Needing information on a clod

[klavy69]

Wish I could answer any of your questions but I can't sorry , I'm really enjoying watching the build , so many cool parts on it already

Thats quite alright. I figured that the clodtalk area is gonna be one of the slowest responses because of the little amount of traffic coming through here but Thanx for the attention. It helps with the ambition.

Off to ebay to see if I can figure anything out.

Todd

[Elkcycles]

Yes, the front bumper is JPS.

[Lowgear]

Appears to be stock gears. Any recommendations on putting different gears in? The blue nylon work better than these? Thorp? Do I need all thorp if I go that route?

Going to take further apart and clean up. When it goes back together I'd like to put it back in the best possible way. Also, what grease am I looking to put in here. Looks like something blue already in there...

It's been a long time since I last assembled Clod gearcases but if I remember right I used Tamiya molybdenum grease. I believe that's what it calls for. You just have to lightly coat the surfaces to help prevent wear a little bit. The more you use, the more the inside of the gearboxes will attract dirt which of course you don't want.

Out of curiosity I just looked, and the original Clod Buster manual does indeed specify molybdenum grease while the Super Clod Buster one specifies ceramic grease. I wonder why the change? I believe the new Clod gears are made out of a different nylon material. That could be the reason. Nevertheless I doubt it matters all that much what you use as long as there's a little something on the teeth.

The blue grease could be just about anything. One time back in the day I used Kendall Super Blu in a pair of Clod gearcases. So it could very well be an automotive grease someone used.

[Lowgear]

Welp! Not much holding these together besides paint...any recommendations on using original parts or hop up alloy?
Way more cracks all over on them. They were red but painted black.

That's very common due to being the highest stressed part on a Clod coupled with the ABS material used. You can get aftermarket aluminum/alloy replacements but it all depends on your budget and usage. If you do go with metal axle tubes, you may have to drill them out yourself depending on where you want to mount your links.

[MarkyDents]

Stumbled upon this ad while perusing the RCCA scans. Figured you’d might like to see it

[juicedcoupe]

Out of curiosity I just looked, and the original Clod Buster manual does indeed specify molybdenum grease while the Super Clod Buster one specifies ceramic grease. I wonder why the change?

If I were to guess, I'd say that it's because of advancements in lubricants.

I typically use Abu Garcia Precision Grease. If its good enough for the plastics in a $500 reel, it should be good enough for a Tamiya transmission.

[klavy69]

That's very common due to being the highest stressed part on a Clod coupled with the ABS material used. You can get aftermarket aluminum/alloy replacements but it all depends on your budget and usage. If you do go with metal axle tubes, you may have to drill them out yourself depending on where you want to mount your links.

this first part is the reason why I try and stay away from Tamiya...can't stand the abs and with my driving style ALL parts of the car are High Stress parts

Alloys are in the plans for the future but with limited income right now $11 instead of $75 makes a world of difference...and good to know there will be a possible need for alterations with them.

Out of curiosity I just looked, and the original Clod Buster manual does indeed specify molybdenum grease while the Super Clod Buster one specifies ceramic grease. I wonder why the change?

I typically use Abu Garcia Precision Grease. it should be good enough for a Tamiya transmission.

I'm actually waiting on some tamiya ceramic grease to arrive but do have some AG Precision grease from bitd assembling some gearboxes on my 1/8 scale stuff. Might have to give it a try in one and ceramic in the other to see if there would be a difference. Will definitely take the 'little dab will do ya' mentality since the gear boxes looked like had some run time on them with the amount of dirt that was in there with everything else. Might try sealing up the motor areas a little bit better when reassembly starts.

That JPS ad is great. I should've checked for that stuff when I was looking for the manual in there. Thanx MarkyDents for that! And thanx for the replies once again.

[TweakedTad]

The stock gears are the best option. the blue gears snap looking at them. Thorp ball diff is impossible to find. Thunder Tech had a copy made by MIP and those are hard to find as well.

I normally don't run grease on my gears. If I do it is just a small amount of the tamiya grease or a lithium grease.

Like said the bumper is JPS.

I would recommend ditching the reservoir shocks with that chassis. The trinity shocks will go well with the JPS parts.

No need to run eight shocks. Four works best on clods.

The new tamiya plastic is much stronger than it was years ago. It doesn't seem to get brittle over time like the old plastic either. I have beat on the newer plastic pretty hard and I can't remember the time I broke a knuckle or axle tube.

If you want to go with aluminum I recommend Hesse Machine. He makes a couple of different designs. They will look the best with the JPS gear cases. You will need to message him on facebook or on his website. He makes runs of the clodbuster parts and the sell out fast so he never updates his website.

[klavy69]

Thanx for the reply.

I had a new set of gears that I had from somewhere else and picked up another set of new gears. Just couldn't validate the expense of alloy since its not going to get run as hard as a clod deserves to get run so stock will work for this round.

I was waiting on some anti-wear but finally cashed in the refund since its been way too long. Just going to go with the ceramic grease from Tamiya.

I have the LHS machinist still wanting to replicate the bumpers...which might or might not be a good idea. Depends on how cranky he gets when its time to do it. lol

I think you're right and the reservoir shocks aren't going back on. They just didn't fit right all around. They hit the tires, they leak and I don't feel like rebuilding them right now. The idea of a cantilever shock on these always looked cool and was contemplating something like that.

I picked up some stock plastics for now since this started out as a budget friendly cleanup but it kinda snowballed a little bit here and there. I might check into the alloys axle tubes yet before getting started putting it back together. If not I've seen some pretty cool carbon fiber stiffeners that might look good.

I've lost the time advantage right now with weather. I've got water running through my basement with the spring flood and makes it kinda unbearable to deal with working down there. Sump pump don't fail me now!