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Daves956

Any ideas for this? / A 6 wheeled crane build

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We have 3 dominant crane companies here locally. The one that has red cranes is part of my job security. Whatever they touch they break, so red wasn't an option. I figured it would eventually cover but it didn't show any signs of it. It was getting thick enough to start loosing detail and with the white additions to the body it just looked hideous. I've already chucked it out. I was already to the point it would have to be stripped anyway.

real shame Buddie . Are you going to re purchase one and start over ?

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I really don't have a clue on what's next for that chassis. There was good and bad with that crane with the bad being it's toyish appearance. I'll keep my eyes open for anything that might suit it but I'm not real clear on any direction. I'm thinking some old school Tonka maybe.

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old school tonka wrecker or dumper truck maybe? be a real shame to see all your hard work go to waste...

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I haven't given up, just being picky about the next one. I have been looking at the tonkas and this one looks like a possibility if I can find one that's no too distant to get a look at.

tonkacrane.jpg

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It only looked like I gave up. I picked these up today and both have good and bad points to becoming what I'd want so we will see if I can pull it off.

DSCN0027.jpg

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Well, fitting the rear axles into the road grader would leave nothing of the cab and a motor hanging out. The crane has too much plastic in the lower sections and cabs to be usable. At this time I'm into this to the tune of 250 bucks with still no direction to go. One of the original lunchbox wheels is pretty well busted so going back isn't much of an option either. Unless something jumps up in the next little bit I'm going to go a completely different direction with this. I don't like the idea of giving up on the project but someday something may come up, this just doesn't seem to be it. This is another option I'm considering for the basic chassis......at least it's doable.

DSCN0033.jpg

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Personaly I would love to see an rc Grader as I dont think anyone has ever done one

I agree. If I don't try to do two driven rears but just one. I can turn it around to fit in the cab and then do just a tag along unpowered second axle in front of it. In the front just put a better axle, wheels and tires and leave the steering as is. This would put all the blade servos in the front of the cab and it might all fit. I'd have to get creative for a battery though and probably loose the shocks. The grader is what I'd prefer since it's all metal. I wasn't until I seperated the RC10 chassis from the second axle that it came to me

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If I mount both axles with the spur covers forward and only the spur and guard partially through the lower deck, then I might be able to fit both driven axles. That would be a small trim down on the guards, fitting 55 turn motors since I had to give up the gear reducers, figure out new shocks and how to mount it all up. I think 2 3 cell NIMH batteries and the ESC all stacked up in the very back then the 4 servos in the front of the cab might fit. I can picture the blade angle and either elevation or twist but I'm not seeing all 3 together yet. I took it all apart to have a better look and here's all 7 grader pieces and the beginning of a stripped down axleDSCN0034.jpg

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Ok, new gearcases, bearings throughout, idler gears, output gears, diff shaft and gears X 2. I also cut down the diff guards and mounted the whole thing to what looks like the lower chassis for this. It now has matching 55 turn motors as well.

DSCN0035.jpg

The idea is to lower the grader base to the tops of the transmissions by cutting holes for the spur gears to come through

DSCN0036.jpg

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I think I'll be putting smoked windows in the cab since it will be packed pretty full of electronics. I've got an idea about the shocks and maybe a way to control the blade. I'll be making whatever I can't buy. Here's the progress lowering the base onto the axles.

DSCN0037.jpg

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It's been a discovery kind of thing lately. None of the local hobby shops sell a simple servo mount or shocks for this. The front wheelbase is too narrow compared to the back and the rods to control blade elevation and twist are too short to get onto without cutting out the front of the cab. Other than no real progress it's going great.

DSCN0038.jpg

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I'm really liking your work with this one. It is awesome!

Thank you, it's a fun project.

I have made a little progress. I found the shock bodies but still looking for the right springs. I may have them somewhere so it's just a matter of finding them.

DSCN0040.jpg I made a few servo mounting brackets. The lower one in this next picture is for the blade rotation and the upper two are for blade elevation and twist since they'll work independant of each other. The idea is for the existing steering rod to go between the upper servos to yet another servo mounted above the battery. I also made a new rod for the elevation servos to hook to, it's offset to put it in the right place to use the rod stops set with rod ends pictured. Once the servos are mounted I'll make rods to attach all three servos.

DSCN0039.jpg

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It seems that for every step forward there's just new problems. I missed the spacing for the original steering rod so to use it means redesigning the 3 servos locations. A standard battery pack is roughly 10mm too long to fit and a hump pack would put the ESC out the roof. I'd planned to use an older 6 channel Futaba but it has no BEC and space is getting pretty limited and no way to add a radio battery pack. I'm already starting to think I might need to use a press to get the cab back onto it. :o

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With the exception of the reciever, everything is mounted to it. I found a small window to fit a rod forward for the steering and another for blade rotation. Nothing is functional yet but I'm hoping some day it will actually work. It's an extremely tight fit on everything.DSCN0041.jpg

DSCN0042.jpg

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I've got a couple of small things to do, but this one is pretty much there.

DSCN0044.jpg

DSCN0045.jpg

DSCN0046.jpg

It's pretty different, What do you all think?

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You've done a great job packing everything in ! It's certainly different, a refreshing change, although I wonder how it would fare on uneven ground and the blade digging in when the suspension compresses ?

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You've done a great job packing everything in ! It's certainly different, a refreshing change, although I wonder how it would fare on uneven ground and the blade digging in when the suspension compresses ?

I agree with Dave - it looks as if it will need some counter weights on the frount end as per the real thing . Looks great though and with a repaint and maybe some funtional work lights and a flashing beacon it would look even better IMO . Nice job Buddie .

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Top job there! I'm really glad that you stuck to this and didn't give up, would have been a tragic waste of your talents!

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When the blade caught on the carpet it pushed the reciever tighter to the back window and twisted the blade back and put more load on the front wheels. I saw it and raised the blade before it had a chance to really goof up. All the blade servos are high torque with no servo savers so if it really caught on something it probably would break the output shaft on a servo. As it sits there is 1/4 inch clearance to the roof of the cab. Front servo is up against the cab and the reciever is at the rear window. The side windows used all the side clearance to those servos. If one wire is out of place the cab won't go on. The ESC in the back touches the inside end of the smoke stack and the rear bumper/ radiator had to be opened up to allow for the battery wires so adding anything would mean removing something else. With the blade rotated to either end travel it has no give to it since it's against steel in both directions and the raise and lower if pushed wants to transfer it to the back window. I could brace that but I'm not sure it's a good idea for it to not give anywhere

If it where pushing sand or loose earth it would be fine but anything like a stuck rock would break something if it couldn't pop over it.

I didn't fill in the manufacturing holes and gaps since I wanted to keep it looking as close to original as possible. It wasn't a show model when it was first made so making it pretty after 30 years would be pretty tough.

In the end it's really just a show piece that will either be donated to the local road crew or shelved with the Rothmans truck.It's not exactly something to be run with any regularity. I will try it in the local sand box and shoot a video of it when the snow melts.

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Just had a crazy thought Dave - how about fitting tracks and making it a snow shifter ??????????

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Just had a crazy thought Dave - how about fitting tracks and making it a snow shifter ??????????

You have to understand that I just got finished getting rid of 8 tracked vehicles so that I could keep 6. I have all the tracks and gearboxes but was wanting something different. Oh, and a set of mattracks in storage too.

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