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TurnipJF

Turnip refreshes another TT-01

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About two years ago, I gave one of my TT-01s a refresh, detailed here:

My second on-road TT-01 has now reached the same point of wear that my first one was at prior to its refresh, so it seems only fair that it gets a refresh too, along with a few upgrades to bring it to the same spec as its sibling. This is what we'll be covering in this thread. 

 

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As with my previous refresh, I'll be starting of with a fresh chassis tub, new propshaft and fresh connectors for the steering.

2021-02-26_11-07-37

This will be getting a Bluebottle motor, so I will be following a blue theme with the upgrades, much like its sibling has silver alloy bits to tie in with its silver motor.

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They will be joined by some fresh and shiny fasteners, bearings, etc:

2021-02-26_11-28-05

 

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The front bumper support is a tad worn so a new one will be fitted, as well as some select parts from the TT-01E, where they give an advantage over the standard TT-01 parts.

2021-02-26_11-35-31

 

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The car already has an alloy steering rack, so this received new bearings and ball connectors along with a cleaning.

2021-02-27_12-09-30

 

It then goes into the new chassis tub, along with the new propshaft.

2021-02-27_02-32-41

 

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The servo, receiver, ESC, motor and heatsink with fan were all transplanted in one go, to avoid the need to disconnect anything. 

2021-02-27_02-32-17

The motor has a steel pinion fitted, and is attached to an alloy motor mount. These are covered with a new spur gear cover as the old one was cracked at one of the screw holes. 

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VERY nice indeed!! 👋👋👋👋👋👍👍  Nothing like good old Blue BLING! 

I've had no experience with them, and have been curious... Is the TT-02 any BETTER than the TT-01??? Or was it merely made to a lower price point? 😲 

I've seen and heard about a lot of TT-01 mods and fixes. I may want to give one a go!! 

Since the TT-01E is on the current market, is it better?? Do you know what was improved? 

The one thing I've heard over many years was that the Steering and Front Suspension almost had MORE SLOP than the CC-01!!!  Yet I've also heard that with the right Mods, they've been quite successful in lower classes of TC Racing and especially Drifting! 

I'll bet there's still a TON of Upgrades available even now. 

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Here is a post that takes up your questions Carmine A
 

I have built two TT01E´s and have the TT02R now on my bench to be built in the near future. And the TT01E is fun to build and easy. It gave my son ALOT of knowledge of the mechanics and how stuff in a car works.

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@Fyksen Thanks! That answers some of my questions. 

Since TT-01s can be found cheap enough... And since I've already got my very over specc'ed custom TT-02.... 

So I think I'll be playing with building up a very modified TT-01!!! 😁  As was stated in that post... the FRP Gears in the 02 Diffs DO wear better, and don't turn the Grease into Grinding Paste. However, a few Companies make Steel Gears for the 01. I've heard that the Diffs are interchangeable, so that opens up more comparison possibilities!! 

I'm still not sure what the difference is between the TT01 and the TT01E....

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14 hours ago, Carmine A said:

I'm still not sure what the difference is between the TT01 and the TT01E....

The "E" version is a slightly updated model, still based on the same chassis, suspension and drivetrain as the normal TT-01, but with a few little improvements. The most obvious one is that it has a plastic upper deck. The steering rack is mounted between the chassis tub and upper deck, giving it less slop than the standard version. Another clearly visible difference is that the shock towers are separate from the front bulkheads, and are somewhat more substantial than on the standard TT-01 where they form part of the same moulding as the bulkhead that secures the diff. This gives the option of mounting carbon or alloy ones in place of the stock plastic. The final clearly visible difference is that it features a plastic finger guard to stop one burning oneself on the hot motor. Most people leave this off though, as it interferes with motor cooling. A more subtle difference, but a significant one for longevity's sake, is a more substantial front upright moulding with more meat around the area where the track rod attaches.

This car started life as a standard TT-01 so I am using the "E" type bulkheads, towers and front uprights on my refresh, but I have a carbon upper deck so no need for the plastic one, my steering rack is ballraced alloy and I think my motor will be happier with its fan-equipped heatsink than it would be with the plastic finger guard!

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More blue bits arrived yesterday:

2021-02-28_02-20-48

 

The upper arm mounts are a good idea I think, as the stock plastic ones break more easily than the suspension arms, and I prefer to have the arms as a weak link rather than their mounts, since if the middle mount goes, the upper arm is allowed to twist around a vertical axis. The forces then tend to tear the outer mount too, which means a new bulkhead. I'd far rather just replace an arm!

The alloy dogbones are a bit of a luxury, as the stock plastic ones last quite well. After a lot of running with a relatively powerful motor, the metal pins can start to work loose in the plastic bits and get themselves misaligned, but this is after literally years of use. I reckon if the plastic ones last years, the alloy ones may last decades, and they are a lot cheaper than an all-metal axle and outdrive setup.

They will be going on as soon as I receive my new 1280 bearings for the diffs. I thought I had spares in my stash, but either I was wrong, or they are playing hide-and-seek, as I can't find them anywhere.

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@TurnipJF THANK YOU!! That sums it up well. Those are a few significant changes, especially the Bulkheads with separate Shock Towers!  From what nearly everyone tells me, you'd do well to replace the Diff Gears with Steel. If not for strength, then for lower maintenance. Because unlike the Stock Gears, Steel won't turn the Oil into Grinding Paste!! 😲😜

The Upper Mounts were a great idea. The hinge pin holes are the first to wear - adding SLOP!  Again I don't know if the 01 has the same pivot wear and SLOP issues as the 02.... 

