Calling All Frog Experts

[Blacque Jacque]

Hi folks,

I'm seeking advice on behalf of a young lad a few doors down, he's recently been bought a new RTR Frog, one NiCd & a trickle charger, so he's limited to one run per day of about 5mins.

I've pointed him in the direction of a good value charger & affordable NiMh's but I need advice on a few other bits please.

I've never owned a Frog so I'm flying blind a little.

As he's only about 11-12, he's not exactly rolling in cash, so the emphasis is on value for money please.

Tyres; He runs mostly on tarmac & tyre life is pretty short, anyone recomend good value replacement tyres (Brat ones maybe?)or should he stick to originals?

Bearing kit; Easliy found on Ebay for about 6, but are there any other parts needed eg: outdrive bushes etc ?

Steering rods; This is his first RC & he's still getting the hang of driving, hence 2 bent steering rods, should he upgrade to something tougher or will this just break something else ?

I have already preached the joys of TC to him, but his Frog is far more exciting than the internet

[007al]

For tarmac i would use brat wheels and tyres.The kit spiked dont last too long on anything hard.

CRP make heavy duty steering rods for around 6.Or he could get some brass tubing from a diy or model shop to slip over the rods to give some support.

As its a re re,it uses dogbones so they`ll last a while yet.Although uj`s are around a tenner on ebay.

The re re has had problems with the newer uprights...the spindle comes off.I had this happen to a brat i built with newer parts.It glues back on ok,but its annoying when youre away from home and it just pops out for no reason on the first run!

He could go for CRP skid plate and front/back bumpers later if hes knocking it a bit too much.

The rear arms can crack at the shock mounting point if its jumped to high too.

[markbt73]

Let the tires (or tyres if you prefer ) wear down; they'll last a long time as "slicks." Once they're worn through, then maybe replace them with something more road-friendly, like Brat tires.

It should only need 8 5x11 bearings (2 for each corner); the gearbox should already have them.

Does the re-re Frog still use those little 2mm steering tie rods? If so, then yeah, something stronger would be good. As long as he has a servo saver on there, nothing else should break. Just make sure he learns how to drive better before he goes after more power.

It's great that you're helping him out.

[Blacque Jacque]

The re re has had problems with the newer uprights...the spindle comes off.

He could go for CRP skid plate and front/back bumpers later if hes knocking it a bit too much.

The rear arms can crack at the shock mounting point if its jumped to high too.

Yup, he's suffering already with a popped front kingpin, I'll drill & pin it for him.

I don't think he's jumping it much, mostly kerb rash in the usual places, wheels, bumper wing etc.

C parts aren't too bad from the 'Bay anyway.

Let the tires (or tyres if you prefer ) wear down; they'll last a long time as "slicks." Once they're worn through, then maybe replace them with something more road-friendly, like Brat tires.

It should only need 8 5x11 bearings (2 for each corner); the gearbox should already have them.

Does the re-re Frog still use those little 2mm steering tie rods? If so, then yeah, something stronger would be good. As long as he has a servo saver on there, nothing else should break.

I have some old Brat tyres he can have, that'll keep him going for a while.

Ah ok, 1150 bearings are easy enough to come by, about 3 worth should do him then.

Strange they should ballrace the gearbox but not the wheels / axles Even my chinese TL01b copy is totally ballraced!

Yup, still has the twiddly 2mm rods, I'll see what sort of servo saver is fitted before beefing up the rods, either with tubes as 007al said or I have some 4-40 ball end ones in my spares box.

Just make sure he learns how to drive better before he goes after more power.

It's great that you're helping him out.

His eyes lit up when I told how cheap a Sport Tuned was but I'll guide him away from that for a while.

I don't mind helping him.

It's kinda fun, I get flashbacks of how I felt when I was his age with my 6v pack & Porsche 936

A little money spent in the right places will make him a Tamiya fan for life I hope.

[HunterZero]

Yep, Brat tires would be the go for sure for road use, or the 'Rough Rider' style tires from the Wild Ceptor Boys 4WD - which are a direct fit for the rear wheels... Once the original offroad tires have worn down and disintegrated. The original tires are very soft, and won't last long at all on road.

The gearbox is ballraced over the axles because...

1. The spur/counter gear spins on its axle at higher RPM than the axles, therefore would wear faster, and

2. It's harder to get into the gearbox to replace those bearings

They didn't include a full set of bearings in the original kit, because ball bearings were expensive back in the 80s, and this would have made the kit a fair bit more expensive. The re-issue just contains the same number of bearings as the original kit.

He definitely needs a decent fast charger, if he gets a NiMh pack. The NiCd pack he has is probably not being fully charged if he's only getting 5 mins run time with an ESC and standard motor - is it 1500mAh? He needs a basic delta peak 3A-4A AC fast charger that supports NiCd/NiMh. Eg, a Propeak 2500.

- James