TB-02R not TB? One kit, two builds

[Juhunio 6830]

Next it's time to install the steering using the upgraded TB-02R steering posts, along with the lightweight prop shaft, bearing holder and attaching the gearboxes

First step, choosing the right spur / pinion for the Super Stock TZ motor

I generally aim for an FDR in the middle-ish of the motor's range, which in this case is a 58/21 combo

[Juhunio 6830]

Rear gearbox in place with the spur gear, bearing holder and prop shaft

There's a lot of fore-aft play on the prop shaft, its tapered shape means it needs 6mm ID shims behind the 1060 bearing

I test fitted it with some 8mm ID shims and it took 0.6mm worth of shims to tighten it up so I've ordered some 6mm IDs from eBay to do it right

Front gear box in place with the racing steering set, turnbuckle steering arms (which are box standard on the TB-02; nice!) and upgraded 02R steering posts 

[Juhunio 6830]

Today's fun didn't get me very far, but took a good couple of hours of super fiddly work building the front and rear universals, uprights and upper arms

A straight follow of the kit manual would probably be pretty straightforward, but this was more complicated working across the TB02 and TB02R manuals, plus using the rest of the Reversible Lightweight Suspension set, which has its own set of instructions.

Three sets of instructions, three sets of hardware, and a LOT of working out which were the right ball connectors, screws, grubs, pins, shims and adjusters  

I got there in the end, and it's great that it's so adjustable now it's all together. 

A few small things of interest...it uses a 5x0.1mm shim between the bearing and hex hub pin on the outside of each upright, which I haven't seen before.....

.....the rear uprights and front hub carriers need a hole drilling through them for the grub screw that holds the suspension pin in place, so a chance to use the modelling drill and drill bit set. I've only used the handle with a tap former before, but it worked fine with the drill bits too....

 ....oh, and the front and rear suspension pins that come with the Suspension set are different lengths (rears are longer than fronts) which I didn't realise until I ended up with the pin in the last front corner being too long and had to swap it out with one of the rears  It's always the last corner isn't it?

The front upper arms and universals are built up from parts included with the 53899 Suspension Set, with the addition of 42mm swing shafts. The hex hubs come with that kit too. The front swing shafts seem to fit ok behind the diff joint spacer ring....

The rears also all built up from the 53899 set, with the additional of 42mm Lightweight Blue swing shafts. Here the fit is a little tighter, the shaft dog-bone is very close to the diff spacer ring, I guess because of the extra width created by the 1deg RR suspension block. The manual recommends 46mm swing shafts (51092) if the 42s are too short, so I'll give it a go and swap in the 46s if necessary 

 

[Juhunio 6830]

The 6mm ID shims arrived yesterday, so took the rear diff housing off and added some shims between the bearing and the spur gear

It took 0.8mm of shims, with still a tiny bit of movement there which seems fine to keep it all running freely, and still some clearance there between the shims and the bearing holder 

 

[TwistedxSlayer 1290]

I shall no doubt be borrowing some of these points that you've made with the shims and what not

[OldSchoolRC1 983]

Beautiful build so far! Love seeing all those old hop up parts being put to use. 

I've got a freshly rebuilt EVOIII and a mildly upgraded '02 waiting a rebuild. I think you've inspired me to dig them out and get cracking! 

[Room335 738]

Started on my TB02 last night. First time building a ball diff...wow. Didn’t realize the balls have to be pressed into the gear, but luckily caught it before I tightened it up. The age old question...how much to tighten? Do you hold the diff outdrives and go by feel? Or do you hold one outdrive and the diff gear and try to spin? I realize there’s a break in period and re-adjustment may be necessary. Just trying to get a good starting point for an occasional runner. Thanks guys!

[studioRS 213]

@Juhunio - Nice build, following this. Love the parts listing and omg, you're going down the full-blown 'R'Rabbit hole, quite the list of vintage TB-02R parts you've collected!

I have a TB-02 chassis kit and will add a few TB-02R parts for a mild R tribute.

 

@Room335- There are some good notes I've compiled in this thread on building the TB-02 diff out.

Cheers, Thompson

 

[Room335 738]

Great info there @studioRS. Thank you!

 

I want to make sure I understand this part correctly:

“Do you just tighten the screw them until it stops, or do you tighten them JUST enough so they barely slip? Ease the screw in bit by bit, with each few turns test the diff until it's just enough to be HARD to slip with a decent amount of force, but not fully locked. After this, you should still be able to freely rotate the diff halves without much effort. Usually people make the rear diff a bit looser than the front diff.”

