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Effigy3

DT-02 racing noob at your service

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It's abundantly clear to me that the Grasshopper and Frog I just bought last month for bashing are ill suited to run at my local track, let alone at the "big" track down the way. To rectify this (much to my wife's chagrin) I've ordered up a DT-02 Desert Gator for my son. I'll run with the Frog for now but his Grasshopper needs to stay a basher. I'm going to pair the Desert Gator with a Futaba 3PRKA and an S3003 steering servo. I'll use the Tamiya TBLM-02S ESC in conjunction with the silver can 540 for starters. As his skills improve I'll move him up to a Dirt Tuned motor. I've read as much as I can on racing the DT-02 chasis in an effort to avoid making mistakes. My main goal at the moment is maximum durability. Spending time in the pits instead of on the track is well... the pits. The following is the list of hop-ups I've purchased to help make the car as durable as possible.

  • ITEM# 53942 RC Hard Turnbuckle Shaft Set - DF-03 3x42mm (2pcs)
  • ITEM# 53943 RC Hard Turnbuckle Shaft Set - DF-02/DF-03 3x46mm (2pcs)

I've read that it's important to have adjustable turnbuckles and I wanted to get rugged ones to avoid breakage as much as possible.

  • ITEM# 54395 RC 22mm Low Friction Sus Shaft - 4pcs

  • ITEM# 53301 RC TL01 Suspension Shaft Set - Stainless Steel

  • ITEM# 53539 RC 5.5 Aluminum Spacer

I've read that the suspension screws like to back out requiring frequent retightening and eventual stripping of the plastic. I did see in Evoman's tutorial that I could use woodglue to alleviate that problem but using suspension shafts as per the guide posted by "RCRacerman" in his article Tamiya DT02 Guide, Mods tuning and tips for club racing review on RC Racer.com seems to be a more elegant solution.

  • ITEM# 53831 RC DT-02 Alum Motor Heat Sink

We'll be driving these in Texas after all so heat is a concern for me. I know the motors can get hot simply due to the fact that the motor is mostly encased on the DT-02 but I do like the added protection such covering provides, especially considering this will be driven my by 8 year old son, so the heat sink seemed like the most prudent solution.

  • ITEM# 54431 RC DT02 Carbon Damper Stay - Front

  • ITEM# 54432 RC DT02 Carbon Damper Stay - Rear

I read the front suspension stays in particular are a weak point so reinforcing them as much as possible was tops on my list.

  • ITEM# 54628 RC 08 Module Steel Pinion Gear - 17T

  • ITEM# 54629 RC 08 Module Steel Pinion Gear - 19T

We all know how poor alloy pinions are, especially under race conditions so IMHO steel pinons were an absolute necessity.

  • ITEM# 53445 RC Silicone Damper Oil - Hard (#800, #900, #1000)

I've read that the kit included soft "yellow" damper oil was inadequate for race purposes so I bought a pack of the hard damper oil. I'm wondering if I should also pick up a pack of the medium as well?

  • AKA Handlebar STD front and rear tires (clay compound)

Man, both the 'hopper (standard tires) and the Frog (FAV tires) slide all over the place on the track. It's sun pounded clay and is wicked slick when dry. They do water the track down before races though which is why I didn't go with the LTD variety tire.

Normally I'd ball race the entire rig but I understand that the Desert Gator, Sand Viper, and Neo Falcon DT-02 variants all come with full ball bearings in the kit. Thumbs up for that. So what am I missing? What parts should I stock up on because they are prone to failing? It's going to take a week+ for the front axels for my Frog to arrive because I got lucky and a shop in California had them. I'd prefer to have parts on hand if possible. Because I'm finding a lot of Tamiya parts and hop ups have to come from Japan or Hong Kong.

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For the DT-02 I'd recommend a set of GPM DT-03 alloy front C hubs and rear hubs available from AsiaTees and other internet shops, they come in Silver, Blue and Green ... these are new for the DT-03 but fit the DT-02 perfectly and will increase the endurance of the chassis... there is also an alloy chassis brace available but is getting harder to find, I have that on my main hopped up up chassis.

I'm a huge fan of the DT-02 and now have 3 versions of this chassis. I always carry a few A arms front and rear, upper and lower, front bulkhead and shock towers.. I've never really broken much to be honest but it's nice to have them :) I also ave a couple of spur gears and a set of diffs in my spares box. And of course screws, I have a full set of spare screws...

K

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Might be worth double-checking the bearing situation. My Desert Gator came with bearings for the wheels but bushings for the gearbox. Possibly a regional variation, but still...

