Koldhams Tonka Sawback

[Koldham]

Good evening gentlemen, after a few months of being incognito, im finally ready to jump back in. Wanted to get far enough into the build to make sure it would work after a previous failed attempt. So...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnNoKzM-WCs

picked up a Tonka Adventure buggy off Ebay for $50(ish) shipped. the track width is spot on. after taking an inch out of the stock frame, she became a roller



to keep as much of the interior as possible, i was going to put the stock trans up front under the hood and run a compact 1:1 transfercase under the seats



But there were no store bought options that were compact enough for what I wanted to do. after 2 failed attempts and almost $60 IN MATERIALS DOWN THE DRAIN, i said F**** it and il just cut it up. and thats what i did. and wish i had done it sooner.

using 2 of the stock tabs(not sure what they are for in the kit) i attached the rear of the body to the frame. the front of the frame is wedged between an added brace and the stock plastic front bumper. HUGE shoutout to Dave on FB for hopefully sending me some more of those angle tab things for the front body mount. i ruined 2 in the process. the ride height is perfect and looks like a real truck on real tires. and down the line if i ever what to upgrade i could possible run some small 2.2 with a lift kit





it turned out that it took very minimal cutting to get the tranny to sit in the center of the truck. very happy how that turned out. once i build a firewall and drive shaft tunnel and add the driver and passenger, you wont even notice. using T/E maxx shafts the angle are quite steep but dont bind.





i plan on putting all the electronics on the firewall and running the battery as far forward under the the hood as possible. the front shocks may interfere with that so i may have to get creative. the way the body is built you have to bend 2 tabs and the hood opens and closes like a real one. pretty neat!



as it sits right now the To-Do list is as follows:

Sliders
Rear Bumper
Skid plate(s)
Tire Carrier (axial Dingo?)
mount electronics
source battery tray (wraith?)
lights(?)
fab transmission tunnel and rear cargo floor
mount GoPro
find driver and co-pilot
fab tow points
fix steering linkage
fab antiwrap bars
mudflaps
hood prop?
...

[Koldham]

Current Parts to Buy List:

2 scx10 shocks
1 axial dingo tire carrier
1 scx10 battery tray
set of stiff foams


if any of you peeps have this stuff laying around id be happy to buy it

[Shape_Shifter]

Very cool!

I used one of those bodies for an FPV long range camera truck. Mounted on a Traxxas Summit. I had a servo on the steering wheel so it looked like the drivers arms were steering - the Gopro was in the drivers head. I ended up using springs from a hardware store for the shocks because the body was so heavy. I ran it out about 1.5 miles from base on 1.3Ghz. Great fun.

[Koldham]

Yeah that's where I was going to put the gopro. And I read a bunch of those for builds too. Made me want a summit....

[Koldham]

installed the front shocks. using the stiffest spring setup works ok, may need a second intermediate leaf. also need stiffer foams. whats the firmest 1.9 foam on the market?

[evilozz]

i have the same need of the stiffest 1.9 foam i can get, useing pool noodle foam till i find something more permanent as they tend to flatten when left sitting in the same spot for to long, they are good as long as your rolling

[Shape_Shifter]

I dont know about foams, but I store all of my trucks up on blocks so the foams don't go flat and the tires don't get wonky.

[OSRC]

That sir, is awesome! How's the weight? Imagine it's on the heavy side if you are doubling up springs and heavy foams.

[Koldham]

UPDATE

still have to fab bumpers and make a permanent floor. I have a floor mocked up in cardboard and im going to cover it with resin to make it waterproof and paint it black or tan, not sure yet. For tire foam im going to look into pool noodle foam, if not il give Crawler Innovations a shout for some professional advice. Once i fix those 2 problems and get a battery tray, it should be trail worthy. everything else is just for appearance.

Originally Posted by OSRC

That sir, is awesome! How's the weight? Imagine it's on the heavy side if you are doubling up springs and heavy foams.

As she sits right now with a battery and electronics, 9ish pounds.

[Koldham]

Found a solution for the tires. using stock Tamiya CC-01 tires with the beads cut off to clear the rim. they are just as wide as my RC4wd tires but not quite as tall. once i get the truck to final weight i can slit the tread or sidewall of the inner tire to soften them up. tires dont lay over at all.

edit* just got a fresh set of cc-01 tires, will be a runner by this weekend

[Koldham]

progress pics! got the battery mount down, got the esc mounted, got the on/off switch mounted, got my anti wrap bar figured out, got the gopro mounted.

just need to reinforce the floor pan, cut out a rear bumper and sliders, get another receiver(I always loose those bastards), find a way to keep the hood shut lol, get some stickers to detail the dash a bit, maby some lights?

this girl is gettin heavy.

[Koldham]

Took the Tonka to stone mountain. Performed beautifully. Very smooth and predictable. It also didn't roll over as much as you would think.

[Koldham]

[Shape_Shifter]

More pics!

Where is stone mt.?

[Koldham]

Its hard to take pics while driving. And stone mountain is a park in Atlanta GA. Its pretty much this huge ass rock. I forgot the gopro on the charger when i left unfortunately but im going out again next weekend with more people so there will be more pics. Some guy today took an awesome video but i cant remember the name of his facebook page :(

[Shape_Shifter]

Oh. I thought you were in Walnut grove, CA.

Extra weight looks like it makes the suspension perform scale like.

[Koldham]

nah man, east coast. altho more stuff happens in literally every aspect of life over there. This corner of the USA is a cultural wasteland. but i found the page and im going to see if they can post the video or send it to me so i can post it. this truck is so stable over ledges and stuff. there is no axle hop adn you can watch the weight transfer from front to back and side to side.

[Shape_Shifter]

Originally Posted by Koldham

nah man, east coast. altho more stuff happens in literally every aspect of life over there. This corner of the USA is a cultural wasteland. .........

I suppose that depends how you define "culture"....

[Alpha Male]

What?! Where is the driver? You cannot build a big old open truck like that and not have a cool G.I. Joe behind the wheel.

I've been to Stone Mountain. Looks like a giant slammed a huge rock on the ground. Nice laser light show too, as I recall.

I wish we had rocks in south east Texas.

[Koldham]

I was thinking about Merida from the disney movie Brave. she had a black horse named Angus. thought that would be a fitting name.