(Tamiya) Toyota Tundra High-Lift Experience?

[RC_FunLand 167]

Hi all,

 

Have a few questions about the Tamiya Toyota Tundra High-Lift.

Some background: I bought the car from the latest Integrity auction. Car looks to be brand new (shelf queen I presume) and has a light/sound kit installed, aftermarket rims/tires, and all electronics (including a Tx/Rx combo- the Hitec Focus 4). All for $295 + shipping.

 

How does the car perform? Is it a crawler? Basher? Crasher?

 

What are its strengths/weaknesses? Things you like/dislike?

 

What are some things, if any, that I should modify upon receiving?

 

Thanks so much,

Maxim

[bRIBEGuy 3049]

The Tamiya Toyota Tundra Highlift (and it's F350 & Hilux siblings) is a nice truck for scale driving.  I wouldn't call it a basher.  

Performance?  Depends what you want out of it.  The leaf springs are relatively stiff, and Tamiya tires are not really renowned for their traction, but for slow scale trail driving the truck can be a lot of fun.

If you want more flex in the suspension, you can always look at removing leafs from the leaf spring stack... if will soften the suspension quite notable, though it does increase your risk of bending a leaf.  Personally I think the stock silver can motor is a bit fast for these trucks, and dropping in a 35t-55t motor will give you more control and scale speeds.  But that's a personal preference, obviously.

Sounds like you got a great deal on it, enjoy!

[RC_FunLand 167]

Thank you, @bRIBEGuy!

 

10 minutes ago, bRIBEGuy said:

Performance?  Depends what you want out of it.  The leaf springs are relatively stiff, and Tamiya tires are not really renowned for their traction, but for slow scale trail driving the truck can be a lot of fun.

So no crawling on stock suspension? LOL

 

Also, what about that 3-speed transmission? Is it any good? What would the approximate top speed be on the highest gear (with a silver can).

 

Also, thank you for the advice on the motor/suspension. Greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers!

[bRIBEGuy 3049]

It will crawl fine... in a scale fashion.  It's not a comp crawler.  It won't "keep up" with a SCX10/TRX4/etc, but it's also not designed too.

Think of what you could do in a stock 1:1 truck with front and rear leaf springs and open diffs... then scale it down 10 times and you have an idea of what you're in for.

Locking the rear diff will help a lot with it's trail performance.  

[RC_FunLand 167]

@bRIBEGuy, thanks again!

 

1 hour ago, bRIBEGuy said:

Think of what you could do in a stock 1:1 truck with front and rear leaf springs and open diffs... then scale it down 10 times and you have an idea of what you're in for.

Thanks- that really helped me visualize it.

 

1 hour ago, bRIBEGuy said:

It will crawl fine... in a scale fashion.  It's not a comp crawler.  It won't "keep up" with a SCX10/TRX4/etc, but it's also not designed too.

So it's more of a "scale realism" truck?

 

Also, what about speed? Is it decently fast on-road?

 

Cheers!

 

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

18 hours ago, RC_FunLand said:

Also, what about speed? Is it decently fast on-road?

Assuming the Tundra has the same gear rations compared to the Hilux High-Lift, with a stock 27T Silvercan + 10cm tires, quick calculation gives:

• Low-gear: 4.2 km/h
• Mid-gear: 7.6 km/h
• High-gear: 12.7 km/h

Low-gear is great for walking pace, but I find it too noisy. Mid-gear is better, you get to play with the throttle. I never run my Hilux in high gear, I find it unnecessary for trails.

The high-gear might give you some mild thrills on very flat terrain. However, I would greatly advise against running these models at such speed on rough terrain. As others have mentioned, they are not designed for abuse, but rather to run at scale speeds & terrain. They are heavy and impacts, jumping, etc, is prone to break something. Tamiya offers other off-roaders that are much better if you want to travel at high speed.

Other than that, these trucks are fantastic. I really enjoy my Hilux for what it is.

My Hilux High-Lift on the left, CR-01 Hilux on the right:

[sosidge 624]

15 minutes ago, OoALEJOoO said:

 

 

Nice trucks. Tyres are backwards on the hi-lift by the way.

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

5 minutes ago, sosidge said:

Nice trucks. Tyres are backwards on the hi-lift by the way.

Helps it climb better as terrain gets caught on the grooves. Poor man's paddle tires

[XJman 74]

I had several of these. They are really fun for scale looks and functionality. They are not high performance off road. I preferred using mine as a crawler hauler.

[RC_FunLand 167]

59 minutes ago, OoALEJOoO said:

Assuming the Tundra has the same gear rations compared to the Hilux High-Lift, with a stock 27T Silvercan + 10cm tires, quick calculation gives:

• Low-gear: 4.2 km/h
• Mid-gear: 7.6 km/h
• High-gear: 12.7 km/h

Low-gear is great for walking pace, but I find it too noisy. Mid-gear is better, you get to play with the throttle. I never run my Hilux in high gear, I find it unnecessary for trails.

