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Saito2

re-re Hot Shot series drivetrain info source

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There's has been a lot of discussion scattered about in various threads about the changes Tamiya made when they re-released the Hot Shot series. Now that the MIP ball diff may be coming to fruition could we put it all in one place? Starting with the re-re gearboxes, then dogbones, then knuckles and so on. Did Tamiya make them all the same, Hot Shot, Super Hot Shot, Boomerang and Bigwig when they were re-released? They were obviously different across the originals as they were developed through the 80's, but what about strictly the re-releases? Hoping to clarify them at least.

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1. Starting with the gearbox gear casings. I know the vintage models received several updates. Did the re-releases receive any changes to accommodate the new e-clip joint cups over the previous small c-clip retained joint cups? At any rate, The Hot Shot and Boomerang re-release G parts that have the gearcase tree has part number 9115191. The Super Hot Shot and Big Wig is 19115191. Does the extra 1 in front of the part number for the SHS and BW denote any real change?

2. The Dogbones/Drive shafts. The Hot Shot front is part no. 9808128 and rear 9440633. The Super Hot Shot and Big Wig carry the numbers 19808128 (f) and 19440633 (r). The Boomerang oddly uses four of the same driveshafts, part number 9805551. Again, are the SHS and BW different from the HS parts as they have an extra 1 in front of the standard Hot Shot re-re part number? More importantly, why does the Boomerang re-re use a totally different driveshaft, all four of which being the same?

3. Uprights/front knuckles. On all the buggies, the original knuckles are not used but rather a new set is included in the kits. I've heard these may be DF01 in origin to improve steering/bump steer? Of course, these vary in part number too. The Hot Shot and Super Hot Shot use part number 50648 front upright/knuckle. The Boomerang carries part number 0440378. The Big Wig is 10440378.

So what does all this mean? Do the added "1s" in front of part numbers really mean anything? If not, why would all the buggies use basically the same drive shaft arrangement except the Boomerang? Don't the re-re Boomerangs suffer from driveshaft binding at certain points? Is this the cause? Why the upright change between the models. I honestly figured when Tamiya re-released this buggy series they would have standardized these parts across the range, but it appears that's not the case after I dug out all the part numbers for this post. Sorry for the long post. Can anyone make sense out of it?

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1) I don't own any rere but my understanding is this: all vintage Hotshot/supershot/Boomerang/Big Wig/Super Sabre/etc. gearboxes are more or less the same. There are a few little differences between early and late ones but they should all fit each model based on the hotshot/boomerang chassis. Re-Released gearbox are not the same as vintage ones. They have been modified to allow the use of e-clips and you cannot used e-clips in vintage gearboxes because you don't have room for them.       

2) Original Boomerang, Super sabre and Hot Shot II use the same identical 4 dogbones. These 3 models have the same front/rear suspension arms and uprights. Hotshot and supershot have other front uprights and rear arms. So front dogbones are slightly shorter. Hotshot and Supershot dogbones shape is different but I think they should fit each model. I think re-Released dogbones, axles and cups are different, they look like manta ray parts.

                                                                                                                                        

         

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I can't add anything except in my experience the extra 1 at the front of a part number doesn't mean anything. This is based on the searches I have done when looking for parts and some suppliers showing the 1 and others not, but I always end up with the right parts.

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I've got the re:re Bigwig, Boomerang and Hotshot kits, and have now built the Bigwig and Boomerang, so my take on this is:

  1. As Jonathon says, the additional 1 at the beginning of the part code makes no difference. You can search for the part with or without it
  2. Gearbox casings are the same across the Bigwig and Boomerang
  3. The difference in the uprights is probably just colour? Bigwig and Boomerang are both blue, so carry the same code (0440378) and the Hotshot is red hence different code?
  4. Drive shafts / dogbones - the Bigwig's are definitely meatier than the Boomerang's, and can't explain why. Maybe because of the dual front upright shocks?

The only way I found out about the drive shafts being different was my Bigwig suffered a pretty major fail yesterday, the front right upright came away from the ball connectors; the ball connecter had stripped the plastic threading out of the interior of the knuckle! (see pic). I picked it up and brought it home to fix it, but of course didn't notice that when it failed and collapsed, the front drive shaft had fallen out, so I had inadvertently left it behind in the woods.  I didn't use the kit drive shafts in the Boomerang build, having substituted them for universal shaft / CVDs, so thought I could just use one of the Boomerang kit parts in the Bigwig. When I compared it to the remaining Bigwig front drive shaft, it was obvious that the Boomerang part is much thinner and more lightweight. I think I'll end up swapping them both for Boomerang drive shafts and see how it goes, once a set of replacement (aluminium this time!) uprights have arrived

IMG_3459.jpeg

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I run the MIP diff on my Boomerang. Let’s just say I wasn’t impressed by the way it fitted. Way too many o rings needed. As I have Uj on the front I couldn’t upgrade for obvious reasons. Would have been good if they supplied Uj instead of dogbones.

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