You're very welcome! Hope the Kimbrough works for you. I use them too on other cars and trucks.

I know that HPI tool! I like it too. HPI ball joints are definitely nice. Easy to snap on without any tools unless just hard to reach.

Up to p6 today. Dogbones feel steel, not aluminum. Even got rust on my fingers while putting together the CVD joint.

I had the Yeah tool for the ball joints, didn't like it, too soft a plastic IMO.

I use a needle nose pliers with round jaws, the tips fit nicely under the ball cup and you just let them open naturally as you prize the joint apart, no damage done to either surface.

Huh, thanks for the tip. I will give this a shot at well. I always thought the Tamiya ball joints were pretty hard to take apart and for the most part, been using a flat smooth jaw Xcelite plier to turn the ball cup to remove. But I need to be careful not to scrape the ball itself with the tool.

All good then. Can't recommend Tamiya's AW grease enough inside of these !

Attachment shows THE cleanest way to pop in open-type ball cups. To pop them out, just use the same technique but from the other side, with (say) a 6mm ID bearing covered by a wide shim. Through the bearing you will pull out the ball stud when tightening the screw.

That being said, the TOP ball joints are designed precisely to avoid having to pop them out, ever. Just use the 3mm hex in the ball.

Yes, I did fill the joint with AW grease.

It can use some shimming though between the 12mm hex wheel hub and the outer bearing. There's about a 0.8mm play. Will adjust at the end.

Thanks for the advise. I will just use the 3mm hex driver on my Sabre to disconnect.

BTW, I didn't know these used the 3mm. I had to go dig a wrench out from my garage and order one for my RC tool box. I just went with Wiha this time. I like the narrow handles of the Wiha as it doesn't take up much room in my tool box.

I don't know if this has ever been done before, but out of curiosity, I'd like to know or survey what types of tracks or venues, we all use or frequent. I'd like to know if you race at an indoor or outdoor track, asphalt, carpet or other, commercial or club. Also I'm curious about whether you race regularly or infrequently, how often you practice, and how many Tamiya Minis you have. Also include anything of interest.

I'll get this started. I run at a private track, Tamiya USA in Aliso Viejo. Race rarely now but practice 1X per week. It is outdoor, low grip asphalt. Please note that the Tamiya track, while technically private, is open to anyone with a Tamiya car. Presently have 3 M03s and 2 M05s.

I came to Minis from touring cars and have run Minis exclusively for the past 10 years. Used to race 2X per week and practice 2-3X per week. Skill level is Advanced/Expert according to Tamiya, but that's a very generous rating, although have qualified for the A Main at both the Regionals and Finals. I have also been the oldest TCS racer at the Finals for the last 7-10 years.

If you feel that this is too intrusive into your "privacy" it's simple, don't participate. This is not to offend anyone, but in this age of political correctness, it's a given that someone will be offended or outraged.

Up here is Edmonton we mostly run indoors Sept till the end of April. We have over 50 minis in the club. We run of 5 rolls of crc carpet. We have to setup and take down every race day so everyone gets practice and racing on the same night. In the summer we have a permanent outdoor track but we only have a hand full of guys bring minis out to it. The spec brushless motor we run feels really slow on a 120' straight.
My self I have been racing since 1982, mostly onroad (early years lots of dirt oval LOVE the CW Dominator) over the years. I love Touring car and really miss 10 pan. For mini's I have a M01, a M05 with ver2 chassis I installed, and a M06. I also have a Bezerk Rc 417 mini conversion kit I bought but haven't build yet. Iknow it's not a M-chasis but hey it's still a Tamiya.

Granpa
Team Golddust races both indoors and outdoors
In the winter time we run on carpet at various venues around the Tristate area
as far south as Maryland
During the warmer months we race outside
Our local Home Track is located right next to the beach which is asphalt with alot of blown sand around, the other tracks are just asphalt!


Next?

