My fourth Tamiya Build - brushless Neo Fighter! Now DT03 Stadium Truck development project!!

[TurnipJF 9185]

Aye, @SuperJoeUK is on the money there. Either the springs are too weak/too short, or the suspension is binding. If the latter, it could be the arms, or even the shocks themselves binding. A bit of disassembly would be required to confirm. 

[B.RAD 240]

Ok good advice thanks @SuperJoeUK and @TurnipJF! It has taken an absolute battering the last few runs, I have been very surprised that nothing has broken, so could well have bent the pins. Is there a stronger upgrade for these? Or a PN for replacement? Thanks!

[SuperJoeUK 56]

2 hours ago, B.RAD said:

Ok good advice thanks @SuperJoeUK and @TurnipJF! It has taken an absolute battering the last few runs, I have been very surprised that nothing has broken, so could well have bent the pins. Is there a stronger upgrade for these? Or a PN for replacement? Thanks!

Yes if you used the dark grey pins with a little thread at one end that came with the kit you can replace them with stainless steel suspension shafts.

And example of which is 54613 or 53266,  there are a few different versions, not sure which ones fit the dt03 though sorry !

[B.RAD 240]

Yes that's exactly what I used, and sounds like an ideal replacement. If anyone can confirm what part I need that would be great!

[B.RAD 240]

I've found parts bag B on eBay for a good price so I've bought that to replace those pins (or at least as back up if they're not bent). Seems most likely though. Would love to upgrade with steel pins though so still open to hop up options!

[B.RAD 240]

Ok so I've just had a quick check of the car - with no weight, all arms move freely up and down. As soon as you sit the buggy on its wheels and compress the rear suspension though, it just stays down. The springs are the upgraded Core RC ones linked to earlier in this thread. Maybe I need to take the shocks apart and check them, although the damping wouldn't cause this, would it?

[SuperJoeUK 56]

 

I'm no expert, but to my knowledge no the damping shouldn't cause that, unless there is an air lock or something ? (Guess). With the shocks off the car do they extend back when you compress them ?

Sorry don't know about those core RC springs, I have the hard springs from the 9400414 damper parts bag on the rear of mine and it just pops back up when I push it down. (As does the front on the soft springs that came with the kit).

HOWEVER.... I haven't taken it out for some serious bashing like you have   (That starts tomorrow !), just a test run on tarmac, so what the 'life' of the springs is before they start to lose potency, I have zero idea. More experienced people may have an idea on how often they need replacing (I'd be interested to know myself).

Oh yeah and I have the large spacers on the rear shocks too, do you have spacers on yours, if not does adding them make any difference ?

[B.RAD 240]

Thanks so much for the reply! I took the shocks off and apart and they're all good, work smoothly and spring back nicely. No air was in the oil and they were still full. As mentioned before, without weight on the wheels all works as you'd expect. Maybe the motor and ESC is just that much heavier, so I need much stiffer springs? I took the core RC springs off and refitted the CVA kit ones, which do feel much stiffer, and it works slightly better now, more return than the previous ones, so I'm perhaps leaning towards needing even firmer springs...?

[Frog Jumper 3656]

35 minutes ago, B.RAD said:

Maybe the motor and ESC is just that much heavier, so I need much stiffer springs?

I always forget to put the battery in my car when setting up shocks.  I end up having to re-do them once I put the battery in...

And when I switched from nimh to lipo, I had to re-adjust again...

Terry

 

[SuperJoeUK 56]

22 hours ago, B.RAD said:

Thanks so much for the reply! I took the shocks off and apart and they're all good, work smoothly and spring back nicely. No air was in the oil and they were still full. As mentioned before, without weight on the wheels all works as you'd expect. Maybe the motor and ESC is just that much heavier, so I need much stiffer springs? I took the core RC springs off and refitted the CVA kit ones, which do feel much stiffer, and it works slightly better now, more return than the previous ones, so I'm perhaps leaning towards needing even firmer springs...?

Yeah if the shocks work ok with no weight on them, and your suspension arms move freely, everything points to stronger springs needed.

The ones that came with my racing fighter were soft springs I believe, so if you are seeing better rebound with them that also suggests the core rc are too weak.

Maybe others you can try but the damper bag I mention above does have harder springs than come with the kit. Took mine for a bash earlier and was jumping it... Rear with those hard springs on, rebounds straight back.

[B.RAD 240]

Thanks @SuperJoeUK, glad to hear you're breaking yours in quickly too! 😁

Our kits came with CVA oil filled dampers, are the springs in this different to the standard kit ones? The CVA rears are definitely firmer than the 'firm' core rc ones, but I'm thinking I need stiffer still.

I've actually ordered a slower motor for this buggy, it's just undriveable as is, so I'll change all that over and then play with the set up a bit more.

