I made a few appearance MOD to my 8258 crane truck.

I wanted to have dual wheels on the back of my 8258. It doesn't quite look right with single wheel in the rear. When I saw a 8063 on clearance sale, I snapped it up since its trailer wheels are similar to the 8258 but they are not the short axle hole version. I saw the Hans mod on the Internet but it seems like it involves a lot of disassembling and rebuilding. Since my truck is already built, I opted for minimal disassembling. I took off the rear wheels and pondered a bit.

I used 3 x 0.5 lift arms and 1/2 bush in place of the 4 x 0.5 lift arms with boss. I removed the 1/2 bush from the 5.5 axle now that the axle joiner perpendicular is 1L closer. I used a bush between the inner wheel and axle joiner. The inner wheel is the long axle hole version from the 8063.

For the rear axle, I replaced the long beams with shorter ones. I made it similar to the one with the differential. I also made the rear fenders wider so that it looks better with the dual wheels.

I used long pins with bush to mount the fifth wheel to the frame instead of the black friction pins. The fifth wheel can adjusted along the frame or removed completely by pulling out the pins. In real life you can adjust the weight of the trailer on the tractor axles by moving the fifth wheel closer or further away.

Finally, I still have bits from 8063. I wonder how the truck will look with a flat bed box...

The 8063 farm tractor wheels make a good load.

Your blend of the 8258 Crane Truck and 8063 Farm Tractor with Trailer is really good. My son has built both of them, so I'm going to show him your ideas and he'll probably do the same modifications you suggested. The 8258 Crane Truck doesn't take full advantage of its capabilities without lifting something off of a trailer. Great idea! The picture of a real truck (with the Amundsen) is something that folks in the Americas would not normally see.

Thanks dluders.

Great Mods, why the Crane Truck does not have double wheels I cannot understand as in real life it would. Great Flatdeck mod.

Great Mods, why the Crane Truck does not have double wheels I cannot understand as in real life it would. Great Flatdeck mod.

Thanks Dennis.

It could be the cost of 4 additional wheels and tires. I am not sure how much it would cost Lego to do that. On BrickLink I priced around $25 for 4. Or maybe it would put the part count of 8258 eight pieces over the famous 8285.

Very nice MOD, the Crane Truck certainly looks better with double wheels. The flatbed is also very interesting and makes the truck stand out. I think I'll try to make a similar MOD if I buy the Crane Truck.

Good job!

Edited March 21, 201014 yr by Sergiu

Very nice MOD, the Crane Truck certainly looks better with double wheels. The flatbed is also very interesting and makes the truck stand out. I think I'll try to make a similar MOD if I buy the Crane Truck.

Good job!

Thanks Sergiu.

Great work with this. I love it.

Could you show a few shots of what you did with the rear fenders to make the double wheels look better?

Could you show a few shots of what you did with the rear fenders to make the double wheels look better?

The original narrow rear fenders do not properly cover the dual wheels.

I added some pieces to make them wider to the edge of the outer wheels.

I could have added more pieces to cover the inner wheels too but I have the cargo box to hide all that.

Great work with this. I love it.

Thanks Paul B.

Still waiting for my 8258 - when i get this, i'll try tu build something similiar to this thread mod :)

Exellent mods dr_spock. I did also added duel rear wheels to my crane truck. Best modd you can do IMO! I like how you did your rear axle mod. Looks very strong.

Thanks for them pics (and the original ones too)! I'm still planning out the mod to the last set of wheels (need to buy some parts). I've done the set of wheels in front of those.

The original narrow rear fenders do not properly cover the dual wheels.

*snip*

I added some pieces to make them wider to the edge of the outer wheels.

*snip*

I could have added more pieces to cover the inner wheels too but I have the cargo box to hide all that.

*snip*

Thanks Paul B.

Nice MOD!

I like this type of trucks...crane truck with cargo space at the back.

It looks great!

Exellent mods dr_spock. I did also added duel rear wheels to my crane truck. Best modd you can do IMO! I like how you did your rear axle mod. Looks very strong.

Thanks 5150 Lego.

Nice MOD!

I like this type of trucks...crane truck with cargo space at the back.

It looks great!

Thanks Milan. I like these type of trucks too. Unfortunately, I don't see them here on the road in North America.

I love what you did, the green even works well! I have this kit un-built waiting to be fully motorized. Nice to see the real thing as those aren't here in the USA. Great Job!

I love what you did, the green even works well! I have this kit un-built waiting to be fully motorized. Nice to see the real thing as those aren't here in the USA. Great Job!

Thanks Fyredog.

I was pretty disappointed with the 5th wheel on this model. I actually just took it off completely. I'm not too surprised that the it's based of a European truck, Lego loves flat nose trucks. I wish they would come out with more long nose trucks like 42078 and 8285. I love our good 'ol American long noses.

@17Liftarm please do not bump such an old topic in the future, unless you have something important to add.