Jurgens Techynic Corner - Ultimate 8043

Jurgens Technic Corner

Home of Jurgen’s Lego® creations

Ultimate 8043 Motorized Excavator

Ok, this isn't a MOC, but I did some heavy upgrading to the 8043 motorized excavator which is definately worth mentioning

It is a very nice model, but there were some things I wasn't happy with:

* Lifting the boom was underpowered
* It used normal batteries
* Bucket was too big, doesn't have a correct rotation point and it's working range is too small
* Working range of the dipper was too small
* Side-effects of "2 drivetrains throug a turntable" were too noticable
* Not all the functions were available simultaniously, switching is neccecary. Moving the boom/dipper/bucket was not possible during rotating.

All this together made it quite a poor digging machine. This could be done better...

So I started rebuilding the model. Now it includes:

* Full independent simultanious controll of all the functions
* Joystick-controller that works just like a real excavator. Based on a desigh by Jason Railton
* 8878 Rechargeable battery
* XL-motor for lifting boom
* PF-lights
* Improved bucket looks and operation
* Improved dipper range
* All the gear-reduction moved to the undercarriage to reduce mentioned side-effects
* Cabin roof

Altogether these mods considerably enhance the playability of the model.

The remote controller deserves some extra attention. It's an adapted version of Jason Railton's Thumbstick, which I found on TechnicBricks Blogspot.

Because it works so well now, I decided to make photo-instructions for this mod so everyone can turn their 8043 into a real mean digging machine. The instructions can be found in the download-area.