Terra Scorcher 2020!!

[Avante2001R 305]

In this video the arms are fully extended so more than likely driveshaft vibration and some bind they are out of their range. Compress the arms by 1cm and they would sound a lot quieter and smoother ... I have this in mine too. 

[kid168 36]

2 minutes ago, Avante2001R said:

In this video the arms are fully extended so more than likely driveshaft vibration and some bind they are out of their range. Compress the arms by 1cm and they would sound a lot quieter and smoother ... I have this in mine too. 

Agree,  dog bones are too angled. Run it on the ground arms a bit compressed. 

[burakol 462]

4 minutes ago, kid168 said:

Do you have full bearings on those?

 

Yes it does... it came with full bearing except for the thrust bearings inside the gear case... I'm debating if it is worth the risk, plus the cost of $25 to ship it to them not knowing if they will even considering "fixing" it or sending replacement parts. Like @mud4fun, this car is my daughter's but we are not racing it... just purely fun amongst us... Plus, I cannot take away the worry that it may get damaged or lost in transit and I end up without anything for her... 

[kid168 36]

2 minutes ago, burakol said:

Yes it does... it came with full bearing except for the thrust bearings inside the gear case... I'm debating if it is worth the risk, plus the cost of $25 to ship it to them not knowing if they will even considering "fixing" it or sending replacement parts. Like @mud4fun, this car is my daughter's but we are not racing it... just purely fun amongst us... Plus, I cannot take away the worry that it may get damaged or lost in transit and I end up without anything for her... 

save your 25 bucks. just run it and enjoy. IMO

[mud4fun 1696]

7 hours ago, burakol said:

As for the hinge pins, I'm concerned that by screwing the screw pins it will compromise the integrity of the chassis. They shouldn't even disassemble the suspension parts to check the drivetrain... 

Sorry about the video, here it is again.

If you notice when I let go of the throttle,theres the loud grinding sound... it is not coming from the driveshaft but inside the diff case... 

Yes, your arms are at full droop with large shock spacers. That pushes the UJ driveshafts to operate beyond their designed driveline angles. If you compress the rear suspension when testing you will find vibration is reduced. The vibrations get passed back into the gearcase and sound as though it is the gearbox at fault, it isn't, it is the driveshafts at fault. Either remove the wide shock spacers to allow the rear suspension to compress more when put on the ground or fit spacers internally on shock shaft or swap to dogbones. You can't test it with the car off the ground as suspension is unloaded.

 

Edit: curiously, this might not be a new problem. I bought a few 2nd hand terra Scorchers way back in 2000-2003 and NONE of them had UJ's fitted to the rear, all had been replaced with dogbones... That must tell you something! 

[burakol 462]

11 minutes ago, Avante2001R said:

In this video the arms are fully extended so more than likely driveshaft vibration and some bind they are out of their range. Compress the arms by 1cm and they would sound a lot quieter and smoother ... I have this in mine too. 

But I think that's the whole point of showing them the issue of the car... I think we are finding the solution to this ourselves when in fact, it shouldn't be an issue in the first place if they thought about this during their R&D... @MICHAELs TopForce17 maybe we can just request for a replacement part (a dogbone in lieu of the CVDs, or a new set of gears? 

I will email them one more and refer them to this thread and hopefully they will spend some time reading... on the same account, I will ask if it is possible for them send a set of dogbones for the rear and the new plastic gears... If not, then I'd save the $25 and use it to buy other things nonetheless... 

[mud4fun 1696]

7 hours ago, burakol said:

maybe we can just request for a replacement part (a dogbone in lieu of the CVD

you would also need new drive cups/axles too. 

 

[burakol 462]

1 minute ago, mud4fun said:

you would also need new drive cups/axles too. 

 

So emailed the rep from Tamiya USA asking if it will be possible for him to just send parts in and I reference this thread... hopefully he will find time to read over... 

Would you mind putting a list of the parts you used? Maybe the most pertinent parts that must be changed? I know you already mentioned it to your prior post but those vintage parts you used may not be available anymore so any idea of the current part that can be interchanged? 

Thanks much!

[mud4fun 1696]

I will re-iterate what I said a while back. I strongly suspect most of these re-res are aimed at collectors and are intended as shelf queen's. Most of these collectors wouldn't know if the gears were malformed or the UJ driveshafts were not suitable. If true then Tamiya probably don't care about the few that do experience issues.

Seriously, after watching alot of YouTube collector videos they wouldn't know what they should sound like anyway even if they did run them. Also most don't seem to have any understanding of real usage of buggies in racing or serious bashing. I enjoy their videos but sometimes I cringe at some of their 'advice', it really is aimed at people who prefer to look at their buggies than actually run them!!! 

