In stock form, the truck is a decent 4WD and 4WS monster. Although it is tough, the performance of the truck suffers from - among other things - a short wheelbase, high centre of gravity and limited suspension articulation. Clods (short for Clodbusters, modified or stock) can be modified in several ways. My first major modification was the purchase of a Clodzilla IV conversion kit from ESP.

Body Pics

Nissan King-Cab body by Frewer. I still have the stock body on the plastic bags cos I didn't have time to paint it - it's been over a year! Notice that I had to cut the wheel wells away to give clearance for the wheels. The paint-job took me an evening to complete - the "ESP" on the hood and sides are painted on, not decals!

The ClodZilla IV Chassis

You can see the battery mounted in lengthwise to improve handing. The wheelbase of this truck is about 13"... this is a lot longer than the stock Clodbuster truck.

Note the huge ground clearance of Clods which make them exceptional at conquering obstacles. My Clod has a ground clearance of 5.25" or 13.3cm. In this pic you can also see the cantilever suspension which is simple, but wonderfully effective (for more info on cantilevers please see my FAQ section)

In the middle is a picture of the bottom of my chassis. You can see the multi-link suspension setup where the gearboxes (including motors) are suspended and not a fixed part of the main chassis. This is what allows for the phenomenal axle articulation of clods. It also adds to the realism of the truck since life-sized monster trucks also use multi-link suspensions (although their configuration is slightly different - known as the inverted 'V' configuration). Note the 2 Trinity Speedgem2 Sapphire motors - these are 17T single motors which provide outstanding low end torque and good top speed for the truck.

All the rod-ends you see are Kyosho 1/8 scale ones. These are beefier than the ESP stock ones and I haven't even come close to bending one yet!

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Other Custom Mods

On the left you can see the custom cooling fan. Long periods of running at low speed can cause the ESC to heat up and even the supertough SuperRooster can get quite hot. The cooling fan is hooked up straight to the battery and keeps everything cool. Also visible is the custom body mount brace.

The middle pic is one of the rear end of my truck. Check out the adjustable links which are light and tough. They connect to the custom ball bearing steering links that I made myself. These are made from 5052 grade aluminium and run on 2 precision ball bearings each. They replace the stock plastic pieces which were sloppy and weak and tighten up the steering significantly.

Although the Zilla IV chassis is tough, one of the weak spots is where the body mounts attach to the chassis. The mounts are extremely strong and during hard flips, the force of impact is transferred to the chassis rails. These rails often get bent out of shape when this happens. I have custom made these custom body mount braces. They add thickness to the mounting area to result in a stronger mount that bends less easily. The holes reduce the weight of the brace.

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Performance

The left picture shows the axle articulation of my truck. With my current setup, I get about 8.5" of travel. The ESP Clodzilla IV chassis allows up to 9+" of articulation, but I have put limiters on my shocks to limit travel. This is because if I didn't, the steering servos would hit the chassis rails at full compression. I haven't noticed any decrease in performance.

The other 2 pics show the clod in action taking some jumps. I've jumped the clod of 4 foot hills with no problems but the clod does tend to be bouncy off landings. While the clod is the master of suspension travel, I must say that MTs with independent suspension handle jumps a lot better.

That brings us to the end of our Phase I tour. Click here or on the right arrow below to proceed to Phase II.

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