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Rear SRB bolted to hornet chassis - any good?

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I have seen all sort of modifications to make the hornet rear suspension functional some independent and some semi-independent.

Out of curiosity, has anyone fitted an SRB rear gearbox with the swing arm suspension intact to the hornet chassis?

I reckon that hybrid/combo would give the best result for a budget Tamiya vintage runner with full independent swing arms suspension and a bulletproof gearbox.

Wouldn't know if this hybrid would outperform an SRB or a hornet in an offroad track.

Any comments? Thanks.

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Hi mate

i came accross ths the other week

http://www.tam.ne.jp/nic/grh/grh02.html

i also found a vid of it running and it was pretty dam impressive.

heres the vid

this is how it should have been made

Grahoo has made some really good mods to several cars.

The TC showroom link is http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=60259&sid=418 which has a summary of the mods. Another showroom link is http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=3258&sid=418.

Not exactly SRB rear end though but with enough imagination anything is possible.

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I have read/seen the above sophisticated mods.

The one I proposed I believe is cheaper and easier to achieve and in line with "vintage" designs :D

Any thoughts on that?

Thanks.

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To be honest, I have no idea how one could mount the heavy metal SRB gearbox to the plastic Grasshopper chassis. Even if there is a way, I think the chassis will break under the load when attempting jumps, and the front-rear-balance will be wrong.

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But the worse thing is that you replace a terrible suspension set up with another terrible suspension set up.

Grahoo's solution is the best solution. I also did it in the end of the 80ies (or early 90ies?) with a Grasshopper 2 and Thundershot suspension arms.

Max

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To be honest, I have no idea how one could mount the heavy metal SRB gearbox to the plastic Grasshopper chassis. Even if there is a way, I think the chassis will break under the load when attempting jumps, and the front-rear-balance will be wrong.

Good thinking on that.

Probably have to harvest the SRB gearbox with its fiberglass chassis and bolt it onto the hornet chassis.

Looks overweight by then 😄.

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But the worse thing is that you replace a terrible suspension set up with another terrible suspension set up.

Max

😄 That"s true.

If I was the Tamiya designer in 1980, I would put together the budget holiday buggy rear suspension with a Hornet front suspension.

Correct me if i am wrong, but this hybrid would probably run better than the current

Grasshopper 2.

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[...]

Out of curiosity, has anyone fitted an SRB rear gearbox with the swing arm suspension intact to the hornet chassis?

I reckon that hybrid/combo would give the best result for a budget Tamiya vintage runner with full independent swing arms suspension and a bulletproof gearbox.

Wouldn't know if this hybrid would outperform an SRB or a hornet in an offroad track.

Any comments? Thanks.

The SRB gearbox doesn't have differentials so I doubt that it would be in any way better than a stock Hornet's. Specially if you are thinking about racing. You'll basically have more rollovers. :unsure:

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I've done it with a super sabre gearbox, most difficult bit was attaching the top end of the gearbox to the rear shock mounts. I think it would be cheaper than the SRB option as well, as a complete secondhand boomer / super sabre with a broken / rough shell can be picked for about £40 off ebay. The SS suspension is a bit more sophisticated than the SRB as well.

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I've done it with a super sabre gearbox, most difficult bit was attaching the top end of the gearbox to the rear shock mounts. I think it would be cheaper than the SRB option as well, as a complete secondhand boomer / super sabre with a broken / rough shell can be picked for about £40 off ebay. The SS suspension is a bit more sophisticated than the SRB as well.

Come to think of it, one can attach any old rear gearbox with the suspension intact and practically improve hornet"s performance.

Well, at least I can rest my thoughts on the hornet rear suspension because there are good and most importantly cheap solutions out there.

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I would barely call a swing-axle rear suspension an improvement over anything short of a pan-car chassis being used for off-road. The camber changes that ensue under compression would be even less predictable than a live-axle configuration.

That being said, though, it is possible that the SRB's damping is superior to that of the Hornet, mainly through the use of oil dampers and torsion bars as opposed to friction shock absorbers.

If you do end up using an original Holiday Buggy rear suspension setup with a Hornet chassis, you could end up with one of the only buggies with an all-round swing-axle suspension, which has shown problems when used solely for the front (i.e.: Striker) or for the back (SRBs as the example). I cannot comment on any advantages, although I personally find it difficult to imagine it working well unless you use the Hornet's rear spiked tires and the 'Smoothee' front tires - their round cross-section may be able to keep a consistent contact patch through the entire range of the suspension movement.

In the meantime, you would be better off (performance-wise) attempting a trailing-arm or double-wishbone setup as some other TC members have done, by proof of their findings in this thread.

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