Joe's Bronka

[Metal Masher]

Well my buddy Joe was feeling sellers remorse when i traded what was left of his Willy's at last years ECSC. here was the build for reference:

Joe's flatty The revival!

We chatted about what to get for a while and he decided he wanted something different but really had no preference. Then while crusing E-bay he stumbled upon exactly what he was looking for.



It was in pretty good shape and the right price. he is already making "vroom vroom" noises.



it looks like a good solid foundation to start with.



The reason we got it for so cheep is the missing drive train



But that's ok. we have a plan for that.

The first order of business was to get the old axles and wheels out.



then he raided my scrap pile for some tires and axles.



then we jacked it up and slid them under for a look-see





it looks ok but he wasn't quite happy. the narrow axles made him nervous about tipping it.



I felt bad for the guy so i went to my stash of good axles and let him use my set of built WK axles.





now he is happy!



Yah Yah, we get it... Vroom Vroom



now for the drivetrain? I have something planned

[dadrab]

Attaboy. Something new and different for the 1:6 scale boys.

[Grizzly4x4]

Looking forward to this.
I had one of those Tonka's as a kid; mom and dad gave it away without me knowing.

[Metal Masher]

Thanks guys.

Well we brought Joe's project over to my place. he doesn't have any tools as you could probably tell in the last pics. plus he's cheap and likes to use my stuff. what are friends for right?

anyways since i'm supplying the tools i got Joe to start with the disassembly.





then i handed him the grinder while i got a drink



He works pretty fast and had the floor and grill off in no time.



I think i can use the skin pretty much as it is but i need to get those tabs off.



That's better



next i had Joe make up some cribbing to get an idea of ride height ans wheel base



then we bent up some frame rails and sat them in place



"We are putting the 2 speed in right?!" "I don't know Joe, it is pretty big"



We needed some cross-members for the chassis so i had Joe whip some up.



then i tacked them in place because Joe can't weld worth crap!



Going to need a lot of trimming but i have a feeling this is going to work out real well.



More later

[Hammer!]

nice work! all looking good!

[BuddhaTat2]

Man I wish I had fabricating skills. Need to search Craigslist and find some tools. And scrap metal.... hahhaha. Love your work.

[Metal Masher]

thanks guys.

Here is a bit more progress.

I got Joe to start hacking the interior to clear the chassis and clean up the wheel wells







the frame now fit but wasn't completely flush with the floor




plus it hit the front bumper


and the rear tail pan



hacking ensued





now it fits like it should





then to attach the body I grabbed some scrap frame sections, drilled them and used the original body screws to hold them in place while I tacked them





Joe was happy with the results



for the front I added some simple straps to attach to the old rivet holes that held the bumper on place



now the body is good and secure to the chassis



suspension is next!

[dadrab]

Nice work, man.

[Metal Masher]

Thanks!

Here's more.

with the chassis in place it was time to check the fit of the drivetrain. I started with the rear axle. I really liked this dropped section of the floor as it looks like a gas tank.



but unfortunately it interferes with the axle.



so out came the Dremel and clearance was made.



then I wanted to open the area where the tranny will go and decided to turn it into a firewall with a little heat.



then Joe checked to make sure he still had room to drive.



Next we placed the front axle



the lower linkage came from my Class 3 Toyota, the uppers are random pieces I had lying around.



thinking I was just going to attach the lowers to the frame rails I added an inner plate.





but once I placed the links I realized the geometry is going to suck.



so I decided to attach the links to the skid. the first parts were the link mounts.



the position looks much better



then I cut more plates for the skid



practiced my welding



then Joe helped my drill and tap holes to match the ones I already had in the chassis.



works for me



next I welded the link mounts to the skid



then cut clearance for the rod ends



then to finish the rear I added upper link mounts and finished the welds on the body mounts.



The rear is done!

[Metal Masher]

I wanted to get the rear completely done before I moved to the front so I rummaged through my parts bin and found some random shocks I had lying around.



A quick test fit and I knew I had more cutting to do.



out came the saw and more space was made



then I whipped up some simple shock hoops



and tacked them to the chassis



they fit in there nice and snug



I threw the body back on just as Joe stopped by to see the progress



here it is fully compressed



and fully extended.



I think it's pretty good for a trail truck

More later

[Zukiiholic]

Looking good.
nice welds.

[Metal Masher]

Thanks!

Here is a bit more progress.

with the rear suspension sorted, i started on the front. I decided to do a 3 link to help with bump steer and provide more room for the tranny.

To begin i pulled the front truss and de-brazed the upper link mount.



then re-brazed it on the next support to the left to lower it and put it in a better position for the upper link



then put the axle back together and positioned the chassis mount



next i made the track bar using an old AX10 bent lower and fabbed some mounts



then tacked it in



clearance is tight at full compression





next i added the front hoops same as the rear



it was now officially standing on it's own!



of course i had to flex it out.



oh and here you can see why i used the bent link, so i could clear the axle



next i grabbed some scrap and made the servo mount



the tie rod is a bit low but remember this is at full compression.



then i threw the servo in and the tub back on to check for clearances.



the servo fit ok but i had to cut into the floorboards to clear the upper link



Then it was time for the tranny. At this point Joe showed up...

