More Rally / 4wd Questions. Ta05

[Butler 298]

Can you fit a 251mm body to a TA05, like the SX4? Looks like you can but reversing the arms, but can't find confirmation.

As anyone run this chassis off road? I know its not designed for it. I am guessing keeping the grit and gravel out of the drive drain would be the challange. Can you increase the ground clearance?

I am just bouncing some ideas around, so bear with me.

Thanks,

[Origineelreclamebord 45]

The belt drive system is pretty vulnerable to dirt. Belt drive buggies like the TRF501X have a body follows the shape of the tub nicely. Together with the undercowl not much dirt should come in.

However with the TA05 you have the body covering the whole car, including the wheels. Almost all dirt that's being flung around will stay within the body and much will end up on the chassis. A dirty chassis is normal with rally driving. However the belt is also exposed. This will increase wear on the belts and the pulleys. On a TA03 the pulleys are outside the diff, but on the TA05 the diffs and pulleys are one unit. Because of this the diff is open and the dirt on the belt will be transported straight into the diffs.

Conclusion: A stock TA05 will wear very quickly. You could make wheelarches on the body to catch the dirt, but it won't stop all of it. Only a complete undercowl with wheelarches covering the whole bottom of the body will do. Pretty impossible to make. Much easier is to make a rub cover like on the TB01, or a cover for only the belts. I'd consider going for a different car though instead of putting so much work in it.

As for the suspension travel, I'm not sure how much it is, but keep in mind that nothing on the car was ever built for that kind of abuse. It was made to be a high end, reliable onroad tourer. Searching the design limits of the car may result in breaking parts (more) often.

[Butler 298]

ok pretty much what i thought. thanks for the input.

I notice the belt kyosho buggys have a seperate enclosure for the belt. The ta05 belt is only exposed down the middle. The underneath and ends are protected.

[terry.sc 16]

The TT01E can be built as 257 or 251mm wheelbase just by flipping over the rear arms. The TA05 isn't designed to be built as a 251mm wheelbase, although I'm sure you can get near it by moving the spacers on the inner hinge pins or even flipping over the front arms and using the anti roll bar mount to attach the damper.

Dirt and gravel is not as serious a problem as you might think, the speed the belts move at prevents much dirt at all getting between the belts and pulley. The biggest problem is dirt getting into the rear gearbox itself and jamming between the belt and the bottom of the chassis, damaging the belt. The old Yokomo buggies had the same open gearbox design and they got around the problem by cutting a hole in the chassis under the diff pulley so the dirt could fall out - simple. My own Xpress touring car rally conversion uses the same trick to keep the dirt off the rear belt drive and I've never had problems. the design of the TA05 chassis means it would be pretty easy to make up a dirt shield to keep most of it away, plenty of places either side of the rear belt to screw a cover bent up from plastic sheet to make a tunnel to cover it.

For ride height adding rally blocks will give it a lift, they are bigger than touring car slicks. Longer ball joints on the end of the shocks will increase their length so giving more ride height, or replacing the shocks with longer units - plenty of cheap alloy ones around at various lengths.

[Butler 298]

Thanks terry, good insight.

I shall study the manual and decide on wheelbase length.

I am hoping the TA05 responds better to height changes than cheaper chassis. On my M03, adjusting the limited ride height messes with the toe and camber.

I am after a good quality 4wd chassis that I can use mainly on tarmac, but occasionally it may not be run on a sealed surface.

I may still go for a DF03ra, but prefer the ultra effiecent belt drive of the TA05. Plus its nice to have a bit of project or something different to the norm.

[CR-01nut 0]

I may still go for a DF03ra, but prefer the ultra effiecent belt drive of the TA05.

I did not know there was such a thing as a efficient belt drive!

[Butler 298]

no, but if you compare the drive train of the df03 to the ta you get the idea. The df is more like the ta01!!

[haza208 0]

you could get a rolling tl-01 off ebay for less than 20 quid, its shaft drive and has sealed gearboxes

[terry.sc 16]

I did not know there was such a thing as a efficient belt drive!

I have always found belt drive just as efficient as shaft drive on the track, belt drive doesn't have the problem of transmitting drive through inefficient bevel gears front and rear. You might be able to spin a shaft drive transmission under no load, a different matter when the bevel gears are being pushed together under power.

For offroad I have always preferred belt drive, the belt drive gives smoother power delivery (great on low grip surfaces) and some shock absorption in the drivetrain to protect it from damage.

[Wrc action 0]

Just a few quick pointers from my experiances of the TA05 some years back when I got one of the early C class DTM 04 cars.

1 - Like with my TB02 Race Touareg you will need to swap the front C-hubs for those from the TB01LA set or take the dremel to then otherwise you wont be able to get anymore downstroke and therefore ride height,

2 - The diff pulleys are in my opinion shocking and they very easily split one of the sides due to the way they are constructed. therefore allowing your belt to fall off to pulley and jam up, this was very common I found for the rear as it was affected by dirt and stones traveling out the hole in the rear of the chassis. I do hope that they have either upgraded this part or you can get a stronger one to prevent this.

Hope these two points help you out and I look forward to hearing about your results.

Best Wishes

Ryck

[federx 1]

don't even try to use a ta05 offroad...

it's a big problem to use it on a car park....for the dust, imagine offroad!

[bsr077 0]

I tried the TA05 Rally thing a while ago, it was a monumental failure, I'd be going through a spur a race and that was when the belts didn't skip or twist. The car is great for the smooth stuff, or club racing etc, but it's simply too open a design to go anywhere near dirt.

[Butler 298]

I am studying the manual to see if you can enclose the belts.

I mainly use the car on tarmac anyway and looking at 4wd the Ta05 makes better sense then a TT01 of you like to modify.

Its whether a DF03RA makes better sense overall.

[bsr077 0]

On a track the DF03RA can be set up to be competitive in a stock or mod class for sure, all the adjustments are there, Camber, Toe, Ride Height etc but you can't adjust Droop. I'd place it ahead of a TT-01 for onroad racing, but not up with the TA-05's (which I can run with most of the X-Ray's and be competitive)

Perhaps a DB-01 chassis which encloses the belts, and then TA-05 arms etc? Would that work?

Sorta a Durga / TA05 hybrid. Not sure if it's workable though.

....just get a DF03RA, all problems fixed, next race I'll be the only onroad stock guy with a slipper!

[federx 1]

i have tried wothout success to isolate the ta05 belt

buy a tb03

[Butler 298]

Hmmm, the TB03 does make a lot of sense. Just been going through an old thread covering the TB02 and TA03.

[Origineelreclamebord 45]

Hmmm, the TB03 does make a lot of sense. Just been going through an old thread covering the TB02 and TA03.

If you go for a TB03 I would change the IFS setup for a shock tower. It may be easier to adjust, you can put longer shocks on it then etc. The TB02 does make sense, but as you know Wrc Action did have diff problems. He did use bigger wheels, so that might be the problem, but you can't be sure. The TA03 also has a belt which may be vulnerable, but at least it's external and therefor may be easier to make a cover for. The TA03F also seems like a nice scale chassis regarding weight balance.