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DrGoatboy

Monster bearhawk?

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Having recently acquired a number of bear hawks in various states of repair I have one for general driving pleasure whilst I work on restoring the others. 

I have been using it mainly on grass and really it could do with better ground clearance for the long grass. (Yeah I know it's never going to be great on grass, my lunchie and my manta ray are both better but it's all part of the fun to experiment)

I was wondering if anybody knew of some bigger wheels and tyres that would be a direct fit? Suspect blitzer beetle wheels would be a direct fit but I can't find any! Also no idea if they are taller? Look like they may be....

Lunchbox wheels don't have a hex adapter for the rear and the fronts go on a much longer shaft (although I guess you could change to lunchie uprights for not much cash).

Everything else I can find with bearing fit on the front seem to be standard skinny buggy size and just replacing the tyres won't work because of the unusual size .....

Any ideas anybody?

Thanks

GB

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I think the monster beetle wheels are a hex fit. In terms of the fronts you're gonna have issues fitting most monster wheels and tyres as the front axle on the bearhawk is standard length. You'd need something like the madbull/monster beetle front axles and monster beetle front wheels and tyres. But double check these on photos/other opinions before committing 😁

I was gonna try something similar with my bearhawk but I didn't like the look of it.

Edit - seems like it is the twin detonator/wr 01 chassis that uses the hex rear wheels

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HPI M/T wheels and tires may fit. They use a wide 2.2 wheel with a tall tire.  Geolander tires are regarded as an "all-purpose" tire.

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On 7/31/2020 at 5:10 PM, DrGoatboy said:

I was wondering if anybody knew of some bigger wheels and tyres that would be a direct fit? Suspect blitzer beetle wheels would be a direct fit but I can't find any! Also no idea if they are taller? Look like they may be....

Lunchbox wheels don't have a hex adapter for the rear and the fronts go on a much longer shaft (although I guess you could change to lunchie uprights for not much cash).

Everything else I can find with bearing fit on the front seem to be standard skinny buggy size and just replacing the tyres won't work because of the unusual size .....

The uprights from the Blitzer series of trucks are what you need to get squared away with big wheels in the front.

The HPI Super Star wheels @SupraChrgd82 mentioned come with a variety of adapters and do fit. They are 2.2 size which is the common "Blackfoot" size wheel and has a decent tire selection available for them.

The Blitzer wheels, if you can find them, are also 2.2, though the fronts are slightly narrower. Blitzer tires are taller than the stock Bearhawk ones.

You can fit Lunch Box tires if you use Wild Willy 2 or any of the other WR02 variant wheels. They are Lunch Box-size but have a hex rear fitment to bolt straight on. Lunch Box tires are not 2.2 so you are limited to Lunch Box tires and the optional chevron/spike tires like those on the Heavy Dump Truck. Others will no doubt chime in with a bunch of options for these wheels that I was ignorant of. The Madbull also uses hex fit rear wheels and bearing fronts like the WR02s.

The Blitzers are basically "racing" truck versions of the Bearhawk. Tamiya did change the gearbox molding slightly and the Blitzer gearbox is geared lower to accommodate the bigger tires it had over the Bearhawk. The Bearhawk accepts 17 and 15 tooth pinions and the Blitzers take 15 and 13 tooth pinions. This was to keep the motor from running too hot back in the days of brushed motors from whence these vehicles originally came.  

 

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Cheers everyone. That's awesome! Lots to research there. Hopefully I can make something work for not too much money. Some of the prices are crazy at the moment. Why I would pay £30 for used madbull wheels makes no sense to me when the whole kit is only £90.

Crazy times!!

Thank again. 

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1 hour ago, Falcon#5 said:

I'll swap you a BNIB Madbull kit for the Bearhawks! B)

Tempting but no thanks. :)Besides I think postage to WA might be a bit prohibitive!!

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Stadium Blitzer use hex rear and bearing front but in white, and they are 2.2 do loads of tyres choices.