When you speak of “testing the diff”, are you holding one outdrive and the gear? I assume yes, since the next statement in your notes refers to the “diff halves”, where I assume you are holding the diff outdrives, and not the gear? Sorry if I’m overanalyzing...

Also, brilliant idea using the drill and half-dogbone!

[studioRS 213]

@Room335 - Correct, holding one outdrive (small rod, screw driver, etc) and the main gear. You need to 'feel' the diff. Tamiya rear ball diffs are an art, you will get handy on adjusting them after a while.

Thanks, but I can't take credit for the diff build notes, only credit for searching and posting the compiled notes.

[Juhunio 6830]

20 hours ago, studioRS said:

@Juhunio - Nice build, following this. Love the parts listing and omg, you're going down the full-blown 'R'Rabbit hole, quite the list of vintage TB-02R parts you've collected!

I have a TB-02 chassis kit and will add a few TB-02R parts for a mild R tribute.

 

Cheers @studioRS, yeah I'm pretty pleased with the parts I was able to pull together, it was only really the blue prop shaft that has eluded me. So far!

Thanks for sharing that thread and your compiled notes on the ball diffs and prop shaft. One of my first builds was a DF03 which has a notoriously weak ball diff and requires quite a bit of work (and upgrades) to get right, so I was ready for the necessary prep on this one. 

I realised I kind of glossed over the diff build in this thread, so I've gone back and added some more detail and quoted your earlier thread too

One thing I hadn't picked up on was that the thrust bearing has two different surfaces and there is a 'right' way round for it! I've just removed both diffs to check and one was 'right', the other wasn't!

I can also see that you had done / compiled a lot of the work around the prop shaft float that I have sorted with 6mm ID shims...it's a great resource you've pulled together there and could have saved me a fair bit of head-scratching (also including the need for the A5 nut 'buckets' when building the EvoIII diff joints )

But it was still kind of fun working it out for myself 

[Juhunio 6830]

Having sorted the shims on the prop shaft, I was able to move on to installing the motor and the chassis braces, which meant loads of lovely extra parts 

 

The machining on the motor mount is really nice, how it curves in around the bearing holder. It's a very snug fit...

 

The antenna post screws into the rear brace which has a lovely counter-sunk screw hole in it, then the rear brace screws into the chassis through the aluminium posts and into the aluminium upper arm mount. 

Interesting that there's no full gearbox cover on the TB-02 (compared to a TT-02). This must leave it quite exposed to grit and stones getting in there??

 

Front brace also attaches to the chassis via the screw posts and then into the upper arm mounts

 

So that's the motor and braces in, next step is the servo build and electronics install

[Juhunio 6830]

Quiet work day today, so I get to spend some more time on the build. Happy Monday 

Before building the servo saver and installing the electrics, I decided to start building the dampers. I like to give them an hour or so resting to get all the air bubbles out before putting the oil seals and caps on 

 

Cannot recommend those damper pliers enough, they're the biz

The 53571 comes with medium springs and while the cylinders and springs are the same size as the TB-02R kit parts, the piston rods are much shorter

The instructions with the damper set include set up instructions for a TB-01, so I followed those and used medium oil, two-hole pistons and an o-ring on the piston rod. 

With them built and resting, time to crack on with the servo...

[Juhunio 6830]

Woo hoo! Servo bling 

 

I know now that the TB-02 came with a HT Servo Saver as standard. Nice!

I didn't know that when I was buying bits for the build, hence the 51000! And what's also become apparent is that I have (near as dammit) got enough bits left over to build an entire extra TB-02  

So I'm gonna use the 51000 in this build, and save the kit HTSS for the son-of build

[studioRS 213]

@Juhunio - If you happen to have any spares (or suggestions), these posts have eluded me since I was on a similar TB-02R parts collecting spree.

I wonder, if any, other 10,5mm Tamiya (or similar other) M3 threaded parts might work to replace Nr.9805974?

Cheers, Thompson

[Juhunio 6830]

11 hours ago, studioRS said:

@Juhunio - If you happen to have any spares (or suggestions), these posts have eluded me since I was on a similar TB-02R parts collecting spree.

I wonder, if any, other 10,5mm Tamiya (or similar other) M3 threaded parts might work to replace Nr.9805974?

Cheers, Thompson

Hey Thompson

I didn't realise I had lucked out quite so much in finding them!

I did a quick search on terms around threaded posts, threaded long connectors, and initially found these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HIGH-HEX-CONNECTION-NUTS-HEXAGON-CONNECTOR-CONNECTING-ROD-BAR-STUD-LONG-NUT-ZINC/124262543604?hash=item1cee9ff0f4:g:pG0AAOSwShtcmjkN

Not quite as blingy, but virtually identical functionally and I don't think losing 0.5mm of height will matter. Or you could use something from the 53539 spacer set to add the extra 0.5mm!!

