Newbie lookin fer vintage Monster Beetle bits

[sneakypete]

...namely half-shafts. I have aquired a wrecked Monster for my 6 year old son - who's over the moon and wants it running ASAP!

I reckon the half-shafts have 'rounded off' in the rear diff - I've not dismantled yet but am getting loss of drive to rear nearside.

A bit of research has shown that King Blackfoot shares some parts? Any other bits common to other kits?

Not sure of condition of rest of Beetle - hopefully I'll get it going (on a tight budget) very soon.

Unless anyone knows of other weaknesses that I will need to shell out for?!!

[stanmart]

theres a guy oldfrogshot on these forums that makes really good dog bone conversion kits for the frogs and beetles. I just bought some from him. PM oldfrogshot and he should get back with you. Its going to cost you about 60 bucks to get a set but there worth it. Much better then the originals.

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

hi sneakypete!

the monster beetle shares almost every single chassis part with the original tamiya blackfoot and mudblaster.

it also shares most of the drive mechanism with the soon to be re-released tamiya "frog".

the half shafts are the same as frog ones, so they should be more widly available very soon on ebay []

check ebay for monster beetle parts, there is a fair amount on there []

other weak points include the body - falls to bits rather easily

the differential gears - wear slightly, then force apart the gearbox sides slightly - and then wear rapidly as the slop in the bevel gears causes the diff to slip. with maintenance however; they last ages[] but hotter motors make the diff's break faster.

rear suspension mounts - where the shock absorbers screw into the rear swing arm - the screw mounting part cracks, if its broken it can either be bodged up, or the hole arm will need replacing. i've used bolts and washers insted of tapping screws to secure the shock absorbers, as it causes less strain on the plastic []

other than that, if you drive it reasonabley carefully it'll keep working for years to come [8D]

have fun! []

[DJTheo]

quote:rear suspension mounts - where the shock absorbers screw into the rear swing arm - the screw mounting part cracks, if its broken it can either be bodged up, or the hole arm will need replacing. i've used bolts and washers insted of tapping screws to secure the shock absorbers, as it causes less strain on the plastic

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Nice one [], I think the MB also provided longer screws to fix that, but think that mmbib's solution is better.

Cheers

[sneakypete]

quote:the differential gears - wear slightly, then force apart the gearbox sides slightly - and then wear rapidly as the slop in the bevel gears causes the diff to slip. with maintenance however; they last ages but hotter motors make the diff's break faster.

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Cheers MMBIB!

Have disassembled entire drive system and found the diff is separating under load!

Thankfully the previous owner stopped running the motor before much wear occurred - I am planning to shim up the diff on the casing/bearing sides to keep the whole plot together - unless that is, anyone thinks thats a bad idea??[?]

[billg4]

if you can find one of the aftermarket rear sway bar kits it helps prevent a lot of flexing and slop in the ear axles and tranny.

Also, inspect the metal tranny plates, see if cracking has started near the diff out put holes.

Make up a couple aluminum plates and some time with hand tools will completly solve flexing of the tranny plates.

Generally it''s high powered motors and "donughts" that start the problems.