Clodzilla IV Build

[twisted crawler]

I finally got my clod. I was a little disappointed as the guy said it was a shelf queen. He said he had bought it, put together, as it was in zip lock bags when he got, never ran it just had it on his shelf for years, I don't think he was to familiar with rcs. But i guess it wasn't to bad. The esc battery leads where butchered but it was clean, rewired the leads looks new now and works great.
Every nut and bolt was loose, replaced everyone of them with hex bolts and lock nuts.
The frame was ok replaced the esc tray, the links where ok expt. for a few that i fixed. cavaliers no problems expt for two hole that the shocks mounted to no big problem just added a nut to the back side.
The axles full ball bearings but needs 2 tubes and one gear case has cracks. He had 15 tooth pinions which has everything so tight, have to fix that cannot run like that unless i wanna burn up th esc, motors and battery, getting 13s or adjustable motor mounts.
the body was new but needed trimming could not find my curved cutters so i scared it up a little cutting it. Dumb on my part :?.
it has stock clod tires and rims the white ones , they have been painted silver, the tires good shape, also had brand new chrome rims, probably buy some tires Monday for them.
Its been a long time séance Ive had a clod. I do have a few tricks and things to share about the clodzilla kits.
I would like to get some alum tubes and knuckles, or was considering, bergs, bully's, rapters, ect. or just upgrading the stockers.. I just want a nice good all around truck. so i might be on the look out for stuff for the axles. maybe i could work out something if anyone has what I'm looking for I have PP and things I would consider trading.

here it is after I've been working on it.


have it down to where it just starts hitting the cavalier link at this point.


this is a fix for the shock mount for this kit. it is not real pretty, you can go ether further in or out depending on where you need it. the mounts them selfs are about 1/4 in. difference, witch really plays havoc when using the IV kit. I opted for the links to be to the outer, so they do not hit the frame. also it takes like the pic above to hit the tire unless the wheels are turned.as you can see the cavalier link and the upper suspension link are inline.


Now both sides are the same witch really helps in tuning and how the suspension works.


another veiw


next some simple ways to aline the chassis, as anyone who has had this kit knows that the holes are around 4mm and the screws are 3mm. all you need are some servo brass inserts 4mm with 3mm hole and small shock balls 3mm hole with collard ends.the collard ends are 4mm in width.


here is a 4mm hole that someone had made for the antenna.


Now the same hole with insert, also you can see where i used for aliening the side plate and chassis.



I made a new tray for mine as the old one was junk. Also I mounted it on the bottom side of my chassis. so I used the servo insert to aline the side plate and chassis, the inserted my 3 mm bolt and lock nut. The brass end will compress easily. the i mounted the plate with another locknut.




Ok the shock ball ends that are collard on both ends. they make great standoffs and aline the chassis parts to. one side works for the link ball ends letting them move with no binding the other side will inert threw the plate and prationally into the other aliening the 2. I only used this on the upper links and shock mounts as these two areas have either the bottom plate mounting to the side plate or bottom plate mounting to the sway bar plate. My bottom plate holes where a little walard out so this really helped here. everything is nice and aliened.

also used the ball end here.It spaced it out perfect to match the link above.

[twisted crawler]

have more pics. The bottom of the truck. used reg standoffs for the lower links.


Had these motors on the truck. I looked them up , nice motors 27 turn dynoed. but he had 15 t pinions witch has everything binding up. I'm getting some 13s today to fix the problem.


I had to rewire the motors and the ESC.

the suspension fully compressed. Took out the lock nuts and screwed the rod ends all the way in to get it to sit low as possible.


How it sits with no battery. I like it better than being way up. also had to use the sway bar as its way to loose when its out. It does not effect the suspension enuf to even bother with anyways.


upper view all the shocks and suspension are aliened nice. no binding. the spacers on the shocks where they mount to the cavaliers are for an eflite helie.





