Frog 2005 Universals Okay For Blackfoot ?

[backtomyroots]

Okay, may be a silly question but will the Frog 2005 Universal Shaft Part #53908 be a direct fit for the Vintage Blackfoot & Monster Beetle ?

Part is here:

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=53908

[essexboyracer]

This is exactly what I did with my classic Subaru Brat. I bought it about a year before the re-re Brat was released, but when a friend bought the re-re Brat, I was keen to see if I could fit the new diff.

Anyway, it did go in, but I didn't find it was a perfect fit to begin with. For the first couple of runs it seemed ths diff action was a bit notchy, but from it's third run onwards it's been smooth, and works nicely now. I'm guessing the gearbox casing might be slightly different, so the diff was a bit tight to begin with. btw, I found it tricky to rebuild the gearbox with the new diff, i'm not sure if I ended up reversing the way the gearbox went together (my reprinted instructions for the new frog gearbox are not great), but ultimately it seems to be working well now.

EDIT: Just realised your pic doesn't have the diff parts, I think they would also be needed to convert it to the universals.

[henrikw]

Okay, may be a silly question but will the Frog 2005 Universal Shaft Part #53908 be a direct fit for the Vintage Blackfoot & Monster Beetle ?

Part is here:

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=53908

My personal experience is a no, they are not optimal. The shafts are a bit too short (I think that the frog uses shorter lenght rear dampers), because of this, the dog done part pop's ou of the cup's once in a while.

But then again, that's just my observation

/henrik

[kstar]

I have 'em on my monster beetle and they work good, I haven't have any problems with 'em.

[VagabondStarJXF]

I've fitted a set to my Mud Blaster and they're moving nice and freely so I think they're ok to use on the Blackfoot, being that they're the same chassis and all that.

[zakspeed]

Yeah they are a straight swap. No differance what so ever between the Backfoot/ MB and Frog / Brat on the suspension set up (apart from shocks but they do not dictate the travel)

The movement of the wishbone is dictated by a stop built into the arm. The only thing I found with them was I had a bad vibration when run on my Frog. I run my Mudblaster with just the reissue dog bone driveshafts with the standard boots fitted and cable tied as original. That Mudblaster has had some serious abuse and never had a problem with that set up.

[pikachoo-75]

Ive used both the re-re dogbone and uj drive shafts on my Blackfoot ,Frog and Brat.they fit straight over.

Might be of use to you or other ORV chassis users,i found if i make the shocks 72mm from center of the mount hole end to end,the uj's are very smooth in operation.as mentioned by Zacspeed the built in downstops in the rear arms against the chassis limit the droop.but if your shocks are 72mm the droop is a fraction less.this small reduction in travel stops the dog bones or uj's clipping the edge of the diff out drives.

bear in mind that its best if your shocks are "one peice" once assembled...the orig brat shocks (like the Grasshopper) have a simple push fit to join the shock top to the cyclinder.its poss that when the rear arms droop that they can simply pull the shock top out a litte and defeat the benifit of running the 72mm length.

best way to see the benefit is to remove one shock...hold the chassis so the rear arm droops onto its downstop and the wheel is free to rotate...now apply alittle throtte...you should see that the arm tries to dance up and down as the driveshaft clips the drive cup.

mount your 72mm shock and repeat...should be smooth as you like.

to get your shock 72mm requires abit of trial and error with some spacers etc on the inside of the cylinder under the piston.any shorter and you reduce the already limited suspension travel so as close to 72mm is best.

hope it all makes sense and is helpful for you.

[backtomyroots]

Thanks everyone !