Diggerman

Digger body has arrived!

Here's a pic with the TLT-1 wheels and tyres on - much better scale looks to the full size truck I think. Bit annoyed with myself as I was so keen to get the truck up and running I've already scuffed the shell quite a bit - had I thought about it more I would have removed the decals and painted the shell black before putting the decals back on to get a very up to date looking 'Loco! The Digger has been taken in by customs and I'm stll waiting on it! Have to say I'm warming to the wheels and tyres - the planned Traxxas MJ's might have to go on something else! I'll see how they look when they arrive.

Tough little cookie also - I have a nasty habit of deliberately trying to break something on a new truck and this has held up to a hell of a lot of abuse - worst case so far saw the dogbone from the wheel axle pop out of the drive cup on a particularly nasty 1 front wheel landing from way up high - thought I'd killed it as the front wheel was locked at an obscure angle but it turned into a simple fix. Good job I ordered that New Bright body replacement because the stock shell is flimsy and was in tatters by the time it arrived!

Wheel wideners arrived this morning - 2 sets from Boom racing, 1 orange for the crazy bull and 1 green for the as yet to arrive Digger! The Crazy Bull has it's new shoes on already - Tamiya TLT-1's! Will get some pics posted tomorrow but it's a definite step up in terms of scale looks at least! Performance wise, probably a step down - the Tamiya wheels and tyres are way heavier than the stock ones - and the rubber is harder, offering less grip! The extra weight seems to have slowed the Truck down and it doesn't wheely anymore when stamping the throttle! In a bit of a dilemma now as the Truck has the look I want but has lost a bit in terms of performance. 2nd wheel and tyre option is in the post already - Traxxas 1/16th MJ's which I'm hoping will be lighter than the TLT's - they also have the same dimensions as the stock wheels/tyres so should run a bit better - just a shame they lack the width to give that true scale look. mudholestomper - I'm sure this truck could handle a brushless set up but there really is no need - it's fast enough for it's size to launch itself several feet in the air off a tiny kicker and at full tilt is a bit sketchy as is - any faster and it would be a bit of a handful - or cartwheeling forever!!!

Yes, but I seem to be restrectided in the number of pics I can post?! If you google search HBX 16885 you will find a few threads on other forums and a couple of youtube videos showing the Truck running. It only became available about a month ago so not much info available yet - I can assure you it is an absolute blast!

So you've looked at the thread title and thought - Traxxas Grave Digger! Been there, done that . . . but for some reason you've had a look anyway. Good for you 'cos this ain't no Traxxas Digger - this is a full on 4wd solid axle Monster Truck. The basic truck is a HBX Road Breaker, i came across this model while searching the internet for parts for my larger scale trucks and thought it looked a bit like a scaled down AX10! Couldn't find any other info at the time so asked the suppliers what the top speed was, they stated 30kmh and that was enough for me. For £40 it was worth a punt and it turned out to be well worth it. In stock format it's an awesome little truck, rapid, it wheelies, jumps, back flips - rolls over if cornering too fast/sharp - just like a real monster truck! I have more expensive trucks but have to say this is just as much fun to drive. So much so I purchased a 2nd after my first run and now have 2 of these little rippers sat on the shelf in the kitchen! In stock format the truck is supplied with a ford raptor like body which looks pretty good - but to keep their place on the shelf they need to look better than that. Searching around for suitable bodies I came across the New Bright Monster Jam series which looked about right size wise. I couldn't find any UK suppliers so ended up ordering an El Toro Loco from Germany. Laughable that I had to pay nearly as much for the New Bright toy as the HBX - the New Bright is garbage! Thankfully the body looks pretty good - and even better, it fits! Here's a pic: I've got the Grave Digger version on it's way from America for the other Truck, and a couple of sets of wheel wideners as I've a few ideas in mind for alternative wheel/tyre combos!

Hi RCbutcher, yes all metal, genuine bead locks! Gonna take mine apart and paint the outer plate lime green to add to the digger look! Performance wise, not sure what i'm going to do yet, but i'd like it to go a bit faster. Only just getting back into the hobby after a long break so some research to be done. Already read about a few upgrades using losi parts. Out of the box it is a very capable crawler, great fun!

Stuck a 1/24 New Bright digger body on mine, pretty happy with how it looks, need to play around with the front links to increase the wheelbase a touch maybe. Next job will be to give it a performance boost!