Another interwebs derived build.

[tcanin00]

Ever since hairba11 posted his stamped tin Buddy L early 50's Ford dump truck build, I have lost my mind looking for metal pick up trucks that we're roughly 1:10th scale.
The internets provided me with a decent 19 and 79 Tonka. SGT Slaughter approves.


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[tcanin00]

So the next reasonable thing to do with a collectable toy, was to cut the frame out from underneath it to fit a Swiss-cheesed SCX 10 frame.
I plan to drill more holes for leaf spring hangers and shackles. The front springs are sort of bolted on for axle placement. The wheel base is pretty short on this, it's close to a TF2. Although a TF2 would be a better choice for a leaf sprung frame, the one I have is already in use. So yeah, let's send a coil spring and linked frame back to the stone ages.
The front axle is supporting the weight of the truck, while the rear just has the wheels and springs bolted to it.
The next thing to hack up will be the inside of the bed. The top of the cab and inside of the bed are plastic and is one piece. The bed floor is very low, almost below the rear bumper. The frame is sitting on it and making the body sit too high.
It looks like I can just cut the inside of the bed above the inner fenders and take about a half inch out of to bring the frame in. More to follow...

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[hillbillyrc]

This should be a fun build to watch.

[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by hillbillyrc

This should be a fun build to watch.

Thanks! It will be fun to build.

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[tcanin00]

I'm in for it, too.

Originally Posted by touch racing

So in for this build.

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[2mtech]

This looks cool already! Nice idea.

[tcanin00]

Thanks 2mtech. This is something I've wanted to do for a while, just had to find the right truck at the right price. People want a premium for them on eBay.

Originally Posted by 2mtech

This looks cool already! Nice idea.

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[tcanin00]

I decided to Nacho Grande the already Swiss-cheesed frame for the spring hangers. I bent the front hangers in to fit the springs when they were bolted to the outside of the frame, so I un-mangling them, bolted them to inside, and now they line up correctly.
After notching the rear of the frame, I found that since it is bent inward, I had to straighten it to get the hangers straight. This moved them outward, so I had to shim them inward.
After all of that, let's reflect on the original frame.
Enough of that for now. Assembled frame under the Tonka for poser shots! Flex is pretty good for non-broke in springs and the rear shackles being too far back.
As mentioned before, the bed is too deep at nearly 3" deep. You can see the bottom of the bed sitting on the frame from underneath. This calls for plastic surgery.

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[2mtech]

OOOh, you said the "F" word!

Funny how we all struggle with deepening beds usually and here you are having to shallow one up. Unique problem.

I don't know why I'm so fascinated with this build but I have to confess I am. Can I ask what some overzealous collector gouged you for that $20 toy truck?

[tcanin00]

I had better watch the use of the "F" word. Bad things happen when people start throwing it around.
Yeah, this is a first in the realm of toy turcks. In theory, I plan to cut a section out of the bed and keep it unmolested looking. We'll see how that works out.
I found this gem on facebook market place. They had it listed with 2 other Tonka trucks, and were asking $15 for all 3. I didn't even negotiate at that price. I drug my wife along for a 3 hour round trip and we made a day of it, had lunch from a Mexican food truck in the town we drove to. Overall, a good day.
I have seen these on eBay going in the $70-85 range plus shipping.

Originally Posted by 2mtech

OOOh, you said the "F" word!

Funny how we all struggle with deepening beds usually and here you are having to shallow one up. Unique problem.

I don't know why I'm so fascinated with this build but I have to confess I am. Can I ask what some overzealous collector gouged you for that $20 toy truck?

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[2mtech]

Good deal!