One other thing... Does the 01 have the same irritating issues of 02 - with SNAPPING Kingpins!! I had to replace 3 Steering Arms because the Kingpins snapped. 😠 

I may finally have it sorted...  I drilled the holes to mount the Arms straight through to the inside of the Hubs. Then I replaced the 8mm Screws it came with, for 12mm Screws that almost reach the centre of the Hub. 

I'm guessing that with Steel completely through the length of the Kingpins, sorted the issue!  I've run my TT-02 HARD since, and no breakage!! 😉

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2 hours ago, Carmine A said:

From what nearly everyone tells me, you'd do well to replace the Diff Gears with Steel. If not for strength, then for lower maintenance. Because unlike the Stock Gears, Steel won't turn the Oil into Grinding Paste!! 😲😜

The diff ring gear and pinion are plastic on the TT-01, identical in dimension to the metal ones on the DF-02, but not at all prone to sludging the gearbox grease. The internal spider gears are cast metal, but any sludge they create stays within the diff housing, and TBH they don't see enough wear to warrant steel upgrades IMO, since they only rotate at speed when the car is "diffing out". Mine have been in there for years and are still in good order.

 

3 hours ago, Carmine A said:

One other thing... Does the 01 have the same irritating issues of 02 - with SNAPPING Kingpins!! I had to replace 3 Steering Arms because the Kingpins snapped. 😠 

They aren't indestructible, but they are tougher than the TT-02 ones. On the standard TT-01, it was typically the arm where the track rod ball link screws in that would snap off in a crash. I have yet to break a TT-01E front upright. 

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8 hours ago, Carmine A said:

Since TT-01s can be found cheap enough... And since I've already got my very over specc'ed custom TT-02.... 

So I think I'll be playing with building up a very modified TT-01!!!

That sounds like a fun project! Loads of tasty alloy bits available for them on Amazon!

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2 hours ago, TurnipJF said:

That sounds like a fun project! Loads of tasty alloy bits available for them on Amazon!

It really should be!! These inexpensive TC Cars really lend themselves to modifications. Seems like several Companies have jumped on the TT-01/02 Bandwagon, with a VAST array of parts. Much more so than the higher end Cars.

Thanks for all the invaluable information!! 👍👍 Come to think about it, I've had very similar Spider Gears in my DT02, M03, M05, and several others through the years, and can't remember any serious breakdown with them. 

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The new diff bearings arrived today, so progress has resumed. The diffs have been disassembled, cleaned, inspected for wear, reassembled and regreased, and are now sitting on fresh bearings secured with new E-type bulkheads.

With the bulkheads going on, it was time to transplant the rear suspension from the old tub. This was in good order, so didn't need anything apart from a wipe of the hinge pins with an oily rag, new oil in the shocks and new bearings in the uprights.

Here is the rear end so far, with its new blue dogbones and upper arm mounts:

2021-03-01_02-21-57

The rear is using fibre-reinforced toe-in uprights. 

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Same story at the front:

2021-03-01_03-56-51

Those of you familiar with standard TT-01 front uprights can see how much meatier the E-type front uprights are.

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Carbon upper deck installed:

2021-03-01_03-57-08

 

I was hoping to add a blingy blue alloy or carbon battery holder too, but I have yet to find one at a price I am willing to pay, so for now it has the standard plastic one secured with blingy blue clips. 😎

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25 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

Carbon upper deck installed:

2021-03-01_03-57-08

Gotta love a carbon upper deck B)

RE: blue blingy battery holder, I don't know if the TT01 is the same dimensions pin to pin as a TT02, but the TT02D D-Parts Tree (19000616) has a blue plated battery strap which isn't too spenny, if it fits?

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2 hours ago, Juhunio said:

Gotta love a carbon upper deck B)

RE: blue blingy battery holder, I don't know if the TT01 is the same dimensions pin to pin as a TT02, but the TT02D D-Parts Tree (19000616) has a blue plated battery strap which isn't too spenny, if it fits?

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll see if the one from my TT-02 fits.

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With the chassis together again, all that remains is to fit some wheels, pop in a battery and give it a test run.

2021-03-01_07-18-37

 

One of these days I'll get it a race blob of its own, but for now it is borrowing the same one as I use for my other TT cars:

2021-03-01_07-28-11

 

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And the verdict? Well, it runs, and rather nicely too. In fact, it runs just like its similarly-specced sibling:

2021-03-01_07-38-11

The two cars aren't identical - the blue one's alloy propshaft and cups are Tamiya items while the silver one's propshaft and cups are by PrecisionGeek for example - but functionally they are a match, and both are excellent carpark runners that will be seeing use in coming rounds of the postal races.

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I find it interesting, how even the newest TT01s show their age - with the Battery Tray designed with slots to hold the OLD NiMH "Matched Racing Packs"!! 😲 How many can remember back that far? 

Still, People from the early 90's would be shocked at the number of Upgrades available lately. 

Now that I understand (thank you!!), I'll definitely be looking for a TT-01E. 

How do they handle Brushless?

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30 minutes ago, Carmine A said:

How do they handle Brushless?

Once you have ballraced it, swapped out the soft alloy pinion for a steel one, and the floppy plastic propshaft for an alloy or carbon one, they are good to go. The rest of the drivetrain is pretty rugged even in stock form.

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