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TT01E truck race prep

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Just bought myself a TT01E racing truck to race at my local club. Currently racing my TT02 and my mardave mini, but the TT class seems to be quiet. The truck class  is popular and looks like great fun with some close racing. Also would like to race at the iconic cup next year which means I would need to use a TT01 as my TT02 is too new. 
I had been watching a few trucks on eBay and checking marketplace for ready built trucks as didn’t want to spend a fortune on the kit and paint for the body. Also want to get it racing as quickly as I can. Although I would quite like a go at doing a non box art body at some point. 
Ended up with this MAN truck, it was listed as being built but never used. Came ready to run but without a servo or receiver. 
In the class I will run it in it has to remain fairly stock for close racing but there are a few hop ups allowed. 
At the moment I’ve stripped it down to see what it will need and it does look like it’s never been used. So far I’ve changed the esc connector to a deans and shortened the motor wiring to make it tidier. Also changed the pinion from a 19t to a 23t as it’s allowed in the rules and I already had a spare.  
My list of parts needed are:

• Servo (ordered)

• Bearing kit

• Alloy driveshaft

• Oil shocks

• Tyre foams
• Adjustable turnbuckles

If anyone has any tips on how to set the trucks up for racing let me know 👍🏻 Also size and best shocks for it would be great. 

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The strip down begins. 
My tyre foams turned up first, I ordered medium fronts and rears as recommended by racers at my local club. The foams looked huge when they turned up and I had to check I had ordered the right ones! The did fit in nicely though and glued the tyres to the rims. 

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The ball bearing kit turned up next so stripped the chassis completely down. One thing I did notice is compared to the TT02 chassis it is more fiddly getting to the diffs and you have to strip more down. As stock chassis sets I would say the TT01E has less slop in the steering and suspension components though. While I had it apart I also cleaned out the front diff and filled it with 1 million silicone oil as I have done in my race TT02 (rules allow any grease/fluid but no locked diffs). I also removed the ribs in the battery tray with a dreamer and file so I can use lipo’s when I race it as a car not a truck (truck rules are nimhs only). 
I also shimmed the driveshafts as the go through the hub bearings as they had quite a bit of play. Waiting on some more shims to do the arms next. 
Next job is to fit the servo when it turns up and get some oil shocks then it should be ready to race! 

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Great build! Ive seen foams mentioned for these tyres before but was curious as to what they would be due to the massive siidewall height, buggy foams!!!

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1 hour ago, Superluminal said:

Great build! Ive seen foams mentioned for these tyres before but was curious as to what they would be due to the massive siidewall height, buggy foams!!!

To be honest I hadn’t even thought about the foams until one of the racers said these are the ones he uses! Really didn’t think those were going to fit inside the tyres but they went in easily and there’s still a lot of squash in the tyre. 

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I’m still waiting on my servo and oil shocks for the truck but could run the truck at Aylesbury last Friday so borrowed the servo and cvd oil shocks out of my TT02D and fitted them. Also tidied up the wiring by shortening the motor cables and soldering them directly to the motor. The truck was ready to race but at the last minute I couldn’t make the Friday nights race so had to miss out. Hoping to race it next Friday though so will see how it runs. If my new servo and shocks turn up in time I will swap them over. 

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Had a free evening tonight and had a couple of charged batteries so thought I would take the truck for a shakedown run. Found some smooth freshly laid tarmac in a carpark near me so took the truck for a run. Set up the steering trim and end points and have to say I was really impressed with how it drives. Out of the box I would say it handles much better than my TT02 did when that was box stock! Felt pretty quick too considering it’s on the stock torque tuned motor just with a different pinion. Really looking forward to racing it now and just hope it feels like it does on the tarmac on the carpet. 

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Still haven’t made my racing debut with the truck yet as haven’t been able to get back to Aylesbury now for a few weeks. Hoping next Friday should be the night though! My new servo turned up so I’ve fitted that to the truck, it’s only a cheap one but is metal geared and a lot quicker than the plastic Carson servo I had borrowed out of my other car. I also had the Tamiya hop up alloy propshaft and drive cups delivered so fitted those too. Do find the TT01E a lot more fiddly to change parts compared to the TT02 always end up dropping bits everywhere and spend the next half hour searching for them! 
After fitting the bearing kit I also found there was still a lot of in and out play in all 4 wheels. I also had a shim kit turn up which I had ordered for all my cars so shimmed the driveshafts to hubs. Now there’s only the tiniest amount of play which is much better. Did notice there is a lot less play in the steering arms compared to the TT02 so didn’t need to shim them. 
Truck is now completely ready to race and will see if the oil cva socks are ok for it if not will get some yeah racing shocks. Fingers crossed for its first race 🤞🏻

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The club i used  to race at at kept these pretty stock, only bearings and an alloy centre shaft allowed.

For carpet racing even with foams those tyres glaze really quickly and benefit from super glue on the fronts. So Tyre prep is crucial, here what I did:

dremel outside of tread to remove hard outer layer 

super glue tyre walls of front tyres up to edge

Clean tyres with brake cleaner after each run.


Beyond that get your self a decent servo, abec5 bearings and stuff the diffs with some grease.

diff wise I ended up with Tamiya AW grease and diff putty up front (very stiff) and just AW grease at the back.
 

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Love these trucks and although I don't race I'm happy it's getting popular. To me this is exactly what RC racing should be, not super fast but fun, easy to get into a close racers. 

Personally I'd love to see a race with 50T motors in these, slow enough so you are barging competitors out the way!

