2004 Arrival from the Past
Back in 1987 when this truck hit the scene, I was too busy racing Frog, Monster Beetle and the Blackfoot at my local outdoor track plus I couldn't afford one. Now that I have recreated my original favorite Tamiya collections, I have included the Clod Buster. With a few tweaks it's really an amazing model R/C truck. I ditched the original shocks for some coil over aluminum oil dampening ones mounted on aluminum high-rise extenders. Shocks are filled with 25 weight oil, four Associated soft Black springs on the leading shocks and 4 Traxxas soft red springs on the trailing shocks, This make the truck well supported and still as flexible as it can possibly be with the kit suspension brace. The steering system out of the box was a bit flimsy so I installed vertical axle steering servos front and rear, wired them to operate from the same receiver plug position using a 'Y' adapter I soldered together. As you may notice the front servo arm is vertical up and the rear servo arm is vertical down to get the proper steering effect. Then I installed custom foam in the tires to reduce bounce and let the shock dampers do their job. The roll bar is fitted with 5 operating spot LED lights in addition to the functional headlights. Light Control is with a micro switch in the bed connected to a pattern sequencer box under the hood powered through the receiver at channel 3 position. Sun visor and side rear view mirrors was added to enhance realism. Tamiya supposedly had a falling out with Chevrolet in 1990 so I had to provide my own laser cut aluminum chevy emblems on the grill and name on the tailgate. My kit did not come with chrome suspension bars so I added them also. I'm told some kits came with these bars already chromed. Oh well. I really did enjoy this 2 year project. Got a great deal of it finished during this Covid-19 self isolation while WHO figure out what is going on. Now on to some other project after I replace the white tie straps on the roll-bar with little black ones. Hope you enjoy viewing the pictures.
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I went with only 4X4 to indicate 4WD & 4W steering
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Front vertical mounted steering servo
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Shock spring configuration
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Showing the chrome suspension arms
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Two toned paint inspired by box art.
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Light switch in the bed
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High-rise shock adapters give a lofty stance
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Tekno decals just seem to match the paint
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If you liked those pictures, you should see these...
Looks like a Ford
Comments
netsmithUK
That’s a great looking truck!
Flash51
Thanks!
Blitzz
VERY nice!
Flash51
Thanks. One of my favorites.
Grelberg
Stunning and fantastic pictures, and also inspiring! I'm myself working at a fairly slow on a 20+ yrs old 'Clod'. I've installed Crawler upper suspension links on the rear axle though only 2WS with passive steering on the rear axle. However, the front steering servo arrangement, on this 'Clod' I find inspiring! To fit a servo to the gearbox in such a neat and elegant way, man I wanna copy that!
Flash51
Hey Grelberg: Go for the copy man! There are conversion kits still available on Ebay. I started out with front wheel steering but, I found the turning radius lacking for what I wanted to do. Servo on the gear box make a real solid steering control. You'll love it. I'm sure your upper links give you a greater range of suspension also. Have fun!!
woomagic
Nice truck! I bought some oil shocks for mine but sent them back because there was even less travel - I never thought of fitting extension brackets. Nice mods.
Flash51
Woomagic: Don't forget to use light weight shock oil and very soft springs using the adjusters to obtain your ride height but, the very configuration and design of the chassis system with that bow-tie X setup restricts a lot of movement anyway. The mods I did will give you as much as possible I think for movement considering what there is to work with in the kit. Don't give up, tinker with it a bit because a crawler it is not. It's Stadium bully to crush, jump and run over stuff (L.O.L). Have fun.
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