My Clod Buster

[andymac0035]

Hello all, I see a few familiar faces from clodtalk here. I figured I'd share my latest clod-build here. Not as crazy as some of my previous builds, but I think it's proving to be pretty well-balanced.

Basically stock, except for the e-maxx shocks and e-savage body.


I love clods for snow-running. I had this out in the snow as soon as it was together.
Here are the vids of it running in the snow with the stock steering:

[youtube]xrRMWB9hBk0[/youtube]

[youtube]ZGSYjN7Cr4M[/youtube]

[andymac0035]

New steering set up:

I'm an R/C pack-rat of sorts and I keep broken stuff for scrap material.
The vertical servo mount was made from a broken piece of e-maxx skid plate. The short tie rod is threaded rod (covered in shrink wrap) with a dubro rod end and ofna servo saver. The spacers between the mount and the gearcase are 5x11 bronze bushings.
The rear-steer lock-out is broken bits of old (stock) steering bell crank put in the hole upside down and using the same screw and brass spacer. I put one of the pivot balls from a broken rod end into the clod rod end, and then ran the screw though the hole in the pivot ball. Very low-dollar, but very effective. I've got more clearance and suspension travel now, but I'll need to cut a relief in the front chassis corner for the servo. It doesn't hit right now, but once I add softer springs and start jumping it more, I know it will hit.

It's not that much (if any?) tighter, but the axle I want to do the steering.....is now doing the steering. It's still like an ocean liner turning under throttle......but if I let off or "jog" the throttle, I can turn fairly tightly....well for a stock clod anyways. It also appears that there is a small amount of throw to be gained from doing the steering stop mod. I'll just have to watch my EPA's, so I'm not hitting the ladder bars. (more on that to follow)

[andymac0035]

Not seen in the pics, but I put new 30wt oil in the shocks and swapped the soft traxxas red springs for stock clod springs (these are even softer). I wanted more flex in the suspension and one obstacle to that was the clearance above the axle-mounted servo.

Dremel-time!



I was not totally happy with the open gaps and was also concerned about the structure.
So......I decided to fill the gaps with hard foam (like battery spacer foam).




Tire glue bonds great with hard foam too. Clearance was MUCH better after this.


How it looks all back together:




But wait....there's more!.....


Now.....I had thought that you couldn't do the steering stop mod with the stock ladder bars...not true!

So when I did this, I figured I would just turn up my dual-rate steering adjustment and get a little more steering......it was not hitting the ladder bars...so I kept adding steering.....
Well what do you know?.....cranked the knob to 100% and it still didn't hit.

Check-it!
(truck was running pretty good too)

[youtube]xnXusHOU37k[/youtube]

[andymac0035]

Mod to the ladder bar. Now it can pivot/swivel past the servo.



Here are the traxxas shocks with clod buster lower collars put on them. This moved the lower mounting position out slightly and lined the shock up properly with the cut-out on the axle support.



And here it is all back together.



Articulation has improved.

[andymac0035]

More pics.
(and a vid too)

[youtube]rIgzaEo9Pqk[/youtube]

[andymac0035]

Did I mention I like to play in the snow?


















[youtube]mUf0x86j6W0[/youtube]


This is still with the stock esc and motors with 2S lipo. It did get it bogged down once, but overall, not bad. This was the 2nd battery run through it....and it was getting packed with snow....making it heavier.

[andymac0035]

Upped the ante......swapped in a MMP......and went 4S on the stock motors...





And yes.....those tires are balooning......


I almost shat myself......


Beleave it or not.....nothing broke.










[youtube]b4TIPWoNlu0[/youtube]

[youtube]ES-ZpMnSdxk[/youtube]

[andymac0035]

Here's 2nd battery placement. I dremelled some openings for running a battery strap though and put foam under the battery. Holds everything firmly in place.





That's a series connector, so both 2S batts are combined for 4S total.


That's a surgical bootie:


Fits perfect over the electronics.



After a run in the snow:



Wheel speed is proving to be key this season. Too much is actually bad at times. When you hear me backing off on the throttle.....you'll notice it actually levels out and goes better.
.....I still prefer lettin' it rip and throwing roostertails though!
[youtube]ZkWXGLCRjIg[/youtube]

[andymac0035]

The thing with runnin' 4S in the snow though... was that it's pretty hard on the motors. More on that later, here's a few more vids:

[youtube]5maAm_xldMM[/youtube]

[youtube]QokAdduo1ZM[/youtube]

[youtube]JIJfyzSyoTE[/youtube]

[andymac0035]

I dunno' how I did it, but when checking the truck over (after that last vid), I noticed the whole front axle wobbling and flexing on itself.

Upon teardown, it turns out I bent the inner pin on the "long" axle shaft that goes into the "short" one. This made the diff wobble up and down flexing the whole assembly. I managed to straighten it and nothing else appears to be broken.

Motor brushes were wearing down pretty quik though, leading me to try 3S.
Best speed reached was 14 mph (vs 16 mph on 4S). This was on a snow-packed road, summertime speeds should be faster.

Running the clod with a single 3S lipo up front (would not fit the stock slot), worked well. The slight reduction in speed made the truck more manage-able and the motors seem to like it too....even in heavy and wet snow.....which is how I royally smoked the last set of motors.

I added a 2nd strap to the auxilary battery tray. This is my clod in it's current state.


Since I'm not using the stock slot, I can move the battery back further.


I can even run the battery leads out though the stock location.

[longboardnj]

thanks for posting.. my stock clod buster has full ball bearings and a parma lexan body.. its gotta be one of my fav snow rcs