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TamTom

RC4WD K5 Blazer meets Tamiya Bruiser 2012 chassis

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I couldn't quite trust my eyes when I saw the K5 body on RC4WD's website. I'm a big K5 fan and hav owned a '79 K5 on my own some years ago. I'm sorry I sold the car. So immediately I ordered one and on Friday I picked it up from the carrier here. Dang that thing is huge! Fantastic quality and details, super thick and strong body, perfect size for all the chassis and tires in 1.55 and 1.75 we use. Thank you RC4WD!!

So in my case the K5 will sit on a Tamiya Bruiser 2012 chassis that I have ready sitting here. The original Tamiya axles will be switched for RC4WD Yota Bruiseruptor axles. They are ordered now. Hope they show up soon.

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This will approximately be the ride hight I am going to do. It equals to about 6-8 inch lift and 37 inch tires on a real K5.
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This was my K5 with a 4 inch full leafs lift kit and 35x14.5 MT Baja Belted
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Here some comparison pictures with the Hilux and the K5 side by side.
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Wow, this is going to be something serious !!

Amazing body, with a Tamiya 3 speed chassis and tough axles.

I follow this thread immediately. By the way, your 1:1 K5 was nice too.

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RC4WD look like they have made another gorgeous body. I am still lusting after their Cruiser and have been wondering whether that will fit on a Bruiser chassis.

The Bruiser chassis looks a lot more suited than the Trailfinder IMHO and the stance is spot on.

I am interested in how you are going to fit RC4WD axles to the Bruiser chassis. I was under the impression that the u-bolt mounting positions on the front RC4WD axle range is a bit wider than the Bruiser's, although I think the rear Bruiseruptor axles are set up perfectly.

Is this the case or are they a direct fit? If not what modifications will you make?

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How is the width on the rear axle? Does it stick out too much? It was an issue I had with my Juggerlux. Luckily I was able to have another list member perform a custom narrowing of the axle

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How is the width on the rear axle? Does it stick out too much? It was an issue I had with my Juggerlux. Luckily I was able to have another list member perform a custom narrowing of the axle

The RC4WD Bruiseruptor rear axle has the following measurements...

  • Width: 7.09in / 180mm (Axle Housing)
  • Leaf Mount Width: 4.52in / 115mm
  • Gear Ratio: 2.67:1

Apparently it is a direct fit for the Bruiser. I do not have a normal Bruiser axle to hand to measure it.

The front RC4WD yota axle has the following details...

  • Width: 180mm / 7.09inch
  • Leaf Mount Width: 79mm / 3.11"

So has the same width as the RC4WD Bruiser rear, thuis eradicating the normal over-wide rears on a standard Bruiser. and allowing all sorts of hex mounted wheels.

I remember looking at these for a vintage Hilux chassis. On the vintage Hilux, the front leafs are 76mm apart vs the 79mm for the RC4WD axle. It does not sound much but causes all sorts of binding issues. I did mull over spreading my Hilux chassis with some washers (1.5mm each side) but in the end went with the originals.

I will be interested in seeing how you sort this out.

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Basically the RC4WD Yota axles with the rear bruiserupter edition are a direct fit to the Bruiser frame. I have made a custom Hilux on a Bruiser frame with Yota/Bruiseruptor axles. They did fit right away.

Here is the build thread that I have posted in a scaler forum: http://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61184

Here is a short video:

As already posted, the rear bruiseruptor axle is exactly same as the front yota axle. In case of the Blazer body, the axle including wheels will not stick out of the body at all. At last this is what I measured. Once the axles are here, I know exactly. However, the stock Bruiser axles are much wider than the RC4WD Yota axles. Especially the rear stock axle is way to wide.

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Basically the RC4WD Yota axles with the rear bruiserupter edition are a direct fit to the Bruiser frame. I have made a custom Hilux on a Bruiser frame with Yota/Bruiseruptor axles. They did fit right away.

Here is the build thread that I have posted in a scaler forum: http://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61184

Here is a short video:

As already posted, the rear bruiseruptor axle is exactly same as the front yota axle. In case of the Blazer body, the axle including wheels will not stick out of the body at all. At last this is what I measured. Once the axles are here, I know exactly. However, the stock Bruiser axles are much wider than the RC4WD Yota axles. Especially the rear stock axle is way to wide.

I remember that build log. Really nice to go back and see it again. What a lovely Hilux!

So are you saying there is no issue whatsoever in bolting standard front RC4WD Yota axle onto a Bruiser? I know the rear is a direct fit but am pleasantly surprised that the fronts are too.

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Thank you.

Now I remember some small issue with the front axles. I had to shim the front leaf hangers towards outside. I grinded the two eyes off the white plastic spacer to bring the leaf hanger outside a little more and shimed with I think two Tamiya 3mm washers each eye outside the frame. That's what I had to do on the red Hilux. Long time ago but now I recalled. So it is really just a little modification to make them fit. I have an used front axle here, and took pictures. I believe it works w/o shiming the leaf hangers too. But I will see.

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Also I made a little progress with the radio box. I cut the top section off and installed the gear shift servo.

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And I made a custom set of leaf springs. I used the top leaf from the Bruiser and added support leafs as needed from several semi leafs I had opened. The semi leafs are more curved than the Bruiser leafs are and result in a light lift of roughliy 1cm additionally. I might need extra Superlift blocks from RC4WD to gain a few milimeter of extra lift though.

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Found another used rear yota axle and made a comparion shot of the Tamiya Bruiser 2012 axles and the Yota's. You can see the yota axles are significant narrower.

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Today I got the RC4WD Yota axles in. Could not wait to install them and so I began with the installation immediately.
First I replaced the white nylon inserts of the front leaf hangers and shimmed with 4x 3mm washers. Also I had to trim the frame at this section accordingly.
So the leaf hangers come out 2mm each side wider and therefore the axles directly fit the leafs. Attached the axles with RC4WD u-bolt kits and fitted the body.

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Wow!! The ride hight is just perfect for my taste. And nobody can say that the width of the axles and tires look goof. It sits just like a real K5. However, with a little wider steelies it would look even better. ;-)

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Hello! I have a rc4wd bruiseruptor chassis as well. I want to put the same body or my Tamiya F350 body on to this chassis. How did you mount the body? Stock Bruiser mounts are just tooooo far apart to reach right!

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