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Saito2

Tamiya Bruiser axle replacements?

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I dawned on me while going through the thread on the expensiveness of the the Bruiser that one of the key things that let me down (from a driving standpoint) are the axles. They look great but their durability leaves something to be desired. The front axle, in particular, is slop-ridden. Neither seems strong enough for anything one sees in the promos. Bent axle housings are not uncommon on abused Bruisers.

With all that in mind, are there other more durable alternatives that will fit the Bruiser? Will TLT-1 axles fit? While I'm not trying to drive the truck completely outside its means, part of me wants to experiencing what the old promo photos and videos promised. Heck, even the original manual shows the Bruiser coming off a sweet jump on the cover. Or perhaps its all a fool's errand.

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You do realise most of those old vids were filmed at the beach, the cars landed on soft sand... yet unobservant muffins try to replicate same in surburbia landing on Tarmac...! :P Not even a 1:1 can land bigair jumps without breaking/bending something pretty soon.

 

re hopup axles... I thought ppl just bought RC4WD Yotas and that was it! :) 

https://store.rc4wd.com/Yota-II-Cast-Axle-Parts_c_285.html

Also Bruiseruptor axles...? G2? There's been a whole parade over the years but most come & go, Yota been around the most reliably. Think they're related to the TF2 parts.

 

Potmetal isn't except stiff & elastic though, it's soft & stays bent. Just easy to mass produce with good molding details. 

Would be neat to have an axle with a billet alloy or fibre reinforced molding and a springsteel rod for the driveshaft... design in a bit of give, let it bounce back without breaking.

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I've seen some threads over on the rccrawler forum where guys used SCX10 axles under a Bruiser chassis.  Some of them went with a 4-link, but I distictly remember seeing some that made the stock leafs work.  Sorry, not the best info, just wanted to let you know there are options out there.  

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yeah plenty of options, just depends how much you wanna hack

Big decisions need to be made re

  1. do you want to keep using Bruiser wheels, or go hex aftermarket
  2. do you want rear track width to match the front...

 

last time i got the itch to mess around with Bruiser/Mounty... added up cost of 2 axles, wasn't much more to get a whole TF2... <_<

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Yeah, you're right. All things considered, it was a pretty dumb idea.

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12 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

Yeah, you're right. All things considered, it was a pretty dumb idea.

yeah I suffer from "economic brain override" so I never get any cool to-heck-wif-da-expense projects completed :( ah well

But the raw sums are 

2 axles $200 but that's hex so you you need wheels & tyres $100 = $300

TF2 = $399

 

Btw TLT axles = Highlift axles

they're huge & fugly :) 

Not a big fan of rere Bruiser axles either, the diff makes them too chunky. Are you thinking of modding an original or rere?

 

There's been various attempts in the past of installing bearings to front axle steering knuckles. Guess it'll reduce wear/slop there but rest of linkage is pretty sloppy too.

Any thought of covering the potmetal case with a thick layer of JBWeld? :P maybe that'll reinforce it!

I've JBWelded brake caliper boss onto a bicycle fork before & that's still going (well, still STOPping) so that must be rougher duty than beefing up the landing gear of a 10lb missile. 

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I think rc4wd Bruiseruptor Yota rear axle is discontinued now. You can still fit regular Yota rear axle with rc4wd U bolts. I had aluminum Yota axles and they were great, they show up on ebay from time to time, even silver ones.

Or you can replace Bruiser tires with soft Blackfoot tires for smoother landing.

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Many moons ago RC4wd made direct bruiser replacement axles. The cases looked killer but the included axles and gear were super rough and notchy. Not one of rc4wd’s shining moments. 

8FFF2256-C708-4579-86E7-E0B30054BCC1_zps

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5 hours ago, Shodog said:

Many moons ago RC4wd made direct bruiser replacement axles. The cases looked killer but the included axles and gear were super rough and notchy. Not one of rc4wd’s shining moments. 

8FFF2256-C708-4579-86E7-E0B30054BCC1_zps

A long time ago, probably about 10 years ago, I purchased the RC4WD Bruiser replacement inner axle parts, i.e. the shafts with the crown gears and the separate pinion gears.

 

They were terrible. The crown gear was attached to the axle shaft with a grub screw that would not stay tight. Besides the grub screw issues, the gears would not mesh well together. No amount of shimming helped. I tore up a rear axle in less then 5 minutes. I still have the never used front axle set and the tore up rear axle set somewhere. I can post pictures if anyone is interested.

 

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I "built" an original Bruiser 10 plus years ago. I bought it as a partial "new build", never run. I tore it down and rebuilt it:

https://www.scale4x4rc.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19446

 

Besides bearings, an ESC, and an eventual upgrade to TLT oil shocks, it is all stock. It has performed flawless for over 50-60 battery packs.

I have not "babied it", but I have not "beat it" either.

 

IMO, they are good runners, BUT you have to treat them like you would a full size truck with 44" tires on stock axles LOL.

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4 hours ago, spankrjs said:

IMO, they are good runners, BUT you have to treat them like you would a full size truck with 44" tires on stock axles LOL.

That’s about the most accurate analogy in regards to running the bruiser. 

Ive ran my Mountaineer a fair bit but I never super bashed on it like I have my high lift.  Those pot metal axles can and will bend if mistreated 

 

image_zps0b4929bf.jpg

 

i have a set of the bruiser axles and I knew the internals were junk. I have a whole collection of period stuff saved for a future Bruiser build and since I probably won’t run it when I’m done I figured the axles would be safe. 

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Found this thread so thought I'd ask here. Got these axles in an old original Bruiser, front ball is sheared right off and the gears are worn out to the point that the axle grinds. Can the gears be pulled off the shafts? It is my understanding that the XR311 kit uses the same gears. But how to mount them securely on the shafts if I were able to get the old ones off. Please help and if anyone has the front and rear axle shafts for sale I'd love to hear.

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unnamed (13).jpg

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