TT02b vs DF03

[bikerclubby]

Loving my Racing Fighter and being tempted by brushless and other upgrades.  It’s great on firm sand and grass, but not so good on dirt. Brushless could make this worse. 
Other problem is that when I price up the upgrades, they come to more than the kit was! Seen some 4wd kits without esc at a good price and these already come with turnbuckles. Would get spare receiver to match current set up and share handset and battery to save some cash. 
 

Anyway, my question is which would you chose between TT02b and DF03 and why? 

[DeadMeat666]

Having both the TT02B and the DF03, I can take a crack at answering this question:

For brushless, I would tend towards the TT02B myself, and in fact I did, because of the following reasons - 

1. Upgrades are generally cheaper and more available

2. It already comes with gear differentials, which can take some brushless abuse as long as they're shimmed a little here and there. I've tried this myself with my TT02B; I shimmed the driveshaft pinion with 2 0.1mm shims and the diff with a single 0.1mm shim, both in the direction to get them closer to each other, and I do not have any clicking in spite of my monster wheels, which exert more strain on the drivetrain than the stock wheels. The front diff clicks like crazy when I brake, but that's because I didn't shim it yet (stupid I know). The ball diffs on the DF03 will get destroyed with brushless without a slipper clutch, and even then the setup for both the ball diffs and the slipper clutch is tedious.

3. There are tons of videos of people putting brushless setups in TT02Bs, and quite powerful ones at that, and they seem to be taking that abuse just fine. 

For reference, my TT02B only has an aluminum motor mount and an aluminum driveshaft, and full ball bearings. I haven't really done anything else (essential), and it runs brushless just fine. 

 

My (non-insane) brushless setup on the TT02B: I haven't GPS'ed it, but it's pretty quick, with PLENTY of torque to boot.

[Howards]

DF03 is more capable - if you want to go buggy racing or bashing - but as above nothing wrong with the TT02b and there are loads of hop ups for it that are still in production whereas DF03 mods are a bit of a crap shoot for availability. 

Both need a bit of investment if you want them to be truly rapid on dirt. DF03 will need the slipper clutch if you are going 3500kv or more but once that's in it should be pretty bombproof. 

Might come down to which one you like the look of best. DF03 looks more serious.