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Oh Dear.... (Bruiser clone)

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I attempted to fit the tamiya 54412 slipper clutch yesterday. Its not compatible. The spline pattern on the dog gear has no where to go in the HG-P407 transmission. Although it does fit it will not allow the transmission to engage 3rd gear(2wd high). Trying to select 3rd gear could potentially damage the transmission.

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now we just need to know what part number to replace to make the spline fit.

Edited by unixphreak
grammar and spelling

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49 minutes ago, unixphreak said:

now we just need to know what pat to replace to make the spline fit.

Yep, if possible. I guess side by side comparison of the manuals is the place to start. 

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Did a few upgrades to the Bruiser clone this weekend and took it for a nice 8 mile hike with the GF. Also experienced my first failure but we’ll get to that later.

During the initial teardown and rebuild a few weeks back I learned that the stock hardware is very soft and should really be replaced. I took a chance and bought a re-re Bruiser hex hardware kit off ebay so I’d have spares when something falls off J. During this rebuild I decided to use the new stuff and keep the stock stuff as spares. Surprisingly everything fit with the exception of a couple screws on the transmission housing.

During the first teardown a few weeks back I used a surprising amount of blue Loctite but I’ve still run into issues with nuts and screws working themselves loose when running. On Friday I decided to once again tear the truck down completely and reassemble. I figured that I now have enough run time on it that I know what needs to be addressed and what was good enough as is.

Completely disassembled the truck down to its main components. Disassembled the axles, cleaned and greased. Lubed all bearings and removed the motor and replaced most hardware on the transmission. Used a liberal amount of Blue Loctite on the every screw and nut on the truck.

During the reassembly I decided to remove one leaf from each of the suspension leaf packs. This was the single biggest improvement in the way the truck drives and performs. The suspension now flexes just a bit more and doesn’t pogo around. I’m considering removing one additional leaf but I’m not sure if that is a good idea just yet.

Next I replaced the steering servo with an old Traxxas 2075 I had laying around. The improvement in torque and speed is night and day. Not bad for a servo that cost me nothing. If you need to buy one they are readily available on craigslist and EBay for about $20. I decided to reuse the stock servo saver as it fit the splines on the Traxxas servo but I did take the time to super glue it together to get rid of the slop. Improvement is huge. It now tracks straight and I can turn the tires while sitting still… Amazing concept.

Finished reassembly without any other changes to the truck but did use an old mouse pad and cut pieces out of it to place under the body on top of the mounts so the body doesn’t constantly bounce around. Really hate that sound.

A quick shake down run in the backyard and I was happy with the results of my work. Keep in mind that this is not a quick project. I had Friday off and it was quiet around the house so I was able to just sit down and do this. All told it took me about 4 hrs to complete.

On Saturday the GF and I decided to go on a walk around our local forest preserve. Trail / Path is a little less than 8 miles. I charged up 3 5200mah Lipo’s and we drove to the location. From the parking lot to the start of the path/trail is about a ¼ mile.  I dropped the truck and we trekked through tall unkept grass and dirt until we got to trail. Used all three packs and the truck ran the approx. 8 mile loop in 2WD High. The part of the trail that are not paved are hard packed dirt so 4WD wasn’t required. Truck preformed great the whole time.

We get back to the starting point and I place the truck in 4WD Low for the trek back through the tall grass to the car. It changes gears without an issue and off we go.  About a minute later the truck simply stopped moving. Steering still worked and I could hear the motor spinning. Thinking I broke a gear in the transmission or the pinion came loose I picked the truck up. I reached under the truck to pick it up and the servo box was extremely hot to the point where the plastic was a bit soft. I pulled the body off and checked the motor and battery temps. Both were only mildly warm. The ESC was only mildly warm as well so it seemed like an issue with the servos.

Got the truck home and tore into the servo box. I could smell the burnt smell as soon as I opened the box. The servo that controlled shifting was locked up solid and wouldn’t move.  I decided to swap in another Traxxas 2075 Servo I had laying around.

