8457 Power puller

Update: I've bought two more of this set for a total of four and the steering is not good but I found that extending or retracting the flex tube can adjust it somewhat.

See my modified "Super 8457" with not less then 100 cylinders!

I bought two of these for the parts only. And I'm kinda happy with that since the functionality is very poor on this set.

First of all the steering is nonfunctional and it seems to set itself to steer away from the straight line a Power puller has to travel.

The next thing I dislike is the performance of the sled. It uses long rubber bands to increase "load" and to retract the weight. But I guess it would be too much of a challenge to build a system that works well on a lot of different surfaces, hence this solution. It ain't really a sled since it has wheels in all corners.

It has a really cool system to make the tractor move forward but not backwards though. When the motor spins in one direction the tractor moves and when the motor spins in the other direction the tractor stands still but the "engine" on the tractor still moves. Se pictures for more info.

Year 2000, 960 pieces.

Everything trown into the box. It's amazing the instruction booklet and sticker sheet survives in there...

Contents of box. This set is also devided into substeps.

Yes, it has huge wheels and yes it's a lot of yellow parts in there :)

Yes #3, those are chainlinks in a modern LEGO model... Wohoo!

5x V4 engines, there are a number of different motor setups to choose from, another is dual V8 as seen below.

Close up on the engines. We made the dual V8 set up since we were gonna compete and we figured that this set up had the least friction.

Oh, did I forgot to mention? Since I bought two I invited a good friend so that we could build one each and se who won, my "friend" did the darn bastard! :)

Here's the driver. He has both sunglasses and a black visor. Guess he can't see that much...

Like I already mentioned, the steering is less then nothing. This is how the wheels line up at their best.

Oh no! Someone! Quick call 112 (911 in the states). While we wait we can observe the chassis. Thank Jebus this is not Hollywood, my precious plastic would be nothing but flames other wise. Unless the driver was the hero of course, in that case it would explode as soon as he/she/it is in an almost safe distance to keep you, the observer, on your adrenaline rush.. Eh, never mind...

Zooming in on the cleverness of this set, here's the gears that allow the motor to only drive the tractor in one direction. The left gear in this picture drives the right one. The right gear is on the drive axis for the wheels. The left gear hangs loose in that stud less beam we se the end of (to the let of the left gear). When the gear turns in one direction the forces keep the gears together and when the gear turns in the other they separate. So this tractor can't go backwards using the motor.

The PHAT back...

OMG I'm lame...

The "sled". The battery box acts as the weight. This is in the low friction mode when the sled is easy to pull.

After a "full pull" the weight has traveled up to the other end. The LEGO version uses rubber bands instead of weight/friction so I guess the battery box makes no difference here. It's only the tension of the bands that matter.

Front of the sled. Notice the mud flaps. They are positioned wrong judging from the real thing. They're usually there to keep the mud away from the sled when the tractor starts spinning on it's back wheels. This LEGO version has them on the wrong side of the wheels on the sled.

Here's the winch that winds up the rubber band and also the thing that adds "load" as the sled travels. It's driven via the gear shown and another gear on the axis behind the wheel.

Backside of sled.

Underside. Notice the rubber bands

Top.

Back to the Tractor again. Here I tilted it on it's other side to revile the top.

Running out of things to display on the model, here's a comparison of the wheel and the sun allergic dude.

That wheel has a diameter of 105 mm (4.1") and the hub is 55 mm (2.2"). Due to the low quality of my pictures you can't see that there are nuts inside the rim.

The wheel is 58 mm (2.3") wide. The middle of the rim is 27 mm (1.1") in from the "front" and 19 mm (0.8") in from the back.

You don't want to be afraid of heights when you sit on this one ,)

Here are the different wheels that are included, you get two of each and I bough two sets = four wheels of each :)

Leaving the "leftover" parts alone proved that there is still life in the Technic Line, unfortunately it turns out to be bot oriented life. Damn the life form that uses Technic bit's and pieces as a host for their ugly shape!!

j/k

Great pieces

HUGE wheels. The model actually has four different kinds of wheels, two different pairs for the tractor itself and two other pairs for the "sled". Since I bought two I got four of each kind *yummy*
Chainlinks, always useful. It has 81 pieces of them!
The new geared down 9V motor, as seen in the Mindstorms kit's.
Lot's of yellow parts, the original Technic color IMHO.
(on the downside it has a lot of engine parts, perhaps one might use these to something someday but I'm skeptic)

Links

Building instruction on Brickshelf (N/A)
Inventory on Peeron
Set reference on Lugnet
Jim Hughes Technica