April 20th, 2008 by Smoke&Mirrors
After some suggestions from other forum members, I decided to add some weight to my front wheels to help it climb better and decrease it’s flipability (how often it flips, which is frequent). As usual, here is my particular process. I wanted to be sure that this method added enough weight to make a difference but not kill the steering, I also wanted it to be ultra secure so it wouldn’t rattle around. Here we go:
Start out by gathering some:
- Soldering Wire
- 2 front Wheels And Tires from ZZMT
- Aluminum Tape
- Super Glue
- Flat-Head Screw Driver (like the one found in your zzmt controller, convenient huh?)
Gather and use the items at your discretion. If you feel you don’t need it, don’t feel obligated to use it.

Get a length of wire about 12 to 15 inches and just lightly straiten it by hand. Don’t stress getting it too strait.

Now start wrapping the wire around the rim from the inside out. By that I mean, start at the part that faces the chassis and work your way out toward the end where the wheel nuts go on. Be sure to get the wire nice and TIGHT!
Loose:

Tight:

Grab that aluminum tape and cut off a strip as thick as your rim and about as long as your circumference. Just be sure that the tape overlaps on itself. Just like I DIDN’T do in the picture. Seriously, do as I say and not as I do.

Using your screw drive, etch out the outline of the wire to make the tape tight.

If you have some tape sticking out over the edge of the inside of the rim, use your screwdriver to push the edge down nice and tight as pictured.

Now you are done. You could stop now, but I’d recommend getting some krazy glue and putting on a thin layer at the previously described “outside” of the rim between the wire and the plastic. Here is your finished product and with a little extra effort, your tires will fit on fine. Try climbing something you knew you flipped on before and be amazed at the difference. Seriously, damn!

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April 17th, 2008 by Smoke&Mirrors
I know, you saw a video on YouTube and have the urge now. I went through it and I’m sure a lot of other people have too. For me, I loved 1:1 crawling so much that I wanted more and on a smaller scale so I could do it in backyard without tearing up the grass so much. :-o
So I started looking around the net and here and bookmarking pages that had killer mods that I planned to do (note: I did not find ALL of these, some sites already had lists which I am linking to). Before long I had a good 10 mods, at least. So, to make it easy on all you crawlin’ pimps in the making, and without further adu, here it is:
The End-All, Be-All
ZipZaps Monster Truck (ZZMT) Modification List
Helpful Sites
http://bitpimps.lixlink.com/articles/
http://www.gcrossett.com/zipzaps/index.htm
Articulation
The Articulation Modification - a MUST for any serious crawler!
Gearing
Slow Gearbox Options
Ultra Slow ZipZaps Special Edition (ZZSE) Steering Servo Gearbox
Steering
Hyrdo Style Steering
Tires & Wheels
Weighted Front Tires
Winches (and related)
Winch Pictures
Recovery Points
Cosmetics
Headlights Always On
Magnetic Body Mount
Inspirational Crawlers
RedRustBucket’s FJ40 Landcrusier
Supergroup_Cralwer’s Monster Crawler
Clint’s Halftrack ZZMT
Clint’s Minimalist ZZMT
Biohazard’s Toyota Landcruiser - Scroll down for pics.
Biohazard’s ZZMT Mercedes
Biohazard’s ULTIMATE HUMMER
Smoke&Mirrors’ Black Bear - Sorry guys, had to throw in my own beast! :D
Pimp-tastic Videos
Other Threads Of Interest
ZZ-M And Axle Stall…
ZZMT Crawling - Clod Stall Effect
This is a work in progress, if you feel I left out something important in any category, please PM me in the forums.
Also, I’ve don’t just about every mod on here and would love to answer any questions you have about them.
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January 8th, 2008 by steelwoolghandi
I have put together what I like to think as a simple and quick tutorial for casting a body using Clear Casting Epoxy. I use Liquid Latex Rubber to build the molds of the item I wish to cast.
1. I use Mold Builder by Casting Craft to build my molds there are other Liquid Latex Rubber products out there and can be purchased at any LHS. I apply coats of the Latex to the outside of the item I am going to make a mold of. Make sure they are thin coats as the thicker they are the longer it takes to dry.
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April 2nd, 2006 by ExtremePaint
Fire, mans eternal quest to capture and control the raging energy that confines its self within. To first paint fire you have to understand exactly what it is, although I find it a little hard to define its merely a very hot gas rising rapidly so the shapes should be fluid, organic and random. Using a good reference is the key to getting the fire right, take some snapshots of your barbeque after you poured in a bottle of lighter fluid, check around on the internet for reference photos and pick the kind of fire you like, whether it be hot and raging, a cooler tumbling fire or maybe a big explosive like fire they can all be rendered using these basic principles. this process is neither long nor painful! infact its a rather easy technique that is fun to do and dosnt take alot of thought, although it does take a lil bit of gray matter to figure out all the steps when theres no one around to tell you how. 
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November 9th, 2005 by Clint
Start with a new ZZ Monster Truck.

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June 6th, 2005 by Tuner1989
1.) You will need these mechanical pencils which you can probably pick up at your local office depot, staples, target, etc.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai…ducts&n=1069816
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April 26th, 2005 by Finks
I know this is pretty basic, but people asked how I did what I did to my bits to give them that, “it’s summer and fuckin hot out and damn, I aint got no AC” look.
1st off, I cannot take credit for this mod. It was either crazydave or DarkTari that inspider me. Can’t be 100% because the insperation came from a bit that they both modded and currently gaces my collection.
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February 20th, 2005 by viperdout
Well, I really didn’t want to do a ton of soldering when I swap over to the kokam 145 on my MT, and didn’t want to fuss with plugs; in short, I like how it charges stock and wanted to do the same thing. Onto the tut!
Materials:
- Soldering Iron
- Exacto knife or dremel (preferably exacto knife, as your product will be cleaner in the end)
- Hot Glue gun (optional)
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