Tl-01 Chassis

[Dust Cloud]

I am thinking of buying a stadium raider truck for off-road bashing.

Has anyone got experience of this chassis type and has it got any faults in particular I should be aware of?

Usually I rush out and buy on the spur of the moment and learn from experience but this time I want to research first.

I suppose the things I want to be aware of are ease of maintenance/cleaning as its going to get very dirty, problems upgrading if I want to really push its performance, how tough is it?, or is it just to basic to bother with at all?

Above all I want it to be fun to use and I dont want to spend more time repairing it than driving it.

Your opinions appreciated.

Sorry I realised I posted in the wrong forum!

Can I delete this somehow?

[WillyChang]

No major cons with the TL01, its a tough chassis & well-suited to semi-offroad role as Stadium Raider.

If you're buying an unbuilt kit, strongly suggest you buy a ballbearing kit (24pcs 1150 size) for TL01

and install that whilst building it. BBs are necessary for drivetrain smoothness = cheap worthwhile investment.

[Gruntfuggly]

The only thing you have to watch is the upper shock mounts. Because they are moulded directly into the chassis, if you break one you have to replace the entire chassis, and due to the design of the TL-01, that means a complete rebuild. I've fitted some FRP braces to mine, which seems to work well - one of the mounts has a big crack in, but the FRP still holds it in place nice and firm...

Personally, I really like the TL-01. It's simple and pretty solid, and has a fair few hop-ups available. Others will disagree though!

[Dust Cloud]

Thanks guys for your input. It sounds pretty reasuring.

I always start a build with ball bearings now as they are so cheap of Ebay and the quality seems OK.

I am planning a 17 turn motor at least so mabe the shock mount brace would be a good investment.

Has anyone tried a brushless setup on this chassis?

[TA-Mark]

Brushless in TL01 can't be any worse than in a TA01/02. Don't use the alloy pinions with brushless, get steel ones. The alloy ones are as soft as butter and gone in a battery. Things tend to wearout faster when you put 4 times the amount of power through a chassis than what it was designed for. TL01 has plenty of spares available cheap so it shouldn't be a problem there.

Only mods I did to the TL01b chassis was full bearings and I heated and twisted the front lower arms to give a bit more caster angle. It fixed it's tendency to understeer with the power on. I have not run the brushless system in the TL01b, I actually gave the Baja King away because it didn't handle so good. Standard it only had friction dampers and it would bounce quite a bit, didn't see the point to raiding one of my other kits for shocks or buying another set.

They make a good kids/beginner buggy though, cheap and very hard to break.

Mark

[TheFinn]

if you break one you have to replace the entire chassis, and due to the design of the TL-01, that means a complete rebuild.

Agree on this one, look for my showroom what happens if you happen to bump into something solid a bit too hard....you propably have to rebuild the whole **** thing!! I personaly don't recommend this chassis to anyone because of this.

[Gruntfuggly]

Replacing the pointless friction dampers with oil dampers makes a world of difference to the handling. After the bearings, it the next essential upgrade IMO.

[Bin ^jammin^]

I would recommend buying a set of either all metal dogbones or upgrading to universals as the kit supplied plastic end shafts tend to break easy.

[NeWyoRksPLaYaZ]

i personaly think the TL-01 is a good off road car

[necronomicon]

i personaly think the TL-01 is a good off road car

I would agree that the TL-01 is a great basic chassis. Can be set up for on or off- road use, takes a 17 turn motor OK and is strong.

I would always try to ballrace the car, add a eurathane soft front bumper (standard hard bumper trasfers front end shock energy right into the chassis), and oil shocks. One con with the chassis is that the motor sticks out of the side and is exposed to damage/ wear. (see my showroom for a mod to fix this).

Gaining access to the gears etc is a pain as you have to take the whole car apart.

I love mine and it is my favourite car (also have TA-05, TT-01, TA-01)

cheers

neil

[Corranga]

How difficult is it to convert one from off road to on road (and vice versa) and what parts would you need?

I'm considering getting back into R/C as a beginner, and a TL-01 or TT-01 seem to be 2 of the most recommended choices, and are really cheap for a basic kit. I'm thinking on road is the way for me to go, but it would be nice to know how much effort / cost it would be to get the car onto grass etc.

[necronomicon]

How difficult is it to convert one from off road to on road (and vice versa) and what parts would you need?

I'm considering getting back into R/C as a beginner, and a TL-01 or TT-01 seem to be 2 of the most recommended choices, and are really cheap for a basic kit. I'm thinking on road is the way for me to go, but it would be nice to know how much effort / cost it would be to get the car onto grass etc.

without going into longer suspension arms from the baja champ/ king etc the TL-01 can be used on road with hard springs and the spacers inside oil shocks to reduce ride height, and slick/ tarmac tyres, or off road with softer suspension springs, no spacers inside oil shocks to raise ride height, rally tyres and body shell mounted higher.

Obviously it is a compromise on both and a TL-01 will never go through long grass etc without beaching, but mine has performed OK over gravel etc- see my showroom for TL-01 rally video to see.

hope that helps

Neil

[theRuggedMan]

Just dont make the mistake of useing the lightwight carbon propshaft hop up if you are going to use your TL01 off road!

[Gruntfuggly]

Why? I've used mine offroad for ages with a carbon propshaft with no problems...

[WillyChang]

more like don't use the option Lightweight Chassis plastics set, its too fragile for offroad & bashing.

[theRuggedMan]

Why? I've used mine offroad for ages with a carbon propshaft with no problems...

Well your a lucky chap then!

I have seen a few TL01 (champ/king) with there carbon props grounded out due to small stones/debris getting trapped behind the chassis side of the propshaft!

strangly i have only ever seen one snap on a road going TL01! (due to a poor driver! not me!)