Thanks guys! Nice thing about the inner tubes is I don't have to worry about gluing in the valve stems or the tires. That was something I didn't want to do. Plus I can easily let the air all the way out for driving around on land and still have some of the foam inside for damping. They had a larger 10" inner tube that I think would fit better but it has a straight valve stem which I'm not sure will fit inside the rim. I'm going to pick one up just to try though.

Now you just need some belting.... duct tape!

If it works for high speed ballooning it should work for no speed ballooning right?

I wonder if it would just make the tires wider though... just a thought.

Good stuff!

Ya know, my friend mentioned the same thing on the phone the other day. I think the only reason the inner tube popped was because the inner tube had expanded so much. With some duct tape limiting how much it can expand that might help fill the tire up with the inner tube instead of it stretching the tire out.....

One thing that I've been finding out I don't like is that the inside of the tire isn't sealed perfectly. I haven't sealed where the valve stem goes in the rim so water can get inside. Obviously only so much water will get in there since the inner tube will still hold air but I'm wondering how much of a buoyancy difference that'll make.

I'm ordering in a different set of wheels that are wider so if this setup doesn't work I'm going to glue a set of tires to the rims and glue in a valve stem too.

yep, I think sealing the tire would be a good idea. Not just because of the loss of buoyancy when the foams get soaked, but also because of the weight and inbalance this water would add to your tires.

We're going to see how it does today at lunch time. Brought the truck, a video camera, the tire pump and a good length of rope. If I keep it in water under about 12" deep I don't have to worry about electronics getting wet so if it sinks in about a foot of water I know I failed and it should still drive out without using the rope :lol:

i just had to run over some stuff with the tires inflated to 10spi :lol:

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...JNR_0750sm.jpg

Now for the fun :party:

Video: Chevy Monster in the water

Definitely in need of larger tires with more displacement. It sits way to low under the water.

You should fill the tires with helium! :lol:

That must be one heavy rig! I've seen a Maxx float with uninflaited jumbos

That truck just amazes me everytime I see it run. I've gone through all your videos on Youtube. Love it!

How are you keeping the MMM dry?

It's easily twice the weight of a maxx

Thanks! I just have the MMM mounted up high in the chassis to try and keep it out of the water :lol:

Cool have you weighted it? What is it? Like 20-25 pounds? I don't see how you are going to get it to float. Maybe attach black(for looks) styrofoam to the axles?

It's 20lbs right on the dot. As you seen in the video it was floating with the wheels that are on it right now. They just weren't displacing enough water to keep the truck stable plus they weren't completely sealed so some water started seeping in which is why it started to float lower and lower towards the end of the video.

The set I'm working on now will be complete sealed and have a rim that is 1.5" wider than the rims I used previously. It will float :whip:

Okay sweet! Big fan of this build.

well you have influnced me to build a 1/6 scale truck this winter

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. These big trucks are too much fun!

The inner tube idea wasn't going to work. To much weight and not enough displacement.

I got in a set of Ofna Pirate rims because they're 4" wide, almost full offset like my truggy wheels and 17mm. How perfect right!? Wrong. I went to mount the Jumbo Kong on there and it turns out the Ofna rim is smaller than the 3.2" maxx size rim. So the tire would never fit on there correctly.

Took me a while to come up with a solution and it's still not perfected but it's forward progress. I had a set of rims that come with the jumbo kongs and these fit well enough that they hold air without even being glued. So I know I wanted the beads from these rims. Got the calipers out and did some measuring and came up with a plan.

Cut the bead rings off the rims that come with Kongs usin a band saw then cleaned up with a belt sander. The front is going to need a lot of clean up work with the dremel since some of the center cut off with it. Should be ok though. I'll be using this on the backside of the modded rim just in case it doesn't look as nice.

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/DSC_0318.jpg

Setup the router to take the lip off the edge of the rim and leave just a tad bit of material to make the fit nice.

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/DSC_0317.jpg

Now the rim has a new bead that I know holds air :yipi:

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/DSC_0316.jpg

Backside of the rim will be the same using the front of the cut up rim, it's just going to take some work cleaning up that bead. I'll glue these rings on with CA then I'll run a bead of silicone around the inside just to make sure it's sealed up.