Originally Posted by Dog Bone

For whatever reason (bad driving, bad luck, agressive driving, etc), I had a lot of breakage issues with the TC, TCX, and the TCXX. There were two issues that I found:

1. The front axles protruded slightly beyond the wheel rims, so if you were too close to the boards you could snag an axle. Generally speaking, one or more of three things could break: the arm, the c-hub, or the steering knuckle. Shaving down the axel a bit reduces this risk, but also increases the difficulty in shimming the front end wider (as a tuning option). This worked, but didn't completely solve my issue.

2. The rigidity of the arm mounting system. Unlike the Associated and XRay cars (and others, I'm sure), the blocks on the TC* cars are mounted directly to the chassis. This makes the suspension very unforgiving to hits - plastic will break before aluminum will, so when you have an on-corner impact, the arms will take most of the force, and break. This gets expensive after a while.

I finally decided to solve this issue. A friend at the track had an RP bumper for his Tamiya that protected the front of the car with a rigid barrier in addition to the foam bumper. I constructed the same thing for my TCXX's - since I've made these bumpers, I've had one failure (and it was with an already-cracked arm).

I've attached a picture of what I've made. They're constructed from PVC (which means they're flexible up/down, but very rigid front-back. They protect the front wheels and arms, and only add 15g of weight to the front of the car.

If there's enough interest, I may decide to start making these. I haven't determined a price, but when you consider that a set of arms is $10, if this bumper saves one or two arms, it's paid for itself.

If you're a consistent A-Main driver, then these are not for you - they do add a bit of weight past the front axle, and they do look a bit goofy. However, if you experience breakage every now and then, it may be worth aquiring one of these, or even making your own.

Any help to protect the breakable parts on this car are well worth it, especially considering the current parts supply issues.

Originally Posted by ShaunMac

Part of the fuss may come from not being able to find replacement parts as easy as it is with some of the other brands. Basic spares like arms, cups, blocks and hubs seem to be very limited in availability. They are "on order" or "out of stock" at most the shops I checked with today.

It sucks to break parts on any car. But do it on one that takes weeks to locate spares and it takes things to a whole nutha' level. lol

Originally Posted by ShaunMac

We used to joke around that when team drivers Hara and Moore would use Tamiya parts on their cars it wasn't because they were tuning. It was because even they couldn't find HB parts! lol

Maybe we'll see some improvement soon with Hobbico/GP in the US.

Originally Posted by CoCoLapin

Hi, i am gonna run the TCXX and i have some question about differents chassis. Here in France, 3 guys run the car in nationals and all use the optional top deck and chassis plate with no cut. They said it is much better than the std one. So what the pourpose of std chassis plate? Beside Roche realised optionals chassis plate and top deck, are they as good as the HB official? Roche part is half the price and look way easier to obtain. Thx

Originally Posted by ShaunMac

We used to joke around that when team drivers Hara and Moore would use Tamiya parts on their cars it wasn't because they were tuning. It was because even they couldn't find HB parts! lol

Maybe we'll see some improvement soon with Hobbico/GP in the US.

Originally Posted by STLNLST

Sad to say that the only sure thing in the states seem to be AE and Losi Parts was the reason many of us out here put the car down. Excellent car though. I hope they get it together someday. I'll be running one at the Reedy and will try to put it in the show.

Originally Posted by Fred Hubbard

Parts support has been 100% better with the TCXX compared to the TCX. At the inception of the TCX I was receiving support from another manufacturer and I remember how bad it was for drivers to try and get product for the TCX. I believe what you all are not fairly considering is that there has been a shift in where distributors and shops have to order product from. Also keep in mind that we can't force shops to order product, so to think that a shop is always trying to order our product to no avail isn't always true. Shops order based upon what they deem to be popular and profitable.

Originally Posted by mxgregg

I understand But we can't get parts from HB either. I have been able to get most parts just have to search a little and use parts from earlier HPI models. On another note can you help me out with the option springs? They come in different lengths and wire size. Do the front and rear take different spring lengths? I'm trying to figure out what are softer springs and what are stiffer. This is what I bought:

HPI Shock Spring 14x25x1.5mm 6 Coils
HPI Shock Spring 14x25x1.5mm 6.25 Coils
HPI Shock Spring 14x25x1.4mm 6 Coils
HPI Shock Spring 14x25x1.5mm 6.5 Coils

Originally Posted by Fred Hubbard

Parts support has been 100% better with the TCXX compared to the TCX. At the inception of the TCX I was receiving support from another manufacturer and I remember how bad it was for drivers to try and get product for the TCX. I believe what you all are not fairly considering is that there has been a shift in where distributors and shops have to order product from. Also keep in mind that we can't force shops to order product, so to think that a shop is always trying to order our product to no avail isn't always true. Shops order based upon what they deem to be popular and profitable.

Originally Posted by Fred Hubbard

Parts support has been 100% better with the TCXX compared to the TCX. At the inception of the TCX I was receiving support from another manufacturer and I remember how bad it was for drivers to try and get product for the TCX. I believe what you all are not fairly considering is that there has been a shift in where distributors and shops have to order product from. Also keep in mind that we can't force shops to order product, so to think that a shop is always trying to order our product to no avail isn't always true. Shops order based upon what they deem to be popular and profitable.

Originally Posted by Fred Hubbard

Parts support has been 100% better with the TCXX compared to the TCX. At the inception of the TCX I was receiving support from another manufacturer and I remember how bad it was for drivers to try and get product for the TCX. I believe what you all are not fairly considering is that there has been a shift in where distributors and shops have to order product from. Also keep in mind that we can't force shops to order product, so to think that a shop is always trying to order our product to no avail isn't always true. Shops order based upon what they deem to be popular and profitable.

Originally Posted by Ophidian

Even before GP took over the parts were hard to find. I used all my resources to try to dig up c-hubs and a-arms for 3 months to no avail. So to try and put the blame on the hobby shop is wrong. I know parts availability will get better but thats months down the road.