I have a set of new clod rims, the chrome ones they have a 1987 stamp on them so I'm assuming they are original clod rims, was going to get some tires for them today if they have them. forgot to get pics of them.
Will get more pics up later as I progress with this. Thanks for looking Twisted........

[chris_dishmon]

looks good so far. looks like it's gonna be a basher. lipo's and brushless in the future?

[ToTheMAXXcrawler]

i say keep the clod tires and wheels. It give it that cool monster truck look. Ive always liked the clodzilla chassis.

[losiking1]

looks good twisted. got one sitting on my shelf same chassis too. hows this for vintage... jps gear box cases!!! and a snakebite body!!was my 1st rc vehicle. and still love it to this day. i also have a new in box body kit for it too.

[twisted crawler]

might go brushless and lipos later. going to see how it runs once i finish it.

yea think I'm going to stay with the clod tires might find some tires for the chrome rims?

sounds like a nice truck I'm wanting to upgrade the axles, Hopefully i can get the body kit 2.
kinda sucks I had one back in 91 put the first clozilla kit they came out with on it, also had the orig.Chevy body and the org. bull head both where perfect, the bull I had just gotten painted by my brother who does automotive paint, it was cherrie. but had to sell all cheap needed the cash:-(. or I would still have. mostly why I bought this truck.
Thanks guys It will be a little slow of a build at first, Ill be going TDY to California for 2 weeks lol in about 2 weeks. at least ill be in palm beach. then I can get some more items to finish. Ill keep posting as i get it done.

[twisted crawler]

what do you guys think about putting super bully's on this truck, i would consider buying a new set? or just build the stockers?
I'm planing on moving the lower links up and mounting the top in a different spot and relocating them to a gear box mount. probably keep the cavaliers and just mount them to the the lower rods. change out the steering to the axle brace.
I'm planing on this being an old school rig, redone to be a little more modern,yea still use the same setup.
Hopefully when I'm done it will still be a clodzilla IV but different from any other out there.
shoot any ideas if you have any.

[ToTheMAXXcrawler]

I say build your stockers, i mean you already have them...so why not? IMO for the price of Bullys, you can make a decent set of Clod axles (i mean given you dont buy the aluminum diff cases and axles tubes, that can get expensive really quick). Nice job on realigning everything, lookin good

[twisted crawler]

This is a body that I got from my friend that owns the LHS.It has been hanging on his was for about 10 years maybe more. I seen it and talked him into selling me it. Im not even sure they make this body any more. I got it for this Build what do you guys think?

[losiking1]

pretty sweet body. looks nice. where did you place your battery??

[twisted crawler]

Thanks.....It sits under the electronics tray, sits on 2 brakets that brings it up above the sway bars, If you look at one of the side views in the above pics you can see it. It's not in even as it was moving around when i was taking pics, it's blue.
A few top pics. Should I go with this body or just dont look rite. I think it looks pretty sweet, but not sure.

[losiking1]

thats the beauty of clods. any body looks great on them. gotta get some pics posted up on here.think you'd like it with the snakebite body i have on mine.

[twisted crawler]

A Q. for the more experienced guy's about rear axle stall. I remember the first one ESC on my clod back in the 90's, I had I had a huge Nova 600 t or something like that I can't remember. It was ran in parallel. I never notice the rear stalling out hardly any. I do not have much exp. with these newer ESC that are made to run two motors. I did notice that it doesn't take much for the rear to stall or at least it seems that way. Would it be better to run the motors old school or stick with this one? Not like I'm going to be doing a hole lot of rock crawling but I do like to do it. I f any of you guys are familiar with these please chime in and share some advice.
Thanks Twisted

[Gimbal]

A Q. for the more experienced guy's about rear axle stall. I remember the first one ESC on my clod back in the 90's, I had I had a huge Nova 600 t or something like that I can't remember. It was ran in parallel. I never notice the rear stalling out hardly any. I do not have much exp. with these newer ESC that are made to run two motors. I did notice that it doesn't take much for the rear to stall or at least it seems that way. Would it be better to run the motors old school or stick with this one? Not like I'm going to be doing a hole lot of rock crawling but I do like to do it. I f any of you guys are familiar with these please chime in and share some advice.
Thanks Twisted

