Europa Truck Trial Rig
 

I bought a Bruder MB body and while ago and finally built a rig with it. My goal was to build a scale Euro Trials rig for trail rides. I did not expect it to be a killer rock crawler with the narrow track width captured springs and tall hard plastic body.

Here are the specs:
11.75" WB
8.25" track width
2.75" center clearance
11" max height of cab

Bruder MB Astros truck body
TLT-1 Axels locked diffs
Custom aluminum Chassis
Custom aluminum flat bed w/lexan A-frame tent
Stampede trany w/Jato shafts, 84t spur
55t Lathe Motor, 12t pinion
Captured spings w/Integy maxx soft blue springs
Associated maxx shocks
HPI Geolander tires firm w/pie shape foams
Traxxas Bandit front rims w/rock rings
2 wheel steering
6 oz of bb's in each front tires, 4 oz of bb's in each rear tire
5 RCC stickers

I started with a Bruder dump truck and ripped the cab off for my project.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aaa.sized.jpg


Here is what I used to capture the springs, a shock spring cup and a drive hex.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aac.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aae.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aah.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aaf.sized.jpg


I built the frame out of angle aluminum. Here are some mock up shots.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aai.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aaj.sized.jpg


Axles mounted, 4-linked, and Pede tranny installed.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aak.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aal.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aam.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aan.sized.jpg


I wanted to keep the tires from sticking out of the body too much so I got some Traxxass Bandit front rims and had to use some of RCKjeeps rock rings on both sides of the rims because the Bandit rims are not 2.2 size. I deyed the rims black also.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aap.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aaq.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aar.sized.jpg


The bed was all made out of aluminum. I added the a-frame thing on the bed at the very last stage of the build since I could not decide what to use. I ended up making the a-frame out of a lexan.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aax.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aay.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aaw.sized.jpg


Then I tore every thing apart and painted it. It flexes better then I thought it would.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abd.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abe.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abc.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aaz.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/aba.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abf.sized.jpg

Looks real good. I'm digging the tent.

When do we get a video?

Great to see sopme pictures of that new rig. Got any after in the mud today?

Sweet build
 

Now thats not something you see everyday. Great work dude.

-Mike

After finishing the truck last night I took it out for a test run at Coyote Hills. It crawled very well, it is a little front heavy so I need to add some weight in the rear tires.

After about 30 minutes of running I was driving to close to the edge of this hill and turned the rig to the side and it stared rolling and did not stop until it reached the bottom. :shock:

If you look close enough you can see the Unimog bleeding on it's side at the bottom of the hill.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/co.../aag.sized.jpg


It broke several links, bent the frame from the shock extenting to much to the side, lost a body piece, and broke the battery.

http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abg.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abh.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abi.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abj.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abk.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abl.sized.jpg
http://www.nor-calrcrc.com/albums/Unimog1/abm.sized.jpg

Nice looking rig.

Now that's how you break a new rig in!! :flipoff:

Damn, that was a pretty sweet rig for a while :)

rebuild time!

yikes! maybe a external rollcage? lol . looks awsome anyway and good luck with fixing it :)

Nice build. At least you took pictures before you drove it. Good Luck rebuilding it.

Looks good as Usual John, where do you get the cab from?

Dang ripped out the screw from the link. That would mean you need 7075 rods:-)

Always have to one up everyone , don't you? Nice Build Badger, as usual, a step ahead of everyone else. Great work !:mrgreen:

Sweet.You gotta love battle scars.

Very nice setup. I have a couple that are running a three-link setup. I did not built these but would have loved to. I just picked up a Unimog body to swap out on one and am in the process of building winches for both. Did the stack come with the body you had or did you get it somewhere else?

Both of them have a small rollover bar behind the cab and the receiver and ESC are mounted under the black box on the bed.



Nice to see more of these getting out there - they are a blast to drive



later,

Ed

NitroRcEd where do you get the cabs??

Brand name is Bruder. Got the Unimog one from eBay. It should be here in a couple of days and I can start the swap.

Ed

you get the cabs from ebay or bruder?

Here I will hold you hand for you. :roll:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...rclo=&saprchi=


Nitrorc Ed, yes the stack came with it. The heater/air black thing on the right fell off in the crash so I went back to the crawl spot today to get it because it is just to early to loose parts on this thing. :mrgreen:

nice truck.........i almost rolled my a55 down that hill yesterday........i bet it was slippery as hell today with all the rain.

Thats pretty sweet man! to bad about the fall... but hey at least you didn't put it on a shelf and look at it!

Later,
Jake