What to upgrade on my new DF-03

[BIZBOB 1]

Hi everyone,

thanks for reading. I’ve just got a new RC and I’m half way through the build. I’ve come across a few parts (rear diffs) which look a bit week. 

Id like to know of any upgrades people would suggest above and beyond the basic kit?

also I don’t have the servo and esc yet so was wandering what you would all recommend? As it stands I’m running the supplied motor and pinion, 26T and 78T spur.

any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Superluminal 3750]

I recall you can switch the diff drive cups from the fronts to rears (the fronts are metal i think?)

Theres not a lot else really - when I built mine a couple of years ago the upgrades that made a practical difference such as the carbon shock towers and steel main drive gear were long long discontinued so i just used the slipper clutch and df03 alloy shocks which are very nice but a bit spendy but readily available still.

I also fitted the heat sinks as i heard the motor can get quite hot as its built internally to the gearbox.

Considering its still tamiyas only non-TRF ($$$) semi performance buggy that is still in production and still sells quite well its a shame there is little aftermarket support that actually address its weaknesses.

[Wooders28 4723]

As above, the front diff joints are metal one piece, and the rears have a seperate ,plastic ,diff housing plate, (🤷‍♂️) which can get a bit melty if the diff slips, seemingly you can use the fronts in the rear. (I'm using yeah racing heavy duty, but hens teeth these days) 

Another seemingly , weak point (depending on power) , is the aluminium gear on the main shaft. A company called 'five stars' (Part #FS7039) had a hardened gear main shaft (slipper), but difficult to find when I built mine in 2008. So i made one out of a hardened helicopter pinion, 2nd one I did - 

 

 

 

Since then, those helicopter pinions are hard to find , so , someone used the info and got some gears made - 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2004992089536929&id=1972385389464266&ref=m_notif&notif_t=group_activity 

The removing and refitting the pinion is the same (although he found using a vice as easy as a hydraulic press).

ESC wise, there's not much room to play with in the Dark Impact, I ran a leopard v2 / 9t motor in one and it was ok, (since been sold) ,my current is running castles mamba max pro, but ive had to cut a half moon in the chassis so the fan can get all the air.

Servo wise, I got a metal geared servo (core rc 9016mg), and with it being metal geared, I ditched the servo saver for a solid aluminium horn, so no saver play.

I've upgraded as I broke stuff, but not much in the way of upgrades about (used to be able to get full graphite chassis etc). UJ Drive shafts are worth getting imo, mainly as if you pop a turnbuckle, you loose the driveshaft, 3racing UJ shafts are still out there and fairly cheap.

[Mad Ax 9329]

I built mine when they first came out.  It was my Return to RC Buggy.  There was quite a lot of support then both from Tamiya and from other manufacturers.  I can't understand why so many parts went out of production even when the chassis is still offered for sale.

My rear diff outdrives melted when using a Super Stock BZ.  I used Tamiya's aftermarket hardened diff outdrives, not sure if they're still around.

I fitted a slipper clutch.  Slippers were in fashion back then, but if you have the hardened outdrives maybe it's not necessary.

I had carbon front and rear shock towers.  I bought them because the stock towers got broken in a series of bad crashes.  I don't recall if I bought Tamiya or another brand shock tower.  The carbon towers also got broke when an E-Maxx went out of signal during a bash and drove straight over the top of it.

I had 3 Racing's awesome DF03 shock set on mine.  Again I think they got discontinued, which was a shame as they also fit loads of other Tamiya buggies and they were way better than a lot of cheap shocks on the market these days.

If yours is a Dark Impact and you're doing boxart colours then the red and black of a Turnigy shock set (from Hobbyking) will probably look utterly amazing.

I popped a few top arm balljoints in my time, causing me to lose some driveshafts.  I upgraded to UJs when it got expensive to keep buying new parts bags just to get the driveshafts...

[Wooders28 4723]

On 8/30/2019 at 3:00 PM, Mad Ax said:

I had 3 Racing's awesome DF03 shock set on mine.  Again I think they got discontinued,

I've swapped the ones I got for the Dark Impact onto my Neo Fighter, so guessing they are the same shocks?

https://tamico.de/3Racing-Alu-Daempfer-Set-fuer-Tamiya-DT-02-DT-03-Chassis 

Same as the drive shafts,

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F113759762312