2wd Choices....

[mickycivic]

Hey all, I am looking to get another 2wd buggy, the only one I have at the moment is a grasshopper with a sport tuned in it, great great fun but looking for something a little more serious. When I say serious I am not going to be racing or anything, just bashing - but want something more than the grasshopper.

I've been having a mooch and in my head have decided a DT-02 is what I am after.... looks good outta the box, bearings, oil shocks... etc. What I'd like to know is, of the Tamiya 2wd range, are these the better chassis to go for?

Motor wise I'll be fitting some sort of brushless in there... will need to decide that nearer the time though.

Cheers guys.

Mike.

[Origineelreclamebord]

Well, the best 2WD chassis from Tamiya (ever) is the Dyna Storm. I'm building one, and I can tell you, they really made a piece of art; Beautiful looks and from what I've heard Tamiya's best (competition) 2WD buggy. They're a little expensive though, so there are a few other options.

The DT02 is at the moment probably the best handling and most serious 2WD buggy in their lineup. Some say it's too flexible, that it understeers, bla bla bla, but that's probably mainly in the setup. Ok, it's not a competition buggy but it was never meant to be, and ok, there are not many hopups for it, but I think it is pretty diverse. The limited hopups require you to make a setup that suits you, or if you're not too much into that, you just bash it The big disadvantage of this car probably is that you can't fit a slipper clutch, but as long as you don't jump with the car and don't use a hugely powrful motor the gears should hold up.

If you're looking for something serious I'd pass the other 2WD re-re's Tamiya has on the market at the moment, and I wouldn't go for a DT01 or a Rising Fighter either. There's one more car that to me does well as an RWD buggy

The DF03 is originally a 4WD buggy, but I recently made a DF03 rear wheel drive. I tested it and it ran absolutely great! Pretty stable, no real understeer, very controlable oversteer and lots of control. (These tests were with Top Force front wheels+tires and Dyna Storm wheels+Super Hornet front tires, back then stock suspension setup on a thin loose sand top surface with compacted sand under it). I understand that for competitive use it might not have the right weight balance, and the front end and tub may be a bit too heavily built (for 4WD), but it's a lot of fun to drive and there are loads of hopups out there for the DF03

[paul_m]

Some good advice from Origineelreclamebord above. Here's my opinion - DT-02 is a great car! I've been bashing my Desert Gator constantly over the past couple of months and it never ceases to amaze me just how tough it is! Nothing has ever broken on it despite many high speed crashes into concrete and failed jumps.

If you get one you should invest in some spiked tyres for the front to stop it understeering. Other worthwhile mods are the ball bearing diff set, a high-torque servo saver and uprated shocks.

I see from your original post that you want to run brushless. Well beware that you only have 2 pinion choices 17T or 19T so can't fit too fast a motor. I run a 19 turn motor in mine with the 17T pinion and I think it's about right (for me at least). My Lipo battery helps to give it a good turn of speed too.

Get one - you won't be disappointed!

Paul

[mickycivic]

Cheers for the above guys, looks like I have a couple of things to consider...

The rwd DF03 sounds like an awesome car, and for the time put in I can imagine very very rewarding, however being a little lazy I like the idea of buying a rwd car and being done with it, but hey, thats just me! I was eying up the Sand Viper, quite like the yellow and they are available without electronics for a very reasonable cost.

I think I am pretty much convinced...

So then, onto motor options, would brushless not be a good idea? I wasn't thinking of anything crazy, maybe just the 9T ezrun system... I don't want it to be uncontrollably fast, but very fast would be nice!!

[WW-nut]

Cheers for the above guys, looks like I have a couple of things to consider...

The rwd DF03 sounds like an awesome car, and for the time put in I can imagine very very rewarding, however being a little lazy I like the idea of buying a rwd car and being done with it, but hey, thats just me! I was eying up the Sand Viper, quite like the yellow and they are available without electronics for a very reasonable cost.

I think I am pretty much convinced...

So then, onto motor options, would brushless not be a good idea? I wasn't thinking of anything crazy, maybe just the 9T ezrun system... I don't want it to be uncontrollably fast, but very fast would be nice!!

If you can find one, buy a DT-02 MS - its basically a hopped-up Sand Viper.

