SidewaysLS4

DB01 diffs are very strong, at least with ceramic diff balls. I'm running a Medusa 4 pole motor on 3S with 3.875" diameter tires in my DB01, and the diff never breaks. Belts and pulleys on the other hand....

I improved my Hummer by turning it into a DF03RA Hummer, lol. I had some issues with the TA01-02 chassis, so I got rid of it

My solution to heavy rear weight bias tailhappyness...Some lead weight to balance the chassis 50/50 F/R. Works well, and added steering is a plus also. (DF03ra/Humvee conversion)

DB-01 works pretty well as a speed machine.... 3S/Medusa/MM

300hp V-8 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS

I ordered a MM and a lipo today, shipped today, tracking number emailed to me. Seems B-P-P new ownership is working well, and you cant beat the prices and a 'new ownership' 10% discount in addition to those low prices. MM's super-cheap, get 'em while they're hot, lol.

39mm is dogbone drive pin to drive pin

Seems new owners are in place. Story goes the old owner had some personal issues, but the new owner is working to make b-p-p good again. I've been thinking of that very cheap Mamba Max actually, 3S would keep the amps down in my speed car...hmmm. Maybe it is safe again from what I've been reading.

Wow! Looks good in black, nice work!

Good to hear that it worked out for you! I almost got burned similarly if it wasnt I think for ordering on my credit card vs. paypal (easier to do a chargeback). BPP was/is good for cheap prices, maybe now that they are turning legitimate, it might be the go-to place for cheap Castle stuff.

Regarding the steering, slop areas are the lower kingpins, and the steering arms/posts/bushings/drag link. Also the wheel axle, so 5mm shims are in order. Once you tighten up the lower kingpin (I used a greased thread-through Tamiya 5mm ballstud and a 3x12mm screw), the added drag will show just how loose the steering arms are with the stock bushings. The steering arm posts will also be flexing due to them being mounted to soft plastic. Also, the servo-driven steering arm which connects to the drag link has a large-clearance bushing setup as well (Tamiya thread-through 5mm ballstud works here as well to fix that). I found that GPM steering arms have a pretty good sizing for holding 850 ball bearings slop-free, and the GPM aluminum front suspension mount takes care of the steering post flex issue. Overall, the drag of using ballstuds is not too bad, I have a 87in/oz torque digital servo which runs the steering nicely with these mods, a Tamiya high-torque servo saver works well also. Squeezing the ballcups in some pliers before popping them on also helps. I'm fairly impressed how well the DF steering can be made to work with some precision.

Very, very nice! All the chassis parts I want to get for my RA hybrid...but first seeing what I'll break, lol. Speed cars are fun, eh? The DF03 does make for a good speed car, very nice steering can be had with just a few mods to tighten it up. Are you going to put a gyro in it for unexpected bumps and jumps?

Here's a few photos of my DF03RA Humvee project. This vehicle (what's left of it, lol) started out as an XB Hummer which reintroduced me to RC after a long hiatus stretching back from the Grasshopper days. Initially I was fairly impressed, but then as this hobby snowballed, it was no longer impressive. After mucking about with converting the origional TAxx chassis to TA02 suspension spec (more travel as the wheels would clear the body with those arms), it still had atrocious steering due to the design limitations, and had rather poor handling with the brushless power I had in it. So then Tamiya comes out with the DF03RA...Rally style chassis, and after a bit of research, I jumped in and converted it so that it could function with a ~280mm wheelbase so my Humvee would have a decent chassis to ride upon. I am quite impressed how this turned out. Nice solid slop free steering, no more strange suspension geometery, and much better handling. On to the photos: The back end with new suspension components to get ~280mm wheelbase. TA02 arms and uprights, TB02 dogbones, and some shocks which origionally resided on the front of my Durga. I cobbled together some ~26mm long upper suspension links as well. Since the chassis turned out so well, I got some GPM alloy TA02 arms to get rid of the super flexy stock TA02 arms. As the wheels no longer get caught on the body as on the standard TA style chassis, much more suspension travel can be had. Mashed down: Regular ride height: There is also some good upward travel available when the suspension is unloaded. I was able to get some nice slop free steering out of the DF chassis. GPM lower gearbox (no more steering post flex), GPM steering arms with 850 ball bearings, drag link attachment modified with a 5mm ballstud instead of the sloppy bushing, and lower kingpins also replaced with 5mm ballstuds getting rid of that sloppy bushing setup. Tamiya high torque servo saver added for good measure along with various shims as needed. I really like the way the steering turned out. And some more random photos of the final result:

I'm wrapping up my DF-03RA Hummer project, and since the thing came together so nicely, I'm thinking of getting a spare set of wheels with some real rubber on them...using some DF03 rims to get the 2.2 size on the 12mm hex and some Schumacher Menace GTR front tires all around for those 'performance' driving situations (keeping the Humvee wheels and tires for when I want the scale appearance back). I dont know if the DF03 rims have the same offset as the Humvee rims and the various 1.9 Tamiya rims...so can someone fill me in? TIA!

The wheel axles should be ok, seems the TA04 has the same bearing to bearing spacing (for standard Tamiya wheel axle) from what I researched cobbling up my monsters.