ESP Clodzilla IV (4) Grave Digger Tamiya Clod Buster

[@m7791]

I spent my childhood dying over that one issue of Car Action magazine of the early-mid 90’s that featured the Clodzilla 4.

[@Locoboy5150]

Me too...though it was during my early teenage years (I think) when that issue of R/C Car Action came out. The articles that I am thinking of were a three part series called "Project Big Truck" by John "Doogie" Howell. I remember that Part 2 featured an ESP Clodzilla III chassis and Part 3 had a then-new Clodzilla IV. I actually used Part 3 to help me with assembling my Clodzilla IV as the ESP instruction manual did not have very good pictures in it so I had to refer to the photos in Howell's article. I also used Part 3 of "Project Big Truck" to figure out how to drill holes in the ends of my JPS aluminum axle tubes to mount the Clodzilla IV suspension links. That was before JPS came out with their shock/link mounting kit so people had to figure out on their own how to attach suspension links to their axle tubes. (I mentioned that in this video.) That was back in the days before the internet so all that I had to go by were the photos in Howell's article. Note that he never ever mentioned anything about what he did to mount the suspension links in the text of his article. I always found that extremely misleading but my guess is that he left out those crucial details of a serious design flaw with the JPS axle tubes in order to stay on JPS' good side. Their parts were very expensive so I can understand the reasoning why a magazine writer would not want to upset them in order to get "perks" from JPS but I felt that by completely not mentioning the negative aspects of JPS parts was a huge disservice to R/C Car Action readers...readers like me that were using those articles as a main source of (hopefully/supposedly) accurate information. JPS is long-gone so I can speak freely about their parts and their customer service. That may be a subject for a future video. Thanks for watching! It's kind of surprising to me how many people today do not know about ESP, hence one of the reasons why I started making videos about my trucks.

[@bradleylomas7525]

That's an awesome build.

[@Locoboy5150]

Thank you and thank you for watching!

[@MaxD808x]

I wish i kept my Clodzilla #4

[@Locoboy5150]

Based on the prices that all ESP Clodzilla chassis fetch on the secondary market today, I'll bet that there are a lot of people out there that also wished that they kept theirs too. The sky-high prices that they sell for now are crazy!

[@Holmanrc]

Can these still be built?

[@Locoboy5150]

I tend to doubt it as ESP has not been in business for many years now. The owner of ESP does have another non-R/C related business and he still has a machine shop though, now located in Florida I think. He has made a very limited run of Clodzilla II chassis kits before but they sold out very quickly. He has not made any other Clodzilla chassis though so, at least as far as I know, the Clodzilla IV has not been available anywhere in quite a while. The owner of ESP has a Facebook page where he announced when he was going to start making a limited run of Clodzilla II kits and collected orders. His page is called "ESP Clodzilla Parts House." You might want to ask over there if he is going to make a run of Clodzilla IV kits. Your only other place to get a Clodzilla IV chassis/suspension kit is on the secondary market like eBay. They pop up over there every so often but usuaslly not in very good condition and with various parts missing. There was an eBay seller in Canada that made a reproduction of the ESP Clodzilla IV with some improvements but that kit sold about two or three months ago and I have not seen another one for sale since. That was the first and only time that I had ever seen someone make a new updated version of the Clodzilla IV chassis and it was really nice looking. There are other aftermarket Clod Buster chassis and suspension kits made by other companies though that are still available for purchase today. UK Monsters and Crawford Performance Engineering both make some really nice looking ones though I do not have any hands on experience with them. Most of the other parts on my Grave Digger truck have been discontinued for many years now. Most of the companies that made the parts like Novak, Cirrus, and JPS all completely went out of business. You can still find some of the parts on the secondary market but in the case of some of them like the machined aluminum JPS parts, they are quite rare and expensive now. Machined aluminum Clod Buster gear cases, axle tubes, and steering knuckles are all available from Hesse Machine and Hot Racing so, while they are not exact copies of the JPS parts that I have on my truck, they are similar. In many ways they are even better than the old JPS machined aluminum parts in my opinion. (I mentioned the disadvantages of JPS parts in a few of my R/C monster truck videos.) The stock driveline parts are still easily available today though since Tamiya still makes the Super Clod Buster kit. After all these years the mighty Clod Buster still lives on! Good luck if you decide to build a custom Clod Buster. They are a total blast, though they are not exactly what I'd call cheap.

