Timmie

iTrader: (3)

Yes a direct coupling/spool is the same thing. If you have the money buy all three items. That way you can experiment on what works best for you and your driving style. You might like a spool up front better along with a center one way and a ball diff in the rear. Or you might like the one way up front with spool in the rear. In the end, to really feel that you are getting the most out of your car you need to try everything, then there won't be any doubts on what you like best.

Swift and Sleek

iTrader: (10)

GUYS,

MAY I ASK ABOUT YOUR TB03 SHIMMINGS. IM REALLY WONDERING WHY THE SHAFT STILL DOESN'T SPIN FREELY MAYBE ITS ABOUT THE SHIMMING. IM USING A FRONT ONE WAY, CENTER ONE WAY, AND A BALL DIFF.

HERE IS A VIDEO ON IT. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPc6vmMEZjs


THANKS!

RICO

Ay Way Way

iTrader: (3)

I have a question about the swing shafts, i am going to be running to spool in the front and diff. with the metal cups. Just to make sure should i get the 44mm shafts for both front and back? Also would u guys get the lightweight aluminum ones or the regular steel ones? oo i have the regular tb-03.

Hebiki

iTrader: (26)

44mm steel up front. 44mm alum. in the rear.

DriftWoof

iTrader: (4)

I checked my Yokomo and compared the 2. They are both extremely similar as if Tamiya copied the Yokomo MR4TC SD and got rid of the play, and made it symmetrical.

My Yokomo setup is locked front and rear, center one way. I was thinking of going the same route.

Or maybe this:

-Locked Rear(Spool)
-One Way Up Front

That's it.

Let me know what you guys think of this, also if you guys have any other suggestions on anything for the TB-03D let me know.

EDIT: Also I forgot to add, when I install these parts like the front one way up front and the spool in the rear do I need to "shim" how many shims do I add on each side? Is it the same? 3 on each side?

Metla

Went racing yesterday.

Car exactly as supplied but with an 8.5 brushless fitted, a set of foams and a dodge stratus body.

It went far better then I expected, If I hadn't already ordered a bunch of after market items (not yet delivered) I may not have bothered to buy them.Car ran straight, smooth, very easy to drive. First time I've raced onroad and I found it very easy. I was more then happy with my pace, and ability to take the lines I wanted.

Only thing I need is more steering when entering a corner as I was having to throw the car in or slow down too much to keep my line.

bluesxman

Have you tried isolating the problem area yet? If so, what did you find?

bluesxman

So I finally got my spool and installed it. I left in the stock dogbones and used one urethane bushing in each outdrive on the spool. The fit is snug but it doesn't *seem* to be interfering with the front suspension.

I know everyone recommends the 44mm shafts (with U-Joint) with the spool, but how big of an issue is it staying with the stock dogbones?

Metla

My issue with dogbones is they fall out, Imo they are the single worst aspect of Tamiya cars.

Callahan_88

How much shorter are the suspension arms on the TB-03D?

Racecrafter

iTrader: (25)

Just for the record I run the 46mm CV drives on my TB. No issues with clearance BUT I also run the stock suspension blocks.

Chris Vierra and I have officially (unofficial of course) given "TB" a name......

Tarmac Bullet!!


Round 4 of the RCGT Showdown was yesterday at Speedtech R/C and we had a great turnout. Once again it was Paul D, Jeffry Lin and myself battling with 7 others for top points.

I managed to squeak out the TQ for top points there. In the main I had a semi comfortable lead and clipped a dot early on giving Jeffry the lead with me right behind. I followed for 3-4 laps and decided I needed to try a move in the first corner as I was faster in the first half of the track where he was faster in the second half. I drove in really tight to go under him and traction rolled!! ARGH!!

This allowed Paul D to grab second and me third right behind. At this point Jeffry was gone. At the 5:30 mark I clipped that same dot as before and slowed back to about 7 seconds behind Paul. I knew I had to catch him to retain my points lead so I set out on a mission and with one lap to go I caught Paul and knowing that he drives tight lines I thought to myself "I don't think I can get by" and then he made the slightest of bobbles and my TB was lined up to take advantage and I snuck inside and took second with just 3 corners to go!

Jeffry Lin took first, I ended up second and Paul D third.

With My TQ and Jeffry's second it gave us 100pts and 98pts respectively

Jeffry winning and my second gave us same points respectively so round 4 was a wash allowing me to retain my points lead!

