Shadowfocus603
Member
So I have this build posted elsewhere but I decided to bring it over here as well to broaden it's audience. I'm going to copy paste the posts as it's way too much info to type again. Here goes.
My Clod Pounder
- Thread starter Shadowfocus603
- Start date
Shadowfocus603
Member
So I recently acquired a Clod mess from a kid on Craigslist. The axles were kinda sorta maybe mated to a Hot Racing Serpent Eagle chassis. Cost me $120 for everything including the stock silver cans and the lipo EVX2. Also had the stock hardbody albeit in rough condition. Flirted with making my own chassis based on the Clod Killin Pounder that Fatboy came up with awhile back on RCMT. Decided to put that on hold and just bought a GP on ebay to use as a donor. Seller took a new RTR and stripped wheels, tires, body, and electronics and sold the rest. It was the v3 so it had the low profile motor mount as well as the double braced tranny. I set the axles and trans aside and set to work joining my clod axles to the bare chassis. Used the stock lowers as uppers mounted in the lowest shock mounting hole and used some homemade lowers at the bottom. Lowers are too long but at least I got it together enough to see what it would look like. Current wheelbase is about 14.5". It has Level3RC lower link mounts, upper link mounts, and 1 CPE servo mount in the front. For the rear servo I made my own copy of the front mount and tossed it on with a couple of waterproof Traxxas 2075 servos. I bought a reverser for the rear servo on eBay. Will be using the EVX2 along with 2 Traxxas 4200 id batteries and a set of Revo titans. I got them since one motor was made for reverse rotation so helpfully this will help guard against toasty motors. I have motor mounts on the way and will be using 17t pinions at least to start. I tend to drive hard and kaboom stuff often so I will be swapping in a CPE upper link mount as soon as it gets here and I still need to sleeve the steering and lower links. I also want to do the quick swap tube mod and have already modded all 4 knuckles for maximum steering throw. In the pics you will see I also cut and lowered the electronics tray for cog as well as clearance. Alright enough typing. Pics.
At some point I will paint the chassis plates and throw a Digger body on it from Parma. I know it's been done to death but it's something I have always wanted to do. Need to find someone who actually likes to shave tires to get mine cut down. First I need to get the links shortened to get the wheelbase at 13.5".
At some point I will paint the chassis plates and throw a Digger body on it from Parma. I know it's been done to death but it's something I have always wanted to do. Need to find someone who actually likes to shave tires to get mine cut down. First I need to get the links shortened to get the wheelbase at 13.5".
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Shadowfocus603
Member
Got the wheelbase set tonight and electronics installed. I cut the battery tray out of a broken slash chassis and am running two 7 cell packs in it on their sides. I'll secure them in with velcro battery straps once I get them. It took the better part of a couple hours to set everything for no binding/hitting etc but it's all set now. As you can see I need spacers which should be here next week and I need my motor mounts then I should be ready to do a shakedown run. Then once it's all dialed in it'll be time for some cosmetic work. I used the good camera for this round as my cell camera has seemingly gone potato on me.
Shadowfocus603
Member
So tonight was a bit of a two steps forward one step back type of situation. Due to a lack of suitable length hardware to accompany my new upper link mount from CPE I had to ditch the uppers I was using that came with the ground pounder chassis and make a set of my own. The GP ball ends have sizable stand offs and the hardware included in the package wasn't long enough and I had nothing on hand. Then I ran into the situation that I am using 6-32 rod ends from Dubro instead of the smaller M3/4-40 size ones CPE usually sells on their kits so that necessitated using 6-32 hardware. The CPE upper link mount is drilled for the smaller hardware so I got creative and threaded the hole to accept 6-32 threaded bolts. After a decent amount of time I finally got everything sorted so I used the piece of aluminum tube I got in today to sleeve a few of my links. I got one to start in case the size was wrong but it turned out to be dead on so I ordered three more pieces to leave me with extras when all the links are done just in case I bend something down the road. Overall I like where I am at and should be able to test drive it sometime the middle of this coming week. The aluminum tubing, motor mounts, and CPE wheel spacers should all be here by Tuesday so I'll throw it all together and try to get a video of it running. Pics.
In this pic you can see the threads I cut into the bottom hole on my mount. I threaded both holes in case I want to move stuff around down the road.
My final measurements on my links are 4" (101.6mm) for the uppers and 4.75" (120.65mm) for the lowers. Uppers are mounted to the frame using the lowest shock mounting hole while the lowers are mounted in standard position. I might fab up a set of sway bars and zip tie them to the links but that'll be after I get a few test runs in to see how it handles. Sometime before I run it I still need to pull the bottom o-ring on the shocks as it seems they are sticking which is a common thing for these from what I have read and I'm going to drop to 20w shock oil as well.
In this pic you can see the threads I cut into the bottom hole on my mount. I threaded both holes in case I want to move stuff around down the road.
My final measurements on my links are 4" (101.6mm) for the uppers and 4.75" (120.65mm) for the lowers. Uppers are mounted to the frame using the lowest shock mounting hole while the lowers are mounted in standard position. I might fab up a set of sway bars and zip tie them to the links but that'll be after I get a few test runs in to see how it handles. Sometime before I run it I still need to pull the bottom o-ring on the shocks as it seems they are sticking which is a common thing for these from what I have read and I'm going to drop to 20w shock oil as well.
