Joe's Bronka

[Mike Flea]

great job Metal!, looks real good in action!

[snydercj7]

Had one of those as a kid, recent years thought how great it would have been to convert to rc. Thanks for making my dream come true! I vote for the top to be removed and a tube cage built in its place. Thanks for sharing, you made it look so easy. Keep up the great work.

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by mjderstine

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

Yah, it'll be done by then and it seems to be a solid runner unlike my class 3 truck

Originally Posted by vwmopar

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

Glad i could help!

Originally Posted by chino63

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

Go for it! i'd love to see what you come up with for that!

Originally Posted by Mike Flea

great job Metal!, looks real good in action!

Thanks! I like how it works so far especially for a non censored motor and being top heavy.

Originally Posted by snydercj7

Had one of those as a kid, recent years thought how great it would have been to convert to rc. Thanks for making my dream come true! I vote for the top to be removed and a tube cage built in its place. Thanks for sharing, you made it look so easy. Keep up the great work.

My pleasure! Maybe some day i'll take the top off but for now it'll stay like it is.

Down the home stretch!

happy with how it ran i blew it apart for final welding.

I added a cross bar to reinforce the rear shock hoops



then finished all the welds on the chassis.



then i pulled out the grinder and cleaned up the skid plate



and shaved of some of the body mounts to keep them from hanging up too much on the rocks



finally i smoothed the bottom of the frame rails



then it was time for paint







the front truss and links got blasted and i decided to stick with the orange just because



the final step before final assembly was to deal with the open bearing on the gear box. This thing will get wet and i want to keep the water out as much as possible

i began by shaving the tabs off the end of the case



next i made a plate from some aluminum and a seal from an old inner tube



a healthy dose of grease was applied to the bearing then the gasket was slid over. you can see how it pushes the gasket out similar to a rear seal on a 1 to 1 transmission and should work well at keeping water out



the plate holds it tight



finally all the seams were hit with a bead of silicone.



then everything was assembled one more time.





Take a good look because you'll probably never see it this clean again!



almost done!

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Metal Masher

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

Good gawd, is he driving these rigs already?? Too much time has slipped by.

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Good gawd, is he driving these rigs already?? Too much time has slipped by.

Yah i'll say!

I didn't realize i never finished updating this thread.

With the chassis done i stuck the electronics under the interior to hid them.



then i made a battery plate from some scrap PVC



then drilled and tapped some holes in in the cargo area.



made a strap up from some scrap Velcro.



then mounted it all up



finally i threw the body on the chassis for the last time.



the electronics fit well and should be protected.



up front i glued some magnets to the grill to hold the hood down.



then took it to Bobrocks and proceeded to beat on it.





it worked pretty good but after some more wheeling in the back yard I had some clicking from the axles then i lost power from the tranny. So while rebuilding them i decided to tear the tranny apart to see what was wrong.

The first thing i saw was water which was unexpected considering how much i tried to seal everything.



then after some investigation i realized the power problem was the brass pinion slipping on the motor shaft. so i bought what i thought was the right replacement gear but it must be metric as the 32 pitch gear was not the same.



so instead of trying to find a gear i decided to modify this one by using a brass collar and soldering it to the gear.



Then i threw it all back together and sealed it up as best as i could.



Then took it for another test drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmfn...ature=youtu.be

[BigSki]

That's the first time that I've seen water in the ravine. It looks like it's flowing pretty good!

[mjderstine]

I was gonna call it a ditch but then the video got longer and longer and longer and longer and longer and now it's a creek.

[Metal Masher]

Originally Posted by BigSki

That's the first time that I've seen water in the ravine. It looks like it's flowing pretty good!

Yah. it's only like that after a rain. lasts about a week then it's dry again. i actually prefer it dry as most of my rigs are not waterproof.

Originally Posted by mjderstine

I was gonna call it a ditch but then the video got longer and longer and longer and longer and longer and now it's a creek.

Actually that is only about half of the one creek section. the spot where i turned around is where a tree fell across and i haven't moved it yet.

There is another section a little longer then what's in the vid that isn't cleared yet. I hope to get to that next summer.

[Metal Masher]

Time to bring up this old thread.

Joe's Bronka has been laid up in the garage since he ran it last fall. There were a few things that needed attention. We diagnosed the clicking as the axles gears. they are stock and this truck is heavy so it didn't surprise me. next is the drive shafts, the plastic ones just don't cut it for the same reason. last is the wheels and tires, Joe likes the height just not the with.

The final motivation was when he asked me if he could go to the ECSC. I said he could but he was not going to drive any of my trucks!

So since then Joe has been saving his pennys and now he finally got the parts to fix it.

For the tires Joe sold his old ones and picked up a set of used Boggers on the skinny side. They ended up being the same height but a much more realistic width.



He also got new gears that are a little taller since he likes to sling mud more then crawl.



Joe began by pulling the axles



while rebuilding them we noticed that the grease trick seemed to work keeping the water out. these axles spent several minutes at a time completely submerged so i am impressed.



with the axles done Joe decided to check the fit of the new MIP shafts and as i suspected there was some fitment issues.



To correct it i trimmed it down and re welded it.



then we decided to paint them to match the suspension parts and to make them more visible in the event we loose one.



it looked pretty good once we had it all back together.



finally Joe decided to spend some cash on new wheels, even if they are just steelies, and once we installed them quickly realized it was a great choice and the truck looks much better now!







Then of course we had to take it out for a test spin. It worked just as good as before if not better!







My little Boy Dean approves! (and did most of the driving BTW)



now it was time to clean up.







Joe had enough and tried to get out, but not before Dean made sure he was all clean! LOL!



That's it for now!

[stelerzman]

Grat job all the way around. ☆☆☆☆☆.

[Koldham]

looks good. dont see how its large scale tho. Whats your weight bias like with the battery in the back? I know from experience that rood is heavy as hell.

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by Koldham

looks good. dont see how its large scale tho. Whats your weight bias like with the battery in the back? I know from experience that rood is heavy as hell.

G.I. Joe is 12" tall, that should help put the scale of this rig into perspective.

[Koldham]

Originally Posted by BigSki

G.I. Joe is 12" tall, that should help put the scale of this rig into perspective.

its no bigger than a ascender on similar tires.

How much does it weigh RTR?