A DF03 purchase in today's day and age

[Saito2 8501]

So who would be thinking about buying one of these buggies in 2024? Well, me I guess. I suppose I always had a soft spot for one and found its design interesting. I had one but never ran it. By the time it was completed, the alloy mainshaft gear problem had cropped up in other member's cars and it never saw off road duty. The funny thing is, despite the disappearance of hop-ups and how the DF03 seemed to fade away, it never went away. Tamiya still has them on their main site as does Tamiya USA. I have no intensions of taking it to a track or powering it with anything more potent than a Torque or Sport Tuned motor. So I contemplate if I could get some good use out of a new Dark Impact kit. I don't know if I could source a slipper clutch anymore and the whole plan hinges on whether or not I can get the RW mainshaft gear sent over here to the States. No improved mainshaft means no DF03. I'd probably like to source all-metal front diff parts to put in the rear (which were strangely half plastic). I might be crazy but then again the Dark Impact is on Tamiya's website and the TD4 is not. Hmmm.

[Sogogi 3363]

Me! I remember dark impact in around 2005? Always wanted one cause its like looks so great. Now parts (hopups) are rare, but would love to try before it becomes more rare. 

[Rinskie 1354]

Funny I think the same thing all the time. The only thing that I hesitate on is the lack of parts. Well that and I like the Keen Hawk better. 

[Biz73 603]

The Dark Impact is the car I most regret selling. I should have just swapped tires to something more suitable to where I ran it.

[Wooders28 5149]

8 hours ago, Saito2 said:

I have no intensions of taking it to a track or powering it with anything more potent than a Torque or Sport Tuned motor.

If you're only going for those motors, I'm pretty sure you can get away with no slipper, or even a hardened gear on the mainshaft tbh.

I would do the rear diff mod though- 

 

[Nick-W 2063]

8 hours ago, Saito2 said:

No improved mainshaft means no DF03. I'd probably like to source all-metal front diff parts to put in the rear (which were strangely half plastic).

Not being around the hobby until a couple of years ago I’d never heard of these problems until now. How long until they usually show up I’ve punted mine about off road with a Sport Tuned and have only broke a shock top so far.
I’ve always found it easy to drive and nicely composed but a little lacking. I tend to go for the TD4 these days when I’m after a fun run. It looks quite nice though. 

[Elbowloh 1486]

I got one last year (Avante Mk2 from Japan ebay).

Got all the hop ups I wanted apart from the slipper.

There is a mod somewhere on this site to make your own hardened mainshaft gear, if you have some means of pressing it (vice maybe and some wood). I did the read diff mod as per Wooders28, titanium diff balls and run it with a Superstock BZ. I don't really jump much, but its a good buggy.

[DTSCB 99]

This kills me sometimes.  I see a cool car and what I see as must have hop ups (slipper clutch) and... discontinued. 

I was looking at a Dark Impact a few years ago... and passed on it due to this.  It didn't get me anything over the Top Force Evo.  (At least not without the slipper clutch!)

[Wooders28 5149]

7 hours ago, Elbowloh said:

There is a mod somewhere on this site to make your own hardened mainshaft gear

Currently set up for  7700kv /3s and hoping to crack 70mph this summer .....🤞

[Saito2 8501]

The place blowing TD4s out for $250 puts a wrinkle in this discussion. The TD4 has superior plastics and probably is a superior buggy. It should be as its a lot newer. Still, I like the old DF03's looks and design better. Cursory evaluations with each hopped up to my liking lead to about a $90 difference between the two, assuming I can get the Dark Impact for around $170. Each has an entirely different set of hop-ups in my calculations oddly enough. The DF03 centers around the upgraded rear diff parts and mainshaft gear, but no universals or the desired, but unavailable slipper clutch (perhaps, as suggested, unneeded at my power levels). The TD4 would get the universals (mainly to add more steering without dogbone ejection) a slipper clutch and metal bevel gears. Drop the slipper option from the TD4 menu and they get closer in price...

Edit: What really skews things are the reasonable DB01 Durgas still floating around fleabay. Good thing I'm not a belt drive kinda guy.

[DTSCB 99]

13 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

or the desired, but unavailable slipper clutch (perhaps, as suggested, unneeded at my power levels).

