anyone here have one of these? I finished building it two days ago (my first kit) and am currently making it into a scale rock crawler. I'll post more info on what Im doing when I get closer to being done.

A friend just brought up the new version of the Rock Buster (Max Climber) he got and assembled. I've never been a real big Tamiya fan but I'm seriously considering getting one of these. The last few days I've been looking at message boards and looking at what people have done to them and I wonder why some of them haven't just made their own truck! Stampede and EMaxx trannies in them, 1/10 scale tires, different chassis', stretched suspension...............it's amazing! Just as a stock truck my friend let me drive it a little and it looks to be a VERY fun little vehicle. Like I said, might have to have one myself............. :)

I have had mine since the spring and it is a blast! I don't get it out as much as i should but it is great. Lock up the center diff (I used Traxxas slipper pegs) and you are good to go. Stampede tires add much needed ground clearance and a wider stance if you use pede front rims.

I have a plan to lengthen it, using a Pede tranny. The stock wheels along with a 1/10 scale body make a VERY scale looking truck!

I took part in Monster jam 5's first ever TLt race this Sugust which was a blast. They are very tippy in stock form but they jump really well and were a definite crowd pleaser! (especially when you have 4WS and can make it crab walk!)

yeah, im working on lengthening it right now. I have 106mm and 116mm turnbuckles as the links and am currently working on getting power from the tranny to the diffs. I would use the stampede tranny, but dont exactly have alot of money right now. Trying to think of a way to just extend the stock dog bones, but I doubt it would work long, if at all...

That is one nice thing about using a Pede tranny! You can then use traxxas sliders without modifications.

yeah, but where is the fun in that? the stock dogbones are solderable, so I know what Im going to do untill I can get some more money. extend 'em!

There is a LOT of torque in a dogbone. I can't wait to hear the resuls of your experiment! I would think they would just twist apart. Hope I am wrong!

I hope you are too. my LHS didnt have the tubing I need in, so your gonna have to wait till thursday to find out if it works or not. Also, is there a good (reversible) way to lock the center diff?

I just put in Traxxas slipper pegs and cranked it down. It has come loose once but generally if it is tight, then there is no slip and no worries. i can't figure out why they even put that center diff in. what a performance sapper.

I took out the pegs from my emaxx and tried to fit them in with no success. did you have to sand down the pegs at all? they are used, so there is a little lip where they make contact with the rings, so that *may* be the problem.

I took out the spring, thrust bearing, diff balls, and regular bearings in the diff, then put the bushings from the cantilevers (Im not using em) in where the regular bearings were (they are the same size). I didnt get a chance to test out how well it worked because the little bolt broke in half (torqued it down a little to much. my bad...)

I used fresh pegs but I bet it is that lip that is giving you a hard time. They were a snug fit but they did go in.

I got the pegs in. Took a while, but I got them in...

Did you leave the thrust bearing assembly and spring in or did you take them out?

You know, I don't even remember. I think I must have left it in. Didn't think it would really matter. Haven't noticed a problem.

The tough thing is how bloody hard it is to get back in there to make changes! I have been wanting to swap in a stronger motor (I am using a Stinger) and the hassle has kept me from doing it. Doesn't help that I have the PSW chassis which has some design flaws making it even harder...

PSW chassis? whats that?

I mounted an duratrax evader body I painted two years ago on it. Looks pretty good! now I just need to get the axles on and it will look alot better...

Im (going to be) running an Integy 55t lathe motor in mine. I might order a GD600 if its to fast (remember, mine is going to be a crawler)

oh, here is a GD600, in case you had no idea what Im talking about
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXSL79&P=ML
They can be modded to work in cars (at least thats what people at rccrawler.com say)

Performance Slot Works. it is an aluminum chassis with lots of holes. :D It was one of the first after market chassis available and it was real cheap. The problem is that the battery and electronics trays don't have slots or nut retainers (they are aluminum) so to pull them to get to the motor, you pretty much have to remove the axles so you have room to get to the nuts. Does not make you want to work on the beast, I assure you.

Yes, I have seen those gear reductions before. They look very nice! My main problem with the TLT is it's lack of clearance. That was my hope for doing a Pede tranny design: greater clearance. I was at Monster Jam 5 this summer and I was getting high centered on sand bags in the corners racing. Pretty funny in retrospect but not when you are trying to race.