[tcanin00]

The next step in the ruinification is plastic surgery. We'll start with the interior. Although not extremely low, the floor does hit the chassis before getting the body low enough. Plus raising it would bring SGT Slaughter up high enough to see over the dash and it would give me room for the drive train and electronics.
The roof and bed are one piece, and were held in place by two posts that went through the floor and were screwed into the original chassis plate.
I figured the path of least resistance would be to zues the door panels off. That worked out well and raised the interior about 3/4". I have to lower the top of the seats, because they would interfere with the rear window. Otherwise I would leave them be. They kind of look like someone threw a set of Cadillac/Lincoln power seats in and didn't hook up the power. Very 70's.
On the bright side, the body is where I want it. Round 2 of plastic surgery disasters coming up...

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[tcanin00]

Welp, after butchering the interior it still wouldn't clear the drive train. So I might as well hack up the bed while I'm at it. The tape is the cut line, and I took almost that much out of it. I do have mentioned that since this plastic is a year older than me, I figured it would be brittle and fragile (like me) but it isn't. It's fiberglass reinforced, and has been awesome to work with. The only issue I had was it wouldn't bond with Plastruct Plastic Weld. Had to resort to Loctite 495 Super Glue. Not a big problem, since I "acquire" the glue from work.
Taking about 3/4" out of the bed allows the frame to fit into the body nicely.
I figured if I can successfully ruin plastic with basic tools, I should try to ruin, I meant mill a delrin skid plate with a cross slide vice. That experiment turned out pretty good. I removed over a 1/2" from the bottom of the skid. That helped flatten out the belly for sure.
Luckily this is a temporary set up until I go with a forward motor and divorced transfer case. And by temporary, I meant the motor wouldn't clear the bed. So I flipped it around and ran it backwards. Note: adjust motor timing if you plan on doing this kind of thing. Otherwise throttle control is almost non-existent.
How about some pichaz since this is operational?

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[hillbillyrc]

That r2 trans has been show up in builds lately. Look good by the way.

[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by hillbillyrc

That r2 trans has been show up in builds lately. Look good by the way.

Thanks hillbillyrc! I like the R2 because it's compact and has an output ratio of 30:1 if an 8 tooth pinion is used.

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[hillbillyrc]

I have one in my baroncho I used as a front mount trans. 19t for a 12.8 ratio I believe

[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by hillbillyrc

I have one in my baroncho I used as a front mount trans. 19t for a 12.8 ratio I believe

They're great transmissions, although a bit noisy.

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[tcanin00]

Originally Posted by hillbillyrc

I have one in my baroncho I used as a front mount trans. 19t for a 12.8 ratio I believe

Could you post how you set that up, or a link to a thread on it?

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[tcanin00]

Moar pichaz as promised. These are from my top secret proving ground, which is under construction.
If anyone is familiar with the show Roadkill, this truck was built in a similar thrash and was ready for testing at 4am.
Just seeing it move under its own power was enough for me and it seemed good enough to run it 8 hours later at an open house event at my local club, Backhills RC in Dover, PA.
If anyone is around that area I would recommend checking them out. $25 annual membership, plus a discount at White Rose Hobbies, which is also building a crawler course.

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[tcanin00]

And here are the pictures from later that day. After about an hour of run time, some issues became evident:
1. The steering is terrible. I knew it wasn't going to be awesome with leaf springs, but it seemed like something was hanging up in the linkage, especially when turning right.
I thought it was the servo browning out, since this is the first time running a high voltage JX servo. I started with standard voltage and figured I would increase it if necessary instead of going straight for the jugular.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a problem with the servo at all. The drag link was hitting a helper leaf and getting bound up. Easy fix.
2. The bumpers were doubled as boat anchors. As much as I want to keep the original brush guard and bumpers, they hang up on everything and prevent any chance of decent approach/departure angles. Another easy fix.
3. Tire size. The Boom Racing Hustler MT/X's at 4.45" are great tires after putting a more dense foam in them. The problem is the pumpkin of the RC4WD D40's is yuge. Plus they're not geared well at 2.67:1, but that can be adjusted for through the trans.
Enough nitpicking, enjoy the show from Backhills RC's awesome course!



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