These might also work:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M3-High-Hex-Nuts-Hexagon-Connector-Connecting-Rod-Bar-Stud-Long-Nut-Aluminium/124145291641?hash=item1ce7a2d179:g:sBIAAOSwz8BeceyW

Might not be dead right, but might help inspire a deeper search?

Cheers, Matt

[studioRS 213]

Thank you for the research! Yes, it did allow me to delve into something that should work well with a shim. Searched for "5mm x 10mm Aluminum Standoff Spacer".

And it's Rrred "R" bling =)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MLWXSJN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1THAZDOWP300U&psc=1

Cheers, Thompson

[studioRS 213]

@Juhunio - Matt, Thank you for letting me hang in your thread. Your photographs set me over the aspirational edge... Couldn't resist, I've added some more TB-02 hop-up parts for my build.

These two below will go with the above M3 5mmx10mm aluminum spacers
9805684 RC 3 x 12mm Screw: 58261
9804194 RC 3 x 10mm C.Sunk Screw: 44042 

53677 TB-02 Stabilizer Set (F & R)
53678 TB-02 Aluminum Racing Steering Set (on sale for $13.13 USD at Tamiya USA!)

Now I just need to find a rear carbon fibre support!
4304070 - TB-02R Carbon Fibre Part for Rear Brace 49365

Back to your build photos, thanks for the help =)

Cheers, Thompson

[Juhunio 6830]

9 hours ago, studioRS said:

Thank you for the research! Yes, it did allow me to delve into something that should work well with a shim. Searched for "5mm x 10mm Aluminum Standoff Spacer".

And it's Rrred "R" bling =)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MLWXSJN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1THAZDOWP300U&psc=1

Cheers, Thompson

They'll do the job rightly 

[Juhunio 6830]

6 hours ago, studioRS said:

Now I just need to find a rear carbon fibre support!
4304070 - TB-02R Carbon Fibre Part for Rear Brace 49365

Back to your build photos, thanks for the help =)

Cheers, Thompson

I got mine (and quite a few of the bits) from rcjaz, they still have it in stock. Ignore the picture, it is the right part. Not sure what shipping to the US looks like though 

https://www.rcjaz.com/tamiya-4304070-rear-brace-for-49348-p-15023.html

Nice job on all the other bits 

[Juhunio 6830]

What seemed like a standard servo build did end up throwing a little curve ball 

I used a trusty Etronix ET2035, and all seems normal on the right hand side.....

 

But on the left hand side, not so much. Everything is so tightly packed in that you have to cut the top screw mount out off the servo in order to get it to slide in under the prop shaft

 

A top-down view shows how much of the servo mount is under the prop shaft

 

And side-on shows how tightly designed it all is

 

There have been a few instances of that with this TB-02, the way everything fits together is very precise and tight. It really is a lovely thing to build, much more engaging than a TT-02 IMO

[Juhunio 6830]

Oh, and the dampers are finished. The metallic spring retainers are niiiiiiiice 

[studioRS 213]

8 hours ago, Juhunio said:

I got mine (and quite a few of the bits) from rcjaz, they still have it in stock. Ignore the picture, it is the right part. Not sure what shipping to the US looks like though 

I noticed the weird extra photo also in the RCJaz listing, hmm. Researched all the TB-02, TB-02R, TB EVO.III manuals to see if I could find that extra small part, nope. Ok, well good you confirmed it is correct. I'll try to order later next week. If not available, I have the extra small rear MB22 bearing holder #3454312 to hold the propeller shaft and can have one cut and machined out of carbon fibre, the template is in the TB-02R manual!

Thank you on the other bits. As you, just researching and collecting trick Tamiya parts is half the fun!

Cheers, Thompson

[Room335 738]

Looks good @Juhunio. I ordered the same dampers for my build. Trying to control myself from further upgrades, but the blue Candy just looks so good! That’s surprising about the servo. Is the prop shaft aftermarket? Possibly thicker than stock?

[Juhunio 6830]

18 hours ago, Room335 said:

Looks good @Juhunio. I ordered the same dampers for my build. Trying to control myself from further upgrades, but the blue Candy just looks so good! That’s surprising about the servo. Is the prop shaft aftermarket? Possibly thicker than stock?

Nope, it's right there in the manual!

I completely missed it at first, it was only when the servo wouldn’t fit and I got a bit confused that I went back to the manual and saw that you needed to cut it down. Doh!