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Well I’m happy to say that I’m the proud owner of a vintage Clod Buster that I won on eBay this morning (apologies to any TC members who I sniped ;) I just had to have one in my life!)

I’ll pick her up tomorrow and the plan is to bring her back to box art so I can re-live yet another missed childhood dream.

Couple of questions… Firstly, would you guys recommend keeping the original shell as the runner and purchasing a new body & decals for the shelf or should I restore the body and just have the one? I plan on running her, how hard I’m not sure but she will do some clodding around… Just not sure if it’s financially viable to go ahead and purchase a new shell and decals… From what I can gather it looks like $200AUD is about the cheapest I could get that for!!!

The second question is around electrics… I want to use LiPo’s and an ESC – I’ll probably just keep the motors or put in maybe Sport Tuned in there.

What is a good reasonably prices ESC and also servos for this truck in your opinions?

My days are passed of purchasing the highest quality Hitec servos (literally been there done that with the 1/5 gas cars) so now am all about the balance of good enough, cheap enough as I am yet to find problems even with Turnigy Lipo’s and Hobby King servos! But the torque recommendations would be appreciated. I am using this in the Bruiser, which seems ok: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idproduct=51179

I have read on here that a few have used this, however with the Clod do I need two or a specific two motor esc?

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__46161__HobbyKing_X_Car_45A_Brushed_Car_ESC_AU_Warehouse_.html?strSearch=HobbyKing%20X-Car%2045A%20Brushed%20Ca

Anyhow, thanks guys for the brains trust.

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Firstly, the tires need to go on the right way round ;)

With regard to motors, I would stick with the silver cans. If you are going to change the motors don't forget that one needs to go faster in reverse rotation unless you use motors with 0 timing advance.

I run my clod with a Zippy 2S hardcase lipo, which fits fine into the standard battery compartment.

Personally, I wouldn't use a 45A ESC in a twin motor monster truck, I think it's too low a rating for it.

Hobbywing 1060 ESCs are cheap and will easily handle the twin motors of the clod. (I run my clod on 2S with a TEU101 with a big heatsink attached). If you're using LiPo don't forget roller bearings and a couple of steel 13tooth pinions.

I wouldn't use the existing shell as a runner, I think it would be better to get a cheap lexan shell for running and renovate your existing one for the shelf.

If you go LiPo and want to use a low voltage alarm (I'm using one),I made a clamp that bolts to the MSC mounts to hold my alarm in place, and is in a handy location as it is possible to read it through the windshield to check what the voltages are doing.

Finally, 3 racing do a nice 5 bar LED light bar for very cheap money which can be found on Ebay, it's not a direct fit, but can be mounted relatively easily with a home made bracket.

With regard to the servos, have a look at this thread:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=78578

Using this mod a couple of standard servos are fine for steering. The stock servo savers really are rubbish, and a more powerful servo isn't going to improve the steering much.

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Wheels are on backwards but it looks to be a very nice example with not a lot of running time judging by the underside.

Parma do a lexan ClodBuster shell, which isn't a bad thing for running duties as it helps lower the centre of gravity. That body looks to have minimal issues, so a strip down and repaint would have it looking great again. If you aren't too fussed about originality then Super ClodBuster decals aren't expensive, and certainly better to use genuine items than some inferior ebay reproduction items of the originals. Same reasonable prices with other Super Clodbuster parts, especially from jasons store.I did just that with one 2 years ago, now departed..

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My 'rainbow warrior' was clearly a far worse start point, so many parts were replaced - at least the body was salvageable.

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As Martyn replied, I'd stick with the silver cans, or look for a pair of Traxxas 550 motors and a XL5 ESC - anything faster is pointless as you'll spend as long putting it back on its wheels as you are steering it.

If you stick with a single central servo you can reduce the rear steer effect (so slightly increased turning circle, but more stability) by moving the rear steering rod connection on the servo arm to one nearer the pivot point.

If it doesn't have the metal chassis insert in the middle of the chassis tub then i'd recommend you get one, as it reinforces the mounting for the axle links and generally stiffens the tub - ditto the servo mounting plate

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Thanks so much guys for the detailed and fast responses. I should have prefaced the post with the fact that those images are from the eBay posting and I am picking it up tomorrow so I am not responsible for the tires on backwards!!!! ;)

Firstly, I literally don't know anything yet about dual motors so the fact you stated one needs to go faster in reverse has definitely confused me!

