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burakol

Dynahead

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I bought this kit during the lockdown from TowerHobbies. Since I recently finished my daughter’s BigwWig, I think I am ready to build the Dynahead. 
When it comes to building RC, I usually don’t plan ahead... my take is pretty much do as I go... except for the essentials; like bearings and/or steel pinions, I usually keep my RCs in stock form then maybe replace a part with a hop-up/aftermarket when something breaks... so same thing goes for this Dynahead...

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I already got all the bearings; all 70+ of it, and I also took the liberty of getting some softer/stickier 110mm tires which I mounted on a 2.2 beadlocks wheels from the LC CR-01. 


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Knowing that the stock dampers are friction type, I went ahead and ordered some Injora aluminum dampers... I opted to get a 70mm damper and will just put some spacers if I need to shorten it... I jus couldnt justify (and afford) getting the tamiya Hopup damper for the Gf/G6 01 so i went with these. Surprisingly, the build quality fees top notch and the springs gives a decent feel... hopefully these dampers will do a decent job...

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Being that the kit did not include any ESC, I opted to go with the highly acclaimed Hobbywing crawler ESC. I am very pleased that it came with the program card, although I will need to change the battery connector to a Deans type or maybe just make an adapter if I happen to have a spare XT connector somewhere.

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So far, the I’ve only cracked the box open... I will update the thread as I go along building the kit...

I am back to teaching no for 4x/week but Spring Break is coming up. Hopefully i can steal some time and get going with it...  what excites me the most is that I just received an SLA 3d printer for my classroom and Im hoping to accessorize this rig. 
 

More to come...

 

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I like where this is going!

Do you have a link for the shocks?
I am searching some for the Konghead build I am planning and collecting

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2xsets of tamiya 53619 will do the job, using the kit springs....

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@Yonzariq I just bought these from Amazon here in the US, but I could have gotten then from a Chinese marketplace but I didn't want to wait for a longer shipping time. I think using the plastic Mini CVAs just like what @taffer suggested is still the preferred part to use by many since the Tamiya CVA have been proven to be very effective... I would have gone the same route by using the Tamiya CVA's but I opted for an aluminum damper body. Mind you also that the 70mm eye-to-eye length might be a little long so I am anticipating on shortening the the drop by a few mm by putting a spacer inside the damper shaft. 

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4 hours ago, taffer said:

2xsets of tamiya 53619 will do the job, using the kit springs....

thanks, got them on order right away :lol:

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@Yonzariq

When you build them, use short shock ends and have an o ring on the inside of shock shaft (helps reduce the length slightly to ease use of portals), use the small limiter off the parts tree of the CVA for the outside of the shocks, useful for the front because it helps stop the steering rod from hitting the chassis, I mention all this in my showroom.

For lower shock mountings use longer 8mm ball connecters.

For upper front and rear use normal ball connectors Inc with shocks.

For upper middle CVA connection, you need hex mounted ball connectors, again the part no. In my showroom, the hex ball connector number is actually shown in the manual as a hopup

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Nice Dynahead! It's good that you considered bearings and shocks upgrade right away. I used to have the same shocks but the dual springs with mid collar have binding on the body. I hope those don't have that same issue. 

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Got to spend some time cracking with the Dynahead tonight...

This box is packed... big problem is, I only have so much space to work on this...

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Trying to maximize my tiny workspace... this gear case/chassis is long... 

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Worked on the 3 diffs. The manual only calls for one 5mm balled up putty but I chose to put in three putty per diff case. Depending ok how it performs, I may or may not lock them at all... 

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It was a pleasant surprise to find some ball bearings included the kit... not sure where these will go but I do have enough to cover everything... 

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On to the idler gears and counter gears... as if it wasn’t enough, Tamiya actually gave one extra idler and counter gear in the kit. I thought I would use all three, but as it turns out, I only needed to use two of each...

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as mentioned earlier, i used all ball bearings on all gears... 

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I do have some ceramic grease in my bin but I opted to the grease included in the kit... now im wondering if i should have opted to use the ceramic grease as it feels more tacky compared to the regular grease found in the kit... but anyhow, i think the performance difference will be unnoticeable....

And the two halves put on together...

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so far I’m really enjoying building this kit... theres a lot of turning screws which makes me wonder if I should invest in a low torque power driver... and to think im not even halfway into the build... 

this is it for tonight... thanks.