The slipper is for absorbing shocks to the drive train instead of the gears. 

Sure, power can play a roll in this. 

But the key is things like jumping.  When you land, the slipper takes some of the shock out when you regain traction. 

That all being said, my current favorite car to drive is a TA-02T F-150.  On my sad old drive way.  It has dips, and those play havoc with loss of traction at speed.  The car has a 10.5T brushless motor in it.  It is far faster than it is stable.  (Common complaint back in the day of brushed motors too.)  The amount of rollovers, spins out and other shocks to the drive train is huge. 

I mean, that is why I drive the TA-02T F-150 the most.  Living on the edge of speed pushing the limits to the max! 

My most repaired part on my TA-02T are the rims.  Yep, poor car goes flying that much.  It needs to move to it 3rd set of rims.  Original tires too.  (Not glued.) 

I'm pretty sure my rear ball diff is blown or has some other problems due to the abuse and it is currently sidelined for repair.  A slipper likely would help with that.  The front diff is gears... so, well one day they'll just have to be replaced.  I'm thinking of swapping them to a ball diff too. 

[No Slack 622]

I still like my DF03. I was lucky to find some Yeah Racing upgrades in a shop. Always liked the braces.

 

[Pablo68 1255]

I bought a DF-03 and a DT-02 for my sons when I re-entered the hobby. Both great buggies for people entering the hobby.

After a couple years of ownership and relegation to the back shed, I resurrected my sons DF-03 (it was in bad shape). It got a no name (but quite good) brushless system, nice ally aftermarket shocks and aluminium shock towers.
It's a good buggy. However I have to put something into the front shocks to limit travel as currently the front drive cups break after a while. I think it's from too much downward travel.

I may get one myself eventually.

[Wooders28 5149]

On 2/1/2024 at 10:10 PM, DTSCB said:

The slipper is for absorbing shocks to the drive train instead of the gears. 

I think the main purpose of a modern slipper, is to limit the torque going to the back wheels.

You set them a 2wd slipper, by kneeling on the rear tyres, and rolling onto full throttle. A properly set up slipper will only allow the front wheels to lift around 20-30mm, meaning with a modern brushless fitted, it won't back-flip, it'll just squat and go.

On my DF03, I set it up, so it slips before the rear diff does (listen for the diff bark), so in theory i can run any power level, and the (modded) diff will be fine (ran 5700kv/5s to date, and was fine)

The only problem with setting them up for high power motors, if they're a bit on the slack side, it only takes seconds for the spur to become bubbling plastic...🫣🤦‍♂️🤣

 

 

[jsven008 155]

On 1/31/2024 at 7:59 PM, Saito2 said:

So who would be thinking about buying one of these buggies in 2024? Well, me I guess. I suppose I always had a soft spot for one and found its design interesting. I had one but never ran it. By the time it was completed, the alloy mainshaft gear problem had cropped up in other member's cars and it never saw off road duty. The funny thing is, despite the disappearance of hop-ups and how the DF03 seemed to fade away, it never went away. Tamiya still has them on their main site as does Tamiya USA. I have no intensions of taking it to a track or powering it with anything more potent than a Torque or Sport Tuned motor. So I contemplate if I could get some good use out of a new Dark Impact kit. I don't know if I could source a slipper clutch anymore and the whole plan hinges on whether or not I can get the RW mainshaft gear sent over here to the States. No improved mainshaft means no DF03. I'd probably like to source all-metal front diff parts to put in the rear (which were strangely half plastic). I might be crazy but then again the Dark Impact is on Tamiya's website and the TD4 is not. Hmmm.

Still a great overall car for the price, currently around $150 USD. It's superb for light bashing or even local amateur racing. I recently bought one, and I like everything about it but the flimsy ABS chassis. Don't jump it too much Tamiya really should have released a reinforced chassis for it. Sure it has a few weak points, but don't all $150 RC cars...

Overall I'm very happy with mine. And I like it a lot more than my base TT02B. DF03 >> TT02B.

[OldSchoolRC1 1152]

Agreed it's a cool kit - I saw it as a more modern TA chassis. Bashed around my old Dark Impact for a few years, it was a pretty solid runner. My Avante is just for show though.  I've got a DF03RA here too, pretty decent on road runner as well.  