WHEW! 2 more rounds to go!!


Jimmy Wright


Timmie.... I ran the RX7 this weekend with Tamiya's race wing.... DIALED!
It has R35 steering and is probably a bit faster in the switch backs yet all things stock the RX7 is probably more stable. I also practiced with the Vette and its very stable! It just doesn't have the down force in front to be agile but, it is still better handling than I thought it would be.

I have an R35 coming your way tomorrow.

Timmie

iTrader: (3)

Hey Rico,

I'm still working on the write up Just taking longer than I expected since I keep thinking of other things to add. That and pretty busy getting ready for some races and doing some testing. Sorry for the delay.

As far as your drivetrain goes, you cannot go by how many shims someone has on their car and expect it to be right. For instance, when I went from the kit plastic diff cases to the carbon ones, I had to lose almost all the shims on the diff because the tolerances were different. So even though the amount of shims someone tells you they have on their car may get you close, it also may be way off for your cars tolerances.

The easiest way I can explain without pictures is to set your pinion gear shaft play first. I would follow what the manual says as far as shims for this as a starting point. Then with it installed in the lower diff housing half, put the top diff housing on and push and pull on the drive cup and see how much front to back play you have. There should be a very small amount. If so then do the other diff housing the same way. When you are done shimming, with both diff housing halves together, spin the pinion shaft to make sure that it is spinning freely and not binding. If you shim this area of the drivetrain too tight, it will bind up here and cause a lot of drag and burn up bearings. If you shim it too loose, the main drive shaft will get in a bind under throttle and braking because it will have side to side play along with forward and rearward. Then you risk damage to the crown and pinion gear, along with vibration of the driveshaft at high drive line rpm.

After those are shimmed correctly, install the built diffs into the the bottom diff housing with the bearing installed but with no shims. With the pinion gear shaft installed push the diff away from the pinion gear until the bearing is against the side of the lower diff housing. Then push the pinion shaft down by its bearings and with a finger do not let the pinion gear move. Now take your other hand and rock the diff back and forth and check how much slack there is with the gear mesh. Think of it as being similar to the method on how you would check the gear mesh of your motor pinion and spur gear mesh. You want the mesh to have just a little bit of play, with both parts shimmed and checking it like I described above it I usually try to get about .50mm/.60mm of movement on the crown gear....(make a small mark on the crown gear if you like and observe the movement of the mark if it helps) So if it has too much slop, just add some shims to the flat side of the crown gear * the side with no teeth* until you get the desired about of clearance. While checking this, it is important to check the free play at a few different positions of the the crown gear to make sure there is indeed the desired play in 360 degrees of rotation of the crown gear. After that, add shims to the the side of the diff facing the crown gear teeth to take out the side to side play of the diff when it is installed in the diff housing. When you feel its pretty good, install the top diff housing and go ahead and bolt it together. Then spin the parts by hand and verify that they spin freely. Then with your pointer finger and thumb, grab both sides of the diff outdrives and check the side to side play with the diff housings bolted together. Also double check the pinion shafts forward and rearward play. You should be good to go then, install the main drive shaft and spin it and it should spin nice and free.

You can run your tolerances a little tighter or looser as both have there pluses and minuses. I'm not going to get into that because this post is long enough But I hope I explained it simple enough on how I do my cars basically. There are some more things you can do to be more precise like plastiguage and removing a little material here and there, but this is the basics and will get your car ready to hit the track. Man, I should just do a video like Jilles did, would be a whole lot easier LOL!

Let me know how you make out.

Metla

A question for those who are racing this chassis, I'm looking to get more steering when entering corners, would the centre one way or the front one way be recommended? and what are the pro's and cons of each?

I can only afford one or the other.

Timmie

iTrader: (3)

Hmm Not sure about that, I will have to check with my friend and Yokomo expert Jimmy Mac.

If you were using that diff setup in your yokee, it should feel the same with the TB. But like I said before, you should really experiment with different diff configurations...You won't know if you like it till you try it yourself.

Timmie

iTrader: (3)

I have run the car with ball diffs and never had a issue with the dog bones falling out. Maybe I got lucky But with a spool there is going to be some serious chattering going on in the front when you make a turn with the dog bones. If your trying to save a little, at least put steel shafts up front and leave the bones in the rear.