There once was a time when the Bigfoot name was synonymous to the words monster truck and Bigfoot mania was flourishing everywhere in the early days of monster trucks. Even today, the Bigfoot name runs deep and still has a very strong worldly following despite not being a part of Monster Jam. Considered the 1st ever official real-life monster truck, Bigfoot has stamped itself into history and isn’t going anywhere. In fact, the wide variety of Bigfoot variations from mega tank to the super huge Bigfoot 5, have kept bigfoot fans on their toes to what will be Bigfoot’s next incarnation?
This particular JConcepts build focuses on one one of the most patriotic and loved Bigfoot ever, Bigfoot 21. This version takes the popular Ford Raptor truck body sprayed with the USA red, white, and blue making it one of the most exciting Bigfoots of all time.
The body used for this Bigfoot 21 build is obviously the JConcepts 2010 Ford Raptor MT body in the sporty, competition form. No longer was Bigfoot derived from a basic Ford truck, but carried the lines from the very powerful and exciting Ford Raptor lines. The final ingredient to making an instant hit is to give it a proper patriotic red, white, and blue paint scheme like the Summit Racing Bigfoot and you’re going to have fireworks. With a proper body, paintwork, and decals applied we take it to the nex step.
From throwing down psycho crazy freestyle runs to huge air over crushed cars, the best way to preserve the expensive paintwork is to protect the body from the body mounts. Simple and easy, we stuck a few JConcepts body foams washers to the underside of the body to save the paint and to also keep the body quiet after hard impacts and landings.
For our build, we’re using the very awesome, but hard to get Team Juice Cube chassis with Clod Buster axles to setup and race in the Pro Mod classes as a full-on race truck. Designed inherently with low CG, this sturdy platform will hopefully provide many successful race wins in the near future.
Jason Ruona was never thrilled about the way the bodies mounted to the Cube chassis so he designed his own vertical body mounting system to simplify the process but kept it lightweight and strong. The vertical body mounts are also easily adjustable for different heights to fit different bodies for added flexibility.
The JConcepts Tribute wheels have been a blessing in disguise. With the included offset hex adapters to give you optional wheel widths and clearances, the JConcepts Tribute wheels are a piece of monster truck gold. The optional Planetary Caps set further set off the look of the wheel. Fred took it to the next level with a bit of silver paint to highlight the cap even further.
We wanted our Bigfoot 21 build to be aggressive on all conditions and love the look of the cut treads of the JConcepts Renegades and decided that these are going to be perfect for cutting through the competition too. The Renegade tires are already a winner taking the R/C Monster Truck Challenge World Finals as well as the NR/CTPA World Championships in amazing debut performances.
Full Reedy electronics were used to outfit this truck’s electronics including servo, motor, ESC, and batteries. Two Reedy 510R’s deliver the power running side-by-side with a pair of Reedy Sonic motors, Zapper 5800 HV lipo batteries, and two RT2207A servos for super torque to move those monster tires without breaking a sweat.
Here’s the rear end of the Clod Buster/Cube truck with the optional rear-steer lockout making it much stronger than the original setup. As a Pro Mod truck, speed and durability are going to be a major focus point because if you can’t finish a race, what’s the point of being fast?
A proven shock on the world level, the Team Associated big bore shock has done it all, including winning the 2015 IFMAR Worlds in Japan. With 4 of these on each corner and upgraded with the JConcepts aluminum Fin shock parts, these work awesome and now look even better with an added touch of functionality. The Aluminum Shock Cap is etched with the JC logo and knurled sides for extra open and close grip. The trick shock collars are also marked to allow for quick adjustments by 1/2 and full turns. The aluminum VCS Bottom Caps set off the entire package along with the 5mm offset Spring Cups to retain the spring over the shock bottoms and much appeal to a highly visible area.
While the mods are pretty light that pretty much comes down to a nice replica painted body and MT wheels and tires, getting your favorite monster truck going doesn’t take a whole lot of money IF you already have a monster truck on hand. But once it’s done you can play with it forever or change it up down the line into a whole new build.
If you’re a die-hard Bigfoot fan, or just a lover of all monster trucks, post up your rigs below and share it with the world! Thanks for reading and hope you this Inside Look inspires you to build your own dream truck!
