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Big Teej

Df-03 and brushless

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I own a Tamiya DF-03 and recently I have joined an RC club. I would like to make this car competitive. The stock motor isn't going to cut it. I have search online and found mixed information. Some say they have converted it to brushless and it shreds the gearbox after a few races. Has anybody here done it and what set up did you use? I heard switching the metal gears from the front gearbox to the rear one will help it hold up a little better. Any help would be great.

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I have a df03ra which I run a 5.5t brushless set up in. It perfomes great and I have never had any problem with any geras. As long as you fit a slipper cluych in it, it will be fine.

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I own a Tamiya DF-03 and recently I have joined an RC club. I would like to make this car competitive. The stock motor isn't going to cut it. I have search online and found mixed information. Some say they have converted it to brushless and it shreds the gearbox after a few races. Has anybody here done it and what set up did you use? I heard switching the metal gears from the front gearbox to the rear one will help it hold up a little better. Any help would be great.

You need a hardened main shaft FS7039 from five stars and a slipper clutch. Make sure your ball diffs are slipping correctly and you are set

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Cool good to know. I have the slipper and I will purchase a shaft. Did you guys switch the gears or run the stock set up?

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I have 2 RA´s, and they both run brushless 4350 kV motors. They have both worn out a countergear (the fixed one on the shaft), but they are also nearly 2 years old. Other than that, only normal maintenance to the balldiff has been needed.. No shredding gears here either.

Probably the most important thing to do to the gearbox, is to add the slipperclutch, AND set it up correctly, so it WILL slip on occasions, like landing after a jump and stuff like that.

A friend of mine ran a 5,5 turn setup in his old Dark Impact, but with his slipper set too tight, so it only slipped in the rear diff, making the diff wheel melt, which by the way, made a funny noise. :) (The "netting" that holds the balls in place, simply lost contact with the diff wheel"rim" altogether, lol).

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Awesome to know thanks guys. Not a lot of people here know jack **** about Tamiya, I am the only one in the off road and on road club that uses a Tamiya.

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In the long term I might switch to another car (if you want to be really competitive), but that said, I think you should be able to drive the DF03 on the track pretty well. I'd get hold of a Fivestars countergear just to be safe, the slipper of course and make sure everything is built correctly.

Then besides a proper build and spec, the biggest thing to prevent you spending more time in the pit area with the hands in your hair than on the rostrum is to drive consistently and prevent crashes. I've got 3 trackdays under my belt now (Yes, loads of experience :)), and I noticed that any car can break in the most innocent looking crash - the actual cause of the part breaking may be a much harder crash earlier on, or the repeated punishment it has gone through. On my last trackday I drove quite consistently, and the jumps went pretty well. As such: No broken parts. The previous two days were less succesful (partially down to bad driving and jumping, partially because the surrounding cars were bigger, heavier or lying upside down on main straight - ouch!)

I don't know if you got your eyes on certain electronics already, but here's what I think. If you want to keep it safe on your DF03, perhaps keeping the power under 4500kV is a good idea.

More importantly however, you'll need to get a decent capacity LiPo that fits in that tub, if you haven't got one already ;) If you don't, maybe having a look at this Team Orion LiPo pack. The tub of the DF03 requires a battery with round edges like the original NiCd/NiMh packs, and in the front of the battery you'd want as much room as possible for the wires. This type of battery has the right shape and an integrated balancing adapter, so no extra wires for that ;) Also, the wires exit close to a corner of the pack, which may just give you the space you need for the power cable with minimum modifications. As for the plug on the battery and ESC, I'd use Deans or TRX plugs (or 4mm banana plugs).

A servo that can handle the offroad terrain also helps. My 201 was the first car in which I used something better than a standard servo. I've never looked back: It's quicker, stronger and more accurate thanks to this. I'd have a look at Savöx servos, they are really good bang for their buck :P

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I don't know if you got your eyes on certain electronics already, but here's what I think. If you want to keep it safe on your DF03, perhaps keeping the power under 4500kV is a good idea.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Besides the local track only has short straights with tight turns at the end or a large triple. I think a set up with more torque out of the corners would be more useful then blinding speed.

I do have my Lipo's and servo. Everything is ready to go except I have to change one connecter (changed the ESC) and fit all the wires as clean as possible.

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As a side note: thread locker is your friend! After a few races everything loosens. The buggy did pretty well but is a little slow. I want a few more laps for experience then I will go to a brushless system. The stock shock with heavy oil weren't bad either. As long as you don't floor it off the lip of a jump it stays straight in the air.

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