The high-gear might give you some mild thrills on very flat terrain. However, I would greatly advise against running these models at such speed on rough terrain. As others have mentioned, they are not designed for abuse, but rather to run at scale speeds & terrain. They are heavy and impacts, jumping, etc, is prone to break something. Tamiya offers other off-roaders that are much better if you want to travel at high speed.

Other than that, these trucks are fantastic. I really enjoy my Hilux for what it is.

My Hilux High-Lift on the left, CR-01 Hilux on the right:

Thank you so much for the detailed info, @OoALEJOoO!!

 

also, thank you @XJman, the feedback is greatly appreciated!

[Smirrors 186]

I think I have a slightly different view on High Lifts. As a gateway into "Scale Trucks" it certainly wets the appetite. Hard bodies are great. It's a Tamiya, whats not to love. This thing works great on pavement and backyard driving which is where noobies start out.

Then you look deeper in the Scale Trucks and realise it's not something you would ever see on the roads or on the trail, both in real life or scale trailing. It's almost a monster truck with its proportions!

Back in the early 2000's it was fine as there wasn't much competition. Now, there are so many manufacturers that do Scale Trucks better, that most High Lifts are relegated to shelf queens or just sold.

[RC_FunLand 167]

1 hour ago, Smirrors said:

This thing works great on pavement and backyard driving which is where noobies start out.

Sounds like me lol. I currently have four Tamiya cars and my preferred running surface is my grassy/rocky/uneven backyard or any paved areas within walking distance of my house. 

 

Thanks for the different point of view, @Smirrors! Greatly appreciated!

[RC_FunLand 167]

Wow, I really messed up on this one. I was (kinda?) expecting a scale, yet functional, RC car. What I received was more or less what @Smirrors or @XJman had described. Slow, terrible suspension, and poor handling. Only for the looks.

 

Since I've already thrown $300 at it (no turning back now), is there anything I can purchase to make my experience more enjoyable with this kit?

 

The main things I've noticed were as follows:

1) VERY jittery/sometimes unresponsive throttle. Has a mind of its own.

          a) Was thinking of investing in a 21.5T/25.5T brushless (sensored) motor, or drop in a Sport Tuned I have lying around. Ideas?

2) EXTREMELY slow. Like a snail. And I thought there'd be torque! I took it in the grass only to find it stuck after a matter of seconds? Thoughts??

3) Annoyingly-small tires. I swear my DT03 has larger tires than this "High-Lift". This leads me to my next comment:

4) Extremely small wheel axle, so can't install larger diameter tires for better performance. Any ideas/links as to what to purchase?

5) Bad suspension. If you can even call it one....

 

Thanks so much.

 

I feel stupid.

 

 

Best,

Maxim

[Smirrors 186]

Mate don't feel stupid. As I mentioned, its gotten you into scaling which is a positive thing. Personally I think no money should be spend on it, keep it stock as functionally it's going to be limited. 

It's probably sacrilege on this forum but go out and get yourself a TRX or SCX10 (if you want performance and good aftermarket support) and custom add a hard body of your choice. Or if you like the performance scale look, I'd recommend a Boom Racing BRX01 or 02.

[Saito2 6686]

I ran mine with WR01/Twin Detonator wheels which open you up to larger 2.2 tires like the Bruiser. They bolt right on. No more getting stuck with ground clearance issues. They are pictured on the above photo of the Toyota livery'd Hilift with the tires mounted backwards. IIRC you can't go much smaller with the pinion to compensate for the bigger tires but 1st and 2nd still worked well. 3rd was fine on level surfaces. I kind of drove like a real truck, requiring downshifting on uphill grades and running up through the gears to hit top speed. I think I removed the small internal springs in the shocks to get some more suspension movement. I actually enjoyed mine as a trail truck and wish I hadn't sold it off to buy a Bruiser-re-re. While the Bruiser has stunning looks, I felt the Hilift to be a better runner. Its a bit of a time capsule from a starved era when we were combining Stampede transmissions with TLT-1 axles to try to come up with pseudo-Bruisers for which we had literally petitioned Tamiya for a re-release of. We were happy to have it but now everybody and their grandma makes a crawler or scaler. 

[Nikko85 3454]

I can't stand the looks of the highlift, until I saw @OoALEJOoO with the larger tires. Looks much better, and oddly more "scale".

I'd just get the larger tires, that will give more speed and performance instantly.

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

11 hours ago, RC_FunLand said:

The main things I've noticed were as follows:

1) VERY jittery/sometimes unresponsive throttle. Has a mind of its own.

          a) Was thinking of investing in a 21.5T/25.5T brushless (sensored) motor, or drop in a Sport Tuned I have lying around. Ideas?