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...3&sid=19158

Before you ask, neither of mine are for sale

[mickycivic]

Yeah I spotted them on Tamiyas website, they do look nice, very nice.... are they still available at all?

[Origineelreclamebord]

The rwd DF03 sounds like an awesome car, and for the time put in I can imagine very very rewarding, however being a little lazy I like the idea of buying a rwd car and being done with it, but hey, thats just me!

Well, the funny thing is you don't have to modify anything really to have it as the RWD buggy I mean. The only thing you have to do is not assemble anything of the drivetrain in front of the rear gearbox (no main driveshaft, no front gearbox, no front driveshafts), which will also mean you'll have spare diff parts! DT02 is probably a bit more serious though

[mickycivic]

Hmmm I see.... even more food for thought.

I can see the theory here - a rwd car and a 4wd car (I am guessing not a fwd car!), all in one, just change at the twist of a spanner! (ok so not quite that easy)

Now I am in a quandary

[taliesin]

The DT-02 is a very fun buggy but it doesn't handle boatloads of power very well. There aren't enough mounting holes / pinion gear choices so that limits how much power you can actually utilize from the motor. You either can't use it, or it just overheats the motor and esc.

I tried a brushless in mine - very briefly - and it was just uncontrollable and not that much fun to drive. And it got hotter than Hades really quick. Personally, I wouldn't recommend a brushless system at all in this buggy. Having said that, I bet TA-Mark could guide you in how to put a brushless in it though. He got one into a Grasshopper, and if he can do that ...well, then anything is possible. You might ask him if you go that route.

It is very fun with a sport tuned or dirt tuned motor though! Just add some spikey tires up front to help with the 2wd understeer and you are ready to go. RWD buggies are a hoot to drive and take a bit of skill to control, but they are FUN!

[Origineelreclamebord]

Hmmm I see.... even more food for thought.

I can see the theory here - a rwd car and a 4wd car (I am guessing not a fwd car!), all in one, just change at the twist of a spanner! (ok so not quite that easy)

Now I am in a quandary

Well it's not just removing or adding something and having 4WD, but when you do want 4WD or want to sell it, you have the parts to change it back to 4WD. Unfortunately I haven't got a second person to make a Video of how the car handles, but it does look slightly different than the other buggies I think; Much more weight on the front compared to other 2WD buggies. This makes for less grip on the rear, especially when accelerating hard. Opposed to that you have more grip on the front, so it listens well to the direction of the front wheels and this makes for pretty controlable slides on the soft terrain I was running on. Another plus is that a DF03 (when 4WD) can handle a Brushless system. I think I wouldn't want to try a Brushless with just RWD though (I think that'll smoke the diff), but I think it will handle a larger motor than the DT02.

The DT-02 is a very fun buggy but it doesn't handle boatloads of power very well. There aren't enough mounting holes / pinion gear choices so that limits how much power you can actually utilize from the motor. I tried a brushless in mine - very briefly - and it was just uncontrollable and not that much fun to drive. And it got hotter than Hades really quick. Personally, I wouldn't recommend a brushless system at all in this buggy. Having said that, I bet TA-Mark could guide you in how to put a brushless in it though. He got one into a Grasshopper, and if he can do that ...well, then anything is possible. You might ask him if you go that route.

Don't forget that TA-Mark also managed to fit a DF03 slipper clutch in an SRB and do I remember it wrong now, or did he also fit a brushless in that? The best thing you can do to run it with a hotter motor is to make a motor plate for it without holes, but two lugs in which the screws can slide (so you have to fit the motor to make the right mesh, like on for example the DF03 and Dyna Storm). However, this will cost a lot of work and needs to be done very precisely. I think with a 19T motor the DT02 will go fast enough

PS: (That may be me though; When I ran my M02 recently (I haven't run a car until that moment for a few months) I was completely overwhelmed and scared by it's speed - and it runs a standard pinion gear and silver can I'm not really a speedfreak).

PS2: The nice thing of both the DT02 and the DF03 is that they (as far as I know) don't cost much second hand, so you can always try a second hand one out, and if you like it, maybe restore it to run better or sell it on to partially fund a NIB.

[DCLXVI]

If you drill out the motor screw holes on the DT-02 by 0,5 mm you can go one tooth up and down on each hole, that takes it from 17 / 19 to 16 - 20 tooths...

