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phiber_optik

Clodbuster Resto / Retro Racer Build

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As per the title, I just grabbed my first Clodbuster of an eBay sale. Many years ago I bought the parts to build a crawler which has long been sold but I've never owned a full truck.

Plans are, a clean, gather the missing pieces and then build it as a retro racer.

This is what arrived in the post today. On first glance what I've got seems to be in good condition and hasn't had a hard life.

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Started stripping the front axle at lunch today, so far everything that I've got seems to be in excellent condition, the previous owner definitely loved white grease as it's on every joint lol.

Still on the hunt for 2 pressed triangles to reattach the front axle to the chassis.

The front axle disassembly so far. I will get the rest of it stripped later and cleaned & see how the diff is locked.

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Stripped the rest of the front axle and what a surprise I found. After removing the white grease and given the plastic a rinse, I cleaned the gears...one of those explained why the diff was locked... It wasn't there, instead there was a machine spool.

Everything cleaned and back together. Not sure what to make of the spool but for now it can stay.

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There we go, all clean and built up as far as the parts I have allow for the moment. Painted the lower arms black so disguise them a little under the truck when it's done.

On to the second axle now.

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Slow slow slow progress but I finally have the axles attached the the tub. Noone seemed to have the 2 spare triangle pieces I needed so had to buy the whole bag of pressed parts. Also replaced the standard screws with some button head machine screws when fitting these parts.

Shocks up next so it can stand on its own two axles lol.

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Looks great so far, love seeing a Clod build. Those are Hot Racing spools (as you already know), and if you're planning on racing/jumping this truck I'd use one in the rear only.  I run locked rears in my race trucks, but never fronts as they tend to push a lot with a spool up there.  Also, with the locker you'll have to be mindful of staying off the throttle when landing from a jump, have snapped more axle shafts than I can count coming down on a landing with too much throttle.  I do love those spools front & rear on my crawler Clod though, they are nice pieces and work very well.  Axle shafts seem to hold up fine with spools in crawler duty. 

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Thanks everyone for the feed back so far. I have heard of a few reports of the spools being hard on shafts. I think once I get the truck built up and looking like a truck again I will revisit the gearboxes and replace the front if not both front and rear spools with diffs as it will mainly be used for a bit of garden fun. Next job on my list is some dampers/shocks so it can stand on its own. I will probably replace the original ones with some oil filled one off ebay, as the chassis I bought only came with two original bull head yellow ones. I do like the yellow though :unsure:.

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This project is rolling on slow and steady, a complete piecemeal build as and when I find bits in my budget.

I scored a lovely box of bits of a well known auction site, I use the term lovely loosely. It had a whole bunch of bits I needed and then some more which I could sell on to keep the project going. However they also looked to have lay for quite some time lol.

Bits I needed for the moment was steering knuckles, pogo stick shocks and the bug pieces that wheels mount too. Also included a was a dull spare gearbox and a chevy grill.

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More bits in the box.

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And the bits I needed, all stripped and ready for a good bath of soapy water.

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Good stash of parts there.  I will caution against using original plastic 1987 Clod parts for a racer.  I can almost guarantee they will all break, especially the knuckles, ladder bars, and gearcases.  I went through my entire stash of vintage parts in my first season or two of retro racing.  I will only use new rere plastics for my race trucks these days, not worth the constant breakage.  When I do get ahold of vintage parts I just use them for light runners or shelfers, not racers. 

Best part about the rere parts is they are all available and super cheap, I keep tons of spares because even they will break often in racing.  My last time out I lost a ladder bar (shock mount broke clean off) and a gearcase, both rere parts.  

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I have heard a few times that the original parts are more prone to breaking but given this is a piecemeal build and these parts where all missing I will take what I can get lol. I do plan on building it as a retro racer but where I live we don't actually have any monster truck racing lol, so it'll just be my son and I rattling round the garden. Absolutely will be replacing the parts with rere plastics when I break what I have. For now I will just be concentrating on getting the truck into one piece :)

Also impressive breakages, love it :)

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8 minutes ago, phiber_optik said:

I have heard a few times that the original parts are more prone to breaking but given this is a piecemeal build and these parts where all missing I will take what I can get lol. I do plan on building it as a retro racer but where I live we don't actually have any monster truck racing lol, so it'll just be my son and I rattling round the garden. Absolutely will be replacing the parts with rere plastics when I break what I have. For now I will just be concentrating on getting the truck into one piece :)

Then it should be fine for your purposes.  I thought you were actually racing the truck, that can be hard on the parts.  I have heard that boiling the vintage parts for a set time will bring some moisture back into them and help bring back some life, but never tried it myself.  

Can't wait to see the truck all finished, love seeing what others do with Clods. 

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So another installment of bits that have come into my care. First job was to scrub everything clean, trimmed of bits of sprues, then I painted the springs, some of the hardware and then threw in some button head bolts to hold it all together

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Looks great!  I paint my Clod springs black as well, they look so much better in black.  Nice job.  Can't wait for more updates, looks like it will be a runner soon. 

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So it's been a while so I've updated this thread mainly because this is a back burner project and only gets worked on when I've the time, money or parts lol.

I stumbled across these Jconcept wheels on eBay and snatched them up recently. Screwed/Bolted them together and they now have a home :)

Steering next I think (UK Monster Steering and Rear Lock out).

Feeling excited 😁

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Looking very cool so far.  What tires are you going with?  For steering, if you can get your hands on a Regulator steering kit I'd highly recommend it over the typical axle-mounted steering.  Recently converted all of my retro trucks to that steering kit and it's just awesome.  

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I will probably put a set of JConcept Golden Year tyres on them to be honest, if for nothing else other than the looks. 
I seen your recent post on the regulator steering kit, it does look very good! Something for me to consider if I can get my hands on one.

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15 minutes ago, phiber_optik said:

I will probably put a set of JConcept Golden Year tyres on them to be honest, if for nothing else other than the looks. 
I seen your recent post on the regulator steering kit, it does look very good! Something for me to consider if I can get my hands on one.

The Golden Years are great, I was hoping you'd say that.  Such a good looking tire.  On that truck with stock shocks I'd run Gold Compound without foams, they work great.  

I think once you add the cost of a vertical mount and lockout you're close to the Regulator kit anyway.  After using them the vertical mounts just seem so outdated :)  The behind the axle mounts perform and look so much better, definitley worth it. 

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