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tamiya_1971

Thunder Tech Racing Tremor Pro Build - Clod

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Bought the Thunder Tech Racing Tremor Pro last summer and it's been sitting in my closet along with a NIB Bullhead. I was pumped about getting it, but with all the stress of work and all the other worldly events, I decided to wait until Christmas break and build it out then. Of course, as 2020 continued to crush on, I ended up with some pretty severe shoulder issues at the end of November and the pain I was going through in December killed my want or need to even begin to mess with the build. Things were starting to look back up in January, but now I'm back to severe pain again and surgery in a couple weeks. I decided that doing it now may be my best bet, especially since it helps take my mind off any pain I'm going through. Since what happens during and after surgery is an unknown, it could be a relatively quick recovery to a very long one. Sometimes pictures don't tell the story until you get in and poke around. 

Anyway, enough of my blabbing. 

Here is the donor Super Clod (Yellow with red stripes). I've decided to keep the Bullhead NIB for the time being, seeing as I have an original Clod already built and a built Bullhead (and a new LMT waiting for warmer weather and a first run).  I purchased the fiberglass composite version of the Tremor Pro rather than carbon fiber. 

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Here is how the Tremor Pro arrived, along with several bags of parts. If interested in it further, you'll have to check out their Facebook page. The web page is very old and directs people to check out their Facebook page.

I started the lower 4-link bars tonight. I'll continue to work on it as I have time and update here. 

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"Here is how the Tremor Pro arrived, along with several bags of parts. If interested in it further, you'll have to check out their Facebook page. The web page is very old and directs people to check out their Facebook page."

I know not everything is done by companies BUT as soon as I see "we are on FB" my interest goes. Nothing like a proper website to look at.

Edited by Gazzalene
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9 hours ago, tamiya3speed said:

Is that metric or standard hardware?  Also, thoughts on the lower links after assembly?  Unique design for sure.

Standard hardware, which drives me nuts when they get mixed together on a build. :)

The lower links are chunky and screwing them together had me worried initially due to how close the nuts are in a couple spots. Thankfully, everything fit together perfectly. 

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On 2/21/2021 at 5:49 AM, Gazzalene said:

"Here is how the Tremor Pro arrived, along with several bags of parts. If interested in it further, you'll have to check out their Facebook page. The web page is very old and directs people to check out their Facebook page."

I now not everything is done by companies BUT as soon as I see "we are on FB" my interest goes. Nothing like a proper website to look at.

Agreed. I'm off Facebook and have recently found several companies that seem to be Facebook only. Putting all your eggs in one basket seems nuts. Now he does sell stuff on eBay under thunder-tech-racing, but having a web presence other than Facebook/ebay would be helpful to people like me (or maybe you) who don't love social media.

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This looks pretty cool, excited to see how it comes out.  

Agreed on th FB thing, I have missed out on quite a few nice chassis, parts, etc. for solid axle monsters because I don't have a FB.  It's not hard (or expensive) to have a website nowadays, I also think that guys like this are missing out (RH Designs comes to mind).  

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That's an interesting looking design.  How thick are the chassis plates?  I'm hoping to start on my own FR4 TVP design soon and not sure what thickness I should use.

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Glad some of you guys agree with my view on FB. I am 56 years young and detest FB.

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9 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

That's an interesting looking design.  How thick are the chassis plates?  I'm hoping to start on my own FR4 TVP design soon and not sure what thickness I should use.

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Let me know if you want any more measurements. 

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Thanks @tamiya_1971 that's exactly what I needed :) there's surprisingly little bulk to those plates, I guess it must be strong enough where it counts.  Maybe I can cut more meat than I expected out of my design.

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6 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

Thanks @tamiya_1971 that's exactly what I needed :) there's surprisingly little bulk to those plates, I guess it must be strong enough where it counts.  Maybe I can cut more meat than I expected out of my design.

You got me thinking about the thickness of the plates, so I checked the LMT's thickness on theirs. LMT is just a tad thinner than these. I was expecting thicker with the LMT. :)

 

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Over the past couple of nights, I finished up the build. It was honestly a fun time. Challenging at times because I'll be honest,  these ain't Tamiya instructions. But for a tiny company that builds RC truck conversions, I think they are adequate. If you are upgrading your Clod to something aftermarket, I would expect most people to be able to figure most of the build by pictures at the very least. Hence the fun and challenge I had slapping it together (and the main chassis plates came already assembled)! 