IMO dont worry about stall with this rig. Focous on go fast Throw in a 11.1v LIPO, keep the EVX, and peg the trigger Maybe some 17t singles or 14t doubles

I have heard some of the newest ESC address the stall for MOA. But they are designed for crawling, not go fast. Could be wrong. Holmes Hobbies should be able to school you on this

[twisted crawler]

I'm not really looking to go fast have other rigs for that. I just like to clim things and just take it easy with this build. I haven't really drive it but 3 times sense I started it. Just not to fond of how easy it seems to be to get the rear to stall. maybe if i lock the axles or add better battery's. drop to a lower wind motors? I'm still working on it. working on a few custom parts at the moment.

[Gimbal]

Does it tend to nose up when you take off? I am wondering if the front end unloading may be part of the issue.
Is there a way to raise the front upper link mounting location at the chassis? Just a thought.

[twisted crawler]

You have a point about the front end unloading. The fact that both axles are unlocked, the ESC has four motor leads. I'm thinking that once it gets to where the rear has a load, the front tire with the least load will spin,sucking up all the power from the esc. or thats what Ive seen now that you said something.
The last time I ran, once the front cleared the rock and the rear tire hit at a funny angle and the rear just stalled nothing. In the front only one wheel was spinning. It seems any time the rear gets loaded only one front tire is spinning. So the front has to be unloading.
I'm working on the mounts and next will be moving the upper links and working out the steering. I'm about to go TDY to Twintynine palms Cal. for 9 days so I have to put it all on hold.
I did get brand new proline 8 shooters and m3 moabs 2.2 but don't think I'm going to use. lol Ill stick with bigger tires. Mock mounted them and just not enuf clearance for me.
Thanks for the help..

[twisted crawler]

Well i got a nice set of axles from crazyorigin ( great guy to deal with). I did a few things to the truck to.But kinda run out of funding, my wife isnt doing to good. so my build is going slow. need a few more thing befor I can mount these axles. guess I will start going threw my rc stuff and trade or sell to fund it.
anyway's Ill get some pics up soon.

[twisted crawler]

I finally finished working the axles I bought. they are really nice setup. there where a few probs with binding when I first got them, but no big deal.
Bought new hardware for them and shims. Fist thing was JP's knuckles didn't like the hot racing tube's. Easy fix for anyone else that is having that prob. I took and made a gasket to fit in between the tube and the c hub. fixed the binding prob. They spin nice and smooth threw out the turn radios. the rear I adjusted them till they did the same. Next shimmed the gear's so the meshed perfect. used traxxas Teflon shims. cleaned out all the bearing grease, will replace with? not sure what i wanna use.. replaced all the outer screws with cap heads.
these things are set to go just working on how I want to mount them. They spin easy, better than my stock ones. I mean real smooth.
Ill get pics up tomorrow. also I took the zero acromen off for the moment till i figure out what tire setup Im using. here is a pic of when I first got them.

[twisted crawler]

A few pics installed a brace between the cavalier mounts to strengthen it up helped alot.




tried the suspensions setup this way, needs limiters, used some large rubber bands to try. worked great like a drop setup. if you Dont use limiters, the suspension just loads up.


also the tires Dont hit the links.


sit's low If I could get some kind of elastic limiters i would keep it like this. cas It works good.


here are the axles. Once I worked them, there smooth. new shims screw's and gaskets, to make the knuckles work rite.
TTR axles are beefy.

beefy strait rear axle


all new button head screw's

monster bearings...


Just a few more parts and I can mount them to this. unless i find a chassis I like better. Then maybe sell this and buy another. all the hardware has been replaced with better screw,s. about 20 buck's in just hardware