Newbie With Questions About Monster Beetle.

[nosthevamp]

Hi to all, this is my first post on the forum. A quarter of a century ago I bought my then young son A monster beetle complete with Radio Gear Battery charger etc., which he used and abused with gusto. About 8 years later I bought him a touring car kit sans radio gear, said being removed from the Monster Beetle. Which was then put in a box and left in the loft.

Last year I got the box down from the loft, and later got the touring car from its resting place. The intention being to get both running again, which I have. I’m not sure if the touring car qualifies as Vintage so I’ll be posting questions about that in the general forum. I am pretty sure the Beetle does though. When first built the Beetle was given the box art treatment. Over the years it lost its wipers, rear number plate and light/boot (bonnet) catch, and the front of the drivers head. One of the spots broke off its mount and the brackets broke off the bottom of the nose, and the bearing housings on both front wheels broke away. The wheels where replaced, the spot glued back on with evo-stick and new holes drilled in the nose to mount the now modified brackets a bit higher. It was put back on the road again gaining more battle scars and scraped wheel rims, but no more damage before it was cannibalised for its radio gear. Which at some time had lost/broke its aerial, that had been replaced with one from a car.

Back to the present; the Beetle has got its radio gear back and is now running. I have replaced the missing bits. The bash plate underneath is going to be replaced with the more substantial one from the Frog and the original is to be repaired and put pack in the box for posterity. I would like to get hold of the Mud Blaster and Blackfoot bodies and have their mounts ordered, will I need any other parts to mount them? Also I was thinking of getting a couple of Lexan or ABS bodies for bashing about, perhaps a Landy or Brat body. Do people know if the mounts from the factory bodies would work?

Also a few other mod’s I am thinking of; replacing plastic bearings with ball, using the metal steering parts from the frog, and doing something about the uncompliant suspension. I can’t find any bearings specifically for the Monster Beetle, although I have found ones for the Blackfoot, would they do as I believe they are basically the same under the skin. As to the steering, some of the parts for the Frog steering are included with the bash plate I have on order, would it be worth while getting the metal uprights and replacing the plastic steering components from the Monster Beetle, or would I be better of keeping the unadjustable default setup? I was thinking that the big wheels of the Monster Beetle may keep knocking the castor angle out when compared to the small wheels of the Frog. The standard Oil filled shocks do not seem to move much, only compressing when a lot of weight is put on the car or it is dropped from a great height. The suspesnion on my other RC car sits just like a real car, is it possible to get weaker springs, or do the whole units need replacing?

Thanks for reading my long post and in anticipation of answers to my queries.

Cheers From Nos

[Jack_Truck]

Hi you have come to right place. It seems you know what you are doing, however, my only comment is that rather than replace the shocks you should just change the oil and the internal valves. Most probably when you built it for your son you used the valves (little yellow discs) with the least holes hence the suspension reacts very slowly and does not absorb bumps so well. Once you change the valves for the ones with the most holes you should have a good set up. The valve on the left is the one you should be using all round.

It would be nice to see some pictures of your MB if you have any. Also you may be able to get some more ideas from my current MB rebuild thread which is here

Jack

[nosthevamp]

Thanks for your input. I checked my MB box and I still have those damper valves on the spru, I'll try rebuilding the shocks with them and see how they work. Got a new camara just before xmas, when i get a memeory card I'll put some pickies up on my website and link to them.

Also do you know if the Blackfoot bearings set will fit the MB?

[VagabondStarJXF]

It should do.

[nosthevamp]

I redone the shocks, the suspension is a little more complient but it is still fully extended at rest. What I am after is the way the suspension acts on my touring car model; when at rest some of the suspension movement is taken up, so when the car is moving the whell can either move up or down depending on whether it travels over a bump or a dip so that all 4 wheels remain on the ground. With suspension as it is on the MB alot of the time not all the wheels are on the ground. Also if I get a lighter/lower body for the car this will be even worse.

Have ordered the bearings for now and some new windscreen wipers to finish it off.

[terry.sc]

You are assuming that to work well it should be set up like a touring car, rather than like the basher it is. Changing to softer springs will get it to sit down rather than at full travel, but it means it will bottom out when it goes over jumps and bumps and it will roll over more when cornering. The stiffer springs keep it up in the air and the more bouncy suspension is the main appeal of these style of monster truck. They aren't designed for precision handling and off road performance and the over sprung suspension is what gives them their character. I did the same with my Bush Devil as it's undamped shocks were binding and locked up the suspension, it transformed it from a fun basher to a boring truck that glided round, fell over, and would no longer wheelie. All the attributes of a buggy but without any of the speed made it pretty boring. It's currently running the hardest springs I can fit on it.

If you are wanting something that glides over the surface you really need something designed for it like a buggy or stadium truck, not a Monster Beetle.

If you still want to soften the suspension then get two sets of rear buggy shocks, then you have a wide range of springs you can choose from.

[nosthevamp]

I have fitted bearing all round now and finished the Bug body best I can. I have managed to get hold of a used Brat body from ebay. it has no stickers on it and it is sprayed red with a few scuffs. The windows are cracked but it all seems to be there (still waiting for it to arrive). I intend to get some Mud Blaster stickers and use it as an alternative body on my MB. I'll have to chheck if the paintwork can be polished and black added or I may strip it back to white and start again.

I'll get some pickies on my website and put up links. Not sure if I can do more without subscribing.

