Tamiya Durga DB01 EP Buggy (A cheaper 501X?)

[A.J. Gee]

Does anybody know where i can get the TRF DB-01 buggy dampers 54028?

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by Tamiya Slave

Does anybody know where i can get the TRF DB-01 buggy dampers 54028?

Got mine from RC Champ as per their email to me below:

"54028 Tamiya TRF Aeration Buggy Dampers Quantity 1 Discount price 5733Yen"

Ordered on 9th, got to UK by 11th. Only prob was that as I'd ordered another Durga kit too, I got stiffed for customs charges, but I would guess that a set of dampers on their own would not be valuable enough to warrant any charge.

[A.J. Gee]

Originally Posted by Spoolio

Got mine from RC Champ as per their email to me below:

"54028 Tamiya TRF Aeration Buggy Dampers Quantity 1 Discount price 5733Yen"

Ordered on 9th, got to UK by 11th. Only prob was that as I'd ordered another Durga kit too, I got stiffed for customs charges, but I would guess that a set of dampers on their own would not be valuable enough to warrant any charge.

Thanks you for you response. Are you happy overall with the quality and performance of the new dampers? I would like to know before i order mine. Oh yeah, i also sent RC champ an emails yesterday, but still have not gotten a response.

[Spoolio]

Yes, they took a little over 24 hours to respond to my email too, but after that they were very quick. If I had been bothered to refer back to an earlier post or the TamiyaUSA site for part numbers I would have asked them if they had any of the new carbon reinforced parts in stock too. Maybe next time.

I don't know how good the dampers are in action as unfortunately I've not had time to build them up yet, but the quality of the bits seems very good. I think they were worth the asking price anyway (bear in mind a set of 4 Associated shocks will cost $80 from the States).

I will know how well they perform after I race it this coming Sunday. If they are as good as the plastic CVA's are bad I will be very happy.

[Spoolio]

Quick question to anyone who has knocked up the Hop-Up dampers, do I need to put o-rings under the pistons to limit droop? I am running standard kit shock mounts. I know that droop is an issue when these shocks are used in conjunction on the 3racing towers but are standard ones OK?

[DCM]

you would need to dry assemble, my rears were to long with the 3Racing towers, but if these are DB-01 specific, they may be ok.

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by DCM

you would need to dry assemble, my rears were to long with the 3Racing towers, but if these are DB-01 specific, they may be ok.

For anybody else who has a set of 54028 Hop-Up Aeration Dampers, I can confirm that when used with a standard shock tower and kit shock positions (3rd hold in on the top, middle hole bottom) and - crucially - Tamiya CVD's, the driveshaft only stays in the gearbox outdrive by a tiny amounts. Nowhere near enough to be safe anyway. I have therefore put 2 x 1mm o-rings under the pistons to limit droop and this is much better.

[A.J. Gee]

Thanks for the advice MR. Spoolio. Hey, do you think we could get a pic of your buggy with the new dampers on?

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by Tamiya Slave

Thanks for the advice MR. Spoolio. Hey, do you think we could get a pic of your buggy with the new dampers on?

Sure, here they are in no particular order, front end with fixings, rear end and close-up on the outdrive at maximum droop (with 2 x 1mm O-rings to limit travel). Final shot is showing ride height with threaded spring collars right at the top of the shock bodies ie, no preload at all. I like my car with a fair bit of understeer to make it more stable and ran it today with Associated blue front springs (hardest) and Associated black rears which are the softest I had. However, as you can see, running a Core-RC 3250mah lipo pack which only weighs 200g, even on the softest springs I cannot get the CVD bones level. All the plastic fittings in the damper kit appears to be a reinforced composite material similar to my RC10 and the rod ends in particular are infinately superior to the soft plastic kit offerings and for this alone I'd invest in the damper set.

How did I do today with these bling new bits? Terrible, but that is 100% a reflection on my driving (non)skills than the car which was a night and day improvement on last time with plastic CVA dampers. It felt every bit as good as my RC10 B4, and just glided over the bumps. Whereas last time it was bucking all over - to the extent I had to back off and coast over the ripples - this time I kept my thumb in and it just went over with no fuss. Much more predictable in fast corners too. Running bald minipins for the final is perhaps not such a good idea though.