Shadowfocus603
Member
So close yet so far. Wheel spacers from Brett came today. Also the bearings got here. Spent a couple hours tearing the axles down to put the bearings in then installed the spacers. I love the way the truck looks. Motor mounts are SUPPOSED to be here tomorrow. I'm itchy with anticipation. The functional part of this build is nearly over. Once I get the motor mounts and get the rest of the links sleeved I can call the main portion completed. Then it'll be strictly cosmetic.
Shadowfocus603
Member
So... um... I got to run it today... :explosion: 
I definitely should have listened to Andy on the fragility of those Traxxas servo gears. I didn't realize just HOW fragile they were. I was driving the truck out the door and bumped the door frame. Barely. And RIP. Okay. Tossed in another Traxxas servo (I know but I have waited a long while to run this) and CARRIED it outside and finally got to run it. Insane is the only word for it even with 17T pinions. Gonna have to dial out or eliminate the rear steering (probably dial it out some as I'm stubborn and want to have it). Corrections were hairy. I got a couple speed passes in until I lost it and head on slammed a curb.... Nothing actually broke that time however I bent my lower link mount, link, and popped the rod end off the ball. Popped the rod end back on and straightened the link bare handed and decided to just limp around to try and kill the packs. I was driving it around my legs to make a pass into the yard and bumped my foot. Guess what? Yup. Ripped my second servo :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: I broke down and ordered a couple coreless ball bearing metal gear servos from Hobbyking's USA East warehouse (Arkansas) and got a couple Kimbrough 124's from Omni Models on eBay. I need to dial the steering something fierce. It was crab walking a little bit as I was running it (while it lasted :evil: ). I'm going to pull the tires off the rims and break out a machined straight edge and zero the toe then dial in center on the servo link once I get the new servos and savers. It was an absolute hoot while it lasted though lol. I brought it inside and disassembled the lower link mount I bent and flattened it out as well as the inner axle stiffener (it was tweaked as well) and also straightened the mounting hardware. How I didn't :explosion: a tube or knuckle is beyond me. I'm surprised I didn't trash the servo when I hit the curb but I didn't. All in all an ok first run. I'll get new gears for the servos I stripped and put them back in the parts bin.
For those wondering I got two of these servos
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=70740
I'm pretty sure the EVX2 only puts 6.0 volts to the servo so they'll be around 18kg/cm (250 oz/in). Not bad at all for $20 a pop.
I definitely should have listened to Andy on the fragility of those Traxxas servo gears. I didn't realize just HOW fragile they were. I was driving the truck out the door and bumped the door frame. Barely. And RIP. Okay. Tossed in another Traxxas servo (I know but I have waited a long while to run this) and CARRIED it outside and finally got to run it. Insane is the only word for it even with 17T pinions. Gonna have to dial out or eliminate the rear steering (probably dial it out some as I'm stubborn and want to have it). Corrections were hairy. I got a couple speed passes in until I lost it and head on slammed a curb.... Nothing actually broke that time however I bent my lower link mount, link, and popped the rod end off the ball. Popped the rod end back on and straightened the link bare handed and decided to just limp around to try and kill the packs. I was driving it around my legs to make a pass into the yard and bumped my foot. Guess what? Yup. Ripped my second servo :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: I broke down and ordered a couple coreless ball bearing metal gear servos from Hobbyking's USA East warehouse (Arkansas) and got a couple Kimbrough 124's from Omni Models on eBay. I need to dial the steering something fierce. It was crab walking a little bit as I was running it (while it lasted :evil: ). I'm going to pull the tires off the rims and break out a machined straight edge and zero the toe then dial in center on the servo link once I get the new servos and savers. It was an absolute hoot while it lasted though lol. I brought it inside and disassembled the lower link mount I bent and flattened it out as well as the inner axle stiffener (it was tweaked as well) and also straightened the mounting hardware. How I didn't :explosion: a tube or knuckle is beyond me. I'm surprised I didn't trash the servo when I hit the curb but I didn't. All in all an ok first run. I'll get new gears for the servos I stripped and put them back in the parts bin.
For those wondering I got two of these servos
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=70740
I'm pretty sure the EVX2 only puts 6.0 volts to the servo so they'll be around 18kg/cm (250 oz/in). Not bad at all for $20 a pop.
Shadowfocus603
Member
So just a "small" update tonight. :twisted: Still waiting on the servos and savers so decided it was time to take advantage and do some cosmetic work. Hope you all enjoy.
Like I said before I know the Grave Digger thing has been done to death but I need to do it and get it out of my system lol. My next clod will be original (maybe lol).
Like I said before I know the Grave Digger thing has been done to death but I need to do it and get it out of my system lol. My next clod will be original (maybe lol).
Shadowfocus603
Member
This pic is a bit blurry but I didn't use flash so you can better see the actual color of the paint.
Shadowfocus603
Member
So that brings us up to date. Any comments or questions feel free. I'm proud of it so far and can't wait to get it dialed in once the servos and savers get here. I'll have the electronics back in it tonight. Going to try something different with that.
Edit: Okay ***. Why do my picture links keep getting fragged? I know how to post pics but this board keeps switching my links. I've fixed them twice now...
Edit: Okay ***. Why do my picture links keep getting fragged? I know how to post pics but this board keeps switching my links. I've fixed them twice now...
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Badmudrtruckr
Well-Known Member
Nice truck so far. I think the Ground Pounder chassis makes for a very nice looking Clod. I am using those same servos (also 4ws) and so far they are holding up well and have plenty of power. I am running them at 7.4 volts directly from a Castle BEC.