, back in the 1980s, I must have broke the stock posts and/or brace...because my truck is currently wearing the CRP versions already! How sweet is THAT??

Check out these 'before' photos:

The photos show, first, that at one time, I'd planned to down-convert the BF into a Frog so that I could run a street car body on it with smaller, street tires/wheels. I only got one side of the front suspension done before tossing the project aside. Thankfully, it seems all the BF parts are still in the box. Some of the mods on this thing are the Race Prep 'stock-class' motor, adjustable motor mount, a rear stabilzer bar setup, nerf bars, extended skid plate, brass-reinforced control arms, and anodized oil shocks. There's also a clear (now yellowed) window replacing the stock black pinion cap, and the proverbial servo saver. The remaining BF front suspension also shows the reinforced white 'block' that replaced the stock knuckle (still have the other, too).

(I wonder if I'll locate the FRONT anti-sway bar I custom-made. Man, was that thing effective! Finger's crossed and back into the box!)

It's hard to believe the original dog bones and gears are still in there, despite near-daily bashing for about two years...including lots of 'full-reverse' braking to put it into slides and 'flying U-turns'! I never had to re-do the gearbox and never stripped a set of dogbones. Can't say why, tho, beyond just being lucky.

The frame is stripped down (as far as I care to go), and is ready for a hot, soapy bath.

The various parts are in zip-loc bags, each awaiting their turn for cleaning and repairs.

Here it is with the MSC mount back in and the CRP reinforcements in place for a test-fitting-

Yea, I could've gone crazy cleaning and prettying things up, but this is the basher, so I only felt the need to go so far. Now I'm waiting for a new front bumper mount from Tamiya before continuing the re-assembly. If anyone has some ideas of hop-up bits that can still be found that I don't have and might find useful, let me know!!

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

Anyone know who made this piece...and why? Never heard of or seen this thing before. It will come out for originality's sake, but is it worth adding to my other 'basher'? My guess is that it's there to prevent the rod ends from popping up and off when the tires take a good impact. If so, my basher won't need it with its ball-end/allen screw setup on a CRP servo saver.

Later!

Thats of a Tamiya Monster Beetle!

As the beetle came out after the blackfoot, tamiya added that as an improvement to help stop the servo horn snapping off.

[mongoose1983]

As the beetle came out after the blackfoot, tamiya added that as an improvement to help stop the servo horn snapping off.

That servo saver looks pretty useful. I have a Blackfoot myself. A Midnight Pumpkin and a MadCap. Oh, there's also a used Beetle on its way to me. Believe me, the servo saver will be the first thing for me to look at!

Regards to Y'all!

EB

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[jwrAMC]

Thats of a Tamiya Monster Beetle!

As the beetle came out after the blackfoot, tamiya added that as an improvement to help stop the servo horn snapping off.

Cool, thanks. If it clears the aftermarket servo saver I'm going to use, I suppose it'll go on the basher then.