"Suspension looks good! Lets get that tranny in!"

"Joe, I don't think it's going to fit"

"Whadya mean?! it'll be fine!"



"No seriously, it's too big"

"Nonsense! You just gotta... push it a little...maybe this way..."



"Come on Joe"

"Wait! if you just...turn it sideways maybe..."



"AH STUPID @#!@$ PIECE OF &#@#$%@ SON OF A #@#$%$!!!!!!!!"



"Ok Joe, if your done throwing a hissy fit, why don't you go take a look in my tranny bin and see if you find anything that would work"

"Fine"



"Whoops!"



"You ok Joe"

"Yah. Hay, what about this?"



"looks good to me Joe. It should fit a lot better in the truck"

"Oops!"



"DANGIT JOE! be careful! that's the only one i have"

"Sorry. Hay, i think this just might work!"



"Your right Joe but i think we need to do a little work on it first"

More on that later

[Metal Masher]

Double posted

[mjderstine]

wow. can't say i havent thought of using this truck for this. this one even looks like the one i saw on ebay a few months back.

gonna be pretty awesome to see this thing bouncing around the trails too.

[BigSki]

Great work buddy! You gonna let Atti drive this one?

[realsickclown]

Ahh man! this is way to cool. Very nice..

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by mjderstine

wow. can't say i havent thought of using this truck for this. this one even looks like the one i saw on ebay a few months back.

gonna be pretty awesome to see this thing bouncing around the trails too.

It probably was. i got it a few months ago in the bay.

Originally Posted by BigSki

Great work buddy! You gonna let Atti drive this one?

I'll let anyone drive this one including my son and nephews. it built it as a beater.

Originally Posted by realsickclown

Ahh man! this is way to cool. Very nice..

Thanks!



The reason Joe was so adamant on trying to get the power of 2 motors and the wheel speed of the 2 speed. I felt bad for the guy so i decided to help get him some power and a little wheel speed. To do that i grabbed the 4300 KV motor i had in my class 3 truck and pressed on the pinion from the drill motor.



one cool feature about this particular gear box is the hardened steel gears.



Also if you look in the case there are a series of holes, some with pins. on other gear boxes these are used in conjunction with steel balls, springs and the triangular shaped tabs on the gear ring in the background, to make the torque setting work on the drill. Thankfully this tranny has pins to lock everything in place.

Now i needed a way to attach the drive shaft. With the other tranny i cut the end of the output shaft completly and connected it directly to the T-case. in this case i had room to run a prop shaft so i decided to add a shaft to the output of this one.

I first removed the output from the gear box.



then i grabbed a piece of broken TLT axle shaft that will be the new output. I always keep my broken shafts as they are the same diameter as most tranny and T-case outputs.



I noticed the hole in the center was pretty shallow so i drilled it deeper.



Then i hacked off the threaded end



Then the hard part. I didn't have a 5MM drill so the hole was a little undersized. to get the shaft in place i threw the shaft in the freezer then heated the output with a torch. after a little tapping it went right in place



Then to make sure it stayed put i burned it in.



Then i cut and filed the new output shaft



now i needed a mount. i made a template and transferred that to some aluminum



after some cutting, filing and drilling i had what i needed.



i also had to bend the ends to get a little angle on it.



next i made mounts for the T-case and secured it in place.



A bit more about the T-case, this is where i hope to get a little more wheel speed. a while back i had plans for using this gear box and knew how low geared it was so i intentionally bought this T-case which is geared up not down. i think it's something like .5-.7 to 1 but i can't quite remember.

With the T-case locked down i could make the final position of the tranny.



happy i made some simple tabs



then tacked them to the shock hoops



now it was locked in



The prop shafts look pretty good as well



the next step was to fit the body and after a little trimming it went right in place



I had to cut more of the floor but eventually it will get covered with a tranny tunnel



then i screwed the body back on, slapped in the electronics and Joe took it for a test run.










the tires do get into the body but the inner fenders are smooth enough that it doesn't hinder function.



I told him to take it easy as some of the parts are just tacked but it actually works really well considering how heavy overall it is and how much weight is up top. it ain't no rock crawler but should make for one fun trail truck! Also right now it's running a 2S so if i ever want a lot of wheel speed i can always run a 3S or 4S pack.

Here is video of the first test drive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7gB...ature=youtu.be

[mjderstine]

Just bring it Sunday and there won't be any issues

[vwmopar]

I've got a couple Tonka trucks laying around. Now you got my head spinning thanks lol.

[chino63]

Nice! That looks like a fun big truck. Makes me want to get my Willys going.