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To expand on what's already been said - the Blitzer Beetle is based on the Bear Hawk chassis but with bigger wheels, and as @Saito2 has already pointed out, lower gearing to accomodate the larger radius.  That said, standard Blitzer tyres are of the stadium truck type, not the monster truck type, so the rolling radius is not that much bigger than a Bear Hawk's wheels.  I race my Bear Hawk with modern 2.2" buggy wheels and tyres.  Blitzer wheels are also a standard truck 2.2" diameter.  Blitzer tyres are notoriously bad (although I still run them on my Blitzer) but Schumacher Vee4s are a good alternative without increasing the radius.

However if you want better clearance then you'll have to increase the radius and accept the higher gearing.  If you run a low turn motor you'll have to keep an eye on the motor temp, if you're running the silvercan you should be OK.  Biggest tyres are 2.2 monster truck tyres - there seems to be a shortage at the mo, not sure if Tamiya 2.2s are around but I haven't been able to find any other manufacturer's 2.2 monster tyres in the last month or so.

Next size down is Wild Willy 2 wheels and tyres, these are a smaller diameter tyre and a smaller diameter wheel.  Fronts are bearing fit, rears are hex.  They are probably the best compromise between size and gearing.  Again, if you can find them - such is the world we live in now.

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Thanks @Mad Ax I don't necessarily need monster truck wheels just something a bit bigger. 

Stadium blitzer wheels appear to be cheap so I've requested a couple of notifications of when they came back in stock. 

Let's see! Thanks for the advice. 

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22 hours ago, DrGoatboy said:

Tempting but no thanks. :)Besides I think postage to WA might be a bit prohibitive!!

What if I cover postage? :lol:

 

Great to see some Bearhawk love going around. B)

I'm sitting at the opposite end of this conundrum.

Struggled to find a BH, so bought an org Stadium Blitzer and BNIB BH body to do a conversion.

Decided to keep the SB as is.

Then bought an org Blitzer Beetle to convert. Same again.

Another org BB found it's way into my possession. This time I might go through with it.

Putting a BNIB BH body on a used chassis...? Been looking at rere Blitzers now to build a shelf queen. :blink:

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2 hours ago, Falcon#5 said:

What if I cover postage? :lol:

 

Great to see some Bearhawk love going around. B)

I'm sitting at the opposite end of this conundrum.

Struggled to find a BH, so bought an org Stadium Blitzer and BNIB BH body to do a conversion.

Decided to keep the SB as is.

Then bought an org Blitzer Beetle to convert. Same again.

Another org BB found it's way into my possession. This time I might go through with it.

Putting a BNIB BH body on a used chassis...? Been looking at rere Blitzers now to build a shelf queen. :blink:

I hope you got the BH body set when they were relatively cheap 18 odd months ago (I recall them being about 40 quid from South Korea I think) as people are asking well in excess of 100 quid now!! I umm-ed and ahhh-ed about getting one back then but my BH shell was/is in good nick so couldn't really justify it. Certainly can't now! Even if I did, I wouldn't dare do anything with it except keep it in the box in a safe, dark place. Which for me, kinda defeats the point. I am kicking myself though for missing out when I did.

Maybe you could pick up a relatively decent used BH shell off ebay for a conversion?

 

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It lives!

Managed to source some cheapish wheels on FB (hence the mismatch colours) and some alloy blitzer uprights (red of course ) from Hong kong.

Everything works! The blitzer rear tyres aren't exactly grippy and it could maybe do with a bit more punch off the line and getting a bit less hot in the battery department but nothing too scary at the moment. 

Might think about blitzer spur and pinion at some point but will probably just run it as is for now 🙂

 

IMG_20200906_150508.jpg

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Looking good. 

 

I may attempt  a similar thing,  as I have 2 x re-re Blitzer Beetle kits and a NOS Bearhawk body kit.  

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