For me, I use to race every weekend 15+ years ago for fun, mostly outdoor parking lot races on concrete and asphalt surfaces a couple of local hobby shops held, some indoors races on Ozite material. I would run at least 3 different cars in different classes (modified, stock, m-chassis, and pancar where available), bring with me 20+ NiCd battery packs per event all charged and ready to go. I only peak charged at the track to top them off.
Actually, I still have these NiCds and they still work.

These days (after my 15yr break) I don't race anywhere due to schedule conflict, and just the overall approach to this hobby changed. I want to enjoy driving my cars just for the sake of driving them, and watching them go around my private track at home (surface is rubber liners) or nearby freshly paved parking lots. I like to have different flavors while driving.

Cars I have are listed in my signature. Basically my M-chassis all share the same 210mm wheel base, Rover Mini body, silver can, and kit ESC (TBLE02-S for those kits that do not come with a ESC) to keep them in the same playing field. I like comparing one chassis to another, tweaking them, tuning them, etc. just for fun. I could drive 5-8hrs a day on a weekend if I wanted to. Plenty of freedom at home.

I recently started playing with the Mini-Z and I enjoy driving them as well because they're like tiny pancars.

I managed to modify my 51000 to get me through Friday's racing. I basically filed down the plastic that the rings attach to so that the rings have closed a bit more and now no play.

I've had both shoulders repaired for instability by using a Bankart repair (open surgery method) my left in 2003 and my right in October 2014. I've had shoulder issues for years but this time, from the point of seeing the surgeon initially to him actually operating was 7 months. In the UK we have the NHS system so it's free.

Boons- Smart idea! Good job.

Sorry to hear about your shoulder surgery. Sounds painful just thinking about it...

That's probably what Tamiya should have done. As I said before, it's a flawed design, poorly executed. Sure is pretty tho.

Sorta like the M05. I remember when I first saw it. Just was impressed with it's low slung appearance and wow, we'll be able to have some good looking body shells. No servo sticking up in the air. Then I took it for it's first drive----This was with a very mildly tuned Silvercan. Came back to the pits after 1/2 lap at speed going WTF was that. JC, looks like we have a real project. It took months to get it sorted out and so far the M03 is still the better racer.

Thanx for the responses to my survey, but I sure would like to hear from some of the guys who aren't frequent posters.

Home track RC club:
Austin, TX Hobbytowns (North and South locations), temporary parking lot tracks. Longest running on-road race program in all of Texas. Year round racing.
North location: Deteriorating, rough asphalt with plenty of dips to keep things interesting. Generally good traction, but harsh on tires.
South location: Smooth asphalt with slight elevation changes. Great traction, but much depends on who's doing the spraying.

Layouts change weekly (setup in the morning, tear down late in the afternoon), but outer dimensions of the track are usually within 150 x 75 ft. (46 x 23 m for y'all who are in metric countries). Some layouts are tighter than others. Track is sprayed with grape soda (we've found this to be better than orange soda or root beer, actually).

Clip from the Texas Electric On-road Series (EOS) in 2013:

+ YouTube Video

Unfortunately, there isn't a big following Tamiya M-0x cars here in Texas and a TCS M-class won't fly in Austin, nor have I seen it at other clubs in Dallas or Houston. My son and I have raced ours just for fun in our "M12" class (27T silver can brushed, any M-scale chassis), but the Tamiyas just aren't competitive due to gearing. Our big straights kill us (GT8, nitro and 1/10 mod guys love it). I've been thinking about getting the 3Racing fast gear set, but that will only get us down to a 4.3 FDR.

I have raced my M-05 with the guys at Hotshot in Marietta, GA when they had the carpet layout. That was my first race with the little FWD car and I fell in love with the Tamiya M-cars. So unique and quirky, they're a breath of fresh air in a sea of carbon fiber touring cars.

As for Tamiya M-scale cars owned, we've got an M-01, M-03 and M-05. My son and I are content to doing laps in the street and in the house (against my wife's wishes, LOL) and just enjoy the Tamiyas for what they are. I race an ABC Genetic in our M12 class and an XRay T4 in our USGT class. Also, for VTA, I'm playing around with a TB-04... because it's unique and quirky.