XM-01 Pro Buggy Conversion

[chris.alex]

Sooner than I thought, I bought a second-hand XM01 chassis at a fair price. On top of that, the previous owner had left a torque-tuned motor, some blue screws, and a blue steering system in it. (I don't think it's any better than the stock steering, but it's a nice change.) And a 73t 64dp spur gear was in there; no idea what he was planning to do with it. 

However, my plan is to convert it from rally to buggy by mounting the XV02 suspension. Of course, the extra 14mm of track don't make it a buggy, but it's a start. Maybe I'll find even longer fitting lower arms. I will add to this thread if necessary. 

First photos for comparison: 

Now I needed a suitable buggy body. 
I have two spare buggy body shells for my DT02 and TT02B lying around: a Sand Viper and a Neo Scorcher. The Sand Viper is too narrow at the front as you can see, but the Neo Scorcher might fit. For the wing mounting I used body post extensions screwed on longer M3 hex screws.  

And with even bigger wheels: 

Maximum front wheel diameter seems to be 82mm. 

[ThunderDragonCy]

Nice idea. What about one of the TamTech bodies? They are a bit smaller scale, yes?

[ThunderDragonCy]

Or if you want to go the other way, DB01 arms will fit straight on to the kit uprights both front and rear.

[Andreas W]

This is gonna be interesting. I'll better keep an eye on this.

 

I love second hand, almost new stuff . 

[Alex97]

I never expected to see someone turn one of these into a buggy! 

[Guest]

That looks very wickedly cool. It reminds me of an Arrma Typhon Grom in some way. Great work! 

[chris.alex]

6 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Nice idea. What about one of the TamTech bodies? They are a bit smaller scale, yes?

I've thought about that too — maybe Buggy Champ or Hotshot? But they seem a bit too narrow for the XM01 chassis. So I gave up that idea. 

[chris.alex]

6 hours ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Or if you want to go the other way, DB01 arms will fit straight on to the kit uprights both front and rear.

Thank you for the valuable tip, that's wonderful. However, I think they're a bit tooooo long, so I might need 79/85mm DB01 shafts? It would be nice to use the length of the DT02/TT02B or the TD4 shafts that I have in use anyway. For optical reasons, shafts of 50 to 60mm would be optimal I think. 

[chris.alex]

In order to make my future m-chassis buggy more compact I changed the wheelbase from L 239mm to M 225mm. 

And then I tested colors for the bodywork: translucent pink + gunmetal / bright gunmetal vs. translucent green + gunmetal / bright gunmetal 

As I said, my XM-01B is still too narrow in my opinion. So, I checked the suspension of the vehicles in my fleet and found that the lower arms of the TT02SR might be a good length. The (non-reinforced) suspension parts are inexpensive and the suitable dogbones and axles I should have somewhere in my spare parts.

What I need is: front uprights 51352, c-hubs 51293, lower arms 51297, rear uprights 54570 and some small metal parts. It's now on the shopping list for one of the next orders. Until then, I'll be riding my XM-01B with the XV02 suspension.

[chris.alex]

Okay, I was wrong. In comparison to the XV02 suspension the TT02SR suspension doesn't provide any widening because the uprights are positioned further inboard. 

The easiest solution seems to be using the XM01 uprights with the XV02 arms. I will see if I find suitable dogbones or shafts. I think they should be 45-48mm long. 

By the way, the previous owner obviously used the world's most sticky grease in the XM01 CVDs. I personally don't grease CVDs at all. 

[Alex97]

10 hours ago, chris.alex said:

By the way, the previous owner obviously used the world's most sticky grease in the XM01 CVDs. I personally don't grease CVDs at all

That's the antiwear grease that Tamiya tells you to use.

[TwistedxSlayer]

This is cool. I really like it.

[chris.alex]

On 4/11/2025 at 7:57 AM, Alex97 said:

That's the antiwear grease that Tamiya tells you to use.

Yes that's right. However, I prefer the less sticky molybdenum grease on the metal parts. 

