The original monster truck was the 58065
Clod Buster from 1987 which Tamiya just kept right on making, but in 1999 they came out with the 58232
Juggernaut as a successor with a lot of similarities and a lot of
differences. Apart from the obvious change from a Chevrolet body
to a Ford Body, the other changes are significant. Among the
defining features of the Clod Buster are the huge wheels and
tires. The tires of the Juggernaut are the same overall size, but
the wheels have a new slot pattern and the tires have gone from
cylindrical to toroidal. These tires are unique to the Juggernaut
and because the Juggernaut is so rare, for reasons which shall be
explained later, the tires are nearly impossible to replace. The
Clod used a hybridized form of 4-link suspension, but the Jugg has gone
to a leading and trailing arm 4-link type. Since the links are not
triangulated, something else needs to center the axles. This is
done with leaf springs which are present in addition to eight coil
dampers. The dampers don't actually offer any damping though, and
the the leaves are stiff enough to make them moot in any case. The
massive steering hubs from the Clod have been retained, but the axles
are all new. The change is to convert from the MOA (Motor on Axle)
system of the Clod to a centralized dual motor transmission. The
motors are in parallel and drive a single spur gear. The axles
contain gear reduction of their own and massive metal open gear
differentials. Like the Clod, the Jugg has four wheel steering
driven by a single chassis mounted servo. The servo savers have
been improved to be less sloppy, but the reverse Ackerman of the
steering knuckles still makes the steering pretty bad.Most people don't know much about the Juggernaut, but if they've heard of it all they remember that it was terrible. One of the gears inside the transmission could easily spin free of the hex which was supposed to lock it to its shaft, and the gears inside the axle housings did not have enough support so the teeth would force them apart and strip the gears. Those unlucky few who bought the original release of the Juggernaut found it unusable usually within a single battery pack. The outcry was vociferous for good reason. Tamiya quickly came up with an upgrade pack and offered it free of charge, but the damage to the reputation of the Juggernaut was done. Stores wouldn't stock it and consumers wouldn't buy it. How Tamiya managed to miss these egregious problems in their testing is unknown. In an attempt to pave over the problem, Tamiya released the 58256 Juggernaut 2 in 2000, just a year after the original release, and quietly tried to pretend that the original never happened. The box art color changed from black to red and the stickers changed to match. Tamiya prominently molded the number "2000" into the changed axle and gearbox housings to make it clear to everyone that the parts were different. Though the mechanical problems were well and truly solved, the reputation of the chassis could not be restored. The new version didn't sell either, so the 58280 TXT-1 arrived in 2001 to replace it. Although I love the TXT-1, the history is unfortunate because the Juggernaut 2 is a very good truck.
If you decide you actually want a Juggernaut, good luck. Both versions are very rare, with the original being extremely scarce due to its short run. If you actually want to drive it you need a Juggernaut 2, but I much prefer the livery of the original. My goal was to get a 2 but paint it like a 1. It is still possible to get one new in the box, but it will cost you thousands of dollars. I was able to find a mildly used Juggernaut 2 already assembled for a "reasonable" price, and I then cleaned and rebuilt it to look like an original Juggernaut. I upgraded the electronics to be modern and I find this thing to be a joy to drive. By that, I mean that it is terrible. With those big empty tires and no dampers it bounces like crazy, but that's what makes it fun. It looks great as well. One of my favorites despite, or perhaps because of, all the work that went into getting one.
Update: This model was destroyed in the 2022 fire. It has not been replaced.
 Page 1: Restoration |
 Page 2: Assembly |
 Page 3: Final Photos |