Thorp Diff for Astute/King Cab

[GTodd 1350]

Hey guys good morning.  Every once in a while Thorp differentials show up for sale on Evil Bay.  Were these drop in replacements for the stock unit or did you have to get the entire gear set to make it work? IE does the thorp differential gear mesh match the Tamiya Drive Train, or did you have to purchase the idler gear and spur as well? I know the spur gear was a popular upgrade because it was real 48 pitch not the tamiya metric nonsense.  Are these strong differentials? Will they deal with modern brushless horsepower?

[Flerbizky 225]

Calling metric nonsense is a great deal like buying a fish a bicycle.

 

[GTodd 1350]

2 hours ago, Flerbizky said:

Calling metric nonsense is a great deal like buying a fish a bicycle.

 

When It goes against the industry it is nonsence, alas though can we please stay on topic with the post.

[berman 5315]

Most of the RC world is changing to the metric system. The reason spur gears were imperial was because early on (with the likes of the RC10 etc) a lot of pinions/spurs etc were made imperial by US RC manufacturers. Now that there is more rc's being made by companies worldwide, (and a lot of US manufacturers are outsourcing to China etc) the metric system will only become more common place.

 

[Saito2 6686]

I don't mean to derail this thread any further, as I'd like to see GTodd get his question answered. I do understand where he's coming from. In the States when the Madcap, Astute and King Cab were introduced they used a "metric 48 pitch" (I know this is a slang term but it was what it was called back in the day) as opposed to Tamiya previous 32 pitch compatible gears. There was much confusion as standard and readily available 48 pitch pinions would screech like a cat with it's tail under a rocking chair when hooked up to these new Tamiya spurs. At the time, it caused some confusion and the "metric" pinions weren't as easy to come by.

[kontemax 1725]

5 hours ago, GTodd said:

When It goes against the industry it is nonsence, alas though can we please stay on topic with the post.

Imperial is not the universal standard. Industry of all the world (except usa, uk and some commonwealth countries) uses the standard metric. Also many industries in these Commonwealth countries use currently metric anyway. An example of these ones, in our hobby, is Traxxas.

Max

[Saito2 6686]

I think you'd almost need an old Thorp catalog to be sure, short of someone's personal experience. I can't remember the diff being used in any RC Car Action "project" cars. I vaguely remember the ad, but can't remember if the diff was pictured with the idler or not. One company (although it sticks in my head that it was Robinson Racing) made a spur gear with the big half (that meshes with the pinion) in 48 pitch and the small half (that meshes with the idler) in "metric 48 pitch.
 

[Flerbizky 225]

40 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

I think you'd almost need an old Thorp catalog to be sure, short of someone's personal experience. I can't remember the diff being used in any RC Car Action "project" cars. I vaguely remember the ad, but can't remember if the diff was pictured with the idler or not. One company (although it sticks in my head that it was Robinson Racing) made a spur gear with the big half (that meshes with the pinion) in 48 pitch and the small half (that meshes with the idler) in "metric 48 pitch.
 

I seem to recall a thread on here where the Robinson spur gear is mentioned. My search skills are weak, and I can't seem to find it.

[GTodd 1350]

Ok, so apparently Thorp made a 32 pitch and 48 pitch differential for the Astute series transmissions. The 48 pitch one was for a 48 pitch version of the transmision that thorp produced that fit inside the standard TAMIYA based trans case.

I just purchased one, fingers crossed it is 32 pitch

[highflyer 73]

I raced a Thorp diff with a 12T mod in a King Cab over 25 years ago, brushless with lipo is way to torquey and would eat the diff up (even a weak 27.5 would worry me). Also, IIRC, there were two versions of the diff, one being a drop in replacement as the other came full 48P set including counter and spur gears.

YOU will need an alloy A1 part to hold counter gear.

[Saito2 6686]

The A1 part I can help with. Stormer Hobbies has the alloy version still available believe it or not. Fits King Cab, Astute, etc.

[GTodd 1350]

Ive had one of those metal A1 parts since I read about it in the RC Car Action review of the monster racer. BIG Help, never stripped my spur gear!!!!

[highflyer 73]

On 8/9/2016 at 5:56 PM, Saito2 said:

The A1 part I can help with. Stormer Hobbies has the alloy version still available believe it or not. Fits King Cab, Astute, etc.

Wow, still available after all these years.  I still have a gold one from them (I think).

yep, a pic from my showroom - http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=61839&id=14859

On 8/9/2016 at 10:04 PM, GTodd said:

Ive had one of those metal A1 parts since I read about it in the RC Car Action review of the monster racer. BIG Help, never stripped my spur gear!!!!

Same here .  Got 2 Thorps as I raced two Monster Racers 25 plus years ago.

 

[GTodd 1350]

1 hour ago, highflyer said:

Wow, still available after all these years.  I still have a gold one from them (I think).

yep, a pic from my showroom - http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=61839&id=14859

Same here .  Got 2 Thorps as I raced two Monster Racers 25 plus years ago.

 

SASSY CHASSIS Nice!!!!!!!