Still haven't done anythign with the springs, not sure which ones I need, don't want to get the wrong ones

[Panther]

The bearings in the Beetle and the Blackfoot are 1150s and 850s as far as I know. You can get bags of them fairly cheaply off ebay.

A bit of a hijack, but if you find somewhere that sells gearbox internals let me know!

[nosthevamp]

The bearings in the Beetle and the Blackfoot are 1150s and 850s as far as I know. You can get bags of them fairly cheaply off ebay.

A bit of a hijack, but if you find somewhere that sells gearbox internals let me know!

Yea got my bearing for both my chassis cheap of ebay.

My box is fine, I don't give 'em much stick.

[nosthevamp]

The Brat body turned up today. It is a peach It is complete with only a couple of scuffs on the body and a couple of extra small holes in the load bed (I will be living these as they will work as drain holes). Nothing has been glued so it once the glass is replaced I will be able to do a nice box art job, albeit with one small change; I will be using Metalic paint.

Was going to do some pickies of the MB before I changed the body but my camera had flat batteries so I carried on with fitting the Brat body to the MB chassis. Looks pretty good even with just the red paint, so once its finished it will look smart with the Gold wheels and the Monster beetle rear gaurd fills the gap under the load bed perfectly (mine reads Monster Mash instead of Monster Beetle). The oild filled MB shocks are an option for the Blaster so they fit aswell

[Saito]

The gearbox internals are the same as the re-re Frog with the exception of the Frog's multipiece spur gear (the trucks use a one piece plastic spur gear), the motor mount extension and the extra-long brass pinion. I think you can still get the pinion from Tamiya.

[Panther]

The gearbox internals are the same as the re-re Frog with the exception of the Frog's multipiece spur gear (the trucks use a one piece plastic spur gear), the motor mount extension and the extra-long brass pinion. I think you can still get the pinion from Tamiya.

Are the parts interchangable? Could I swap to a Frog gearbox? The gear that appears to be causing the problem is the lower one with the smaller cog on the side of a big one in one piece. I got a second hand gearbox off ebay, but unfortunately it has the exact same wear problem.

[Saito]

The offical name of the gear I think you're looking for is actually the "counter gear". This is the gear that rides between the motor pinion gear and the differential gear. It comes in a gear bag part #9335026 and is discontinued making it an ebay item. The counter gear, motor spacer and pinion gear are all Monster Beetle (Blackfoot) specific. The rest of the gearbox is the same as the Frog. Simply using a complete Frog gearbox won't work as it does not supply adaquate gear reduction to drive the Monter Beetle's oversized tires.

[Panther]

The offical name of the gear I think you're looking for is actually the "counter gear". This is the gear that rides between the motor pinion gear and the differential gear. It comes in a gear bag part #9335026 and is discontinued making it an ebay item. The counter gear, motor spacer and pinion gear are all Monster Beetle (Blackfoot) specific. The rest of the gearbox is the same as the Frog. Simply using a complete Frog gearbox won't work as it does not supply adaquate gear reduction to drive the Monter Beetle's oversized tires.

Thanks, but I think I've found the problem and it wasn't what I thought it was. It seems that the diff forces the metal side plates of the gearbox apart and the teeth jump over each other when it is under strain. I need to find some way of bracing the sides to prevent this from happening. I'll think of something.

[Saito]

Search around for the "Oldfrogshot screw mod". Oldfrogshot was a member here who came up with a nifty way to stop the diff separation you speak of. It involves tapping one diff outdrive and then using a tiny screw to tie the diff outdrives together (kinda like a ball diff) to prevent the slippage.

[nosthevamp]

Moving back to the thread topic, can anyone point me the the right direction as to which springs I should be looking for. I searched on ebay for tamiya springs, and found quite a few that looked OK but can't be sure if they will fit or even if they will be soft enough for what i want to try.

Cheers

[HunterZero]

The offical name of the gear I think you're looking for is actually the "counter gear". This is the gear that rides between the motor pinion gear and the differential gear. It comes in a gear bag part #9335026 and is discontinued making it an ebay item. The counter gear, motor spacer and pinion gear are all Monster Beetle (Blackfoot) specific. The rest of the gearbox is the same as the Frog. Simply using a complete Frog gearbox won't work as it does not supply adaquate gear reduction to drive the Monter Beetle's oversized tires.

I think you'll find the only gears shared between the Frog and Monster Beetle are the metal differential bevel gears. The differential spur gears are different too.

The Frog has a 47T diff spur (same as the Hotshot), and the counter gear pinion is 18T. The Monster Beetle has a 48T diff spur, and the counter gear pinion is 17T, which further gears down the Monster Beetle.

To stop a slipping diff, as an alternative to threading a screw, you can shim the diff with 5mm shims. No need to brace the gearbox sides.

- James

[HunterZero]

Moving back to the thread topic, can anyone point me the the right direction as to which springs I should be looking for. I searched on ebay for tamiya springs, and found quite a few that looked OK but can't be sure if they will fit or even if they will be soft enough for what i want to try.

Cheers

The dampers are CVA short shocks, so it uses the same springs as the Fox, or Falcon/Supershot front springs.

Eg, Fox damper bag will give you three of the four springs you need.

- James

[nosthevamp]

Thank you, would these be any good: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tamiya-53975-TRF501X...403355861003423 In the meantime I'll seek out supershot springs.

Cheers

[nosthevamp]

I got some ansmann oil filled shocks. When I took the shocks off I round that half the shock mounts are cracked. I've managed to source some new, second hand and uprated parts. So hopefully I'll be able to try out the new shocks.