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Much like its 1:1 counterpart, RC rock crawling has gone through major changes and advancements over the past four to five years. Not only has it evolved in how these crawling machines are built but they have also dramatically changed in the way they are used. Today, even the RC rock crawlers have their own hardcore group and are competing around the country in hopes of being crowned “King of the Rock”. It was only several years ago that the thought of building a radio controlled truck to crawl over rocks…and at the time, there were very limited choices in building platforms and most were nitro methane, gas powered rigs. A few were using the very popular,
 | Traxxas T-Maxx |
Traxxas T-Maxx…a truck built for high speed, desert type running. Of course, it was quickly realized that the electric version, The E-Maxx, would make a better platform to begin with. Performance in the rocks was good, comparatively speaking, with its four inches of plush, independent wheel travel and low end electric torque from two motors but the purists looked else where, as the independently sprung E-Maxx was not ideal and was certainly not up to the serious terrain that lye ahead.
Soon after the success of the Maxx trucks, HPI, a major player in the rc truck world, introduced their new Monster Truck, The Savage!
 | HPI Savage |
The Savage was also gas powered but this beast had coil over shocks and independent suspension that seemed to give limitless travel. The coil overs are over seven inches long and soak up rocks at high or low speeds. While it didn’t create a revolution in rc rock crawling, it did bread innovation and a new mentality to think outside the box when building any type of truck. Soon after the Savage was born, rock crawlers found that it was fairly easy to modify their trucks to gain big performance, such as converting to electric power and locking their differential with JB Weld. Installing larger, stickier tires and gearing low for crawlability were the norm. These types of crawlers, still with independent suspensions, were popping up everywhere at the local rock piles. Then! Someone got smart!
 | Locked out A-Arms Allowing solid axle set up |
Locking out the independent A-Arms would allow a solid axle configuration, much like its big brother that uses Dana 60’s and Ford 9 Inchers! Suddenly, everything changed and crawling over the big rocks got a lot easier. We were all getting closer to the real thing and these little crawlers could flex, climb and wiggle over just about anything.
The search began! The hardcore rc crawlers went out looking for a true solid axle that some of the less popular trucks already used. These trucks were built by the big manufacturers and were touted as real Monster Trucks that resembled Big Foot and Grave Digger. Large ladder frames, long travel cantilevered suspensions and huge Chevron Pattern tires made up these car crushing Monsters but the solid axles were what the crawler builder was after. These RC giants had names like The Clod Buster, TXT-1, X-Factor and Twin Force.
 | Tamiya TXT-1 Monster Truck |
This fairly large choice of axles spawned a whole new outlook on what type of crawler could be built and gave rise to heated debates over which monster truck platform was best to start with. The debate is ongoing today and has become cultish in the following of a few axle designs.
 | Caption Clod Buster Axles |
It started much like the 1:1 Jeep driver started. Take a bone stock Jeep, put a flexy lift kit on, some bigger tires, add a locker or two and you’re crawling with some of the Big Dogs! The Tamiya TXT-1 was, and still is, a favorite due to the ease of creating a crawler right out of the box. Just like the Jeep, only a few basic modifications would result in a capable rock rig. The TXT-1 axles
 | TXT-1 Axles, similar to Rockwells |
highly resemble RockWell One Ton units which add a lot of “coolness” factor too! These units are much like a 1:1 axle with steel ring and pinion gears, a spider gear diff and are driven by telescoping drive shafts, leading to a conventional transmission.
Next was the Clod Buster. “The Clod”
 | The Original Clod Buster |
is a legend and has been modified into just about anything since its conception in or around 1984 but was never fully transformed into a hardcore crawler until several years ago. Wannabe crawlers, desert racers, and Monster Truck Racing were the choice for a modified Clod. The unique trademark of the Clod axles is the differential mounted transmissions and motors. Rather than two axles connected by a center transmission and drive shafts, the Clod axles housed the electric motor right on the side and slightly behind the diff. The benefits were obvious by keeping the weight close to the ground and center of gravity as low as possible, completely eliminating the need for a big, heavy center mounted transmission. However, there was a downside to this design….or so we all thought! By having two electric motors wired independently of each other, one of the motors would likely “stall out” under load. Many Clod purists tried to cure the problem with countless modifications and hours of thought but what we started to realize was that this so called “Axle Stall” was one of the reasons that the Clod based rigs were so effective….and we didn’t even know it! Super steep ledges is where the Clod shines!
 | A clod based crawler taking a steep ledge with steps |
The advantage is that once the front tires are up on a ledge, they can bite onto the steep obstacle with 100% power and pull the truck up and over with a gentle 50% push from the rear. Shaft driven trucks, with equal power from front to rear, tend to push the truck backwards and over on a ledge because of the rear tire bite. This “defect” associated with Clod axles resembled front and rear “Digs” that most of the competitive 1:1 buggies use to win UROC and WEROCK type point series events of today. Clods quickly became the King of the competitions in the RC Crawling world.
