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Tudorp

Questioning a "Fix"?

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I have seen this "fix" a lot on the SRB chassis cars. I owned a Super Champ back in the early 80s, and a Sand Scorcher now, but have never had to consider this as a "fix". What are zip ties suppose to accomplish being put here? And why? I assume something is not right causing them to do this for a work around. I would rather fix it, than have to rely on zip ties to hold the control arms together. 

 

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They are in the Super Champ manual, step 16.  It doesn't explain why, but they're to stop the upright/suspension arm balljoints from coming apart. There's several cable tie solutions on the Super Champ, sorry, hop-ups. :)

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The old Super Champ manual actually shows the zip ties installed in a couple of photos in the margin. The pivot balls in the upright would sometimes pop loose from the ball plates (or "ball races" in the old manual) and the zip ties are supposed to aid in holding it all together. The situation would get worse as the parts would wear. I've had old, well-worn SRBs with this problem. I know this part was redesigned somewhat in the re-releases. I always used small, clear rubber bands as I felt the zip ties were a bit clunky. There's an argument that using aftermarket coil overs on the front end would exacerbate the problem as spring pressure would now be acting directly on the lower arm, trying to separate the ball joint under compression. I always used the standard, stock springs.

edit: Fuijo beat me to it ;)  

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Hmm.. I don't remember that being in the manual, but then again I built mine back in the early 1980s, so I may just not remember it. I didn't have them on mine though, I would have at least remembered that (maybe, lol).  I never had a problem with the trailing arms coming apart from the ball joints. Maybe I was just lucky. The only zip ties I remember on it was one on the rear shock oil bottle, and one holding the receiver in. I "think" I remember two on the rear suspension to prevent over travel. I just don't remember those on the front trailing arms. 

 

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@Saito2 is spot on

The downside of Tamiya’s ‘hop up’ is it transfers stress back to the arm mount points - which are sprung at source + alloy on alloy ... so rather strong for the day 

The end result meant both arms then snapped where the cable tie put them under pressure if you caught a bump the wrong way - which was way worse to fix than the plastic pivot ball holder popping ... noting it hardly ever came fully out + the suspension sag was easy to spot when driving so you could hold off + easily sort 

Broken arms not so much 🙄

Personally, I think TamIya were too good not to know about the pivot ball pop - and it was actually a cheap / simple solution to manage part attrition 

It’s a separate point but these issues - and diff but similar at the back ... - are why the CRP polymer arms were so sought after back then !

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10 hours ago, Tudorp said:

I have seen this "fix" a lot on the SRB chassis cars. I owned a Super Champ back in the early 80s, and a Sand Scorcher now, but have never had to consider this as a "fix". What are zip ties suppose to accomplish being put here? And why? I assume something is not right causing them to do this for a work around. I would rather fix it, than have to rely on zip ties to hold the control arms together. 

Well, the fix you mention you'd rather do is already out there - it's called 40 years of design evolution. The zip ties you refer to are part of that evolution, and historically accurate if you want to build an old SRB. If you plan on building a kick *** runner, well you should not be basing the build on a SRB platform?

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I’ve just started restoring a Super Champ, the previous owner had cut a section of bicycle inner tube and slid it over the arms!

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I'm currently using the silicone rubber seals from some automotive connectors (Deutsch type) to add a little bit of tension. I'm running the same Associated shocks I ran way back when, and while rare, a hard landing used to undo the lower ball joint.  The wire ties were in the manual back in the day, you won't see it in a Re-Re manual though (wonder why?).  The wire ties were never meant to be tightened down, they were more like limit straps... to prevent the balls popping out of the cups.  At one point I was using the little rubber bands from orthodontic braces... recently notice the niece's enormous collection of small rubber bands for making bracelets... think they'd be perfect, and am going to snag a bunch in some colors.

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7 hours ago, Kayak said:

you won't see it in a Re-Re manual though (wonder why?).

The rere doesn't need them. The suspension arms are bigger to allow for larger balljoints.

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" If you plan on building a kick *** runner, well you should not be basing the build on a SRB platform?"

 

I am not "bashing" anything. The SRB platform cars has always been my favorite platform, which is why I got another one after nearly 40 years. I just don't remember the tie wraps from my Super Champ back in the day, and thought this was some sort of work around. Actually, it sounds like it is a work around from Tamiya which is obsolete with the Re-Res. Looks like Tamiya now has that flaw corrected now with my current Sand Scorcher. 

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