My verdict is that these dampers are excellent and other than the slipper are the best hop-ups I've put on the car.

For those of you considering these dampers I would recommend you source four 3x12 (lower fitting) and four 3x18 (upper fitting) cap headed machine screws to replace the crossheads supplied in the damper kit. The rear lower screw is a total bitch to remove -to change the springs - as the chassis gets in the way of the screwdriver handle. Today I started on Associated silver springs, changed to Tamiya white and reds, then Associated greens and finally blacks so as you can imagine I was pretty fed up with taking that particular screw on and off. The head now looks a little er, used to say the least so I will be getting some proper hex screws before the next meeting.

[DCM]

I found the rear ride height to high and limiting the shocks just compressed the springs too thats why I went for a taller shock tower...

[Spoolio]

I think I can live with it as it is though, at least getting a spare kit tower is easy and cheap if I leave it standard.

Just a note to anyone buying these dampers - check the packaging before you throw it away. I spent 10 minutes panicking that Tamiya had left out the 10 4mm x 0.1mm shims for the seal assembly, then found them taped to the back of the main cardboard liner that holds the shock bodies and springs. Everything else was in loose bags though. Weird.

[Carlos69]

3racing Blue alloy motor mounts are now up on Stella....it looks purdy !

[bender]

What is the quality like of 3-racing parts nowadays?

I just bought the alloy suspension mounts and shock towers, hope they are ok.

[DCM]

their own design stuff is good, but if you buy stuff like steering, they machine in the same slop as the plastic parts grrrr

[Spoolio]

Originally Posted by bender

What is the quality like of 3-racing parts nowadays?

I just bought the alloy suspension mounts and shock towers, hope they are ok.

Picture this. A main straight with a 180 degree hairpin to bring you back down the track. As you exit the hairpin you go 3 metres or so then there is a small ramp. Got it. OK, now imagine barrelling up the straight at full speed then snagging your right front wheel under that ramp. Thats what I did yesterday. I know this would have popped the arms out before I put the alloy hingepin mounts on 'cos I've done it twice before. This time it was no problem at all. Having said that I really must try to stop crashing like that

[DCM]

heehee, I found the car quite robust, just the plastic on the hanger parts just a little springy (like on the TA05 hanger parts) once replaced with alloy, no problems what so ever.

[TRF_AK]

For those of you who have installed the TRF Buggy Dampers (item 54028), what did you do to lower the ride height of the chassis? I built the dampers as per the instructions and the rear ride height is insane! The thing looks like a monster truck and not a buggy.

Also, what shock oil are people putting in the dampers for a typical outdoors offroad track(if there is such a thing)? I really dont have a base to go off of. Are you setting the dampers up similar to the 501x or something different?

[Spoolio]

Quick fix to lower the car is to put O-rings under the pistons to restrict the down-travel on the dampers, but this then has the side effect of reducing the amount of travel available on the suspension. The proper solution would be to manufacture some shock towers that position the dampers a few mm higher. I am at a loss to understand why Tamiya didn't think of this themselves, unless they are going to release a Hop-Up part to correct it = more money for them.

As recommended by other users, I run 40wt front / 35wt rear racing indoors. Outdoors, drop 5wt off each of these. However, I am using Associated springs rather than the white (with red dot) Tamiya ones that come with the damper kit as I found the Tamiya ones to be a little too stiff on the rear and not stiff enough on the front for my liking.

[A.J. Gee]

Hey thanks for the pics spoolio. They do look sweet. I am sad to say, and i dont really like saying this, but i think i am gonna have to go with the 3racing dampers. Since i dont race because i dont have a track near me(Go figure living in the state with the 3rd most dense population there is not a track near me.) So since i just bash for now i am gonna go with the cheaper alternative as far as the dampers are concerned. I was looking at set and it does not look like i would be able to mount the dampers on the 3racing shock towers.

[Chris Ward]

Tamiya Slave, I've got the TRF shocks on the 3racing towers and I didn't have any problems mounting them. I do agree with what someone said earlier in this thread, that they are alot longer than the stock dampers, and I also notice from comparing the instructions with the TRF501X that the pistons are 4mm or 5mm longer all round.

I'll charge my camera up and take some pics.

Chris