What didn't have instructions:  aftermarket Tremor Pro alu-cb51p heavy duty sway bar (or even the stock one for that matter). I ordered this last week after seeing it on ebay. I like it and would recommend it over the one that comes with the Tremor Pro just based off how heavy duty it is. 

Here are the instructions in case you are curious:

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After having completed the 4 link bars a few days before, I next tackled the disassembly of the Super Clod gear cases from the stock chassis.

First part I worked on was the upper link mount. This is a nice chunky piece that mounts directly to the gear case and has five holes for different caster angles. The rods that are provided appear to be Delrin.  One part that came back to bite me in a big way assembling this, the ball end "balls". There were eight total, but they were not all the same. A bigger hole was in four of them. I did not discover this little detail until last night. (Older eyes could easily miss this or an assumption that the mounting screws will all be the same.) 

 

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After the upper link mount was put together, I assembled the Acu-Lock rear steer lockout device.  This required flipping the steering knuckles. The fiberglass piece locked perfectly to the gear case and bolted without any issues to the knuckles. 

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After splitting all of this up, I realized I missed drilling out the axle tubes (another part not in the instructions, but maybe I should have paid more attention). A single hole is required at the bottom to bolt up the 4 lower links. 

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Aside from all this, I started again on the other Super Clod gear case. Something about disassembling this particular RC that is just exhausting. :)

This gear case would be set up for the steering, the "Low-Down Steering System". The assembly instructions on this part were very good, I thought. I separated the gear case halves. One upper axle mounting screw was removed. This was so the servo mount could be mounted and held in place by the new screw. 

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Servo mounted:

 

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The next part of the steering set up was flipping the steering hubs to the opposite side. It was also advised to trim the steering stops and the backs of the hubs, which I did.

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Setting up the steering was actually a little more fun that I thought it would be. I generally hate making servo adjustments, but I was happy with the way the servo mounted on the axle and I love how it's facing inwards. 

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I only question is the closeness to the motor for the giant servo saver. I flexed it around and figure it would really have to be a helluva hit to cause it to even touch the motor. 

 

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The final piece was connecting the gear cases to the chassis, the upper and lower links. (this is where I discovered some balls are too big and others may be too small)  After the ball ends were sorted out correctly, I mounted the shocks (E-Maxx ebay buy) and then the heavy duty sway bar kit. 

I'm really impressed with the kit. I need to get the electronics mounted this week and give it a run. Here are some final pics and some next to the Losi LMT.  

My only major point of concern is the tire getting very close to rubbing the front servo mount on the axle. I may order a wheel widener to alleviate that possible issue. 

 

 

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Finished it up. I wish the decals had been the correct size for this particular body, but you get what you get sometimes. 

 

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Looks good, how does it run?  Interesting that the sway bars are mounted so far towards the center of the chassis.  That's definitely one of my favorite monster truck bodies, but it is quite long.  MCI will scale up or down decals when ordering, but they look great on there.  

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38 minutes ago, 87lc2 said:

Looks good, how does it run?  Interesting that the sway bars are mounted so far towards the center of the chassis.  That's definitely one of my favorite monster truck bodies, but it is quite long.  MCI will scale up or down decals when ordering, but they look great on there.  

On a garage floor doing circles it did well. It definitely needs a bit of shock adjustment in the back end, but I’ll know for sure once I get it out in the yard this weekend with a ramp. 

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A couple questions for those that have added a brushless system to their Clods. 

I'm looking at the Tower Hobbies Onyx 70a 3000kv and 4000kv systems. I currently have the 3000kv (under the old Horizon Hobby Kinexsis brand) in my Konghead which really makes it quick.  

Any thoughts or suggestions on one vs the other?  Would the 4000kv be quite a bit faster?  I would be keeping the Clod at 2s.

 

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14 hours ago, tamiya_1971 said:

A couple questions for those that have added a brushless system to their Clods. 

I'm looking at the Tower Hobbies Onyx 70a 3000kv and 4000kv systems. I currently have the 3000kv (under the old Horizon Hobby Kinexsis brand) in my Konghead which really makes it quick.  

Any thoughts or suggestions on one vs the other?  Would the 4000kv be quite a bit faster?  I would be keeping the Clod at 2s.