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For the DT-02 I'd recommend a set of GPM DT-03 alloy front C hubs and rear hubs available from AsiaTees and other internet shops, they come in Silver, Blue and Green ... these are new for the DT-03 but fit the DT-02 perfectly and will increase the endurance of the chassis... there is also an alloy chassis brace available but is getting harder to find, I have that on my main hopped up up chassis.

I'm a huge fan of the DT-02 and now have 3 versions of this chassis. I always carry a few A arms front and rear, upper and lower, front bulkhead and shock towers.. I've never really broken much to be honest but it's nice to have them :) I also ave a couple of spur gears and a set of diffs in my spares box. And of course screws, I have a full set of spare screws...

K

Thanks Kaylon. Any chance you could give me some Tamiya part numbers? I'm dsylexic and have to copy/paste all the names/ numbers to make sure I'm getting the right stuff. :huh:

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Might be worth double-checking the bearing situation. My Desert Gator came with bearings for the wheels but bushings for the gearbox. Possibly a regional variation, but still...

Spot on XV Pilot. The Grasshopper was advertised as having an ESC included but the one I purchased didn't have one. When I asked the vendor about they said that an ESC wasn't included and that the description was wrong. :blink: Not a bad idea to order up a set of bearings just to be on the safe side.

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I've added a direct link on the AsiaTees text .. that will help :) ... Front C hubs and rear Knuckles ...

DT3022B and DT3019S

K

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I would recommend the hop-up spring set. The red soft ones work well with the CVAs.

Edit: Carson wheels with glued tyres work well for multi surfaces as well

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I've added a direct link on the AsiaTees text .. that will help :) ... Front C hubs and rear Knuckles ...

DT3022B and DT3019S

K

Beauty! Found 'em. Thanks! They're on the list.

04.01.2015-15.21.png

04.01.2015-15.20.png

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ball diff really helps with it to stop power wheels and get the power down

From what I've read, the ball diff is more fragile than the gears so I plan on using diff putty to firm it up. Hopefully this will be a good compromise between durability and effectiveness. I can always add a ball diff in the future if this plan is a fail.

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From what I've read, the ball diff is more fragile than the gears so I plan on using diff putty to firm it up. Hopefully this will be a good compromise between durability and effectiveness. I can always add a ball diff in the future if this plan is a fail.

I did not get on with the ball diff because I have not got a clue what I am doing with them. I did add Tamiya diff putty, it gives a very strong limited slip effect.

tamiya-42247-rc-gear-differential-putty.

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the 3 racing ball diff is toffee but the tamiya unit is bomb proof been running in mine for over 2 years with minimal maintenance

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Now that the car is built, I'm wondering about suspension tuning. There is currently zero degrees of toe in. Not sure what the camber is front or back but I set the turnbuckels to the lengths specificed in the manual. Dampers are built with yellow oil front and back. Front is fitted with stock silver springs and I put the hop-up blue hard springs on the rear because the droop seemed excessive. Sitting on a table top the gearbox was lower than the suspension arms creating a subtle "V" shape. I was afraid it was going to bottom out all the time. Now with the blue springs the suspension arms are perfectly parallel with the table top.

So how much droop should there be?

Also, I know what stiffer damper springs do but what effect does heavier oil have? How will I know if I need to go harder than yellow?

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I think I may have answered my own questions except for the one about droop after finding this article.

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How much droop you want depends on how much ground clearance you need. If there is no issue with ground clearance, I'd say please adjust your car (fully loaded with battery, body and other electronics) so that the suspension arms are in parallel with the ground, just as you did. This means that the driveshafts will be parallel too, which means less friction in the drivetrain.

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Sweet. Thanks GregM. Glad to see my instincts were good.

We were really hoping to get some track time in this weekend but that doesn't look like it's going to happen:

05.06.2015-07.58.png

There is an indoor track a bit farther away but I don't think they're open every weekend. They have a large 1/8th scale track that I think is their main focus. We shall see...

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We took the DT-02, Grasshopper and Frog to the track today. It was pretty soft due to all the rain we've been getting but the kids had a blast anyway and so did I. Here are a few pics of them in action.

05.09.2015-21.38.png

Dt-02 piloted by my son:

05.09.2015-21.41.png

05.09.2015-21.43.png

Grasshopper piloted by my daughter. Considering it's a Grasshopper she did quite well!

05.09.2015-21.45.png

05.09.2015-21.47.png

The bump steer caused her to go into the barriers more than once. She stopped driving sooner than he did saying the car wasn't going where she wanted. I thought is was just normal Grasshopper-ness on a track but when I was cleaning them up at home I think I may have found what the problem was with her car. Think this might cause a problem with steering?