What mAh 2s are you using?

If silver cans are fine will stick with it for now for sure.

Would prefer to have an esc that has low voltage cutoff built in so as not to worry about alarms etc.

Great idea on a lexan body, I will restore the original and am definitely wanting to get original decals. If you have any ideas on who sells good reproductions I'm all ears!

Also, are there any other tip on what to upgrade eg newer super clod parts that won't be seen in transmissions etc or is it all a much of a muchness???

I also messed up, the servo I was thinking is this one: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=42590

I'm very excited I must admit to getting my first Clod. Can't believe I avoided the flirting for so long. I used to stare at the Tamiya catalogue in the 80s as a kid and imagine all the terrain I could conquer with a machine like that!

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The issue with the dual motors is unique to the clod. Because the gearboxes are identical, but mounted in opposite directions, to get the wheels to all rotate in the same direction one motor has to run in reverse. So if using racing motors with advanced timing, one motor will be slower than the other, which is not good. As silver cans are 0 timed, they run at the same speed in both directions so there is no issue. If you want to go faster with the clod, the easiest and cheapest way to go faster is run a 3S LiPo rather than a 2S LiPo.

I use 4000mah 2S LiPos in my clod. I think that the hobbywing ESC I mentioned has a built in LiPo cut off. I've also made up my own wiring harness for the motors to bypass the power/economy switch as my switch fell apart, so I now have only 'power' mode.

The transmission is very robust unless you are really going to beat the badword out of it, all that is really necessary is roller bearings and steel pinions. I made my clod a little more stable by fitting TXT-1 stub axles, hubs, and wheels, this widens the stance of the wheels slightly, but is expensive to do if you don't have the parts lying around. As Percymon suggested, the super clod metal lower chassis supports will be a good investment, as if you manage to break the suspension mount points on the chassis they are expensive to replace. Another personal choice, but I used to lock the front diff in mine to help with hill climbing. (Locking the rear diff causes it to wheelie on steel slopes, then it flips over and comes bouncing back down)

The clod is great if you've never had one before, get hooked on that first, then start looking at the TXT-1 ;)

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The issue with the dual motors is unique to the clod.

Not quite, WR-01 has the same issues

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welcome to the clod buster owners club :)

as has been said, changing motors requires to anything but silver cans requires finding a reverse running one, I think HPI have one or two in their firebolt range, least I think it's HPI that does the firebolt range.

as for esc, you do have some options, any of the tamiya dual motor esc's will be fine with the silver cans, it'd just be a good idea to run a lipo alarm, there is also the hobbywing 860 esc on the ebay.

http://www.clodtalk.com

that's a good place to get info and help with clod's, be it basic mods to help correct the inherent issues of the clod, to full on extremely modded clods.

http://www.crawfordperformanceengineering.com

that is one of many sites that deal in clod parts, just be warned, my wallet cringes, my bank account screams and hides, and the wife goes nuts when that site shows up on my monitors, so yours may do the same...

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Ahhh ok the motor issue makes complete sense now. Thank you. I'll post some better pictures when I get her today later on!

Also if anyone has hints on decals, links appreciated!

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you should be able to find repro ones on ebay for a reasonable price, you may find some original ones there also, but they will be costly, one of the members here may have a set of originals they could possibly part with after some persuasion.

Failing that, although more complex, the super clod buster ones should be a quick find on pretty much any auction site, and at a more than reasonable price, it just depends on if you want to go pure original or not

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*Bearing set

*steel pinions

*metal anti-rotational brackets

*hobbywing quicrun 860

*polycarbonate body

Maybe also:

Front servo mount and rear lock or rear servo mount (Y harness and two standard 3kg servos if going 4ws)

They only do 15kph, so no speed demon, just expect it to drive/handle like an 80's monster truck and you wont be disappointed :lol:

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Just picked her up and am really pleased to report that she's in amazing condition. Very little use. Such little use I'm probably going to feel bad for using her. ;)

Body is in A-1 shape with hardly any wear and overall just an amazing example! Will post good images when I can. She's a thing of beauty!

