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I was told that this is an original Mountaineer chassis with re-release wheels and tires. It obviously needs some work.

How can I verify that it is an original chassis?

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The original Mountaineer chassis was silver like the Bruiser's but looking at yours, it appears to be an original frame possibly painted black (evidence by some of the chipping). The rest of it certainly looks original (transmission, axles and the big, old 750 motor). Some odds and ends look nice and shiny like the front bash/skid plate and possibly some spring hangers. They might be re-re parts, not sure. Overall, it looks mostly original.

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Thanks for the information. I wonder if I should leave the black paint or try to remove it. I don’t want to damage it. 
 

It looks to me like like the steering is on the wrong side of the axle. I’ll have to swap that around. I also need to find a motor stay for the front of the motor. I have the driveshafts and 2 of the shocks. I’m missing pieces for the steering and shifting that I’ll need to find. 
 

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Some guys inverted the front arms to get better steering -not sure about any real effects with such mod. Your frame was definitely painted. As @Saito2 says, the original chassis frame from 1985 and 1992 is actually silver. The promotional pictures of the Mountaineer never show it painted, but all of the Bruiser (the original model) promotional pictures and videos show it in black, although the original manual doesn't say a word about it: https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=92555&id=23692

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Out of curiosity @mongoose1983, what was the original silver finish? Was it painted silver or somehow clear coated steel or just simply a type of zinc plated steel?

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9 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

Out of curiosity @mongoose1983, what was the original silver finish? Was it painted silver or somehow clear coated steel or just simply a type of zinc plated steel?

All of the original chassis frames I've seen in person are zinc plated steel. The new vehicle that Tamiya is marketing under the Bruiser name comes with black chassis frame instead.

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On 6/13/2021 at 7:09 PM, mongoose1983 said:

The new vehicle that Tamiya is marketing under the Bruiser name comes with black chassis frame instead.

Interesting choice of words. I guess a good portion of the re-re truck has been re-engineered/changed from the original when one thinks about it.

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19 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Interesting choice of words. I guess a good portion of the re-re truck has been re-engineered/changed from the original when one thinks about it.

About a decade ago I've made a list with the differences, the obvious and subtle ones. The 2012 "Bruiser" only shares with the original Toyota Bruiser the shocks, bumpers, and tires. All of the other parts, large or small, are different (I believe the new tires are considerably softer than the originals, so there you have it).

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3 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

All of the other parts, large or small, are different

Sorry to derail the thread a bit, but would you consider the majority of changes improvements or would you have preferred something closer to the original. For instance, I'm on the fence about the axles. The originals looked far more scale for a Toyota, but you get lockable diffs with the new ones. I can see the thought process behind the upgrade. On the other hand, it seems like everybody locks the diffs anyway....I was always interested in how the new transmission/540 stacks up to the old transmission/750. Never got an original myself.

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I'm ordering / collecting parts to build this in to a running truck. I don't have a Toyota body, but since this is a Tamiya hard body, I think this will be appropriate.

 

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On 6/16/2021 at 9:58 PM, kwkride said:

I'm ordering / collecting parts to build this in to a running truck. I don't have a Toyota body, but since this is a Tamiya hard body, I think this will be appropriate.

Looks pretty good with the Clod Buster body. Different tires would make the truck look even more scale.

On 6/16/2021 at 4:40 AM, Saito2 said:

Sorry to derail the thread a bit, but would you consider the majority of changes improvements or would you have preferred something closer to the original. For instance, I'm on the fence about the axles. The originals looked far more scale for a Toyota, but you get lockable diffs with the new ones. I can see the thought process behind the upgrade. On the other hand, it seems like everybody locks the diffs anyway....I was always interested in how the new transmission/540 stacks up to the old transmission/750. Never got an original myself.

Well, to clear things up a bit I must have to start saying that I am not in the RC market for new stuff pretending that it's old. Having said that I would have liked the truck to be exactly the original just to have cheap replacement parts to those bits that nowadays are extremely hard -or expensive- to locate. The one thing I am totally against is calling the truck exactly as the original one, when it is actually a different vehicle with just the looks of the original. If you see what Tamiya did with models like the new Hornet or Bullhead, well, they're pretty much the same as the old ones. You can buy re-re parts to fix your old cars, and that's a good thing. I like what Tamiya did with the "Mountain Rider" not calling it Mountaineer because, again, BS like the "Bruiser" being different than the Bruiser is evil and totally misleading. There are guys here in TC still believing the new one is 99% accurate, go figure. To me any new stuff should have a proper and HONEST new name, that is all.

The new transmission is noisier than the original. I think when in stock fashion the older transmission should be stronger than the new ones, but that's because the motors and axles. The one thing you can do with the new one is installing a brushless motor, and then the sky is really the limit for it, while finding optional 750 motors for your old transmission it's complicated.

To the OP, please excuse us for discussing side stuff.

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9 hours ago, mongoose1983 said:

Looks pretty good with the Clod Buster body. Different tires would make the truck look even more scale.

 

To the OP, please excuse us for discussing side stuff.

Thanks

Not a problem. I enjoy learning about the history on these kits.

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I’ve been making a little progress on this in my limited spare time. I didn’t have the piece for attaching a shift rod. I used a spare pinion with a long set screw and a ball connector on it.

 

 

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