Whats your ground clearance? prior to tearing my truck apart to work on the center diff, I think I had a clearance of 3.5" or 3.75".

With the stock tires probably less than an inch!:p It is at the stock height- or lack there of. going to M2K's adds a lot and widens it out. Why I didn't do that for the races still escapes me. I just brought it along for fun and ended up running it. Through attrition and lack of numbers I took second! I was pleased.

yeah, stock ground clearance is pretty... no, VERY sad. Monster truck? Hardly in my book. If all goes well my LHS should have the stuff in today and I should have my truck together by tonight. knowing my luck, neither will happen..

second? with a pretty much stock truck? geeze, you must be a really good driver

Not too hard to take 2nd when only 2 finish! :p

Sorry chris, I couldn't resist! :lol:

Hows it going Smoe?

Hey, I represent that statement!:) There were actually THREE trucks to finish. I would have only been one lap down at the end if it weren't for a snot nosed lazy turn marshall!:rolleyes:

The track was laid out for Clods with about 6' lanes. Like a super highway for the TLT! It was all about not flipping in the corners. The fastest of the trucks had like a 13T motor in it and it was stupid fast! He had to go though. That was Tim Powers of Powers clod chassis if you know them. Basically the race chassis of choice. Next year I will even practice a bit.

what was the track like and what are the rules for the truck? I might be able to think something up for ya... :insert evil grin:

I'm good tom. maxx has been on the shelf due to low funds and a busted charger. and you?


edit: got it running. driveshafts work good so far! I doubled them up (two different sizes) so they should be pretty strong. now all I need is a 'pede tranny and some bigger tires...

Doin' ok Smoe. Cut back on a few vehicles in my fleet, makes chosing racing classes easier, fewer, and easier on the wallet!

It was in indoor, carpet track with about 6' lanes- maybe 8'. One long straight with 3 jumps- maybe 12-15' apart, Each jump was small: 3X8 sheet of plywood raised 6" or so on one end. The Clods were landing on the next jump showing their SPEED even with that small a jump. Lots of tight corners and chicanes. It was strange because they run oval in there as well so there was lots of tire compound down that just makes it slicker than snot with rubber tires. or not. You spun out or traction rolled, depending on where you were on the track. The tires got all shiny and worthless.

The tires got all shiny and worthless.
Trick for next year: Take a sanding block with you, use it to scuff that shine off.

That's what we used to do when we ran rubber tires for stadium trucks on carpet, I used a sanding block that was made from dense foam.

That is a better idea than what we did. We just went out on the pavement and did donuts. That didn't get the sides very well though. Fun though. That counts.

well, Im close to being done with it*. Its about 17" long (one end of the masher 2000's to the next) and about 10" wide (once again, edge of tire to edge of tire). It looks SWEET with a maxx sized body on!

*waiting for LHS to get GD-600, softer springs, and waiting for me to get enough $$ for a nice HPI Jeep Rubicon body :)

Just saw on a nother forum that UltimateHobbies has the TLT for $99 w/ free shipping! Such a dela. I may just have to pick up another one to do my dreamed of conversion plan and save my 1st one in it's original glory.

I have both the Rockbuster and the Maxclimber, and I have found the center diff useful, but to get the axle diffs to lock without JB weld, use tamiya part #9005422 RC G-parts for the old cross country chassis. These are the diff locks that will fit into the axle housings of the TLT's. If you want to lock the center diff, use the TA-04 gear diff that comes with stock TA-04 kit. This saves on ruining the original ball diff. Just JB weld the gear diff and you're set.
BTW- I have the optional Tamiya carbon chassis plates and use the optional linkage locations for ground clearance along with the Wild WillY 2000 wheel and tires (rears all around), this gives more clearance, but gives it a more scale appearance. Just some personal info......

WG, I would love to see a shot of your rig!

I didn't kill my ball diff- I simply put in slipper pegs and cranked it down. I found the center diff a pain in the wheelie! :D Obviously if you are crawling then things are different.

yeah, I dropped a pede tranny in a custom chassis and locked all the diffs with cotton balls (which works, BTW). I bought a PL Jeep CJ8 body at the LHS yesterday, masked the windows and parts I want as windows, and am hopefully going back in today to buy some paint (havnt decided on a color yet. Thinking about a burnt orange or red or something...)