Capo 1582-2 Tatra T815-7 8x8 and Cross MC8 Man Kat 1 8x8

[Prop Shaft]

This will be an ongoing journal of these 2 models I bought recently. I will try and keep things current as I have some rather ambitious plans for both. For starters, size comparison between the capo and cross 8x8's. And a shot of the scale motor build of the capo.

[Prop Shaft]

Tore into the drive train a little bit and boy im glad i did. Not only was nothing greased, but most of the screws i have taken out were loose. And a couple were backed out completely

Started swapping out socket head screws for scale hardware


An interior is in the future for sure

Heres something a little unnerving. The only thing holding the cab onto the chassis is 4- m2x5 screws.

Lots of room in the back of the cab for electronics

Another area of concern. The cab mounts to the front bumper/skid. The bumper/skid mounts to the chassis with yup... 4 m2x5 screws. They seem to have some play in them. I will be putting longer screws in at the bare minimum. Hopefully they wont need to be drilled and tapped with a bigger size down the road

The entire bed is only held on with 4 m3 screws as well. Not much i can do here as the hole aren't tapped very deep. i just hope they hold up.

With the bed off

Another thing im not fond of, under compression and full lock the front wheels are going to be rubbing the shocks pretty bad. Uncompressed

Compressed

More to follow soon.

[Prop Shaft]

Underside

Remove 8 screws, the shocks, and the 4 diff lock arms to separate the driveline from chassis


M2.5 hex head to remove the hub covers

This allows access to the standard m4 size nut that holds the wheel on
I also noticed that on the rear wheels the nut bottoms out on the shaft before the rim. Leaving the wheel a little loose. I will have to shim it.

Back side of a wheel. What a nightmare it would be if you had to remove 10 m2 nuts to get each wheel off!

[Prop Shaft]

One of the front wheels was really wobbly. Found out why the screws were loose and one backed out all together

No grease anywhere

[Prop Shaft]

Diff unlocked

Diff locked.

This diff scares me. For how heavy this truck is theres such a tiny bit of mesh where these planetary gears touch... I cant see this being very strong

This was fun to put back together. I had to grease the shift fork, but not so much that grease squeezed into the hole that needed to be thread locked. Then i had to hold the parts inside the tube lined up to the hole and try to thread the link mount into the fork, while being careful not to loose the bushing ...

A break down of a front half axle

And one reassembled, thread locked and scalified

I managed to tear a boot, thankfully there were extras included

One axle greased and ready to go, now only 3 more to go.....

Reassembled and scale hardware added... There are so many screws on this thing its crazy... I love it! Lol

[Prop Shaft]

so theres 4-m3 tapped holes in the bottom of each axle case. Im not sure why they are there, other then maybe for adjusting the the ride height lower, or maybe skid plates...

I filled them with some screws to keep dirt out

I changed over to tamiya ceramic grease. I was worried about the sticky black grease not getting to the areas where the planetary's shafts etc. spin and not being lubed. The tamiya grease is alot lighter and flows a bit into all areas from what ive seen.

Another area where theres a big issue is in the front steering geometry. Everything works dandy with the steering until you add compression on the front axle. At which point the steering arms hit on the top of the axle. I played around with some offset rod ends I had laying around, and it seems they will suffice to remedy the problem. All i had was short ones, I have some longer ones ordered ill replace them when they come in. Too bad they're plastic.... I cant find any metal ones. This is the steering angle at full lock.

This is as far as it turns before it binds under full compression

Cracked open the 2 speed transfer case

Gave it a good dose of grease

When i cracked open the 3rd axle housing. I noticed one of the bearings had fallen out of it seat. Theres nothing to hold it in place.

Looking closely at it, the bearing is actually 2 bearings pressed together to make one. Kind of odd.

I shimmed it with some washers to keep it seated.

This is where it sits at now. Its proving to take quite alot of time to swap out the many many screws.

[kaptain Jack]

Wow,for the amount of money they charge,you would expect better job.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by kaptain Jack

Wow,for the amount of money they charge,you would expect better job.