After the servo swap the truck was back up and running. After a close inspection nothing was broken and more importantly nothing was loose of falling off.

I’m very impressed with the quality of this truck and can’t wait for the kit version to arrive. I’m having better luck with this truck than I have with any of the Tamiya 3-speeds I’ve owned over the years. I’ve also used this one more in the past month than I have used all of the previous 3 speeds combines in my lifetime.

 

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, racer1 said:

I’m very impressed with the quality of this truck and can’t wait for the kit version to arrive. I’m having better luck with this truck than I have with any of the Tamiya 3-speeds I’ve owned over the years.

Not surprised to read this. For years Tamiya has made great kits just to see how other companies copy them to make them better afterwards.

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12 hours ago, unixphreak said:

What leaf spring? Did you take out the smaller one or the middle one?

I removed the lower (smallest) leaf spring. 

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Regarding the servo that locked up at the end, double-check that you have set the endpoints for low and high gear so that the servo is not straining in either direction.  That would be my guess as to why it died in 4WD low at the end of your run.  The 4WD low endpoint was not set correctly and the servo was trying to push/pull the shift rod in/out of the transmission but it was already at max travel.  Motor and/or drive MOSFETs overheated and died.

 

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My kit version arrived today. Looks good. Box was in good shape as well. Had to remove some sticky residue from the tape they used on the box.

I did go through the boxes and it looks good. I'll really check it out in the next couple nights. The motor does come with the tranny, it stated no motor.

It'll be awhile before I put it together as I have other projects before it. Got a new lexan stand to hold these guys so the throttle, shifting and steering can be set.

 

Cory

IMG_9801.JPG

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i got mine in last week also, did not open the transmission or chassis box yet. Will build this one over the winter and see about getting the bruiser slipper clutch installed also.

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The RTR  was down to £170 for a short time on gearbest last week. I was tempted but on a budget at the moment. If they ever sell it at £150 I will go for it regardless and just sell £150 worth of organs.

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4 hours ago, nowinaminute said:

The RTR  was down to £170 for a short time on gearbest last week. I was tempted but on a budget at the moment. If they ever sell it at £150 I will go for it regardless and just sell £150 worth of organs.

Ha! I hear ya. I may still get a RTR one to just run in the rain, snow and dirt. It'll be interesting to see how they hold up. I still run two original Bruiser chassis's

and have been going for 20 years now. They don't get driven alot but they have held up and never replaced anything. The bodies are lexan though.

 

Cory

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Here's a picture of the front axles. The 2012 Bruiser used a plastic circle then the bearing goes in the wheel hub. The knuckles look a little more 

thicker on the 2012 Bruiser. The Clone axle looks good though. Everything looks and feels good. I take it apart to check the grease in it. I did go through

the kit last night and everything seemed good. The shock oil was leaking out of the bag it was in so I cleaned all that up. The frame is black, but certain cross members

were not covered in black all the way. Not sure if it's paint or zinc plated like the Tamiya stuff. I think it will be a good truck and can't wait to get started. I will install a Tamiya

light kit into it when building it.

 

Cory

 

IMG_9804.JPG

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So the design is different in subtle ways...

Does it come with diff locking pins?

 

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46 minutes ago, Juggular said:

So the design is different in subtle ways...

Does it come with diff locking pins?

 

From what I've seen it doesn't but the Tamiya ones fit. There's some videos of it with locked diffs on youtube.

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Both of my trucks RTR and kit have the diff locking pins. They are in the extras bag with the 4-way tool, rubber bands and Allen keys.

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6 hours ago, unixphreak said:

both of my trucks RTR and kit have the diff locking pins. They are in the extras bag with the 4way tool and rubber bands and Allen keys.

Maybe some people are just too dozy to notice then lol! Saw a couple of people say there were absent.

That's great news, can't wait to try it when I get one.

