TA02SW tuning tips and help

[smirk-racing 253]

Hi All,

I am hoping to benefit from your vast experience and get some tips on how to tune my TA02SW.

Thanks to some other TC members ( like @El Gecko, @alvinlwh, @dmelczer ) I've more or less got the motor sorted out (a Tamiya Super Stock motor seems to be fast enough for now).

So, it is time to tune the chassis a bit more. What I'd like is sharper cornering at speed. The car already turns quite well at low speed, but at high speed, it understeers terribly, and only by letting off the throttle can I get any real steering at all. When I do let off the throttle, the rear end whips around rather quickly (which is good, I suppose).

Any tips for getting better high-speed turning?

Thanks!

[Superluminal 3750]

I would start experimenting with the front diff, if you are using the kit standard gear diff you could try packing it with anti wear grease or fitting a front one way bearing /spool if you can find one. This should provide much more front end grip while under power.

[smirk-racing 253]

Thanks @Superluminal! Much appreciated. I can look into tightening up the action in the front diff - maybe even a small ball of the diff putty Tamiya provides for some off-roaders.

 

What does a front- one-way bearing do? I thought it would remove the front diff from braking, but leave the front diff as is for acceleration... maybe I have that wrong? Not sure how it would improve on-power steering.

[ThunderDragonCy 7878]

@smirk-racing The front one way will exacerbate the throttle understeer/off throttle rotation.

It sounds counter intuitive, but I would look at the rear shocks. When the chassis is sitting on a flat surface with a battery on board, check the ride heights front and rear (if you don't have a ride height tool, just use something like blocks of lego you can slide in and out). Firstly get the rear same as or a little lower than the front. Now that is set, gently lift the rear and keep adding then lego bricks (or whatever you are using to measure) until the rear suspension fully extends but the tyres are juuuuuust touching the ground. If this is more than 4-5mm more than your ride height, you have too much droop rear (which is what I suspect this is), so when you brake, the rear suspension can extend a lot and you get too much weight transfer to the front. The only way to short this on a ta02 is to pull the shocks apart and add an o ring under the piston. 

For the on throttle understeer, try stiffer rear springs than front.