dr_hfuhuhurr

iTrader: (95)

Alright...fine. If you're getting blame then I'm taking belligerence...seems to be a vitrue lately

tc3Guru

i'm not blaming anyone but AE for putting pastic diff outdrives on the car. how lame. they make steel ones but they won't put em in there so we can go out and shell out 40 more bucks for them. But i'll give IRS my cash. lol. I think runnin sauce on the inside of my front tires didn't help the plastic outdrives out any either. haha
and yeah i'm quite partial btw. not dissing them, they should have known better.

diskostew

I have not broke anything on my TC4 yet that was a design flaw. Breaking arms and such happen, which I haven't broke one yet (knock on wood) on my TC4. I have hit boards, dots, cars, and what not. The only problem i have ever had with my TC4 was blowing out both rear shocks. and since I rebuilt them, i haven't had that problem since. So i really don't think it is a "design flaw". anything will break on any car if you hit something hard enough!

tc3Guru

amen knock on wood. no aarms brok yet. will tc3 aarms work on tc4? My shocks seem to be holding up fine. I just ordered the factory team carbon kit. for like 60 bucks. i'd like to hear about a bmi chassis for it. that's what i had on my tc3. loved it.

diskostew

I have heard with a little mod (drilling out the inner hinge pin size) the will fit no problem. I don't know though. I haven't had to do it. Besides i guess I am lucky because I live in Southern California and the parts for TC4's are pretty easy to get here. I already switched my car to the carbon kit. It is MUCH BETTER. The car was kind of lazy before i got it and now it feels great! the only other things i did was add the FT arm mounts, 4 degrees caster blocks and sway bars. My car is DIALED!

RCknight

iTrader: (5)

the weight issue. I guess my HPI Pro 2 didn't have anything to do with my understanding of durability vs. competitiveness. Humm....I guess I stand corrected, it has nothing to do with selling more parts. I would think that compromise could lean more torwards the consumer. Heck, whomever wanted a better product? I think a product can always be improved in some way. Just my two 2-cents.

tc3Guru

i just can't wait for bmi chassis

my tc4

gotpez

The TC4 is no more prone to break than any other competition level car.

The TC3 had a very bad reputation for breaking and I found that to be absolutely false. My 9 year old son runs a TC3 and he repeatedly tests it's durability. So far, everything that has broken has been earned. I do run the RPM front bumper and the BRP nerf wings and they help, but he has definitely put it through it's paces.

The plastic outdrives are one of the very first upgrades the TC3 owners put on their cars when they shipped with the VERY heavy steel outdrives. My son (the same durability tester) has only broken 1 plastic outdrive. These are not a weak point on the car. With a mod motor, the plastic outdrives may be a weak point, but I have had success with them in that class also.

Another question to ask is this: Are you using the stock plastic parts, or the graphite upgrades? If it is the graphite parts, they do break easier than the plastic.

Speedo

Plastic outdrives have the advantage of being much lighter than the steel ones, however they are incredibly weak. They simply do not work in mod, and I have witnessed many people who run stock having issues with them also.

Associated needs to come out with some aluminum outdrives. The steel ones weigh a ton. This isn't such an issue for mod as it is stock, but I'd still prefer not to have such heavy parts spinning in my transmission. The IRS aluminum outdrives are the way to go, as they are lighter than the steel AE ones, but much more durable than the stock plastic outdrives. They are also built to accept the "D" style ring instead of the "O" shaped ring that AE uses on their steel outdrives. The issue with the IRS outdrives is that they can place the outdrive bearings slightly further apart than they should be, which can result in tightening of the transmission. It is also recommended to install the IRS pin cushiosn to go along with them, so they don't get gouged by the CVD pins. The steel pins in the factory CVD's are difficult to remove. I made a jig to place the CVD in, then used a C-clamp to push the pins out. The IRS Big-Dawg bones will also work, and come with the pin cushions pre-installed.

The problems, as I see it, with the plastic outdrives is completely to do with durability. They are easily gouged by the CVD's, which isn't such a problem as they are cheap to replace. The bigger issue is with the outdrives melting. They will literally melt from the heat generated by friction within the diff if the car is run hard in mod.

Josh

Boomer

You're right - the Pro2 actually was less prone to breakage.

Do you know why? They used a more flexible type of plastic for the arms - they flexed before they broke.

Problem with that was just what everyone else will tell you - flexy arms are not competitive.

without a LOT of upgrades, the car was not competitive, compared to the TC3 or Yok, etc. Yes, there were a few who could make it work, but not many. It was a GREAT beginner car, though. (it was my first on-road car).

The TC4 is not designed to be a beginner car - it's a racer and it's designed to be competitive.

Not to sell parts but to be competitive.

If you want a car you can beat on - drive a Pro2 if you can find one. If you want a car you can win with - drive any NEW generation car.

Speedie

The part number for the blades is u1918. You need the IRS bones with the pin cusions to use them tho. Just cut the plastic cusion off. I believe IRS also just sells the pins you could replace in the Associate Aluminum bones as well. The pin cushions work well but the blades spread the load out and are much easier on the plastic outdrive.

Paul_TC4

I know this has been asked before but when referring to #1 hold , # 2 , hole etc. on the shock towers, where are they places??

Meaning #1 is the outermost??

Coxy

Maybe you need to look at the track design not the car design.

Coxy.

Neil

I still don't think the plastic drive cups are strong enough. I run stock rubber. The drive cup was broken both times from a very light tap and no other parts around it were broken. And like I said before I never broke a drive cup on my TC3. I'm running on the same track same motor, tire and driver. I think they made a cheaper part to promote the hop up part. This is just my opinion.

Neil

RCknight

iTrader: (5)

and they never broke. Check out the arms on a Tamiya, they are the same size as the Pro 2's and it won the worlds.