Clod buster crawler build questions

[BertotD]

So I am fairly new to crawler I have a scx10 and a wraith, how ever I am looking for something a little more. Some of the clod buster builds have caught my eye, I have a rough idea what I want to build so my question is how available are the axles and chassis and parts for this kind of build. I don't have a whole lot of rocks mostly river beds and somewhat rocky embankments, so I kind of want to build a trailer truck in the 1/8 scale 1/10 is fine to but I want it to be a great crawler as well because I plan to make some kind of rock crawler course at my house. So first off I was looking at the rc guy gecko chassis and the clodzillas too. They seem like they would work fine but I'm concerned about a high level of gravity, so this made me concerned so I started looking at the junfac chassis and the pimp cane but not sure how well the pimp cane would hold up over time. Basically looking for a happy medium from other people who actually have experience with these chassis, and my final question are the clod buster axles ready to go or is there some rebuilding I would need to do. Any info would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[codychaos]

Excellent questions.. I own a fairly modified clod for crawling. Ive had, and seen good luck with both the stock chassis, and the clodzilla. HOWEVER. The stock suspension is pretty much useless for anything other than cruising across the yard, or up the street. That being said, you'll be much more pleased with the build if you either buy a 4 link kit, or build one yourself, which I choose to do. By building yourself you can give it the wheelbase you want. As far as the gearing, the diffs are assembled by you. (As is everythi g else in the kit) So with that said its fairly easy to lock the diffs right from the get go. And I recommend it if you're going to do much crawling etc. I also strongly recommend the bearing kit from fast eddys before even starting the build. Youll be much happier not having to tear it completely apart down the road. Good luck, hope this helps

 

[Elmo]

+1 on the FastEddy bearing kit right from the start. If you want a low center of gravity and a simple chassis design a Pimp Cane (torsion style chassis) will work great. If you want a more realistic look then a linked chassis is a better choice. Also if you want to do anything other than crawl then a torsion style chassis is a bad idea since there is no up or down travel in the suspension. I have used a homemade torsion chassis for three years now and I'm very happy with it. The more you drive it the better it works. If you have a wraith and an scx then a link type chassis will be more familiar to you. Another point to remember is that obstacles that were a challenge for an scx or wraith may not even slow down a clod based rig.