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Yep. Diffs are locked.

In going over the truck for the past couple days, I've come to the conclusion that if I want this 1980's design truck to compete with modern crawlers , It has to at least have the best tires available on the market. The subject of tires for this truck is not new and has been discussed a little on this thread. What fits on the stock wheels and reasonably clears the body, front spacers, 12mm hub adapters of different types, etc. Well after getting specs on actual mounted tire sizes and seeing what the best gripping tires out there are, I found the proline flat iron 2.2 in m3 compound. Super grippy very competitive rock crawling tire. It is short and wide compared to other 2.2 crawler tires and looks to be a possible perfect match for these trucks. Problem is---they were discontinued and replaced with the taller "flat iron xl". Sometimes it's like fighting the tide.

I found the same thing , you can't use a tall tire or it fouls the arches unless you cut them back ugly , I'm currently experimenting with 1.9" wheels that I 3d printed off Thingiverse , it just allows you to use more choices that clear the arch while still having some tire height , the down side is loss of ground clearance on the diff's and gearbox but you do get full steering at full articulation without fouling the arches . I also think the 1.9's look more scale , certainly from a UK perspective as we don't get as many cars here with wheels like the originals seen on the road !
I'm not sure your ever going to compete with a modern purpose made crawler no matter what you do but don't let it stop you enjoying it and I bet you don't come last either .

Dadio wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2020 3:47 am ...
I'm not sure your ever going to compete with a modern purpose made crawler no matter what you do but don't let it stop you enjoying it and I bet you don't come last either .

Spot on!
Awesome advice.

I don't think it would compete well in a regular crawler event, but the hard body events are different from what I'm told. The courses aren't as extreme and most of the trucks are built more scale minded than pure bred competition machines. It sounds like I wont be the only top heavy leaf sprung machine, so this truck shouldn't be too out of place. I think the width of these little "monster trucks" could possibly be the handicap when trying to cleanly get through a set of gates, compared to a TF2 based truck, but the width will also make it more stable on a side hill. I'm lucky enough to have some fantastic crawler courses fairly close to me, so as soon as I get a few of the tires I want to try, I'm going to do some real world testing. Hopefully I'll get some video too.

Did a little rear bumper work. I never liked the stock one. Too wide and sat too low. I trimmed down the stock bumper and made some small plates to attach the bumper mounts on top of the frame rails. The results won't win a concours show, but it is very effective at protecting the rear of the body without losing much departure angle. Also, since I made the little plates from material laying around, it was free.

Your modded front and rear bumpers are a big improvement over the stock ones. I don't run the stock bumpers on either of my HG trucks because I really don't like the look. However, with a little creative trim work, they look good.
Apparently, Matteo had his chromed:

I might be mistaken, but I think the mountain rider came with chrome bumpers. I always enjoy his videos. His collection must be huge.

.

That's probably a better rear bumper solution than mine , I just drilled an extra hole each side and pushed the mounts further onto the chassis rail , it brings it in well but not higher like your idea

Basher67 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 03, 2020 11:28 pm I might be mistaken, but I think the mountain rider came with chrome bumpers. I always enjoy his videos. His collection must be huge.

I agree, Matteo has fully mastered the art of the RC running video. Just awesome!
I also thought the bumpers were factory chromed until I happened upon this comment:


dado0099
5 years ago
Hi Matteo, chrome bumpers are stock ?

dado0099
5 years ago
I see they are white in origin, how did you chrome them ?
Sprayed ?

Matteo's RC Movies
5 years ago
@dado0099 No it's not painted. I found a special company, these used a special galvanic procedure to chrome plated the parts with real chrome (metal). The result is perfect but very expensive! http://galvotec.ch


I see that aftermarket aluminum ones are available on ebay but I don't think they are chromed.

wow. that guy is really dedicated to his hobby.

I'm not even going to look at the price , mines deliberately scruffy looking anyway .

I got lucky and found a set of used, but still new condition, Proline Flat Iron 2.2 crawler tires. I confirmed with my LHS owner that these are unfortunately discontinued. These are THE tire to run if you want to really try crawling with this truck using the stock wheels. They are nearly identical in size to the stock tire. They are super soft and super grippy. You can see in the pics that the weight of the truck squishes them down quite a bit. I will be trying out some 2 stage foam inserts to keep the tire more stable and still have the conformity in the tread area. The first set of tires I tried previously (taller ones on the right) were a great upgrade and good all around trail tire, but these prolines are on another level. I thought they looked pretty good too.

Yep, they do look great. Should definitely do the job. You're lucky to have found them.
How many times have I seen the word "discontinued" today -- I've lost count. Very frustrating!