 

 

 

 

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I also put three diff putty balls per diff (in my dynahead), it makes the diff feel 95% locked, good for the trail.

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I locked all three of my diffs as well, though it makes 4WS a must. The rear tires really push the front and make the steering more of a suggestion than a reality.

Love the look of that chassis and all of the gears! It's a sight to behold, and a testament to Tamiya that they all run smoothly and silently. Mine is surprisingly quiet going down the trail.  

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Really interested in this type of kits. Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build :)

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20 hours ago, wilsonian said:

Really interested in this type of kits. Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build :)

Hopefully I can do enough justice when putting this together... this may eventually be my daily basher... I recently realized that I our streets aren't long enough when running a moderate tuned buggy or car... 

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I love my Dyna(Mog)head. Changing the wheels and tyres is a good move. I still run standard shocks, if you can call them that, but itsseems to run ok. I still think they made an error with the body. Its so close to being right but something doesnt work for me which is I went the Dynamog route.

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Happy 6 wheeling

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@Busdriver thanks.

so i have a few minutes at my disposal today and I am left to decide which motor to use...

at first i told myself to use the stock silver can for now, but then I remembered i saved a 540sized motor from a broken tire pump for future builds... 

i dont know the turn number or anything about this motor but I am assuming it is a high torque motor because it was intended to be used as an air pump... and if you look closely inside the can, there are some cooling fins attached to the rotor...

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hoepfully this little experiment of mine won’t back fire at me or fry the esc... since it came from a portable car inflator, i know it is at least rated to work with 12v dc power. 

 

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Ok, so for two hours I was able to complete metal parts bag A and get started with the metal bag parts B. 

Gear case/chassis closed... middle suspension and front suspension arms completed (not pictured), as well as the motor already mounted.

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Opened Parts Bag B... It feels that this parts bag alone have more parts compared to the other builds I've done before... 

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Look at all those gears!

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So these bearings came with the kit... These will be used when putting the portal axles together. There's 18pcs in all in size 950. 

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If you are planning on using the 4WS (like I do), take note of the message on step 14. You need to make 4 of these portal axles; only 2 if you are just running front steering... but if you will be using a separate channel for the rear steer, might as well setup your rig as a 4ws and just use the rear steer on demand by toggling your 3rd/aux channel on/off... 

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Another tip, when you cut part R5 from the tree, don't mistaken those little nudges on the side of the plastic. Those are not meant to be cut off or be smoothened out... 

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Getting ready to put one portal axle together... look at all the parts required just to complete one portal axle... mind you that I need to do 6 pieces in all... and actually, there's still one counter gear that I missed to include in this photo... 

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Prior to putting the C-Clip on to the drive axle shaft, ensure that you put the gold spacer/washer...

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It is just simply amazing... in such a tiny, compact case, there's a lot of action going on inside... A total of 8 bearings and 4 gears doing the work... 

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One Portal Axle done... 5 more to go... By my estimation, building one of these already takes about 10-15 minutes... of course it also depends on how meticulous and OCD you are... 

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I guess this is it for tonight... Will be watching some Falcon and Winter Soldier with the kiddos for now... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It looks like a superb kit to build, well designed and involving.

In terms of value for money there’s lots to do, with good options and then how you choose to run it.

My Konghead came Built to me  and nicely hopped up, but I just use it occasionally for running around the garden or in the woods. 

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The portals are little engineering miracles, and fun to build. It is amazing what you can fit inside such a small casing!!

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IIRC, there are 37 gear mating surfaces in this truck, 24 in the portals alone. My old SCX10 has 5. :)  Certainly makes for a fun build!

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10 hours ago, J@mes said:

Dam it now I want a Dynahead! :lol:

I was just thinking this must be one of the few you haven’t got stashed away J@mes 😂

 

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I was finally able to finish all six portal axles last night. All felt buttery smooth... I debated against aggressively greasing the gear case... 
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didn't have enough time to do much today except for the front L/R front “reduction gear” as termed in the manual. 
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and the build continues... 

Upon completing all 6 portal axles (for 4WS), it was time to work on the front c-hubs and drive shafts.. 

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Next up, installing the center drive shafts and top suspension mount. In this part, I thought Tamiya did a fantastic design in making it to seamlessly work...