In my humble opinion, there was no need to supply the new style UJ driveshafts with the terra scorcher at the rear. Yes it sounds good on paper but seriously, with a silver can a dogbone is more than suitable. The CVD is overkill and actually counter productive. Again, probably more so collectors can dribble and salivate about all round CVD's..... 

[mud4fun 1696]

21 minutes ago, burakol said:

So emailed the rep from Tamiya USA asking if it will be possible for him to just send parts in and I reference this thread... hopefully he will find time to read over... 

Would you mind putting a list of the parts you used? Maybe the most pertinent parts that must be changed? I know you already mentioned it to your prior post but those vintage parts you used may not be available anymore so any idea of the current part that can be interchanged? 

Thanks much!

Here you go, this is what we used on my daughters re-re terra scorcher. I have about 50 packets of them 

 

I go through a set a year on my thundershot running the dyna run super touring motor but my daughters thundershots generally only need a new set every 5 years. So I have enough for another 30-40 years..... 

[Ferruz 11702]

Judging by the video the car seems pretty loud but not as bad as I thought by your description. I think it's definitely the bevel gears, besides the UJs. If you feel "brave" enough you can carefully shave the excess material off. That's what I did and it seemed to help. Or you can always try the old toothpaste trick to smoothen them out (a lot of work and cleanup to do after though right? I never tried that one). I assume you don't have spares to replace them. OR you could keep it as it is, as it will quiet down with use. Honestly, I'm not sure it's worth shipping it off. By the answers you got from the guy it seems like it would be a lot of effort for nothing or at best a pat on the back, probably better off enjoying it like this or fix it up yourself. 

I will install wheels and tires on mine soon, I'll let you know how noisy mine will be...

[mud4fun 1696]

Just to make you all feel better, it looks like the new VQS comes with the same CVD's all round too!!! 

My original Vanquish came with dog bones and worked fine for many years.

No idea why Tamiya seem to have decided on supplying the CVD's instead but at least on the VQS the suspension travel is tiny compared to Terra Scorcher so shouldn't have any issues with driveline angles and vibrations.

Tamiya really should follow the old saying "don't fix what ain't broke", they would have been better off supplying alloy hubs on the VQS in lieu of the weak plastic ones rather than worrying about CVD driveshafts.

[burakol 462]

F-it... I'm keeping it... I'd rather have my daughter enjoy it now while she is interested... I did email the guy and just asked to send parts but I doubt he will do it... anyhow, here's a photo of the shell based on my daughter's liking... 

[burakol 462]

2 hours ago, mud4fun said:

you would also need new drive cups/axles too. 

 

Did you change all four corners or just the rear drive? I do have a rere Manta ray and I thought maybe I can swap the front dog bones and drive cups and use it in the rear of the Terra, and use the CVD from the rear of the Terra to the front of the Manta??? 

[kid168 36]

1 hour ago, burakol said:

F-it... I'm keeping it... I'd rather have my daughter enjoy it now while she is interested... I did email the guy and just asked to send parts but I doubt he will do it... anyhow, here's a photo of the shell based on my daughter's liking... 

What tamiya color is that?

[burakol 462]

49 minutes ago, kid168 said:

What tamiya color is that?

Its actually a Duratrax brand paint from Towerhobbies and my daughter wanted her glitter sparkles all over it... so after 1 thin coat i did let her put as much glitter as she want and i coated the shell some more then backed it with a regular gray primer of Krylon... but now she didnt want the decals to be put on... 

[mud4fun 1696]

5 hours ago, burakol said:

Did you change all four corners or just the rear drive? I do have a rere Manta ray and I thought maybe I can swap the front dog bones and drive cups and use it in the rear of the Terra, and use the CVD from the rear of the Terra to the front of the Manta??? 

just the rear, CVD's are fine on the front as the droop and drive angles are less.

[Sweatpants 101]

I have had mine built from new with dogbones and cups from a stadium thunder.  I put the cvd's in the thunder.   the car still makes an awful noise in the back end.  cleaned up the gears, re greased, still loud.

[Hobbimaster 190]

6 hours ago, Sweatpants said:

I have had mine built from new with dogbones and cups from a stadium thunder.  I put the cvd's in the thunder.   the car still makes an awful noise in the back end.  cleaned up the gears, re greased, still loud.

Mine it bone stock, except for the Tamiya dirt tuned motor. 3 battery packs in, and its quieted down to what I would call "normal" for a vintage R/C. It rolls smoothly now, as it was noticeably notchy before. It will never be as quiet as a more modern car such as my DF-03, but about as loud as my Hotshot. Maybe just running these gears, and universals in a bit is all that's needed.

