4 Hour Bruder Dozer

[RCP57]

My fiance bought me this for christmas so I thought today was as good as any to convert it. I used some 360 servos for the drives and an old standard futaba on the blade to make it work. It still has the usual problem of the tracks slipping but I think I can fix that...maybe. Anyway this was fast and fun, only taking 4 hours to complete. The ripper does not function but I don't plan on using it so I will leave it static. The first picture gives you an idea of the scale difference from 1/10-1/16. http://youtu.be/57bJTp5KRnc











Thanks for looking!
Reg

[Supermario]

What a great idea Reg ! I purchased one also just to have on my lowboy. Might not push dirt but I could at least drive it on and off the trailer
Thanks, you just added to the future projects list

Mario

[RCP57]

No problem Mario! It's by far the cheapest toy in my collection. The dozer came from Winners at $20 plus tax, the 360 servos came from Sparkfun and are under $15. They seem to have ok torque(60oz/in I believe) considering I'm running it on 4 AA batteries at the moment. The biggest trouble is the tracks but I don't think its unfixable. Should be good fun in soft stuff or as you say just to load and unload.

Reg

[RCP57]

I had some LED lights kicking around for another project that isn't floating yet so I thought I would stick them on this. http://youtu.be/HQcgEUg4ORA They sure are bright considering how small they are.

Thanks for looking

[tracksntreadslou]

Good fast build Reg ..Nice work ..It willcome in handy to clean up those wood pellets we are going to scatter all over the museum ..lol

[RCP57]

That will be about all it is good for Lou. I've started referring to the Bruder's as my "inside toys". I had some fun driving it back and forth on the living room floor last night. If only I had an "inside" loader now....

Thanks

[cdm]

Who makes that volvo? I've heard about them but haven't seen any for sale anywhere

[RCP57]

Well...me I guess. This one was scratch built by yours truly. I can't say for sure if anyone builds a kit volvo.
http://rctruckandconstruction.com/showthread.php?t=3135

Reg

[Espeefan]

Only 4 hours? Gezz, I think I'd have the model all broken apart and destroyed in 4 hours, let alone functional, and back together again! Those Bruders are tough to disassemble. I tried it with a Mack Granite truck, and I spent a lot of time trying to take it apart, without breaking all the tabs. I still broke at least one.

[RCP57]

Originally Posted by Espeefan

Only 4 hours? Gezz, I think I'd have the model all broken apart and destroyed in 4 hours, let alone functional, and back together again! Those Bruders are tough to disassemble. I tried it with a Mack Granite truck, and I spent a lot of time trying to take it apart, without breaking all the tabs. I still broke at least one.

They are put together very well but the only thing I removed from this was the drive wheels and blade. This has to be the simplest Bruder conversion out there but its probably the worst for performance. Its tough to get it to do much work with the track design the way it is. I have some things I want to try but I've been sidetracked the last two evenings.

Reg

[edwalsh18]

I think i have seen someone use the tracks from a bruder excavator. It looks like thats what bruder is going to use on their new model of this dozer. You thinking you want to make it push dirt? would like to see how you go about it! I hope to see more of your work, your conversions are great!

P.S. We would not be mad at you if you take your bruders and a camera out in the dirt to play and post a video up!! Not mad at all! Hehe.

Thanks for sharing!

[cdm]

Originally Posted by RCP57

Well...me I guess. This one was scratch built by yours truly. I can't say for sure if anyone builds a kit volvo.
http://rctruckandconstruction.com/showthread.php?t=3135

Reg

Ah nice. yes i never recalled one either so i had to ask.

[motocrawler]

Originally Posted by RCP57

No problem Mario! It's by far the cheapest toy in my collection. The dozer came from Winners at $20 plus tax, the 360 servos came from Sparkfun and are under $15. They seem to have ok torque(60oz/in I believe) considering I'm running it on 4 AA batteries at the moment. The biggest trouble is the tracks but I don't think its unfixable. Should be good fun in soft stuff or as you say just to load and unload.

Reg

Well done! I have done a similar conversion but I used the wheels closest to the blade as my drive wheels. If you look at the track you can see that the wheel provides the most surface area against the track and therefore reducing slip. I also lined all the wheels with a 1/16" rubber to reduce any slack and increase friction. The dozer works incredibly well once I did this, my weak link now is the torque on the continous rotation drive servo's.

[RCP57]

Originally Posted by motocrawler

Well done! I have done a similar conversion but I used the wheels closest to the blade as my drive wheels. If you look at the track you can see that the wheel provides the most surface area against the track and therefore reducing slip. I also lined all the wheels with a 1/16" rubber to reduce any slack and increase friction. The dozer works incredibly well once I did this, my weak link now is the torque on the continous rotation drive servo's.

Thanks, I agree that it would have been the better place for them but it doesn't work too bad where they are. I have some rubber coating stuff that I'm going to try on the drive wheels but it if doesn't end up having a lot of power to push dirt that's ok. I have the metal toys for outside anyway but I'm no longer allowed (for good reason) to bring them in the house so the Bruders are house pets!
I hope to do the wheel loader next so I may steal some of your ideas!

Thanks Reg

[thirty two]

Can anyone give me a link or some details to the volve excavator in the first picture please.

[Lil Giants]

http://www.rctruckandconstruction.co...ead.php?t=3135

[thirty two]

Thank you very much for the fast response. I am new to the rc construction but have been in rc scale crawlers for years, just trying to get some info.

Thanks again

[kcusumano]

great conversion

[RCP57]

After playing with my 955 I thought I would see how a plastic toy would do. It did OK at first but once the tracks and drive wheels got dirty they started to slip. I may have to build some tracks for this down the road...and then probably a blade and a....lol

http://youtu.be/g6ioXe_rYfU

[RCP57]

.....I've been telling myself not to do this for over a year and a half but I figure WTF! So here we go....

I've never tried making sprockets before....