Highly modded crawler

[Hildy]

New here but not to the hobby. A while ago I purchased the ZZMT with the orange and yellow Chevy body. Thought they were pretty cool so I went and bought the mod kit to use the Super Swamper tires. Seeing how one of my favorite hobbies is full scale rock crawling, I figured I would make the ZZ into a crawler.

So, thanks to this forum and several websites, I was able to complete these mods of which some are my own creations.

-Full articulation mod
-Regear by adding a 4th gear (yellow MT transfer)
-Cut and softened Super Swamper tires from the tire/motor kit
-Lead weight added to each rim (hidden in the back of rim)
-Removed front springs
-Removed steering spring
-Lightened body shell

To attach the body, I removed the front clip on the chassis and replaced it with a piece of small metal shaft so it can allow the front end to articulate. Right now I have it set up so only the front end articulates but I can easily change it so both ends flex. I am just afraid the added gear will hit the body if I let it articulate more.

The best mods were the tire cutting and softening, artic. mod, and 4th gear to transfer box. I'll explain them.

On the tires, I used a dremel tool to cut the outer corners to make the lugs really stand out on the Interco TSL's. Then I used a plastic wire brush to remove the slick black coating on the tires. These two mods plus the added weight made these tires sticky like rock tires should be.

The articulation mod took me about 30 minutes to complete. Once done, it not only lowered the center of gravity, but it allowed the truck to keep all 4 tires on the ground at almost all times. For the driveshaft, I took a piece of antenna and used that as a driveshaft sheath. The 'sheath' was later steel bedded into the chassis for a tight tolerence. Locked all around with sticky meats, unstoppable torque, and a low COG, the crawler was now taking form.

The 4th gear mod wasn't too hard at all. Took maybe 5 minutes to complete. I drilled a new hole for the ZZMT yellow transfer gear to be added behind the existing green one. I then modified the motor mount to keep everything in correct mesh.

As for pictures, I'll have them posted up here hopefully later tonight.

Hildy

[Namuna]

Welcome to the Forums Hildy. Great first post!

Can't wait to see your pics.

[Hildy]

Here's some pictures before the electronics were installed and right after the complete build-up. Due to the added gear, the passenger-side rear tire has the same offset as the other 3. Luckily it worked out like that so I don't have to mess with correct gear to tire spacing...just bolt it up instead. I also planned on making wheel covers out of polished sheetmetal to cover up the ugly lead weights.







I'll have to get some pictures or maybe a movie of it in action. The traction is truely amazing now and it's slow enough to easily climb over some knarly table objects.

[Azimov]

Nice work! And welcome to the best forum in the universe.