Replacement for DF03

[Joe Boy]

Evening all, I’m after some advice on an upgrade for my sons DF03

as you may have seen I’ve been having problems with burning out motors, well I’ve had another one go today, racing in short grass, my sons DF03 got hot and started smoking, but the DT03 just kept on going fine, and I was driving a lot harder and faster. 
I would get another DT03 but my sons much prefers 4WD. So what would be an equivalent 4WD buggy to go with a DT03 and a replacement for a DF03?

it will be used on rough concrete, gravel yards, dirt and short grass

 

 

[Big Jon]

TD4 Super Avante or a Turbo Optima would be my choices.

Or, you could stab a Hobbywing Max10 3300kV combo in the DF-03.

[Joe Boy]

They are a bit pricey for me at the moment, what are peoples thoughts on the a TT02b chassis, either plasma edge or neo scorcher?

 

[BuggyGuy]

TT02B is ok but not great - not as nice to drive as the DF03

Edit: Terra Scorcher or Fire Dragon?

 

[Superluminal]

Ive always been slightly intrigued by one of these, especially for the price and the videos of them look like they run well;

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/product/437209

Absima AB3.4. 

There are a few hop ups for it too to strengthen key areas

[Jonathon Gillham]

The TT02B has very low ride height for a buggy. It handles great on concrete, but can struggle on grass unless you have the right tyres which can be kit tyres that are new. If you run the kit tyres on concrete the spikes wear down very fast and then it won't be any good on grass.

They run fine, but aren't great. They have a lot of rubbery plastic which means they dont break very often, but also means they aren't very precise. I have a couple which have had years of abuse with very few replacement parts, other than the rear diff. The rear diffs go but they are cheap enough to have spares. You can swap in the DF02 diff, or GPM make metal gears, but the stock ones run better despite needing replacement every few months.

I would look at a rerelease as a better buggy. The Thundershot chassis cars are sreadily available at the moment so would be my pick

[Wooders28]

Can only presume, the gearing is too tall the the terrain.

I'm slightly bias towards the DF03, I love mine, so I'd say go brushless in the DF03,  and run a smaller pinion (they are an '05 mod ' pinion ) 

Skyrc 9t with the Leopard V2. The ESC fits nicely in the tight chassis, and the motor has big cooling fins, although ,the if you've not done the rear diff mod, the stock weak rear diff may show its ugly head...

[Joe Boy]

Thanks for everyone’s input, I’ve had look through and tamiyas current range of 4WD buggies that are in my price range. They aren’t really doing it for me, and I do want to keep to Tamiya at the moment. 
I do like the DF03, so thinking I may upgrade it to brushless, perhaps the Hobbywing max 10 as suggested by Big Jon. Not to powerful though as it will be my sons go to car.

as Wooders28 suggested, I would also need to do the rear diff mod, and probably get a slipper as well, and now we are starting to get close to what I was willing to spend on a new car……

 

[TurnipJF]

I would say get a TT-02B and address its shortcomings. A set of full 2.2" buggy wheels and tyres can be bought cheaply enough to give you a bit more ground clearance, DT-02 or TB-01 diffs will sort the gearbox issue, and then you are sorted. There are plenty more upgrades that you can do if you wish, but these are the two that ought to get you to similar standards of performance and reliability to a DT-03.

[Kol__]

Can you recommend a set of wheels for the TT02B @TurnipJF mate? The car comes with the 60mm (2.3"?) Star Dish wheels in the box. My planned build of that car is still a way off yet, but would be good to get some other options, in particular if they will improve ride height!

[TurnipJF]

1 minute ago, Kol__ said:

Can you recommend a set of wheels for the TT02B @TurnipJF mate? The car comes with the 60mm (2.3"?) Star Dish wheels in the box. My planned build of that car is still a way off yet, but would be good to get some other options, in particular if they will improve ride height!

I run FTX Vantage wheels and tyres on mine.

The rear wheels are slightly thicker at the hubs than the standard Tamiya ones, so I found that I needed to run 5mm hexes at the back instead of the stock 6mm ones in order to have enough axle protruding to get the wheel nut on all the way, but other than that they are a direct fit.

They handle this sort of grass with ease, and can manage longer grass too.

They come neatly pre-glued with foams, they grip well on a variety of surfaces, they are quite robust and they give a few extra mm of ground clearance that seems to make all the difference. I rate them quite highly - all but two of my 4WD buggies are now running them.

[Wooders28]

10 hours ago, Joe Boy said:

as Wooders28 suggested, I would also need to do the rear diff mod, and probably get a slipper as well, and now we are starting to get close to what I was willing to spend on a new car……

Welcome to RC ownership! 🤣🤣

The rear diff mod isn't that expensive , the slipper seems to have creeped up in price though, but hopefully RC Mart have them back in stock soon (although, it was a few months delivery to the UK last time I ordered parts)

 

https://www.rcmart.com/tamiya-df-03-slipper-clutch-set-53925-00019794