2) EXTREMELY slow. Like a snail. And I thought there'd be torque! I took it in the grass only to find it stuck after a matter of seconds? Thoughts??

3) Annoyingly-small tires. I swear my DT03 has larger tires than this "High-Lift". This leads me to my next comment:

4) Extremely small wheel axle, so can't install larger diameter tires for better performance. Any ideas/links as to what to purchase?

5) Bad suspension. If you can even call it one....

1) This is strange. It might be because of the ESC browning-out. This truck uses two servos: one for steering, a second one for shifting. You need to have a beefy BEC on your ESC to keep up. The symptoms you describe of being jittery or unresponsive sounds like a brown-out. I originally run my Hilux with a TBLE-02S ESC (1.5Amp BEC) and experienced a lot of jittering brown-outs when using twin PowerHD 1501MG servos. I decided to lock the gear-shifting shaft at the mid-gear and eliminated the shifting servo. Problem solved, car ran super smooth after this. The mid-gear has plenty of torque for anything I throw at it. The car can crush any grass, even if the gras is taller than the car. Torque is so high at mid-gear that I actually fear breaking something if the car gets stuck and I give full throttle. This is another reason why I disabled the gearbox, I don't see a need for the short-gear (got all the torque I need) or the high-gear (no point in having more speed).

2) Seems strange, perhaps there is something wrong/damaged with your model. If there is anything this car has is torque.

3) True. The regular rock-block tires are small.

4) There are all sort of wheels/tires available for 12mm hex. I've been able to install all kinds of sizes with my Hilus (see my earlier post using Twin Detonator wheels + Monster Beetle tires).

5) Indeed. Performance-wise, the suspension sucks, which is why this car does not excel in very rough terrain. This car is not about performance but looks & realism. Locking the rear diff helps a lot though.

[OoALEJOoO 3127]

5 minutes ago, Nikko85 said:

I can't stand the looks of the highlift, until I saw @OoALEJOoO with the larger tires. Looks much better, and oddly more "scale".

I'd just get the larger tires, that will give more speed and performance instantly.

Fully agree, the stock Hilux is an ugly-duckling with it's tall stance.

However, it is possible to lower it's stance considerably to get a much better-looking truck with the stock tires.

Check this example from the showroom, which also describes how to do this mod:

58397: Toyota Hilux High Lift from _miga_ showroom, simply lowering the Hilux - Tamiya RC & Radio Control Cars (tamiyaclub.com)

I've done this mod myself now on my High-Lift Hilux (now that my CR-01 Hilux covers the big-tire looks) and it looks fantastic.

[Nikko85 3454]

Both SO much better, either a proper monster or a realistic real off roader. The normal one looks like something you'd see in texas with zero mud on it ever.

[XJman 74]

Sorry I'm late to return.

The throttle is likely due to the twin servo setup and the bec is probably meh. You can try a more powerful esc or use an external bec. Castle creations has a few.

I'd not go brushless. A 35t crawler motor is what I used in mine. The vehicle is weighty and the transmission is reasonably stout but it can get broken pretty quickly with bigger tires.

I had a set of rc4wd wheels and tires on mine. They were slightly bigger than stock but not massive like something on a axial crawler or the trx4.

For springs, not much you can do. Try using a single leaf or swapping to a linked setup and use traditional coil overs. The factory dampers had internal springs on mine. I removed them and that helped. I eventually went to an aluminum shock from another vehicle without the springs.

 

[RC_FunLand 167]

45 minutes ago, XJman said:

Sorry I'm late to return.

The throttle is likely due to the twin servo setup and the bec is probably meh. You can try a more powerful esc or use an external bec. Castle creations has a few.

I'd not go brushless. A 35t crawler motor is what I used in mine. The vehicle is weighty and the transmission is reasonably stout but it can get broken pretty quickly with bigger tires.

I had a set of rc4wd wheels and tires on mine. They were slightly bigger than stock but not massive like something on a axial crawler or the trx4.

For springs, not much you can do. Try using a single leaf or swapping to a linked setup and use traditional coil overs. The factory dampers had internal springs on mine. I removed them and that helped. I eventually went to an aluminum shock from another vehicle without the springs.

 

Thank you for all of this, but I’ve sold it. The rule of thumb with my R/Cs is if it sits on a shelf, I sell it. Got a Sand Scorcher and a CC-02 instead. (Got $475 for the High-Lift).

[Sogogi 3218]

1 hour ago, RC_FunLand said:

Thank you for all of this, but I’ve sold it. The rule of thumb with my R/Cs is if it sits on a shelf, I sell it. Got a Sand Scorcher and a CC-02 instead. (Got $475 for the High-Lift).

I like that rule of thumb

[RC_FunLand 167]

40 minutes ago, Sogogi said:

I like that rule of thumb

Yessir, it’s quite cost-effective, if you ask me. If you can’t use it, why not pass it on, AND make a buck while your at it.