Most Difficult Bruder Vehicles to Convert?

[Lyle]

In your opinion, what would be the most difficult Bruder to convert? I'd assume a basic dump truck would be the easiest. Are wheels any easier to work with than treads? Are loaders more complicated to convert than excavators? Post your opinions below!

[motocrawler]

I have converted nearly almost every Bruder construction vehicle and I have to say the one that gave me the most fits was the tracked skid steer only because of the space and size constraint. I have converted the Mack dump truck and by the time I was finished I would have been better off just buying a Tamiya truck kit, it would have been cheaper and worked much better. The loader, and excavator are similar in difficulty- it's really a matter of getting all the right parts before you build, after that they go together very easily. The easiest conversion so far has been the D11 dozer, lots of space easy to take apart. I find converting bruders is a formula the weak link always ends up being the tracks, the drive system for them and the fact that it would be incredibly cumbersome to build a track tensioning system. That being said once you figure out the formula of parts and what you are willing to live with (performance wise) they work remarkably well and last a very long time. I have about 30+ hrs on my wheel loader and have had to do very minor tune ups, the excavator has about the same hours and all I have had to do was remove links from the tracks as they stretch over time, all my bulldozers are absolute machines and work like magic once again it is just track tension issues. Just a FYI, I use them in heavy soil and sand mix.

[Lyle]

Originally Posted by motocrawler

I have converted nearly almost every Bruder construction vehicle and I have to say the one that gave me the most fits was the tracked skid steer only because of the space and size constraint. I have converted the Mack dump truck and by the time I was finished I would have been better off just buying a Tamiya truck kit, it would have been cheaper and worked much better. The loader, and excavator are similar in difficulty- it's really a matter of getting all the right parts before you build, after that they go together very easily. The easiest conversion so far has been the D11 dozer, lots of space easy to take apart. I find converting bruders is a formula the weak link always ends up being the tracks, the drive system for them and the fact that it would be incredibly cumbersome to build a track tensioning system. That being said once you figure out the formula of parts and what you are willing to live with (performance wise) they work remarkably well and last a very long time. I have about 30+ hrs on my wheel loader and have had to do very minor tune ups, the excavator has about the same hours and all I have had to do was remove links from the tracks as they stretch over time, all my bulldozers are absolute machines and work like magic once again it is just track tension issues. Just a FYI, I use them in heavy soil and sand mix.

On the D11, did you get the ripper working on the back as well?

[motocrawler]

Originally Posted by Lyle

On the D11, did you get the ripper working on the back as well?

Yes I have the ripper automated now and it works quite well but as I mentioned it really stretches the tracks I have already removed 2 links

[Lyle]

How does it stretch them? Does it just warp the plastic?