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On 10/23/2022 at 7:31 AM, matisse said:

The club i used  to race at at kept these pretty stock, only bearings and an alloy centre shaft allowed.

For carpet racing even with foams those tyres glaze really quickly and new fit from super glue on the fronts. So Tyre prep is crucial, here what I did:

dremel outside of tread to remove hard outer layer 

super glue tyre walls of front tyres up to edge

Clean tyres with brake cleaner after each run.


Beyond that get your self a decent servo, abec5 bearings and stuff the diffs with some grease.

diff wise I ended up with Tamiya AW grease and diff putty up front (very stiff) and just AW grease at the back.
 

My club is stock too. Only allowed bearing kits and alloy center shafts plus turnbuckles. Have to run the stock torque tuned motor but can change the motor pinion to a 22t from a 19t for a bit more speed. Can use oil shocks too so I suppose that is a few mods! Still a cheap class to race in though. 
Thanks for the tips about tyre prep, I’ve glued the tyres on but haven’t glued the front sidewalls so will give that a go. I’ve always cleaned my tyres with brake cleaner too so will Make sure I keep on top of that 👍🏻

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18 hours ago, Nikko85 said:

Love these trucks and although I don't race I'm happy it's getting popular. To me this is exactly what RC racing should be, not super fast but fun, easy to get into a close racers. 

Personally I'd love to see a race with 50T motors in these, slow enough so you are barging competitors out the way!

I’ve watched the trucks racing while racing my TT02 and mardave mini and they just look so much fun! They are always a really close race with a bit of barging out the way! 

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Last night was finally my truck racing debut! At last I managed to get back to Aylesbury and try out my truck and so glad I did it was great fun! Took my mardave mini aswell and ran two classes. 
 

Didn’t get a chance to even practice with the truck before the first race as my mini has ongoing handling problems, so took that out for practice to try and get to the  bottom of it (I didn’t). 
 

Truck heat 1 and I was thrown straight into the deep end. There were 5 trucks in my heat and 2 of them were very experienced racers so knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. Managed to get a couple of warm up laps before the race started and it actually handled really well but has nowhere near the grip of my slick shod TT02 racer. Found that even though it wanted to drift everywhere it was very easy to drive. 
I started i 4th position and made a good start and just tried to keep a clean race all the way to the end. Finished 3rd so quite pleased for its first race, 2 laps down from the leader and a lap from 2nd. My best lap was less than a second slower than first and 0.20 from second. 
 

Heat 2 was more of the same apart from a couple of small crashes and got knocked over while overtaking. The trucks seem to get knocked over really easily but makes it more entertaining to watch! Finished 3rd again and again 2 laps from the leader. This time my fastest lap was quicker and only 0.5 from the leader. 
 

The final I started in 3rd. I didn’t get a bad start but as always there’s a bit of barging in the first few laps when all the trucks are trying to use the same piece of track. Got knocked back to 4th but managed to get back into 3rd again and got some decent laps in. 2nd place made a mistake and ended up upside down so i snuck past for second. Was a very scrappy race though and my best lap was actually slower than the first race. Also completed less laps. 
 

Had a great night of racing though and can’t wait to race the truck again. Not sure whether to get some yeah racing shocks or stick with the Tamiya cva’s as my truck seems to slide more than the others and think my standard springs are too stiff. Apart from that the truck drove really nice, I think with sticky tyres on would handle better than my TT02! 

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Raced the truck again last Friday night. Made no changes from the first race night. The truck class was a bit quiet this week with only 3 of us racing. 
 

Heat 1 I finished the race in 2nd struggled with rear grip and made a few mistakes. Couldn’t get anywhere near 1st position their truck really looked planted to the track. 
 

Heat 2 and after speaking to the winner in the first heat I found out he was using tyre additive. I had some I use on the TT02 so have it a go. Instantly found I had loads of grip but too much as every time I went into a corner fast it grip rolled! Finished 2nd again but was even slower than the first heat. 
 

The final again I finished 2nd and this time didn’t use any additive. The truck felt much better without and the track grip was much better. 
For the next race I need to check over the truck again and also fit a motor cooling fan. Bought the fan and heat sink but won’t fit due to the top chassis brace so will have to cut down the heat sink to fit. 
At some point I will get some oil shocks and turnbuckles ordered too. 

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I raced the truck again Friday but before I went I took a look at the truck and gave it a good clean (it’s amazing how dirty they get from running in carpet!) looking at the ride height it looked too high even for a truck, measured it at around 18mm alround! Struggled last week when the grip was high with grip roll so thought I would have a look to lower the COG. 
Im using the oil filled Tamiya cva shocks I’ve borrowed off my TT02D. They work well but are a bit long and the springs are very stiff. Looking in my spare box I still have a load of springs from my TT02 yeah racing shocks so picked a set that would work. Went for softer springs than the TT02 so hard from and medium rear. The springs are also shorter lowering the truck to around 8mm ride height. 
 

At racing I had a good night with a second, second and a win in the final 👍🏻 Out of 6 trucks. The truck handles really well, the new springs made the body roll slightly more but seemed to make it grip better. I found that if it did loose rear grip it was easy to get back inline with the throttle. At some point I will get some yeah racing 50mm shocks for it so I can give the cva’s back to my TT02D but for now they are doing the job. Could also do with adjustable turnbuckles just to straighten the steering trim out a bit and maybe add a bit of toe out. The truck really is great fun to drive and impressed how good it is straight out of the box!

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