[@kennyfrommodesto1]

Really cool truck Loco. Did I see vented tires? I think everything on that rig has need d/c’d for over a decade it’s pretty much irreplaceable!

[@Locoboy5150]

Thanks! Yes, I used a grinding stone in my Dremel rotary tool to make big holes in my tires to vent the air out. I have done that on all of my monster truck tires since I first tried it on the Proline Giant Tracs on this Clodzilla IV truck. I made two holes in each tire, 180 degrees away from each other, to try to keep each tire as balanced as possible. Back when my Clod Buster was all stock with the stock tires and wheels, I got tired of rocks and dirt getting stuck inside the tires with absolutely no way to get it out. Once all that junk got in there through the air vent holes in the stock wheels, it was stuck in there forever. I still have the stock tires and wheels and there are tiny rocks bouncing around in there that have been stuck in there since 1987. The sound of those rocks rattling in there drove me crazy so that was why I started to drill air vent holes in my tires instead of in the wheels. Plus, it was a lot easier on my nerves to make holes in the cheap tires instead of drilling holes in brand new and very expensive JPS aluminum wheels. The holes that I made in my tires are large enough so that I can easily drain out anything that gets stuck inside there. I actually did not think of this myself. My very first hobby grade R/C car was a Tamiya Frog that I got as a Christmas present in 1983. The stock rear tires on the buggy had small air holes in them from the factory and the stock plastic wheels did not have any air holes in them. Dirt would get inside the tires but it was very easy to drain it out through the holes in the tires. I am kind of amazed that, after all these years, I have never seen anyone else put air holes in their Clod Buster tires. It looks bad, I'll admit, but it really does work well. I have a set of JPS wheels that I bought used and their previous owner drilled huge holes in them to vent the air out of the tires. That guy had nerves of steel compared to me because I never ever could do that to a brand new set of shiny JPS aluminum wheels! It is pretty amazing to me how many of the parts on this and all of my monster trucks have been discontinued over the years. Back when I built this truck, all of those parts were easily available - some were sitting on the shelves of my local hobby shop! Now I have to scour eBay to find those parts second hand because they are considered "vintage." Gee...now that I think about it, many of the companies that made the parts in this truck are long-gone. ESP, JPS, Novak, Cirrus, and Parma have all bit the dust. Thanks for watching and for the kudos about my Clodzilla IV truck!

[@garyd491]

It's not just you! I also prefer not to swap out larger tires for smaller. Though I did make an exception on my Arrma Granite for the slightly smaller Pro-Line Mashers, which have a much better look than stock.

[@Locoboy5150]

Haha...it's great to hear that I am not the only one that feels that way about going smaller in tire size. I love Pro Line Giant Tracs, as I mentioned in this video, but Pro Line really let me down with their newer Clod Buster tires like the Destroyers and Decimators. I remember when they were first announced and I was so excited...until I saw how small they were in diameter compared to the stock Tamiya tires. I am sure that, performance-wise, smaller diameter tires work better for a Clod Buster's handling but the concept just does not sit well with me. As a result, I have never had the urge to get a set of the newer Pro Line tires for any of my Clod Busters or Bull Heads. I am old school in that regard.

[@garyd491]

@@Locoboy5150 Yeah it's a bummer that Pro Line discontinued those Giant Tracs. There isn't much selection now for same or larger sized tires for the Clod. I think RC4WD's Mud Slingers might be the only option that's a little bigger.

[@Locoboy5150]

@@garyd491 Oh yeah, I had forgotten about Mud Slingers!

[@Bluecollar_obs_limo]

Has anybody ever been able to cross reference those bearings for the cantilever?

[@Locoboy5150]

You are in luck! When I bought the ESP Clodzilla IV dual cantilever kit that I mentioned in this video, they sent everything to me unassembled. The bearings were still in their original packaging from the manufacturer, which was Dynamite. The label on them had the following size and description information: 1/8 X 5/16 inch flanged front wheel ball bearing set (4) The Dynamite part number is DYN3554. I think that they are the same ball bearings that are used in the front wheels of on road pan cars. Thankfully, I kept the original Dynamite packaging just in case I ever had to replace a cantilever bearing on my Clodzilla IV truck and I had to buy another one. Being a life-long pack rat has finally paid off!