[Killajb 1706]

I caught on to the DF-03 a couple of months ago.  Yes quite late to the party.  I understand why there is such a large following.  I picked up a used chassis that had the coveted slipper clutch option and one-way shaft bearing upgrade as well.  The chassis was scratched up, and diffs were dry but otherwise all else was fine. 

I replaced the chassis ~ $7USD  and rebuilt the diffs and dampers with better parts.  Most  expensive upgrades were carbon shock towers and alloy cvd's on front and rear.  The end result is a very smooth and predictable car.  I'm running a 16t double brushed motor and the drivetrain is fine.  

[Wooders28 5149]

16 minutes ago, Killajb said:

rebuilt the diffs and dampers with better parts. 

The rear diff, is the biggest weakness, if you've done the mod ⬆️, or even better ,got the Yeah Racing (think Five Stars did them too...), outdrives, then it should give years of trouble free fun.👍

[Killajb 1706]

Do tell @Wooders28, what happens with the rear diff?  I rebuilt the diff with ceramic diff balls but otherwise everything else is stock and it handles 16t brushed power just fine.  Maybe the slipper clutch option is saving me?

[Wooders28 5149]

Did a vid, and the cooling fan I fitted.

 

 

Post rebuild pic, probably not the neatest cabling....

But no body posts, went with velcro around the chassis (like pretty much all modern race cars)

 

[Killajb 1706]

Thank you very much for the info!

 

[Wooders28 5149]

19 minutes ago, Killajb said:

Do tell @Wooders28, what happens with the rear diff?  I rebuilt the diff with ceramic diff balls but otherwise everything else is stock and it handles 16t brushed power just fine.  Maybe the slipper clutch option is saving me?

The MK3 is a plastic wobbly thing, that needs the diff plate (MK6) to be glued on - 

 

While the fronts, are single piece metal (MJ2 ) - 

Note, the diff plate (MK6) doesn't need glued , as its a solid base to sit on.

 

Once you get higher torque going through it, the plastic just moves about (seemingly, not tested this, but makes sense), letting the balls slip, creates heat, melts the plastic. You then need the gear bag for the diff, new plates, as they're glued and new outdrives. 

The solid one piece fronts, fit directly in the rear, so a nice easy upgrade.

I couldn't get to grips (pardon the pun..) with the ceramic, so I just use schumacher tungsten carbide (3mm).

 

Aye, if the slipper slips before the diff does, then it'll only be a problem, if the spur gear melts. Tbh, the spur gear is in the same parts bag as the diff, so...

 

[Killajb 1706]

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to explain it with such detail.  This is the reason I love Tamiya Club so much.  When I took the rear diff apart, the previous owner did not glue the MK3 differential housing plate to the MK6 diff plate.  The MK6 and MK3 parts seemed okay, but the diff was dry and the diff balls had small flat spots on them, hence the diff action wasn't smooth.  I bought new MK6 and MK3 parts and used anti-wear grease between the two (as opposed to "affixing using cement" as advised by the manual).  I thought this would lessen the heat transfer between the two parts.  To be fair, I had no idea it was a failure point but went with my prior experience with plastic diff drive cup parts from the TamTech gear series where I've melted a few plastic diff parts before doing this.  So far it's working fine, but for the sake of clarity I will for sure report back if there are any issues down the road, and thank you again for such helpful info.

[Howards 911]

Assuming the front and rear diffs are interchangeable I'd swap them round. 

Seems like a weird decision to have the rear diff that does 80% of the work to be the physically weaker diff. 

[Wooders28 5149]

9 hours ago, Howards said:

Assuming the front and rear diffs are interchangeable I'd swap them round. 
 

Yep, just buy another pair of front outdrives, and fit them (well, and a pair of diff plates, as they're usually glued on...) 

 

9 hours ago, Howards said:

Seems like a weird decision to have the rear diff that does 80% of the work to be the physically weaker diff.

I don't understand the thinking either, if anything ,you'd have the solid in the rear and plastic part in the front, if you run a one way, the front isn't even taking any load when braking!

Some have suggested a failure point, to bring future revenue...

Need to remember, it's a near 20yr old chassis, so wasn't designed for brushless power.