Watching with interest this here thread:)

However, here's a question or two. Where does the Mono chassis come from as another 10mm wheelbase can be usefull? And secondly, why have none of you used the 3 Racing diff halves? I found the Tamiya ones brittle and were starting to "fall apart" at the bit where the driveshafts slot in, resulting in imminent departure of driveshafts at the front end.

Tried the 3 Racing diff halves, no problems. A nice fit, thrust washers fit well, as does everything else.

This is the chassis I am talking about.

Out of interest on wheelbases anyone know how does the length and width of the df-03 compare with the 501x

Give me a few days. My 501 is in 10.000 pieces for its post season overhaul. :)
Wheelbase is a few mm shorter compared to a Losi XXX CR, but that's a 2wd off course.

Looks the same, in fact if they hadn't moulded mono into it you'd think it was Tamiya that had made it!

I got mine from here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tamiya-Dark-Im...QQcmdZViewItem
I've not run the car enough to encounter any problems yet!

Originally Posted by Crazy L http://www.oople.com/forums/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
why have none of you used the 3 Racing diff halves?


On the 3racing diffs i have noticed these advertised for front and rear, does anyone know if these are both the same?

They look the same from the photos, actually it looks like the same photo, however the part numbers are different, DF03-03/HD (rear) and DF03-08/HD (front)

I've not seen "front" ones listed, but I got 2 pairs of rears and did the front first, exactly the same parts. The OE rear ones seem to have the thrust washer flange made of plastic which slides on, rubbish, whereas the 3 racing ones are all one piece, well worth the money in my opinion if you're gonna keep the car for some time or actually drive it.

some of the 3Racing stuff is good, some of their metal stuff isn't...... I used the tamiya front diff halves in the rear, far stronger.

Steve, what needed shimming? I thought it was a pretty good fit.

The 3 racing front knuckles are too weak to race with, they bend too easily.

Although the blue aluminium GPM turnbuckles look nice, they too are too weak to race with.

No surprises, they are very cheap.

The 3 racing shock towers seem to be holding up well! and i think the topcad gear cover make an excellent heatsink.

Just an update :

Since the front arms look like they have some sweepback, I tried flipping them over back to front to gain some extra wheelbase. Shock location wasn't a problem. I only had to put the shocks in front of the shocktower.

The result was rather disappointing : I only gained 1,5mm. :eh?: Not worth the hassle.

How's the rest of it coming along Stefke?
The Mono chassis is about 20mm longer than the standard one.

20mm seems a bit too much. :(

first, i'm going to test the car in non-customized form sometime next week. Shame my TRF501X is completely disassembled because I wanted to do a side-by-side comparaison.

update??

Waiting for extra parts from HK.
Especially the DF-02 universals. They fit the DF-03 and have the advantage that the wheel axles of the TRF501X can be fitted. This way, I' will be able to use my TRF/Losi/AE/PL wheels. another advantage of this would be that the offset of the Losi type wheels is smaller compared to the DF03 wheels, giving the car a length-to-width ratio closer to the TRF501X.

By the way, I can use side-by-side cells in the 3Racing chassis without to much problems, thanks to the way I use to solder my corally tubes. I'll try to post some pics.

[quote=stefke;69310]Waiting for extra parts from HK.
Especially the DF-02 universals. They fit the DF-03 and have the advantage that the wheel axles of the TRF501X can be fitted. This way, I' will be able to use my TRF/Losi/AE/PL wheels. another advantage of this would be that the offset of the Losi type wheels is smaller compared to the DF03 wheels, giving the car a length-to-width ratio closer to the TRF501X. quote]

You might need to check the clearance on the front. Any wheel wider than 25mm or less offset than the standard will probably catch on the steering arm of the front hub. I looked at fitting standard rear wheels to the front and hit this problem. Considered cutting the arm short and re-attach the rod to fit inside the wheel.

Just a quick update (I know, I'm advancing slowly :rolleyes:) :

The rear driveshafts are modified to accept TRF/Losi/AE/PL wheels. Trackwidth has increased from 245mm to 247mm, still within the EFRA 250mm limit.

I'm now working on fitting a TRF501X front suspension. This way, I can also use TRF/Losi/AE/PL wheels at the front but more importantly, It'll increase the wheelbase by about 5mm AND give me some front castor.

pics to follow.

Will the CVDs of the 501x fit, or do you need to get DF02 bones and then slap on some 501x axles to make things work?

Also, has anyone else using the stock dogbones on the DF-03 noticed that they squeak when articulated? At first I had thought I had done a terrible job on the AE shocks that I put on my DF-03 :wtf:, but then tried articulating the suspension without the shocks installed and realized that the metal on metal contact of the dogbones in the outdrives and axles was causing a squeak. :confused:

I didn't notice a squeack with the stock dogbones. It could be caused by those little foams in the outdrives pushing the dogbone pins to hard against the outdrives.

I tried two sollutions : first the DF-02 bones (70mm) with the TRF501 axles, then the complete TRF501X rear driveshafts (64mm). I found that using the complete TRF501X driveshafts with enough spacers and shims on the inside of the hub works best.

as promised :