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By my initial observation, it appears that the front has less droop compared to the center suspension. Not sure if it is, or if this will eventually even out when all 6 tires are on the ground... 

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After completing the center drive, I worked on the rear suspension and driveshafts... I almost forgot that I was doing the 4WS on the get-go... good thing I hadn't started screwing the parts together... if you are following the manual to the "T", the instruction states to use part C14 and C15 respectively (lower suspension arm) and part C4 (upper suspension arm)... but not when you are using the 4WS... 

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For the 4WS, you need to use part C15/C16 and C3 instead (same as the front part)... so from page 11 on the manual, I skipped to page 21 where the 4WS instruction is located... I guess it would have been easier if Tamiya tried to include a disclaimer on this section to point out the optional 4WS setup... 

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So here it is... all six portal axles installed.. 

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Next up, was the damper install... Since I decided to go use an aftermarket cheap-ish aluminum oil damper, I expected that I need to do some tinkering to make it work... For this build, I bought some Injora 70mm oil dampers... I am overall pleased on how it felt after I filled it with some light silicone oil paired with what I think are the softest springs that came with the dampers (2 short springs)... The Injora dampers did not come with any hardware/screws, but it did have a ball insert on both the eyelets... the the problem I encountered was I did not have the right sized screw at my disposal... all I have in my parts bin was tapping screws... in order to make it work, I had to file the ball inserts so the screws will have enough "bite" on the plastic... 

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Not having power tools means I had to use some ingenuity when it comes to using whatever tools I could find in my tool box. 

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In the end, I was able to make it work... FWIW, the dampers do feel solidly built and offers smooth dampening.. I am just not sure if it will gve me enough travel when compressed as I think the body is too long, making the shaft travel shorter than I want it to be... but I have to wait and see... 

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And last but not the least for tonight... I also started working on the steering... For now, I am using the stock steering arm and servo mounts... hopefully this will offer enough for casual use... I opted not to use the servo saver but the alum/metal servo arm that came with the red 20kg servo that I will be using for front and rear steer. 

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Steering links measured to 24mm as stated in the manual... I had to do 3... 

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And that's all she wrote for tonight... Thanks!

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I think I’m about 95% complete with the chassis. Next will be body work and lights... but i think that would be a process in itself as I still need to 3d print some light buckets. 
 

so for tonight, i continued working on the steering components for the front and back... servo installation, and putting on the wheels...

Front servo installed, front steering arms attached. I did not use the plastic servo saver, I instead used aluminum servo arm... 

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Next was to work on the rear steering setup. Gathered all needed components. The length of the steering links are the same as the front, but the steering arm is noticeably a different design than the front. Good thing I did not preorder two steering arm hopup or else I would have no use for the second one. For now, the stock part will do. 
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The link to the rear servo is considerably short compared to the front one. In this part, I was hoping to use the same setup as the front steer doing away with the servo saver...

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Even though the steering link for the rear servo was short, I did not anticipate any problems... until It was time to mount the rear servo... again, I chose to do away with the stock servo saver and I planned on using the servo arm directly...

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although i was able to connect the servo link. The servo arm was too high and it had a drastic impact on overall side to side travel... it did not provide enough length to turn the other way. I tried to lower the servo by using some spacers, but because the aluminum servo arm was longer, the tip was hitting the body and could not full swing to turn the steering arm... I had to scrap this plan and I ended up using the stock steering arm, and the servo saver in order to lower the mounting point... 

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After sorting out the nuisances in the rear steer, I went ahead and started working on the wheels... before putting the pins for the 12mm hex wheel hub,  the manual called for a small ring that goes into the portal axle. The purpose of this is probably to provide some sort of protection/seal to the bushing/bearings against water and other debris... If I didn’t go over the manual again, I wouldn’t have noticed this step... 

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from there, it was a straightforward process when installing the wheels. Insert the pin, push the hex hub adapter (wider one), install wheel, and tighten... 

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as it stands right now, I like the looks of the 2.2size wheel from the CR01 matched with the 1.9 size tire.
 

Upon initial testing, there is ample clearance on the rear when turning... one thing that I am not 100% happy is the the upstroke of the dampers...  the long body of the damper was limiting the upper movement... but overall, the damper in itself provides superb dampening feel... I might eventually change it, or not, depending on how it performs...

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