DeadMeat666

Can someone explain aluminum suspension arms to me? They seem to be a very popular item as I see them on sale everywhere, but I don't see how putting heavier, more brittle suspension components on an RC car can be a benefit.

Any NiMh batteries that have the same plug type as your esc would be the easiest to go for, since the Lunch Box has an oval compartment.

If it's an original Lunch Box, it probably has a manual speed controller, or MSC. I don't personally think it's worth fixing it. Most people who still run those do so for nostalgic reasons, and not because they're any good. Hobbywing 1060s are known for having a lot of cheap knockoffs, so it seems like you may have received one of those. I'd stick to well-known vendors if I was to buy things from eBay, especially common items like the 1060. ESCs in general tend to be slower in reverse than they are going forwards; it's designed that way. About the steering, it sounds like your steering servo may be giving up, or your steering linkage is in bad shape. A picture would really help here. A video clip would help even more.

I admire your desire to stick to Tamiya-branded equipment, but afaik most of us stop short of getting Finespec tx/rx's (because they're hard to find), and Tamiya servos (because frankly they're not very good value for money). I for one have the Futaba 3PV, and while it's a quality piece of kit, I am somewhat regretting it specifically because their receivers are so expensive (I already bought 9 receivers - ouch). Also I've personally found a really strange bug in my 3PV; it doesn't seem to want to 'remember' its memory settings. Every time I turn it on it seems to have forgotten some of the model bindings (it has 10-model memory) I had programmed. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong, not sure. If I had to do it all again I'd probably get a Flysky set, or perhaps a Radiolink set. Hope that helped. Edit: Here it is next to my TT02-S chassis (because pictures are nice ):

Without going into too much detail... While I see the appeal of having a dynamic list of Tamiya RCs that are currently in production and widely available, there are at least two things to consider: 1. The only way I see such a resource being effective and remaining up to date is to automate it, using services (kind of like bots) that check availability of models online and aggregating this data to show some sort of availability 'score', which is possible, but would need some technical skill. Then updating it would only mean adding/removing online stores as they appear or disappear (which probably happens every six months or so), which is a lot more manageable than adding/removing individual models on a daily basis. 2. While that takes care of availability, I'm afraid trying to determine what's currently in production will be a lot harder, as Tamiya is not known for divulging this kind of data. I'm sure there's more to it than this, and I'd be interested to hear other perspectives as well.

I have recommended SkyRC brushless setups in recent history, so I wholeheartedly agree with your recommendation. I myself have been running a SkyRC Cheetah BL system (a 'true' 540 can at 13.5T) to death on my TT02B Monsterized buggy, putting it through heck (ahem) literally, in sandy/dusty conditions and 45 degree heat (that's Celcius btw). No issues whatsoever.

So to sum it up you're too far invested into brushed for brushless to make sense economically. That seems logical enough. I'm firmly of the camp that brushless is a good CHOICE these days, but not necessarily a good UPGRADE if you're already running a brushed system that you're happy with. I know this is a blanket statement, but I think it covers most of the bases?

No no, the servo is installed the right way around, he just needs to replace the P2 servo horn with the D10 part instead.

There is a special ball-cup removal tool you could get, but if you don't want to buy a tool right now: I notice this is a TT02, so the shock tower should be easy to remove without having to disassemble the rest of the chassis. Just unscrew the shock tower and twist the shocks loose, should take only a minute.

That's the thing. The Boomerang has equal length dogbones front to back, while the Hotshot/SHS rere does not; the front dogbones are around 1mm shorter, and that's making all the difference. This is with the new front hubs that are provided with the rere's if anyone is asking, not the old Hotshot hubs.

Which re-re though?

The cup is facing the other way because you made it that way. Just unscrew the ball cup 180 degrees until it faces the right way, and push it on. Also I agree with @sosidge, I have 2 TT02s and I have not used this servo arm; there must be another one in the box that's the right one.

Took apart the Super Hotshot this evening, even though it was almost done. I had to replace some screws, and more importantly install the MIP diff set:

@Mechanic AH he couldn't have said it better. It was one of your build videos that is entirely responsible for my recent purchase of a Kyosho. In light of this, please prepare a 300 word justification I can share with my wife so she doesn't throw me out of the house when I walk in with yet another kit in a week or so.

Very interesting topic; I've often thought about it myself. Having had RC cars as a kid in the 90's, I definitely have a nostalgic attachment to brushed motors, and it is somewhat evident from my collection. Mind you I've been back in the hobby for no more than 15 months or so, after a 25 year hiatus. With that in mind, and also considering I barely get a chance to actually RUN my cars (haha), here are the motors currently in my possession/in the mail (and not counting silvercans/torque tuneds that came with kits): Brushed: 2x Tamiya SS BZ (one in the DF03-never run, and one in box) 2x Tamiya SS RZ (one in the Super Hotshot, and one in box) Tamiya SS TZ (in the M06) 3x Tamiya Sport Tuned (Lunchbox, M07, M08) Tamiya Dyna Run Super Touring (in the mail) Tamiya Acto Power Formula (in the mail) Traxxas Titan 12T 550 (I wanted to put it in the Lunchbox, didn't fit) Reedy Radon 19T (in box) Brushless: Hobbywing Quickrun 4000kV Sensorless (XV01) Hobbywing EZrun 10.5T Sensored (TT02S) SkyRC Cheetah 13.5T Sensored (TT02B Monster) SkyRC Ares 13.5T Sensored (TB04R) Hobbystar V2 13.5T Sensored (in the mail) Hobbystar 3100kV Sensorless (in box) Logically I should've just stuck with brushless, since I just started, but I have this irrational attachment to brushed motors.