And I bet you can get a BL in there pretty easy, en EZ-Run should work really good...

I modified my front suspention also, I thought it was to loose so I drilled out the hole where the outer hingepin goes through to 4 mm and put brass tubing there and used a long screw to keep in in place...no slop at all...

Bu I do find the DT-02 abit "agricultural"...

[mickycivic]

Ok cheers again guys.

I guess what I could do is... the kits are pretty cheap really without electronics, and I have other cars I can 'borrow' motors and esc's from to experiment with. So in there I could try and sport tuned, a BZ, an RZ, and even a 5700Kv sidewinder kit (although I suspect this will be a little too powerful!), and then after that I'd have an idea of what I'd like to put in the thing.

The 9T ezrun does appeal as its a good speed and being brushless, more battery life and maintaince free. Plus what I'd spend on a decent brushed motor/esc combo, its probably around the same sorta price.

[southy]

I have a DT-02MS which i'm running a eZrun 13T brushless in. With the 17 tooth pinion it is plenty quick and the motor bearly gets warn. I plan on giving the 9T motor a run in it.

[mickycivic]

I have a DT-02MS which i'm running a eZrun 13T brushless in. With the 17 tooth pinion it is plenty quick and the motor bearly gets warn. I plan on giving the 9T motor a run in it.

Nice. Is the DT-02 MS still available at all? It looks like they have been discontinued... but does anyone know if they are in stock anywhere?

[WW-nut]

Nice. Is the DT-02 MS still available at all? It looks like they have been discontinued... but does anyone know if they are in stock anywhere?

I know of two for sale on TC:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=50693

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/trades_model.asp?cid=79960

Alternatively just wait, I am sure one will turn up again on Ebay. Though if you do find a model shop with loads of them can you let me know, ta?

[mickycivic]

Cheers WW nut, yeah course I will... if I can find any!

[mickycivic]

In a complete contradiction to the above, I have just ordered a DF-03 MS....! Well I wanted an MS edition car and didn't wanna wait for a reasonably priced DT-02 MS to turn up.

Looking forward to getting it.

The sand viper will have to wait a couple of months now!

[DynaHead]

Ill never understand why Tamiya would discontinue the Dyna Storm without a replacement. It is the best 2wd car they ever produced. And why make it a limited edition? Tamiya sometimes works in mysterious ways.

[nakedsv]

I say skip the next 2WD for now, and get a 4WD.

Unless you run a lot on the street, brushless power in 2WD is mostly wasted. One just can't put that power to the dirt.

[TA-Mark]

I say skip the next 2WD for now, and get a 4WD.

Unless you run a lot on the street, brushless power in 2WD is mostly wasted. One just can't put that power to the dirt.

That not being able to use full power in the dirt, and only ever being able to pull half throttle doubles your runtime. I wouldn't put anything else in them. 2 hours + from a MM4600Kv in a Grasshopper, and it's so smooth, no magnetic lope to wear the backside of the gears, and next to no maintainence. Full throttle will spit rocks in you face, completely uncontrollable with the trigger pulled that hard, it's all fun though.

[southy]

I say skip the next 2WD for now, and get a 4WD.

Unless you run a lot on the street, brushless power in 2WD is mostly wasted. One just can't put that power to the dirt.

This all depends on how you set up the brushless. I was running a Ezrun 13T and now have gone to the 9T. I have set the punch on the speedy so with it can take off with doing donuts but still has insane top speed.

By the way mickycivic, congrates on the DF-03MS. I was looking at getting one off these next but think I have talked myself into the DB-01 instead. To many models not enough time (or money).

[mickycivic]

By the way mickycivic, congrates on the DF-03MS. I was looking at getting one off these next but think I have talked myself into the DB-01 instead. To many models not enough time (or money).

Cheers pal. Must admit I am looking forward to getting it. I have a TL-01B at the moment which went wrong (again) at the weekend, so that plus not really finding the right DT-02 MS for me swayed me into getting one. 225USD delivered from HK, seems quite a good price. I gave up looking for one in the UK (cue someone stating there are loads available which I never found ) so ordered one from a shop called RC Mushroom. Come on airmail! I ordered it yesterday where is it!!!