Time for the steering conversion.

The Clodbuster comes stock with 4 wheel steering. But this isn’t the best when you are racing. The truck is kind of twitchy. So we tagged CPE engineering for their rear steering delete kit. To accomplish this, you need to move the servo to the front axle. So we got CPE’s servo mount kit. The rear wheels need to be locked in place. And you need new linkage to go from the newly relocated servo to the front steering knuckles. Follow along as we convert the Clod from 4 wheel steering down to 2.

First a look at where we are starting. This is the front axle of the Clod. You have to remove the front bumper.

And we’ll also remove all of the front linkage components.

Also remove the servo saver from the front axle.

This is the servo mounting plate. Notice the spacers on the screws, these go between the plate and the axle.

You need to remove the two screws through the axle case, and replace them with the longer screws included with the servo mounting plate.

The kit includes a pair of Traxxas servo mounts. These get screwed to the plate.

Next we can mount the servo, with the servo horn in the down position.

You need to remove the ball studs from the steering knuckles

We’re going to need a new servo saver, and Kimbrough Products came to the rescue in that regard.

You need to put these washers on the screw for the linkage to get the right clearance.

On the right side of the truck, you use the shorter screw.

On the left side, you need the longer screw because you have the long linkage that connects the two steering knuckles, as well as the short linkage that attaches to the servo.

At this point I ran into a problem. You can see how the short linkage looks a little high. If I were to force it down to meet the servo horn, there would be binding in the steering.

See the odd angle of the short linkage? Houston, we have a problem.

Let’s come back to that. Let’s take care of the rear of the truck. We need to once again remove the bumper.

Remove all the linkages, as well as the steering knuckles in the rear.

You have to pull out the screw through the C Hub into the metal angle bracket. When I tried to reuse the stock screw, it was a tad short. So I went into my pit box, and pulled out some 3mmx8mm screws. Perfect!

Now we’ll put the steering knuckle back in place.

You can see the block in there behind the knuckle.

Both sides done, time to pull out the servo saver.

We’ll leave the lower link in place just for added rigidity.

Here’s where we were at this point. The front steering linkage is still at an odd angle. Finally got my answer!

We simply flip the front steering knuckles, so that the left knuckle is on the right side of the truck, and the right knuckle is on the left side of the truck. This puts the arm where the linkage attaches lower in relation to the servo, giving you the clearance you need. Operationally it is identical, just no binding issues with the steering. Shout out to Mo for this fix!!

There, much better angle on the shorter link.

For the pulling hitch, we went to AJS Machine. We brought him a stock Clodbuster so he could design and fabricate this hitch. He plans on possibly selling these in the future, so if you’re interested in one of these hitches head on over to his website and let him know!

The installation is straightforward.

You have to remove the long linkage, and unthread one of the ends. Feed it through the slot and put the end back on, and snap it back onto the ball studs. Then for mounting the hitch, take the top and bottom screws out of the axle housing, and replace with the screws provided with the hitch. The hitch itself is adjustable, so you can get the right height for your intended application. In our case, we needed it at 4″ from the ground.

While we finished up the hitch install (in our hotel room at iHobby for those interested), we couldn’t help but take this silly picture of a Micro Raminator on one of the tires of the Retro Clod.

Lest we forget, there is one more important piece to making this truck ready for Retro. And that is the body!! The idea with Retro is that the truck mimic an old school Monster Truck. We chose the Black Stallion due to it’s simple lines, and classic style.

Big thanks to Eric Krush for donating this Parma Bigfoot body. It was painted and vinyled by Vinyl7.

This truck is pretty sweet. Want it to be yours? Well check out our Children’s Miracle Network Benefit. This bad boy could be yours!!! 100% of the proceeds go to charity, so help out a great cause and buy your benefit decals today!