Returning to the Land of Supers; A Canadian Hustler

[bRIBEGuy]

Once upon a time, I had a Clodbuster based crawler.

It Lives!!!

It went through many rebuilds, upgrades, and modifications over a period of about 3 years,

Re-built & Improved

And finally it ended up as pretty much a flow blown Super Class rig.

Project: Rebuild. A new Clod from the old

It lived like this for a year or so, mainly being neglected while I did other things for a while, before ultimately being traded to another local crawler who has since given the truck a good home.

I started thinking a lot about the big trucks again lately, and while I'm having a ton of fun with my smaller rigs (and am truely convinced that 14'r Clods are the best way to roll), I've been having a real desire to build up another Super-Class Clod.

So, with a combination of some parts bin digging, and some well placed orders, I present my newest build-up: The Canadian Hustler.

[bRIBEGuy]

Starting off, the chassis (as one may expect if the thread title is to be believed) is one of the new RCP Crawlers Super Hustler SE deals.

I've has good luck with RCP in the past, and the Hustler chassis is no exception. Aside from FedEx slapping me with a $60 "brokerage" fee to have the package delivered, the whole package arrived quickly and without incident. Sadly I recieved the "regular" links, though, when I had requested a black set. Oh well.

I picked up another set of Traxxas Big Bore shocks for this build also.

Axles will be Clod-based, with MIP CVD's, and a host of other goodies.

Power will be from no less then 10 Elite 4000 cells. He he he.......................

I have 90% of the parts for this build now, so it'll just be a matter of time before I can............well, find the time to build it up. Remodeling my house, and rebuilding my 14'r Droopy (Droopy the K2-3S ) will come first, but I hope to be able to update this thread with some fun info and pics on a fairly regular basis.



And now some pics of where it begins...........................

[JUSTGOINGSLOW]

A buddy of mine (saul) just bought one. The hustler chassis is a awesome chassis for a super.

[bRIBEGuy]

Well, the first time I decided to do some work on this thing and I'm stumped already. I can't find a set of 17mm adapters that will fit CVD's and Axial Rims with under-the-knuckle packs.

BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bRIBEGuy]

Okay, skipped the axle issue for now, and made some general progress on this build.



Fist up, these were the rims I was gonna use, but the plan has now changed.

Good bye sweet-a$$ narrow Axials......................

[bRIBEGuy]

Started off with some new stock clod axles.

And then started to take them apart.

[bRIBEGuy]

Next up was a set of Thunder Tech Racing CVD's.

Went together smoothly.............even if they didn't come with the threadlock the instructions said that they did.

[bRIBEGuy]

Full bearings went into the cases obviously.

And now, things start to get fun and shiny................



A nice gun metal spool gear, and some ever so pretty JP Customs knuckles.

[bRIBEGuy]

Since things were starting to go the way of metal.................why not toss some axle tubes into the mix?



You may also notice a Hand Bros BTA steering mount up front, and an Integy servo mount & set of axle braces in the back.

Mmmmmm...................shiny...................

[bRIBEGuy]

Oddly enough, the tolerances with the CVD's, aluminum axles, and knuckles was so close, that the turning was UBER-stiff. I ended up having to remove the inner washers off of the CVD's to get the turning motion to work smoothly.

One knuckle appears not to be flush on the bottom, and still binds.

Kinda sucky for the price.........................

[bRIBEGuy]

Started to work on the suspension.

Traxxas Big Bore aluminum shocks here, compined with internal springs, and 1000wt Mugen diff oil.

[bRIBEGuy]

Continuing the suspension theme, I moved onto the links & such.

My first big disappointment came when I mounted up the RCP upper link mounts. The included hardware was too short to make it through the mount and the clod cases. Grrrrr................ Luckily I found some extras in my parts bin that worked.

My second annoyance came when I started to work on the links themselves. Firstly, I will say the links look pimped! They are the shiniest links I've ever seen (even if I swear I ordered the black anodized ones..........).

When I went to go put them together though, I was VERY surprised to see they use threaded in lengths of 4/40 all thread to mate the ball ends to the 1/4" aluminum. For a Super Class rig with a steel tube frame, this just strikes me as VERY flimsy. I would have expected 6/32 at the least.

On top of this, the small piece of 4/40 thread VERY loosely into a hole in the links that has been drilled twice as deep as it should be (IMO). As a result, you cannot tighten down the threaded sections, but instead must just leave them loose with nothing but threadlock to hold them in place. Again, I have a hard time believing this will hold up to a Super Class rig. Considering the Hustler is marketed as a competition ready kit, I am a bit surprised.

[CD13]

Welcome to super land,I have never built a Husler but I have seen them in about ever situation,even upside down making a gate and never seen one broke.That doesn't mean they haven't.Looks good so far

[redrustbucket]

Welcome back to the DARKSIDE...

[Nova's Ark]

Nice build thread and pictures. It looks good and I am looking forward to seeing you complete it.

[need some carbon fiber]

Mark, the truck looks good and pretty bling!! But the 4-40 hardwear is a bit small I've broken plenty 2.2 dased links that are built the same way as the hustler links. I would drive cautious for the first bit if I were you.

[bRIBEGuy]

Originally Posted by need some carbon fiber

...the 4-40 hardwear is a bit small I've broken plenty 2.2 dased links that are built the same way as the hustler links. I would drive cautious for the first bit if I were you.

My thoughts exactly.

I ran an almost identical set-up on my first crawler, and it worked poorly.

Oh well, links are easy to build if these don't work.

[bRIBEGuy]

Wow..........turns out I'm full of crap.



Went to work on the links a bit more today, and it turns out the threaded sections ARE 6/32 after all.

Huh..............

Makes me a bit more happy then my previously delusional belief that it was all 4/40.

Whoops....................

[need some carbon fiber]

Yikes Mark you would think that 6:30 is too late for you to stay up from that post. But an honest mistake none the less.

[PaulEZK]

I'm liking it so far. Keep it up...

(Side note; it was only after building a super for my dad that I found a appreciation for them.. Before I avoided them).