05.09.2015-21.49.png

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Not much of a video here. I was too busy marshalling to record. :P

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Aye, the bent arms would explain a lot.

You could reinforce them by getting hold of some thin alloy tubing with an internal diameter to match the rods, and sliding that over them, leaving the rod ends exposed, and securing the tubing with a small dab of silicone. This gives a bit of extra stiffness to help them withstand minor collisions, while still letting the rods bend in a serious impact, protecting the plastic components.

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It may be time to buy your daughter a new buggy... DT-03?

Dorvack.

I agree, the Grasshopper isn't going to cut it for her which is why I bought her a TT-02B PINK Neo Scorcher for her birthday which is 3 weeks away. I also opted for the Spektrum system with AVC to help her keep it on track. She likely won't race but if she surprises me and wants to, I can put it into "Blinky" mode for racing. It was VERY hard not to show her the kit yesterday when we got home from the track because she was going on and on about how much she'd like her own car.

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That's going to be an exciting reveal then - make sure you record it for memories :)

I recently invested in a DT02 attracted by the low kit cost and potential fun. It's one of my favourite runners now!

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We spent the morning at the track today. I still didn't get to run my Cougar SV2 as my eldest stripped another servo horn and the Cougar had to donate the alloy one to the Hyper H2 Pro to keep it running. I ran my Egress for a bit but it's got a problem with rolling over I'm not sure how to cure (adjusted preload, dialed in some more camber, shaved the outer row of knobs off the tyres and changed the rear damper pistons for 2 holes to slow down the action as it feels over sprung and it still did it) but then out came the Neo Scorcher with the Schumi mini spikes all round and it put in a real shift and took a battering, it wasn't that fast with the 13.5T but quick enough and with massive pickup it could clear the tabletop and land on the down ramp and also clear the triple too. I need some more hours practice but it's starting to come together now.

My 9 year old is making real progress once the servo horn was sorted he put in lots of laps and is getting smoother with far less crashes, I think he was pleased with himself. His car is great too and I borrowed some of the setup from oople and some from another users review to set it up so it drives really well so it really helps out. I had complaints today that it wouldn't go and then just accelerate hard, not sure if this is down to the motor or ESC or both, but I was already going to order a new ESC and brushless setup for his basher (converting it from Nitro) so I decided to order a 60amp XCar ESC and 8.5T Trackstar motor so he has the same setup as my Cougar (which will make gearing easier).

My younger boy has the loan of the father in laws RB6 Ultima until his birthday and he spent all morning driving this and once the slipper clutch was sorted he got on OK too, he hasn't made the strides his older brother has but he's getting there.

They both prefer being at the track to just bashing too and it shows by the attention span, they will keep running for 10 minutes, have a break and then go out again where bashing they are bored after 15 minutes.

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That's going to be an exciting reveal then - make sure you record it for memories :)

I recently invested in a DT02 attracted by the low kit cost and potential fun. It's one of my favourite runners now!

I'm quite impressed with how well this buggy runs. It tracks well, especially over the bumpy bits. Here's the weird thing: I love how it sounds when on hard throttle down the straights. It's not like I've never heard a Sport Tuned motor before. I use it most of my builds. But this thing sounds really awesome!

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We went to the track again today. The kids were so excited, they wanted to show mom the track. I was OK with that plan since it wasn't just a dogbone that my son lost on my Frog yesterday. One of the outdrives popped out too. I don't know what he did to my car while I was changing his battery back in the pits but man, that Frog didn't last very long. I swear it's made of papier-mâché! I'm going to have to take a peek at the DT-02 gearbox. It sounded odd after the first pack went through. My wife put a little time in with both the Grasshopper and the Desert Gator. She definitely prefers the Gator but who wouldn't? Well me. I have a soft spot for that old buggy. :rolleyes:

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It's a really good thread this one and I'm following it with interest, thank you for taking time to add to it and update it.

I took my DT02 out for the 1st time last week for 2 battery packs and as much as I don't want to say it the Holiday Buggy was more fun than my beloved Sand Scorcher and a whole lot more robust.

Interestingly though....3 of the long black screws that hold the suspension arms in place had started to work their way loose, the front one is a pain as you have to remove the front bumper and quite a few screws that fix into the plastic, this does not bode well long term.

I'm going to uprate my springs, shocks and pinion for now and then have this as my go to the woods and have some fun runner.

I think the only thing it lacks is 4WD and I guess this is a good reason to upgrade to a Neo Scorcher.

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