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Ok so had a very quick play... Plugged in a Nimh and used the Futaba servos that came with it. I've read about how bad the steering was but WOW. Man it bring back memories using a mechanical speed controller!

I definitely need to fix the steering post-haste, been trawling through the 1,000 threads that have been posted on it in the past. What I can't gather is if you can make the stock steering managable as a first step or if I just need to bite the bullet and axle mount the servo...

Also is the consensus to have 4WS all the time or just go to standard front wheel steering?

Well as you can see from the new pics the body is indeed in great condition. I definitely want to make it stock colour Box Art but am a little concerned with touching the original as it's so nice! I mean I'm sure I can just take of decals and sand and undercoat then spray red... but not sure what the thoughts are from the committee on this one ;)

Buy a new body and paint red... Hmmmm.... Would save a lot doing this one but still...

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Looks better with every series of photos !

on the steering it really depends what you want to do.

if everything is stock unmodified then leave things alone, other than the reinforcing plate for the servo itself - you'll need the rear steer to achieve a reasonable turning circle. You can reduce the rear thrown by moving the ball stud position on the servo and axle steering arm - see the post about halfway down the page on this link,,,

http://www.clodtalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=30540&p=291946#p291946

if you want additional steering, ie tighter turning circle, then you can shave the 'lock stops' off the top and bottom of the hubs to increase rotation, just bear in mind that the truck becomes more likely to rollover in turns with increased steering.

Since you are sticking to silver can motors, and seem quite precious about that lovely body, I'd leave the steering throw as intended. The trouble with these trucks is that there's a tonne of mods you can do, from free mods to wallet busters.

As to the body I like the current colour, but then i'm not a huge follower of the box-art school ! If they are original decals it seems , then why go to the effort of stripping repainting and then putting non original decals on. Enjoy the truck for a few months and then decide whether you really want that box art scheme

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And your Tundra looks very small in that line up lol !

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Ok some progress / update for Easter ;)

Got a chance to pull the gearbox apart and the good news is that it was ballraced. Two thumbs up.

So I re-greased and put her back together.

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Next thing was check the pinon, stock 13t as expected.

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Then. Came. The steering...

After lots of research, about two different threads on different sites and multiple YouTube videos I worked out the cleanest and most stock way was as follows. (Also thanks to Percymon for his link ;) )

To help someone in the future Googling this, here is my SEO friendly title:

Vintage Tamiya Clodbuster stock steering fix

Firstly, get a bigger throw servo horn (note the awesome old Tamiya TP-S148 servo!)

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Next, Put the top ball for the rear steering closer to the centre to create less throw and the bottom one for the front steering on the outer one to create more throw. There's no magic science here, had a spare horn and made it work. Also I'm upgrading that servo, it was a problematic Hobbyking one and I think I burnt it out today (from memory it was torched anyway...)
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Second was to modify the (SEO friendly) Vintage Clodbuster front steering horn ball upside down!
Had to shave off plastic to make it work, but once all is said and done, the steering is great. The main reason to put it upside down is to make the front steering connector as close to parallel as possible to give it a linear throw action.
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So after I got home and was cleaning the body, where I removed the electrical tape that the previous owner had stuck on there to hold the wires in place :rolleyes: it still had glue residue. Grabbed the WD-40 as I've done many times before and bang, paint rubbed off... :wub: Can. Not. Believe. It.

I've never seen paint come off this easily, must be a terrible job with terrible paint. I can rub WD-40 over any of my cars (just tried then) and don't get a hint of paint rub off... So this is now making the decision to go red on the original shell probably the decision.

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So had a run which was awesome fun, LOVE IT!!!!

However the tyres were never glued, which is great as I can put new ones on it, but I can't run it so have a real dilemma now.... Do I glue these original rims and tyres, which means I can't replace tyres...

One handed driving skill level = advanced.

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So final thoughts for now are that I need to upgrade the electronics as quickly as possible as the current setup is not tenable.

I ready through this awesome thread but my head exploded a little: http://www.clodtalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=26702

I was thinking 2 x Torque tuned but after reading this thread I am not sure they are zero timed: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=75701 and then this: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=57520&page=2 on the Sport Tuned... sad, could have been a beautiful union..

