ZZ Monster Truck Articulation Tutorial

Learn how to chop a body properly, how to install alloy rims, and more. If it's about makin' it look good, it belongs here.
blindrider3
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Post by blindrider3 »

Any vids on these trucks yet? Maybe I overlooked them but I really wanna see these in action.
Tuner1989
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Post by Tuner1989 »

Clint posted a vid in the bit discussion forum i believe.
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Post by betty.k »

yeah that's right. the vid links are on page 2 of this thread
http://bitpimps.lixlink.com/pages/phpFo ... php?t=6840
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Post by CaboWabo »

Mudda fucka.
I knew they were there, I scanned, couldn't find 'em.

This is really starting to piss me off, for some reason I'm all scared to do this mod and I don't really know why. Fuckin' Hiroto's daughter did it and I'm still all worried, WTF happened to me? lol
Last edited by CaboWabo on Sun Nov 13, 2005 10:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by betty.k »

i hear ya! i'm still trying to convince myself that i like mine the way it is :lol:
i mean it's good as is, iwaver pcb (poor man's install, no shit i got 3 steps each way steering :-o ), lipo, weighted wheels.

but there's one thing holding me back. i don't like the fact that the pivot is off center. and i realise it's a lotta work to make one that pivots down the middle.
there, i said it!

even though i've seen the vids and they work well enough off center. it would just bug me!




don't get me wrong clint, great mod and great tute :-) chances are i'll end up doing it like yours and not tell anyone :lol:
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Post by crazydave »

Don't fret over it guys, just try it. I more than positive the two of you easily have the skills to pull it off.

I mulled over the technical aspects myself before I got the balls to try it. Using the body to hold it all in place seems to be working for me. It still seems track pretty straight, and it does seem to perform quite a bit better by having more of the wheels on the ground, more of the time. So you know, its not perfect, but it is a major improvement, with very little trade off.
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blindrider3
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Post by blindrider3 »

Okay, maybe I'm just stupid but where hte hell do the charging ports go? I don't see them on the truck....
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Post by crazydave »

blindrider3 wrote:Okay, maybe I'm just stupid but where hte hell do the charging ports go? I don't see them on the truck....
I don't believe you're stupid, but I do believe you didn't read this thread all the way through before posting that. :-)
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blindrider3
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Post by blindrider3 »

crazydave wrote:
blindrider3 wrote:Okay, maybe I'm just stupid but where hte hell do the charging ports go? I don't see them on the truck....
I don't believe you're stupid, but I do believe you didn't read this thread all the way through before posting that. :-)
I get it now, I just didn't see it because clints truck doesn't have them. :lol:
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Post by Aantoin »

What's going on! Clint, all I can say is EXCELLENT!!! I had my MT complete in under an hour. All I used for tools were, Wire cutters, Utility knife, Dremel, Spare broken tubeular antenna, 9/64th drill bit, two spacers, and a soldering iron. I figured that instead of chopping the bottom plate, I could actually drill out the original shaft housing so that I could slid the antenna tube shaft housing in and glue it in place. What I ended up doing was to apply some pressure to the new shaft housing, so that it was pressing against the spacers, this took out much to all of the slop. I will post a pic soon.

Now it might be time to drop in an Iwaver board and a micro servo. Even though I bought this just a day ago, I cant help but make it better. -----Tony

Edit: I have took a picture of it but its kind of blurry in the area that I need to show. I used 3 spacers but 2 are black. Here you go:

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Michael.mt2k
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Post by Michael.mt2k »

Hello!
I'm new to the board, but I've started to modify a ZZMT for myself.

After seeing these pics I'm thinking I might try to do an articulation mod as well! The work you guys put into your trucks is just incredible.

Here's my modest MT, named "Monster Herbie":
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49Mhz
Cat5 Antenna
Red Motor
Matching Green 4-Gear Geardown Mod W/Small Pinion
Stock Tires
White Wheels from Dragon Slayer MT
Front Supension PCB/Chassis Drillouts
Athearn Springs
Upgraded Steering Motor-
(Wired Drive Motor from BitClone: Light Blue Endcap,Specs Unknown)

You can see I've done a bunch of the other mods, so articulation seems like the next thing to look into.

Thank you for posting such detailed pics and instructions!

If and when I attempt this I will post pics.
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Post by frizzen »

Hey man, welcome to the board. Nice first post! I'm still digging that from over on Tiny
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Michael.mt2k
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Post by Michael.mt2k »

I've begun mine.

I work at a Rad Shmack, and returned ZZs of any kind are mine by default. (A perk) A MT with a bad controller is now in pieces, muhahaha.

This is something of an undertaking!

I guess my major question is how to make the short part stable.

I can see how this articulation leaves a bit to be desired, as it includes unwanted articulation in the wrong areas!

How does one keep the truck from:

a: wobbling around on the drive shaft/articulation point(s).

b: simply spinning one section under heavy torque?

I've put my guinea pig aside for the moment, as I'm a little concerned.
If this can't be done without losing the wibbly-woblies then I might just stick to a non-articulated chassis.
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Post by Namuna »

Would using a coffee stirrer around the drive shaft...Then slapping some JB-Weld (or JB-Kwik) around work?

I don't want to cannibalize a controller antenna for the mod, so I had a thought about using the coffee stirrers (you know, the ones that look like tiny straws). I haven't actually checked to see if the drive shaft would fit properly, but the idea is that the straw is just to protect the shaft when you apply the JB-Weld to it and around it. When the JB sets, it basically becomes the part that the antenna piece was supposed to be for.

Does that sound feasible? I've never worked with JB, would it eat through the straw while it was setting?
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Post by crazydave »

Namuna wrote:Would using a coffee stirrer around the drive shaft...Then slapping some JB-Weld (or JB-Kwik) around work?

I don't want to cannibalize a controller antenna for the mod, so I had a thought about using the coffee stirrers (you know, the ones that look like tiny straws). I haven't actually checked to see if the drive shaft would fit properly, but the idea is that the straw is just to protect the shaft when you apply the JB-Weld to it and around it. When the JB sets, it basically becomes the part that the antenna piece was supposed to be for.

Does that sound feasible? I've never worked with JB, would it eat through the straw while it was setting?
You could probably get away with that, but I'm not 110% sure.

I can't believe you don't have any crappy dome clones hanging around you could rob one from. :lol:
I can probably hook you up with one if needed.

I didn't use the antenna tube, instead I just glued a piece of plastic in place to hold the drive shaft in. Works fine for the most part, but it binds and slows the truck down when it starts to articulate. I'm gonna go back and redo it with the antenna tube, I really hope that fixes it.
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