[mud4fun 1696]

2 hours ago, Hobbimaster said:

Mine it bone stock, except for the Tamiya dirt tuned motor. 3 battery packs in, and its quieted down to what I would call "normal" for a vintage R/C. It rolls smoothly now, as it was noticeably notchy before. It will never be as quiet as a more modern car such as my DF-03, but about as loud as my Hotshot. Maybe just running these gears, and universals in a bit is all that's needed.

Not sure on that. My thundershot runs as quietly as my Avante2001 when using same motor. That is very quiet and very smooth. No noisier than any modern buggy I've heard. Could be down to the grease I use I guess?

[Ferruz 11702]

@burakol I've mounted the wheels and tires this morning, so I could finally test it out. Bench and "livingroom" tested, I'm happy to say the car is way better than expected so the careful bevel gear shaving did definitely pay off. Although not exactly purring, the car is quiet enough and not notchy at all. With a little bit of use it should be no noisier than any of my other buggies, so I'll consider the problem solved and go work on the body and driver.

Also, in my case it seems that the UJs aren't causing that much vibration even with the buggy off the ground. Only when I leave the full throttle when holding the buggy in my hand I can feel some extra vibration during the deceleration, but nothing major. I will finish tuning the shocks and run the car as it is for now.

Just a few spins in the few sq feet of my livingroom and I'm hooked!! This one feels like a fine machine indeed, and so rugged too, can't wait to go run it.

[mud4fun 1696]

4 hours ago, Ferruz said:

@burakol I've mounted the wheels and tires this morning, so I could finally test it out. Bench and "livingroom" tested, I'm happy to say the car is way better than expected so the careful bevel gear shaving did definitely pay off. Although not exactly purring, the car is quiet enough and not notchy at all. With a little bit of use it should be no noisier than any of my other buggies, so I'll consider the problem solved and go work on the body and driver.

Also, in my case it seems that the UJs aren't causing that much vibration even with the buggy off the ground. Only when I leave the full throttle when holding the buggy in my hand I can feel some extra vibration during the deceleration, but nothing major. I will finish tuning the shocks and run the car as it is for now.

Just a few spins in the few sq feet of my livingroom and I'm hooked!! This one feels like a fine machine indeed, and so rugged too, can't wait to go run it.

 

Love those wheels and tyres @Ferruz 

I notice you have no spacers on your rear shocks? this may explain the lack of vibrations with the CVD's. My daughter was racing on tarmac with a 19T Reedy Spec motor and found the rear too soft and it was hitting the tarmac at speed so we fitted the wide spacer to firm the rear end up a bit. This immediately led to problems with the vibrations. Even when lifted off the ground the extra spacers meant the rear driveline angles were much greater than when running with no spacers.

We should have just fitted firmer springs but sadly we didn't have anything suitable as I had used the last set of firm springs we had in my thundershot.

We are going to fit spacers inside the shocks and lower the buggy soon as that is what my daughter wants. That should solve the issues with drivelines angles and will allow the CVD's to go back in. 

 

[Ferruz 11702]

@mud4fun Yes I remember reading your description of what happened with the UJs.

I took that photo before tuning up my CVAs with the spacers, as I wanted to see how the buggy sat without them first. Also, I've used a Losi shock oil that is way harder than the one supplied in the kit (I usually like to start with harder oils and change down to softes oils after,only  if needed). With that oil in the shocks, I ended up fitting the wider spacer in front and the narrower one in the rear, it seems to be enough for the buggy not to bottom out too easily, although I'll only really see how it perdorms when I run it 

Anyway yes, I'm sure an inner spacer would solve any extra issue in the matter and allow the UJs back in the game!

[burakol 462]

All this back and forth with Tamiya USA. 

As I anticipated, Tamiya USA won't send me some parts unless after they determine there's really an issue with the car... I told them I'd rather keep the car as is and hopefully it will eventually fix itself but the rep insisted that I send it for him to check... He is now offering to send me a prepaid label to ship it to him at no cost to me... What do you guys think? I get it, if they don't fix it fine, as long as they don't make it worse and destroy anything... I also explained to them that I used hinge pins instead of the screw pin and he didn't mention anything about it... He said just make sure to send it with a servo... no Rx/Tx required, and even told me to take the wheels off... and I won't be sending the shell either... trying to weigh in the risks involved here... I mean the cost will be $0 on my end unless of course it gets damaged or lost but it should be insured anyway... 

thoughts?

 

[taffer 948]

It's a pity you can't also ask for them to video the strip down and rebuild?

What I mean is, I never used a power driver to build cars, I like to manually feel the resistance with the plastic etc....

So I wouldn't be happy if I saw (or knew) that they used a power driver for the screws.....

If they can't say in detail what they will do and how they will do it then I'd be hesitant.