After doing my own version of that test just now, I can well and truly confirm they spin at vastly different speeds in reverse!

So I am thinking 3S with stock cans....

The hard decision is what ESC to go for that is ok, reasonably priced and has auto cutoff???

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I wouldn't (and haven't) go for speed with this truck, it's not really meant for it stock out of the box, I do have a lipo, and a lipo alarm with the kit tamiya esc and silver cans on mine.

as for the tyres, I would leave them unglued (as I have on mine) and get some of the new proline wheels for the clod with the 17mm off set, and some of the proline tyres and run them, keep the originals for shelf duty.

the proline tyres come with inserts also, and really look the part on clod busters.

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When my tires slip and I don't want to glue them, I put fat rubber bands around the rim beads where the tire seats and that stops the slipping.

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The monster truck guys use shoe goo (sparingly) to glue tyres as it is removable. You would only need the bare minimum, i.e, two small dabs per bead on a stock clod.

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When my tires slip and I don't want to glue them, I put fat rubber bands around the rim beads where the tire seats and that stops the slipping.

The monster truck guys use shoe goo (sparingly) to glue tyres as it is removable. You would only need the bare minimum, i.e, two small dabs per bead on a stock clod.

Very good suggestions guys. I will try the Shoo Goo I think, with this idea it means that I can go have a bash today ;)

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So final thoughts for now are that I need to upgrade the electronics as quickly as possible as the current setup is not tenable.

I ready through this awesome thread but my head exploded a little: http://www.clodtalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=26702

I was thinking 2 x Torque tuned but after reading this thread I am not sure they are zero timed: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=75701 and then this: http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=57520&page=2 on the Sport Tuned... sad, could have been a beautiful union..

After doing my own version of that test just now, I can well and truly confirm they spin at vastly different speeds in reverse!

So I am thinking 3S with stock cans....

The hard decision is what ESC to go for that is ok, reasonably priced and has auto cutoff???

I like 3S on silver cans in monster trucks too. This is how I run my Jugg2 runner.

I used an old ripmax xtreme unlimited speedo in that, but no auto cut off on that one. I don't think 'reasonably priced' and the spec for the ESC go together in the same sentence, although any ESC that can cope with 3S and a fairly low motor turn limit should be ok.

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Had an absolute blast today, what a joy to drive...!

So had to upload this Slo-Mo goodness... Wish the iPhone Slo-Mo was better export quality, it seems to downgrade the resolution when you use it... next time I think I better do it in normal speed and slow it down after ;)

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Some more updates now that the Sl-Mo is done!

Started out with the hunt for the original Shoe Goo which in Melbourne takes a bit of hunting, found it at Amart Sports if anyone ever wants to know ;)

It's as awesome as I remembered it to be, I let it dry for only about three hours, then did the beach session above...

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After yesterdays session I was not happy with the running so decided to pull the Tekin FXr out of the Bruiser and the Tekin servo out of the Lunchbox and use them today so I could have a drive. Much neater, but less nostalgic...
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Did a couple of speed runs as well with the iPhone GPS speed app. Got 16.6kmh at the beach (with a tail wind ;) ) Then went home, WD-40'ed the motors for a while to clean them and got literally 1kmh faster ;) 17.6kmh... Suffice to say, we need a little more power and speed me thinks :D Admittedly it's kinda fun seeing how fast and what you do to the setup it makes, will be cleaning the motors properly and seeing it it does anything more!
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So far, this is up there with fun for me... I've had some big monsters before (reference below!) but this is WAY more fun! (Left to right, MCD RRV4, MCD Monster Truck, HPI Baja 5B SS completely custom with more parts than God... all 1/5 scalers!!)

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The weight, rotational mass and balance is just fantastic. No wonder these have been 30 years as the kings.
The only place I need to get it to to be happy is more top end speed and more torque. I am hoping that the Lipo gives me most of that, and might have to try some new 540 motors as am not sure how old these are so hard to gauge if they are cooked.
I ordered a Turnigy nano-tech 3300mah 3S 35~70C Lipo Pack last night so that should give me some punch, now just need to decide on the right ESC which is tonights job and that's that! Decals ordered, then can fix body etc... However this is going to be a runner, it's just too much fun!
When all was said and done, hit the beach and had some awesome fun!
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