ta03 pulley question?

[chickenman242tk]

finally have the 03 running , hit something during testing yesterday and broke a rear upright..... ,anyways I currently have fitted 15t aluminium pulleys and notice that even at max tension that belt (aramid fibre one) flaps around a bit , is this normal or should I change pulleys . I have just bought a torque splitter for it but that wont be here for 3-4 weeks atm .what is the best pulley combo for a t/s setup? the car is currently running a 8.5t bl setup too.

[XV Pilot]

I don't have personal experience with a TA-03, but I do remember from my racing days that TA-05s perform best with a little bit of play in the belts. Too tight and they feel like they are binding. I would guess the same would apply to your TA-03?

[ChrisRx718]

The aramid belt means that with certain pulley setups you can run without a tensioner - how is yours currently setup?

I have a TA03F with 17T front and 15T rear pulley setup (could be the other way around, can't remember!) and the tensioner just sits on the belt.

I have a TA03R which has 2 16T pulleys and aramid belt and again this runs virtually no tension.

The smaller pulleys will obviously create a shorter route for the belt, I suspect some tuning of the tensioner is required ultimately.

[InsaneJim69]

The TA03F has to have 16T pulleys and the TA03R has the 15T pulleys. The reason the R has smaller pulleys is because the rear belt has to go over the motor via 2 bearings.

Torque splitters can have a 17T and a 15T pulley setup for the TA03F which gives an average of the 16T pulley. the R has a torque splitter of 16T and 14T giving an average of the 15T setup.

The belt should not be tight, but should not be flapping around at all. It should have just a bit on tension in it.

James

[chickenman242tk]

hmm looks like im going to be in the market for some 16t pulleys...

it currently has 15t at both ends and im finding I have to crank the tensioner right down and im still getting a bit of belt slap

[Mokei Kagaku]

The 16t pulleys will be OK if your model is a TA03F or TA03F-S only.

I would not recommend running 16t pulleys if your model is a TA03R or TA03R-S for the reason Jim_GT-R mentions; "The reason the R has smaller pulleys is because the rear belt has to go over the motor via 2 bearings."

Running a bigger pulley in the rear would mean that the belt would have to go around a tighter bend from the rear pulley and over the two bearings, which causes premature wear and excessive friction, and thus lower performance. It's a pretty common misunderstanding that the 16t pulleys are alternative pulleys for the 15t pulleys on the TA03R/R-S to adjust belt tension, but they're not.

[volvotech]

I'm with James. You need 16T pulleys or equivalent combination.

[chickenman242tk]

for the record its an f std length chassis , i'll have to hunt down some different pulleys , does anyone know if Tamiya made a alu tension pulley too , mines plastic

[Mokei Kagaku]

....., does anyone know if Tamiya made a alu tension pulley too , ....

53286 TA03 Aluminum Pulley (16T)

53291 TA03 Aluminum Pulley (15T)

The one-way bearing equipped "Torque Control Units" come with aluminum pulleys too:

53298 TA03F Torque Control Unit (15T/17T)

53299 TA03R Torque Control Unit (14/16T)

[volvotech]

for the record its an f std length chassis , i'll have to hunt down some different pulleys , does anyone know if Tamiya made a alu tension pulley too , mines plastic

Same tooth count but different belt length between standard and short chassis layouts. And plastic was your only choice in tensioner pulley from tamiya. I think gpm and others have aluminum options.

[InsaneJim69]

As above, there was no official aluminium belt tensioner pulley, mostly because it wasn't needed tbh. The alloy pulleys are handy to have but the plastics ones handle any kind of power with ease any way.

James