RB5 rear 'T Piece' breakage

[CougarRob]

Hi

Does anyone know if there is a higher strength version (alloy maybe) of the RB5 chassis rear 'T-Piece' (the plate that the gearbox mounts to)? Ended up breaking two of these now and the last time was after a rear end landing from a really small jump. Is this a recognised weak point? Any help much appreciated. Apart from that I am loving my RB5!

[Alex H]

Surely the weakest point of the car. You are not wrong. Cant understand why Kyosho haven't picked up on that yet. Am thinking of making a sort of a skid plate out of brass and put underneath the car. Serve two purposes. Protect the chassis after a harsh landing and strengthen the t-plate. And adding some weight as well.

[CougarRob]

Glad I am not the only one with this problem, Alex! I have toyed with making a carbon plate but the prototype I knocked up meant that the bolts that attach to the rearmost hinge pin block werent long enough (only a couple of threads). Think i will try to find some longer bolts and carry on with the idea (the carbon fibre plate I used was from an old Tamiya Avante chassis - the purests will be rioting!!). Cheers.

[jim76]

i'm wondering if they have changed their plastic slightly, as i ran an RB5 for 18 months or more and never had an issue. I've also never seen another RB5 in that time have a problem with the plate.

[Fabs]

It's been designed to break rather than the chassis. Newer versions of the part are thicker however.

[CougarRob]

Thanks Fabs, as an engineer I definately think that this is a weak point. I am not an expert driver by any means, but the breakages have happened due to to minor rearend impacts. I have plenty of broken parts due to my own driving errors.... I am quite willing to accept that I have to be more careful but B4, XX4 drivers dont seem to have these issues when landing normal size jumps etc.