[chris.alex]

Good news! The combination of the XV02 arms with the XM01 uprights turned out to be a good solution. However, I used the rear arms at the rear AND front to ensure the track width was right. (I stole the grey ones from my XV01 spare parts). So all parts are from the XV/XM family except the dogbones and wheel axles. I used the standard 50823 axles from my spare parts, and the dogbones are 45mm at the rear and 48mm at the front. 

A 5-minute test drive was a lot of fun. I think it's turned out to be a really nice m-chassis buggy. I'll try out different rims and tires. 

Things I'd like to improve: 
1. Swap the grey soft lower arms for the standard black ones. 2. Swap the front shock tower for the one from the XV-02RS (unfortunately it's not sold as a separate part). 3. De-anodize the blue parts. 4. Find a better wing / wing stay. 

[chris.alex]

Due to the dry and mild weather over the past few days, I was able to paint the slightly modified Neo Scorcher body and apply a few select stickers. I trimmed the rear wing a bit; it seemed too big. And finally I added a driver figure, stolen from my old Losi Mini Crawler. 

I need to swap the standard servo for a low profile servo because it now touches the driver figure mount. But that slow servo was only a temporary solution anyway.

Edit: added a photo for camparison. Left my new XM-01B (WB 225mm), right my standard XM-01 (WB 239mm). 

 

[chris.alex]

In case anyone wants to convert their XM01 into a buggy, here is the list of parts I used in combination with the XM01 uprights:

4x XV02/01 rear lower arms 
4x XV02 suspension shafts 2.6x27mm 
4x XV02 turnbuckles 32mm upper arms
2x XV02 turnbuckles 23mm steering 
Ball head joints / adjusters 
M3 spacers for mounting of uprights 
2x 45mm standard dogbones (rear) 
2x 48mm standard dogbones (front) 
4x standard wheel axles 
M4 shims for the wheel axles 

Options: 
Cardans / Universals: 46mm rear (45mm is too short), 48mm front
XV02RS short damper stays

Body: 
Modified Neo Scorcher fits on 239mm or 225mm wheelbase 

Edited May 10 by chris.alex

[Superluminal]

22 hours ago, chris.alex said:

 

 

I love this! Looks so good with the short wheelbase

[vodka]

I think this beauty needs a LunchBox body and some big tyres...

[chris.alex]

5 hours ago, Superluminal said:

I love this! Looks so good with the short wheelbase

Thank you! 

[chris.alex]

1 hour ago, vodka said:

I think this beauty needs a LunchBox body and some big tyres...

Why not, could be a nice combination. 🙂

[chris.alex]

Didn't lose any dogbones during the first real test drive. I like it! 🙂

[Honza]

That turned out great! Looks like an actuall autocross buggy, unlike the monstrosities that are running on tracks nowadays..

On 4/9/2025 at 12:26 AM, chris.alex said:

order to make my future m-chassis buggy more compact I changed the wheelbase from L 239mm to M 225mm. 

I wonder, if the opposite could be done by stacking the inserts to reach 280mm WB of standard buggies. It would be quite nose heavy, but that could make interesting handling.

[chris.alex]

A little update: 

I swapped the somewhat bulky kit front shock tower for the carbon one from the XV02RS, changed wheels and tyres, de-anodized some blue parts and I improved the mounting of the wing. It's now easy to install and remove and sits directly on the body. 

 

[chris.alex]

I replaced the dogbones with universal joints. First, I discovered that the 45mm ones at the rear were a bit short, and second, that 46mm and 48mm universal shafts are hard to come by. I really hope the 46mm and 48mm shafts I've installed now will last a long time. 

Now everything fits, and I'm happy with my new XM-01 Pro buggy. Just glue the tires on, and then the vehicle is ready for off-road adventures. 

PS: Don't know why on the photo the 45mm shaft looks longer than the 46mm shaft?  Anyway in reality the 46mm one is indeed the longer one. :-)  

[chris.alex]

Good news, instead of the extremely rare Tamiya 48mm swing shafts you can use the ones from MST (820136). They fit perfectly in the Tamiya universal axles.