Short Review of Madoca's SUV

[Leif]

..and what a joy it was to build and what a joy to drive!

I was at first a bit sceptical about building from photo instructions but Madoca certainly won't let you down.

His pictures are immaculate and I have not had one single step that was impossible to understand or hidden pieces.

Of course, your brain has to work harder than when following Lego's "1 piece per page" instructions...but good training and you build up your understanding for the setup a lot more.

I look forward to more Madoca builds!

Funny thing is, are we / I too purist sometimes when it comes to building a vehicle?

This Suv does not have:

1. Ackermann steering
   
2. sturdy drivetrain, but CV joints and gearbox
   
3. center diff
   

But oh what a joy to drive and play with! And oh so good looking and good setup.

In a few days I will replace IR with SBrick and look into a good car setup for theSbrick Iphone app.

One thing to look into if you build this car, the beams around the gearbox can under stress separate the gearbox a bit meaning that clutch does not work as intended.

See my 4th picture, I added a cross beam as a better-than-nothing solution but still sometimes the changeover catch cannot reach the technic driving ring meaning that you cannot change gear,

And some pics, sorry for the quality, I have lighting problems in my man cave..Some wrong colors, didn't have all the correct ones!

[Osuharding1]

I have built all of Madoca's MOCs and I agree the photo sequence adds a level of complexity ( which I like) but they are excellent and the models can easily be built. I recommend his Tatra 813.

[Askan]

Sounds great! I am just about to start with Madoca's Tatra, also following his photo instructions. The SUV is on the list :)

[kandykop]

I think u used wrong rims and tires. It will result in poor performance. For example, struggling when driving on high gear, and steering can easily get stuck.

[DrJB]

I've only built the predecessor to this, a slightly smaller SUV and loved it. I've been tempted to take it apart and make into an Mk2, but refuse to touch the first one. It was one of the best builds I've had, the compactness of the build/functions I like very much.

[Madoca 1977]

Thank you for building my SUV-Mk2!

Few months ago, I noticed that the mold of 24t gear have changed. The edges of their teeth became round, low and thick.

When I first built Mk2, I used old one, and the drivetrain worked fine. Recently I dismantle it and knew that newer 24t gear is NOT fit for the drivetrain. So I add two pictures to my building instruction page. https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/117021167471864977943/albums/5922727481712223793

Have anyone noticed this? I remember some sets I bought in 2013 had newer 24t gears.

[DrJB]

I noticed something somehow related to this. In LDD, if you put the 24t gear against the clutch gear, you'd notice that the teeth are NOT of the same thickness. I initially thought this was a mistake in the geometry, but now, and based on your post, the differences are real. Now, why would TLG change the tooth thickness/profile? The only logical answer to me is to reduce the backlash and increase the load capacity of such tooth. Any other opinions?

[Madoca 1977]

I wondered it might be possible to build as below.

Clutch gear doesn't hit red beam. Old 24t gear hit the beam. Unexpectedly new one slightly hit the beam. So it doesn't work fine.

It seems that the diameter of new 24t gear is a bit smaller than old ones, but is larger than clutch gear. I think it doesn't make any differences in building most of sets or MOCs except for my SUV-MK2.

[Lipko]

Thank you for that info! A was always avoiding the solution Madoca posted, but in my current builds, I use some clutch gears and maybe I can get rid of the hacks that are there to brace the gear. I still wonder how that behaves under stress, I wouldn't rely on everything being perfectly aligned and stiff all the time.

[kandykop]

I must have used the newer one. I remember how much force I put to make the newer 24th gear "fit". However, the drivetrain works smoothly for me. It was half an year ago. I just did some test drive. The SUV MK2 still performs great!

[Leif]

I think u used wrong rims and tires. It will result in poor performance. For example, struggling when driving on high gear, and steering can easily get stuck.

Yep, dont have the correct ones, but it's not that many millimeters in difference so it is fine once the shocks are lifted a bit! Sooner or later I will do that investment as well of course..

[Rockbrick]

I assume the really old one is still ok ? got plenty of them....

[5imon]

Interesting information about the 24T gears. I had a situation exactly as Madoca shows in #8 in one of my recent MOCs, and I had to completely redesign this part because the 24T kept rattling over the longitudinal liftarm. However, I don't know if it was the newer or the older type. I haven't tried a cluch gear, either.

[__________________________]

I'm impressed you noticed the difference with the 24t gears...

[darksheep]

I think u used wrong rims and tires. It will result in poor performance. For example, struggling when driving on high gear, and steering can easily get stuck.

It is easy to make that mistake I know lots of people use the rims and tires from 42029 that is incorrect .

You should used these tires and rims

I made this MOC and it is really cool I had it on my shelf for a long time .

Leif , I see you put brake on the bottom of the truck , where the shift lever is , this is not in the instructions , why did you add it did you have some problems ?

Edited January 15, 2015 by darksheep