smoketrailcharlie

I hope I am in the right forum,if not please forgive.I am building six wheel drive Amphibious vehicle using parts from two thunder tumbler cars.My dilemma is trying to gear all 3 wheels per side to turn off of the thunder tumbler gear boxes.Where to even begin to look for the plastic gears etc.Anyone have any ideas.Thanks in advance

RustedRC

Iv'e never had one to take apart and look at but i did google it and a quick idea came to me. now i'm not sure what your idea is on doing this. the thought i had was to cut off all the non driven wheels and mount the three parts with the motorized wheels together on a chassis of sorts. maybe try to find out what the power consumption for each motor then maybe a small cheap china esc could power them because i don't think you could use all three boards together. you would have to use three controllers at the same time.
sounds like an interesting idea. i would like to see what you come up with.

smoketrailcharlie

rusted rc Thanks for your hint.You my friend may not know it but you are part of my inspiration to try this project.I truly admire some of your work.I am probably intermediate helli pilot R/C.78 years old and refuse to grow up.I scratsh built a swamp boat very muca like swamp dog using an AS350 helli board an lots of Dumpster finds.It was my first build and performed much better than. expected.I even have my graand sons Ken doll in the seat and moves with help of the rudder servo.Again thanks Smoke trail Charlie

RustedRC

Thanks smoketrailcharlie. post some pics of your swamp boat. i like to see things people come up with using things most don't want or think is of any use. i do a lot of things like that even as a kid i would do crazy dumb things like glue packaging styrofoam together and play with it like a boat adding toy guns and all sorts of small toys. playing with it like a aircraft carrier. a little imagination goes a long way in my opinion.

smoketrailcharlie

Yes Rusty R/C I agree with you as for the imagination.I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I love to tinker with stuff,Thats how I got the name of smoke trail,I am always letting that magig smoke out of the electronics..If it ain't broke it soon will be. I am new to most of this Amphib.attempt .I just ordered two bags of gears from Bang good so should be able to get all wheels moving at the same time and hopefully in the same direction..thanks again STC

RustedRC

Yeah i think the right combination of gears should get it moving. use the same size and tooth number across from each other down both sides. i think i know where your going with this. i think there was a rc that had gears along both sides of the chassis to make it a 4x4. maybe it was a king black foot or something like that.
Are you going to use that small chassis or try to make/reuse/mod something else?

smoketrailcharlie

Hey rusted rc I had a slight glitch in my planx
s for the Amphib,yesterday.I assumed the tires would add flotation and tested them in the bathtub.I am really glad I did because the had a large hole in the rim..I tried to fill them with spray foam ,that was not a good idea.I had it all over myself and my work space which I call AREA 51.I finally popped the tires off the fims and split a length of closed cell foam that is used to insulate water pipes with.I then plugged the hole with silcon seal seems to work Stay tuned Smoketrailcharlie

RustedRC

glad it worked for you. sounds like a great idea with the closed cell inside. so even if water gets in it will still be able to float.

smoketrailcharlie

Hey rusted RC I am still waiting for the gears from bang good so my Amphibian is on hold.My friend gave me two Maisto rock crawlers ,one with a bad front end so I made an adapter from piece of plastic I salvaged from a printer. Bored 4 holes in it for the shocks and struts ,spliced directly to the rear motor on the crawler and bingo 6x6.Very easy mod I used the stock circuit board .My friend had put a 1800mah battery from a tank (which he also gave me ) I couldn't believe how easy this mod was. It runs like, well you know..If I can ever figure out how to send pics. or videos I will try to send some. I really lack computer skills keep in touch smoke trail Charlie

RustedRC

Maisto rock crawlers are neat little rc. there's some cool things you can do to it. i'm working on one as well and i picked up some new motors for it. there a little longer than stock so i think some cutting will be needed. i'm using a 2000 mah that's why i had to get the motors. the extra power was to much for the stock ones. i guess i'll see if the mobo will handle it if not then i'll drop down to the 1800 mah.
if you could get the bad front to work then you could do rear steer on it to.
as for the pics there is a little icon with a tree. 3rd one from the right. click it and if your pics are on your computer click uploader or computer. find the file with the pic's using choose file pick wich one then upload it.

smoketrailcharlie

Rusted RC I received the gears from bang good ,Not at all what I had hoped for.Back to the drawing board.The Maisto really worked well as 6 wheel drive,so well I may have to buy one just for the front end.I changed how I hooked the rear wheels up by cutting one of the struts in half and boring a fifth hole in the center of the plastic adapter I made boring a hole in the bumper to match and slipping the half struts thru and reconnecting them with a small piece of tubing ..That sucker is amazing .Now if I can get the rear end to steer Take care . Smoke trail Charlie.

RustedRC

That sucks the gears didn't work out. you could turn the MRC in to the amphibious vehicle. i think great stuff expanding foam floats. be sure to water proof it first.
if you do get the other MRC to use the front as the back make sure you wire the new one reverse so the wheels will spin in the same direction and the rear wheels turn opposite the front. if you don't the rear will go backward when you try to go forward and the rear will turn the same as the front. not what you want them to do.

smoketrailcharlie

Rusted RC success of sorts.I finally got that extra front end together ,I had to fabricate axles for the gears out of finishing nails ,and dig thru my junk pile for a steering motor.Not positive it is the same type but looks like it same number of teeth on the pinion gear.Got it all together,hooked it up to my adapter and it works great as a 6x6 but am unable to make the steering react with the transmitter.Do you think it could be because I spliced into the wires on the front steering ?I tested the rear steering with a 6 volt battery without going thru the transmitter.Any Ideas ?Anyone else out there Welcome to jump in.Latter Smoke trail Charlie

RustedRC

Cool you got it together man. fabricating your own way to make it work is a fun part to this hobby.
the steering can be a few things. look at all the connections of the wires, test the steering motor. the best way to use the rear steer option is by soldering the wires to the board. take the purple wire from the new front end and solder it where the gray wire from the original front end is and the new gray one to the purple one on the board. then take the power wires from the new front end and reverse them to red to black black to red. give that a try it should work how you want it to.

smoketrailcharlie

Hey rustedrc from what I understand that steering motor needs three wires ,right? mine had none so I only put a red and black.Could this be my problem? Smoke trail Charlie

RustedRC

No there is only two wires for the steering. there should be a red and black for the motor that run the wheels and a purple and gray for the steering.