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There are already people on ebay trying to palm of this counterfeit version as the original :( 

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On 8/13/2018 at 4:50 AM, Static Age said:

I attempted to fit the tamiya 54412 slipper clutch yesterday. Its not compatible. The spline pattern on the dog gear has no where to go in the HG-P407 transmission. Although it does fit it will not allow the transmission to engage 3rd gear(2wd high). Trying to select 3rd gear could potentially damage the transmission.

Any work around for this. Like fitting an original Bruiser dog gear?? 

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On 7/26/2018 at 11:13 PM, OCD said:

NzxzPYb.jpg

I've always wondered about the hog and "Bruiser."  

It'd be fitting if there was a guy (with a handlebar mustache) called "Bruiser" and he wore a "Hog Heaven" emblem on the back of his leather jacket.  

Was there some motorcycle reference I'm missing here? 

 

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3 hours ago, qatmix said:

There are already people on ebay trying to palm of this counterfeit version as the original :( 

I was expecting this from the start.  Since the Bruiser is such a niche item in the market i hope potential buyers will be smart enough to know the difference (and call out the items as a fake to EBAY)

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58 minutes ago, Juggular said:

I've always wondered about the hog and "Bruiser."  

It'd be fitting if there was a guy (with a handlebar mustache) called "Bruiser" and he wore a "Hog Heaven" emblem on the back of his leather jacket.  

Was there some motorcycle reference I'm missing here? 

 

Hog Heaven = mud wallow, which the connection would be that the truck is modeled after the "mud boggers" that were popular at the time.

RofwN1s.gif  MxtTAo6.gif

 

The "Bruiser" part I'm a bit uncertain of. Maybe because it was a few shades of blue?

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2 hours ago, Juggular said:

I've always wondered about the hog and "Bruiser."  

It'd be fitting if there was a guy (with a handlebar mustache) called "Bruiser" and he wore a "Hog Heaven" emblem on the back of his leather jacket.  

Was there some motorcycle reference I'm missing here?

As far as I understand the expression Hog Heaven in certain areas of Southern USA means being as happy as one can be. Hence the Tamiya Bruiser promotional film "You'll be in Hog Heaven if you own the Bruiser" (IF MEMORY DOESN'T FAIL).

Now, why would Tamiya use a BOAR and not a PIG as mascot is something I never understood!

The Bruiser name I would say was used to portrait a tough truck. A mudbog racer, yes. Mudbog racing, as well as all the other 4x4 offroading was mainly an American thing back in the 60's and 70's. Mudbog racing, Tractor pulling, Monster trucks, motocross, bmx, all type of racing involving DIRT started in the States. I suppose that kind of motor sport (Mudbog racing) was curious to the Japanese people perhaps as much as it was for us here in my country.

I doubt there was anything related to motorbikes in the concept used by Tamiya.

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18 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

As far as I understand the expression Hog Heaven in certain areas of Southern USA means being as happy as one can be. Hence the Tamiya Bruiser promotional film "You'll be in Hog Heaven if you own the Bruiser" (IF MEMORY DOESN'T FAIL).

Now, why would Tamiya use a BOAR and not a PIG as mascot is something I never understood!

The Bruiser name I would say was used to portrait a tough truck. A mudbog racer, yes. Mudbog racing, as well as all the other 4x4 offroading was mainly an American thing back in the 60's and 70's. Mudbog racing, Tractor pulling, Monster trucks, motocross, bmx, all type of racing involving DIRT started in the States. I suppose that kind of motor sport (Mudbog racing) was curious to the Japanese people perhaps as much as it was for us here in my country.

I doubt there was anything related to motorbikes in the concept used by Tamiya.

Both wild boar and mud bogging were common throughout the United States during the early eighties.

Notice that the Bruiser is out of "San Diego, CA", and has California license plates to match:

2bVzcGO.jpg?1

 

And here is a map of the wild boar population in the mid-eighties:

cB8osJr.gif

Yes, I'm a huge nerd :P

 

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