42081 C-Model - Off-road tow truck

[Repkovsky]

Big tyres of 42081 Volvo Concept Wheel Loader inspired me to rebuilt it into off-road truck. Availability of linear actuators suggest some lifting, so tow truck seems to be good idea. The result is Off-road tow truck TAUROX (to continue the original mythology- and astronomy-originated names ZEUX and PEGAX).

There are two version of the truck - alternate built with no additional parts, and extended 4x4 PF-powered RC version, where I tried to minimize additional elements (as a challenge). This was not easy to do, since 42081 has very small number of gears and other elements specialized for building drivetrain for off-roaders, but essentially it worked. Pendulum suspension with torsion bars is used both in front and rear axles, and designed to avoid stressing bars (9-axles) in neutral position. As in the RC version motors are located in the central part and so is the HoG steering in non-RC version, the axles used as an rotation axes in pendulum suspension are used also for passing the propulsion/HoG steering. This introduces friction, which could be avoided by using turntables for supporting the pendulum suspension and passing the driving/steering axle through the middle of turntable. But as I wanted to avoid using additional parts, there is an alternative solution based on regular liftarms and pins only. Final drivetrain in RC version is rather simple and works well for moderate load, but I think there may be enough space for adding central differential, or strengthening front/rear gearing.

HoG control version:

RC version (2xPF-Large, 1xPF servo)

 

 

In both versions boom is operated manually, as well as lowerable hook:

 

Little demo:

More pictures can be found at BrickSafe:

https://bricksafe.com/pages/Repkovsky/48081-off-road-tow-truck-taurox-moc-79275

Instructions for building are available at https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-79275/Repcovsky/off-road-tow-truck-taurox/. They have about 300 pages each, and are divided to submodels to make building easier, more complicated steps have additional arrows to improve clarity. Here is a sample of instruction https://bricksafe.com/files/Repkovsky/48081-off-road-tow-truck-taurox-moc-79275/taurox_rc_sample.pdf.

Any comments are welcome.

 

[Maaboo the Witch]

Incredible work! This thing is a beast and a half.

[1gor]

Impressive build, hm perhaps autonomous version would be proper alternative...

[Samolot]

I really like it. Very original, and interestingly futuristic. Cool rear lights.  And the engine cover.

[mpj]

Beautiful model! Very well designed and great idea to build such a vehicle starting from an autonomous loader