TOPIC:

I plan to get this Christmas a monster Truck and I ask from you guys to line up as much of then with these characteristics.

no QD
4x4, 4wd or AWD
Preferably with 4 wheel steering (no essential)
Preferred Hard Body.
Good bang for the buck (I.E., not juggernaut, I want to find something working for 500€ as much, fully working.)

look at the clod busters ad. 4WD, 4WS aand hard body With 3 Nicd or NImh AQs you'll have a very pleasant monster truck

stingray-63 wrote:

look at the clod busters ad. 4WD, 4WS aand hard body With 3 Nicd or NImh AQs you'll have a very pleasant monster truck

Cool, also, cheap, now I have one chance to get an original for 100€, But dunno, you can pay it and when you get it perhaps you have to change half of plastic parts... I'd play it safe and buy a Super Clod Buster New

Agreed, I bought an original Clod a few years back, rebuilt it, it would have been far cheaper just to build a new Super clodbuster, and it probably would have been more reliable too

How 'bout a Wild Dagger?
Or a WR-02, a chassis I'm not too familiar with myself.

I am decided for the Super ClodBuster, I have some doubts:

1.- The power switch is referred on the manual as an 'economizer' it's just your average ON-OFF or it has a third position where it runs with just one Motor? Then it would really be an 'Economizer'
2.- The SCB can be used for crawling?
3.- I actually have a motor better than stock silver cans, can I put it to give more ooomph on an axle? I know slot car aficionados that put at least a different gear ratio on an axle, don't know how that would help a bigfoot.
4.- Cheapskate point: I got a dead DF01 Chassis fully ballraced, where I should use those bearings?
5.- Runtime is the half of a TA chassis? (two motors)

Dash_Crash wrote:

I am decided for the Super ClodBuster, I have some doubts:

1.- The power switch is referred on the manual as an 'economizer' it's just your average ON-OFF or it has a third position where it runs with just one Motor? Then it would really be an 'Economizer'
2.- The SCB can be used for crawling?
3.- I actually have a motor better than stock silver cans, can I put it to give more ooomph on an axle? I know slot car aficionados that put at least a different gear ratio on an axle, don't know how that would help a bigfoot.
4.- Cheapskate point: I got a dead DF01 Chassis fully ballraced, where I should use those bearings?
5.- Runtime is the half of a TA chassis? (two motors)

Power/economy switch is a hangover from when the original Clodbuster was designed - "Power" mode runs the motors in parrallel & would suck the life out of 1300mah pack really quickly (especially with a mechanical speed control), "Economy" mode was a desperate attempt to get a reasonable run time by running the motors in series - and the truck at half speed.

Crawling, well that hadn't really been invested when the Clod was designed, out of the box it's going to show very poorly compared with any purpose designed crawler - laughable suspension travel, open diffs can mean limited traction, and at any speed it only steers from the rear. That said, a clod is infinitely upgradeable, at one time you could build one without buying any Tamiya parts ...

Uprated motors can be a problem - as one gearbox is mounted backwards, any motor with fixed advanced timing is going to run retarded in one gearbox - motors need to have fixed neutral timing (sound the same going backwards as forwards) or variable timing. I don't know why you'd put a mismatched pair of motors on, I don't see the clod chassis as a drifter

I can't remember the quantity/sizes of bearings to fully equip a clod, chances are it'll have some the same as a DF-01 ... in theory the best place to put bearings if you're not going to go the whole hog (in terms of efficiency) is on the gears that spin the fastest, but my experience of plastic bearings is not to use them on exposed shafts as microscopic grit tends to get embedded in them & slowly grind away the metal shafts ... every RC car i've had since my first Grasshopper has had full bearings, they're cheaper now than they've ever been, proportionally.

Run time, I'd guess a bit less than half the running time than a single motor car, there's a lot of weight to haul around.

If you try to weigh things up logically the Clod makes very little sense - but I don't think many would regret buying one. It has huge scale & presence, that and it's (almost) go-anywhere ability (deep snow (without chains), it'll sail across deep puddles & small lakes, and drive over any other RC car/truck up to & including a Lunchbox ) are unmatched by anything else in the Tamiya range. You might be able to get something with the same sort of impact from other manufacturers now, but only at huge price.

and what you guys think of the Bruiser? Because saving for a month more I can buy a bruiser...

That's a jewel. But yours will need a 4ways radio. And the building should be awesome. I never built a bruiser but if it is the same level of the aeromax or the hilift, you will be happy...

The Bruiser is an entirely different can of worms - it's quite a long, involving build (which I think is a plus) & there's more opportunity for detailing (again, depends if you like that sort of thing). The chassis is far more like a scale truck than the Super Clod, but if you drive it the same way you can a Clod, I'm sure you'd break it really quickly.

Driving the two is very different too - the Bruiser is not as capable offroad so needs a slower & more technical approach, the Clod you can just hoon about over most obstacles with a lot less thought.

TBH I think it comes down to a choice between realism & fun


ps You don't have to use a 4-channel radio, you can use a 2-channel setup & lock the transmission into any of the gears (low/4WD, 2nd/RWD or top/RWD) - but obviously that's quite a compromise.