Well it cost a lot of money to manufacture something like this. The machine work is just phenomenal on this rig. I imagine they lifted prints off the full scale counterpart as a starting point in designing this truck. In which case there is always going to be issues when scaling something down. For instance, the 1 to 1 Tatra uses air bag springs positioned on top of the axles out of the way of things. Not such an easy thing to scale down. These don't need the distance of a coil over to work. Having to use coil overs means Capo had to decide to either mount them on top or on the sides of the axles. Personally I'm glad they chose the sides, as it keeps the springs lower on the chassis and not visible, this would take away from the scale appearance somewhat, and possibly hinder bed heights. I can live with the springs being seen over the #1 axle though. Sacrificing turning radius in favor of hidden springs is not something I want in my truck. I'm ok with having to iron out a few wrinkles in it's design. Going through a rig bolt by bolt and fixing/modding what needs attention is half the fun of this hobby.

[topher1266]

WOW! Great machine,but a lot of tinkering to get it perfect. Where can I get those scale screws? I kind of stepped aside from my 6x6 build but will get back at it now.

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by topher1266

WOW! Great machine,but a lot of tinkering to get it perfect. Where can I get those scale screws? I kind of stepped aside from my 6x6 build but will get back at it now.

Thanks! You can find the screws at RC4WD and Locked Up Rc. Personally I like the locked up screws better. They seem to have crisper edges all the way around and are true round stock. Unlike the m3 versions rc4wd carries, they are kind of triangular. I tend to buy from both companies tho as not one company provides all sizes/colors.

[Cooper]

Yes even the most expensive models require a bit of finesse to get right. It's not needed for most that purchase these higher end models but it's nice to see someone going through and making it right. I have always thought of these models as high end and it's just fitting to finish them off proper . Nice to see you keeping the intended precision work matched to the quality of model. Keep the post coming. I've always wanted one of these but I can't justify the price for my use, at least not yet so it's nice to see your posts. When she is complete and proper you got to put her in the ruff and video!!

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by Cooper

Yes even the most expensive models require a bit of finesse to get right. It's not needed for most that purchase these higher end models but it's nice to see someone going through and making it right. I have always thought of these models as high end and it's just fitting to finish them off proper . Nice to see you keeping the intended precision work matched to the quality of model. Keep the post coming. I've always wanted one of these but I can't justify the price for my use, at least not yet so it's nice to see your posts. When she is complete and proper you got to put her in the ruff and video!!

Thanks, its a fun rig. I cant wait to have it out on the trails/rocks. There will definitely be many pics/videos when the time comes!

[Prop Shaft]

Well after testing a few different paint colors I had laying around, Ive decided to try and match the darker green of Capo's anodizing. Ive ordered some darker greens in hopes of getting a closer match. Im thinking black green might be the ticket. In the pic is nato green on the left, olive green on right, and the factory anodizing color on the bottom.

[Prop Shaft]

Finished my modifications to the #1 axle shock relocation. 1/8" aluminum plate mounted to axle halves.

Same size plate used to relocate the upper shock mount

Had to drill and tap some new m3 holes

Sprayed some olive green onto the plates

Everything jives now, no binding and max steering angle

Full lock, uncompressed

Full lock, compressed

[pigeonfarmboy]

Looks great. Definitely a shame you had to do all this work. If they leave the drive line parts that unfinished I wonder why they even take the time to provide them assembled. The scale hardware really looks awesome as well

[Virginian]

Wow! What a great thread. I'm getting ready to order a Cross MC8 and saw this thread. Just a great job of explaining and documentation to bring your rig up to your standards.

Thanks for posting.

Eric

[Prop Shaft]

Originally Posted by Virginian

Wow! What a great thread. I'm getting ready to order a Cross MC8 and saw this thread. Just a great job of explaining and documentation to bring your rig up to your standards.

Thanks for posting.

Eric

Glad you are enjoying the thread. I have been seriously lacking in the time dept. lately but I'm getting back into it now.

I have decided to move the Cross 8x8 to it's own thread. http://www.rctruckandconstruction.co...ad.php?t=10337

[thestewster]

This is awesome!

Please could you tell me where I can get one?

Regards,

Stew.

[thestewster]

Got one!

[Rakthi]

So what did you get? The Capo or the Cross MC8?