 

If strictly sticking with 2s go with the 4000kv setups.  Personally I like to run lower kv motors with higher voltage on big trucks.  Given the choice between the two I'd go with 3000kv on 3s.  Preferably 3650 (555) sized cans.  

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This project has been a work in progress the last year. At the beginning of the thread I was set to have surgery.   I have pretty much recovered from surgery for calcific tendinitis/rotator cuff repair (thanks to the calcification). Long, frustrating recovery. 

So, the truck has been finished for quite some time. The 540's are wimpy and the Clod tires/wheels rubbed when steering (terrible cpe extenders failed), so I ended up getting some JConcepts Tribute rims last month using the included 25mm extender. They fit nicely. I have a couple of Onyx 4000kv brushless systems to put in it now too.  

This is the part where I'm going to ******* and moan about Tower and JConcepts.  

1) I was mounting the very last wheel when I realized in my wheel pack, I was given 3 medium extenders, 2 short extenders and 1 long extender. (made and packed in China)

2) I contacted JConcepts outright over a week ago. They said they would send out the 25mm extender. Great. I've been patient, I can wait a bit longer.

3) A week has gone by and I usually can see what is being shipped by USPS informed delivery, UPS, or FedEx. Nothing showing up at all.

4) I email Tower asking them what they may be able to do. response: "contact JConcepts"

5) I contact JConcepts again. Asking about the extender again. They don't show me having any sort of shipment at all. They take my info again. Been a couple days, I still see nothing and email Tower again. They pretty much tell me it's my problem with JConcepts, they are a separate company. 

6) I said screw it and ordered another wheel set from Amazon, knowing I'll have it in the time for the weekend. (if anything is wrong with what I receive from Amazon, at least I can send it back)

I'm at the end of my rope with all the delayed shipments, the lazy companies, the *******-poor service, and me being told I need to be patient due to circumstances beyond everyone's control. 

Once I get all the above squared away, I hope to be able to run the darn thing. :)

 

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Glad you recovered from surgery.  My father had that done twice on the same shoulder and it was not an easy recovery from what I remember. 

I feel your pain about JConcepts/Tower.  I have bought so many JConcepts products twice due to missing parts and neither Tower or JC made it right.  Had the missing adapters you did a couple times and have had a few bodies missing decal sets.  I get it from Tower's perspective (it really is a manufacturer issue), but after they are no help Tower should just send a new one and bill JC for it.  Unfortunately I continue to but JC products because they're the only ones that make our beloved monster truck parts.  I'm actually really starting to dislike them between the product issues and just general lack of attention to detail in their products.  My only recourse is to not run any of their decals on my trucks...100% sure nobody cares but it makes me feel a little better :) 

Post some pictures of the truck on Tributes, I'm sure it looks great.  Are you running the stock Clod tires on them?  

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7 hours ago, 87lc2 said:

Glad you recovered from surgery.  My father had that done twice on the same shoulder and it was not an easy recovery from what I remember. 

I feel your pain about JConcepts/Tower.  I have bought so many JConcepts products twice due to missing parts and neither Tower or JC made it right.  Had the missing adapters you did a couple times and have had a few bodies missing decal sets.  I get it from Tower's perspective (it really is a manufacturer issue), but after they are no help Tower should just send a new one and bill JC for it.  Unfortunately I continue to but JC products because they're the only ones that make our beloved monster truck parts.  I'm actually really starting to dislike them between the product issues and just general lack of attention to detail in their products.  My only recourse is to not run any of their decals on my trucks...100% sure nobody cares but it makes me feel a little better :) 

Post some pictures of the truck on Tributes, I'm sure it looks great.  Are you running the stock Clod tires on them?  

AH GEEZ, don't tell me that!! :D  I was hoping mine was just a fluke with parts missing. (and I pray I don' t have a second surgery on the same shoulder, I feel for your dad)

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My only recourse is to not run any of their decals on my trucks...100% sure nobody cares but it makes me feel a little better :) 

Even a small protest is a protest nonetheless. :)

I'll pop up my half installed wheel/tire pic later today. I ended up getting the JCon Golden Years MT tires. Not much of a look really, but I love the Clod tires and wanted something that looked similar.  

 

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Someone on Thingiverse has the 25mm hub for printing, so I went ahead and printed a couple nylon ones. Seem to fit fine (CPE should take note), so once I feel like hurting my hand with all the cap screws and assembly, I'll snap a pic of it. 

Here are the nylon ones:

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