The only downside of the Clod platform was that you essentially needed to buy the axles second hand and build the rest of your crawler by fabricating your own parts, as an out of the box Clod is completely worthless to a hardcore crawler. The Clod Buster was even discontinued for quite some time by Tamiya but fortunately, was revived less than a year ago. The fabrication was difficult to many that were just entering into the hobby and for many others that had the building skills but not the proper tools for precise cutting and drilling. Most were forced to buy the TXT-1 kit and modify from there.
The similarities in building RC crawlers and 1:1 crawlers became strikingly similar and most RC builders were starting from the ground up,
 | Building and swapping parts from the ground up is much the same in the rc crawling world |
much like a Jeep riding on Dana 60’s, Chevy 350 power, an Atlas T-Case, Turbo 400, etc, etc, etc……Nothing “Jeep” about it! Many RC Crawlers start with their choice of axles, typically bought used, and then build from there. What this building style started was a whole new world of vendors. Guys that worked in or owned their own machine shop were milling out prototype chassis’ and just about every other part you could think of for an RC Crawling machine. Small companies formed, producing beautiful aluminum chassis'
 | The Bender Customs Chassis is a huge success |
that allowed anyone to easily build a crawler that would perform well enough to win a large competition. All parts necessary to complete a truck were readily available on line and are now moving into the larger Hobby Store chains, such as Hobby Town USA.
Some welding enthusiasts jumped into the hobby and demonstrated their expertise by reproducing small but capable replicas of Campbell Enterprises and Poison Spider, tube rock buggies and Jeeps.
 | A Campbell Ent. copy |
These little buggies captured the attention of all RC hobbiests, as well as anyone else into the automotive and fabrication world.
Today, the hardcore competition crawler looks more like a small space craft, designed by NASA, with their low slung suspension and chassis, wide stance and futuristically cut lexan bodies.
 | A futuristic looking rc rock buggy |
The building of a better mouse trap….er….rock crawler, is still fierce but the competition scene is where it’s at now, testing driving ability and calm, cool nerves. There are now clubs and organizations around the world, along with sponsored, competitive events that span six month periods with a point series. The events are no small get togethers anymore either! You can expect to see thirty to forty trucks at these event, broken into two classes, The Super Crawler(Unlimted) Class and the 2.2 (Scale) Class.
 | A typical Super Class Rock Crawler |  | | A Super Class and 2.2 Class Crawler, side by side |
The Super Class is almost completely unlimited in the modifications you can make to your rig. Wheel base is unlimited but track width and tires sizes are capped, along with some other small details. The 2.2 class was designed with realism in mind. These smaller scale trucks look like the real thing and perform even better! Five inch tire size and a 12.5 inch wheel base are some of the rules. The spectators are turning out to watch the Smaller Crawlers tackle the rocks and some come just hear the trash talking that is heard at these extremely competitive events. Prizes are awarded to the winners and no one leaves without being fully entertained at the end of the day. While at an event, you’ll notice that everyone seems to know each other and it’s likely due to the overwhelmingly popular website, www.rccrawler.com. RCcrawler.com is the only dedicated website in the world that caters to the hard core Radio Controlled Rock Crawler. With over 6,500 members and monthly hits tallying in the millions, it is the place to visit if you are trying to learn about the sport or looking for build tips for your own rock buggy. If you need answers, it’s the only place to ask your question about RC Rock crawling.
RC Rock Crawling is the fastest growing niche in the radio controlled world and the growth is gaining momentum. Even the biggest RC manufacturers have recognized the popularity and are now jumping in head first with the design and production of their own crawler specific products. Pro-Line Racing has developed several crawler products like the seven inch tall Moab XL Tire, the 2.2 Moab Tire, Functional Bead Loc Wheels
 | Proline XL Moab tire and their fully functional Bead Loc Wheel |
and the Rock Pleaser Lexan Body, a rock buggy inspired shell for any crawler. Anyone who competes in the rc crawling circuit knows that Proline tires are a must if you want to finish at the top of the heap. Many of the Proline employees have their own crawlers for the weekend bash sessions or serious competition, as do some of the guys at Traxxas, HPI and the other rc giants. In fact, Traxxas, perhaps the largest RC company in the world, recently transformed their very own flagship truck, The REVO, into a full blown rock crawler.
 | The Taxxas Revo, 2 nd Generation rock crawler |
Rock Crawling is a huge sport! It continues to grow and evolve. The popularity and exposure that it is receiving through television, magazines and the web, will launch it even further through an evolutionary period, creating more splinter cells of the sport. The Radio Controlled facet of Rock Crawling has certainly caught my attention and we’ll bet that it will catch yours. Check out some of the websites relating to radio controlled rock crawling and it won’t take long until you’re building your Smaller Crawler to compete for the title, King of the Rocks.
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