tnx And so it begins Tamiya TNX TGM-03 brushless conversion

[novicelad 784]

So I love big monster trucks I dislike Nitro I also am a massive Tamiya fanboy so what better to do than convert a TNX to a big brushless thing  i'm not expert a lot of this will be trial and error 

I have sourced a TNX chassis for less than £40 posted so the first bit of the puzzle is done but I have a bit of a shopping/ todo list It will take me a while as on a budget, first on the agenda is to strip and clean its rusty and stinks of fags! The main aim is to just have a big basher!

Shopping list 

• 4068 Brushless motor 2050KV and mod 1 pinions 
• New shocks again will be budget
• Motor bracket on order 
• spur gear
• Body
• Maybe new wheels 

Going to get it running first make sure it works and does what its supposed to then go from there, exciting times 

EDIT: after having a good look it also needs counter shaft bits and a new wishbone at the front, going to upgrade both front wishbones to TGM-04 spec, hoping that they still work with the universal joint drive shaft jobbies, decided not to do this at this point future upgrade. I have TGM-03 wishbone replacements 

EDIT 2: Also gotta work out how to lock the gears in 2nd 

[_oliK 107]

Electric motors all the way! Some might like nitro, but I also prefer electric motors. Definitely following the progress here.

[novicelad 784]

3 minutes ago, _oliK said:

Electric motors all the way! Some might like nitro, but I also prefer electric motors. Definitely following the progress here.

Might be slooooow progress wife wants stuff in house sorted first 

[Percymon 2182]

If you need a set of the original Terra Crusher wheels and tyres I have a reasonable used set you can have for £15 posted

[Juggular 3455]

Brave man! 

It looks daunting to me.  I'll be following this thread.  

 

[novicelad 784]

1 hour ago, Juggular said:

Brave man! 

It looks daunting to me.  I'll be following this thread.  

 

It looks daunting to me 

[novicelad 784]

Just a little update

The wonders of the internet prove invaluable for things like this and goes to show that when you have a similar interest to other people they always want to help 

The guy who made this video below link happily emailed me the details of how to lock out the gears within minutes of contacting him and explained it with pics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCkASFsYiSo

So basically there is a grub screw you just screw in and that's it see attached pictures

 

 

[Man1c M0nk3y 508]

Looks a fun and interesting task. Look forward to seeing how you get on. 

[TwistedxSlayer 1046]

Will be keeping an eye on this :-)

[novicelad 784]

These all turned up Upright set from TGM-04 (i do have the wishbones from the TGM-04 but only one set and getting expensive now so not sure if will use these or sell on) Screws, counter gear and and spur.

Still waiting on other bits and decorating is getting in the way so no real progress yet, will be stripping and cleaning soon. 

 

[novicelad 784]

Managed to get started today, this thing is filthy! 

 

Stripped this far still need to do the suspension assembly and gearboxes. Not cleaned yet.

 

Had a slight issue with one of the wheels, someone glued on the nut and its screwed. Got the wheel off by taking off with the uprights, any tips getting it off?

 

[novicelad 784]

Stripped down all the suspension assemblies and have now given everything a soapy bath and re-lubed all gears in diffs, yet to strip the main gearbox.

The glued on rear wheels is sturdy so staying like that until I can source a replacement

One of the wishbones need replacing and is on order, few parts I managed to find! 

Also ordered some new shocks and suspension bits that are bent 

[Jason1145 3842]

Well this will be an interesting brushless Truck when complete,one of a kind and awesome with it. I used to love big 1/8 scale trucks before I had my little one who’ll be 2 in March and I had to tame myself down to cute little Tamiya’s instead!

[yogi-bear 1794]

On 29/01/2018 at 9:00 AM, novicelad said:

 

The glued on rear wheels is sturdy so staying like that until I can source a replacement

 

I've gotten some glued parts separated by soaking in hot water. Some glues can soften enough that you can pull them apart or CA type glues seem to weaken and become easy o break.

[novicelad 784]

1 hour ago, yogi-bear said:

I've gotten some glued parts separated by soaking in hot water. Some glues can soften enough that you can pull them apart or CA type glues seem to weaken and become easy o break.

Thanks for that, at the moment the wheel is going back on. The thread on the axle looks shot which I guess is why its been bodged and at the moment I cant get these parts for the car.

[novicelad 784]

OK this evening I had the intention of locking the gearbox in gear and rebuilding the suspension assembly, I only got as far as sorting the gearbox. It was in a very bad way full of rust and all bearings needed replacing sorry not allot of pics as was away with the fairies when doing it. Just waiting on bracket for motor and few other bits now. 

Basically was able to lock out gearbox by inserting a screw a sawing it off bodge 101 but it works 

 

And all back together with new spur, clutch thingy and loads of grease. Also removed the brake assembly and few other bits that are no longer needed, essentially its a direct drive now with a few cogs in between! 

Below is an exploded view with my excellent art skills showing whats been taken out and where the screw has been put in

 

 

[novicelad 784]

Built rear suspension assembly, finding putting this back together a bit of a slog. The manual is not designed for a build from ground out so you sort of have to work backwards, getting there though. Putting it back together is giving me ideas for future upgrades such as dog bones and TGM-04 wishbones and uprights but for now this will do as do not want to spend any more money.

[novicelad 784]

Motor mounted!

Trouble is gearbox is very noisy hopefully when all on its wheels it will be quieter!

[novicelad 784]

So at the picture shows I was able to mount the motor up to the gearbox, I used a MOD1 14T pinion however this has started to shred the spur already on testing and the gearbox is very noisy

So I have ordered a MOD 0.8 pinion which is a traxxas jobbie 14t hoping that will be better I have also ordered a metal spur, this may mean adjusting the mount of the motor  

[Man1c M0nk3y 508]

That’s a shame. Part of the ‘fun’ of doing something like this though. Trial and error till you nail it. Be well worth it when done though. 

[novicelad 784]

1 minute ago, Man1c M0nk3y said:

That’s a shame. Part of the ‘fun’ of doing something like this though. Trial and error till you nail it. Be well worth it when done though. 

I think the gearbox is noisy because a few of the bearings had more rust that actual bearing and I tried to pack out with grease to no avail, I have ordered a new set of bearings from the RC promise land of china. But I think I will have it on the ground moving before that  

 

[novicelad 784]

Delete 

[novicelad 784]

The metal spurs pitch I noticed is actually different to the plastic one more of a gap between the bits (forgive me I don't know what the spikes are called) so thought I would try with the mod1 pinion. It flipping works loads quieter and smoother! So hopefully carry on putting this thing back together soon! 

[nowinaminute 2116]

12 hours ago, novicelad said:

The metal spurs pitch I noticed is actually different to the plastic one more of a gap between the bits (forgive me I don't know what the spikes are called) so thought I would try with the mod1 pinion. It flipping works loads quieter and smoother! So hopefully carry on putting this thing back together soon! 

Definitely sounds like the two gears had different pitch teeth. I'm betting you'll get on fine now that the pinion and spur are matched.

I'm watching this with interest, I prefer electric too and there's a lot of older nitro models with awesome chassis that sometimes turn up really cheap these days. Thanks to the power of brushless overcoming the weight they make ideal conversion candidates. I definitely want to convert soemthing one day.

[novicelad 784]

Soooooo tonight its back on it wheels will try sort a video tomorrow of it running on the bench but so far so good running on 3s its a bit lethal. The servo I had isn't man enough so need to look into that but getting excited!