[B.RAD 240]

Just a quick update to say I found a set of DF03 springs on eBay for a decent price, so they've been purchased. I'm also going to buy the same EZRUN motor in 3300kv flavour to tone down the bonkers a bit. 

Having absorbed Cy's brilliant thread, I'm also going to add some Schumacher truck tyres to my order to go on some Aqroshot rims. Should be getting close to sorted once all that arrives! 🤞

[Bunty 22]

Interesting, are the Df03 springs longer and stiffer than the standard springs?

[B.RAD 240]

26 minutes ago, Bunty said:

Interesting, are the Df03 springs longer and stiffer than the standard springs?

No idea, just need to try out some different options! I'm hoping that the stiff ones will at least be firmer than what we have now 😊

[Bunty 22]

Ah good plan! Yes definitely need something better for those cva shocks. I’m surprised they are so weak in standard form! 

[SuperJoeUK 56]

3 hours ago, Bunty said:

Interesting, are the Df03 springs longer and stiffer than the standard springs?

The springs that come in the damper part bag 9400414 are harder / stiffer that the ones that come in the racing fighter box. Also comes with hard damper oil which I used in the back.  I bought that bag off a recommendation on another forum post on here  When me and my son were testing them during building I didn’t notice any difference in length.

As to what comes as standard in a df03 kit.... sorry no clue !  Just know about the harder ones in that parts bag 9400414

[matisse 1581]

12 hours ago, Bunty said:

Interesting, are the Df03 springs longer and stiffer than the standard springs?

Yup. The DF03 damper parts bag is a decent little upgrade for the stock dampers on the RF

[B.RAD 240]

Some updates! While playing with my Traxxas Stampede, which has a tendency to grip roll quite a lot on grass, I noticed it had some massive spacers on the front shocks (which I should have known about, since I built them! 🤦). So I experimented by removing these and seeing what difference it made to the handling, and was pleasantly surprised that it improved both turn in and reduced grip roll. The turning circle is also tighter as the front wheels are less prone to lift. I may go back to some spacer arrangement there depending on how it jumps now, but currently I'm happy with that setup.

So I thought, "why don't I just chuck these mahoosive spacers on the Neo and see what it does for the shocks?". So I did!

Et voila! Suspension all sorted. Now works like it should. Drives well, corners brilliantly, jumps well - I feel like I've got my buggy back ☺️ I think the combination of the motor and ESC weight, plus the 45g of stashed weight up front, was just too much for these springs.  I packed out the front shocks too and these are working better now...

My Modelsport order arrived, which included a 3300kv Hobbywing ezrun motor to reduce the uncontrollable grunt of the 4000kv that's in there.

I'm glad I choose this motor as, although I know there are much cheaper alternatives available, it was literally plug and play and took all of 3 minutes to switch over. I haven't run it yet, but have a day off tomorrow and will be racing @Bunty for as much of the day as we can get away with! 😁

Next up on my upgrades/improvements was to follow @ThunderDragonCy's lead and go with Blitzer Beetle wheels and some Schumacher tyres. I chose vee4 rears in yellow and stagger fronts also in yellow. I'm glad I did this, as the feel alone of the tyres is so much higher quality than the Tamiya ones. I also think it looks absolutely wicked on these wheels and tyres now! 😍

Can't wait to run it tomorrow. Hoping I've found the perfect balance. My DF03 spring set also arrived today (the pack with the soft, medium and hard options springs in) so I've got more fettling and experimenting to do if it isn't quite right 😁

Now, am I the only one thinking that a truck body would go really well with these wheels now?! Anyone know a source of 273mm wheelbase bodies??

[Frog Jumper 3656]

I think the Clod body is 270mm. That should fit nicely!

Terry

 

[B.RAD 240]

5 hours ago, Frog Jumper said:

I think the Clod body is 270mm. That should fit nicely!

Terry

 

Thank you! That would look excellent.

Another question if I may - the Blitzer Beetle wheels don't have any holes drilled in them, I haven't seen that on RC wheels before, should I drill a hole in? Or does the sealed tyre act like extra damping?

[ThunderDragonCy 7873]

That looks ace. The only truck i found that has the combination of narrow enough to fit between the wheels and long enough is the proline raptor dual cab i put on mine. I looked for a long time! 

[B.RAD 240]

Thanks, I've searched high and low for that proline body but it's out of production sadly 😔 Seems the only site that consistently provides the width and wheelbase dimensions, and nothing else on there is in the right ballpark. I guess the Aqroshot shell is then the next best choice? Is it the TL01 E parts tree that I need?

[ThunderDragonCy 7873]

No idea about tl01 parts. I think i just used the body posts that came with the Racing Fighter. Shame about that body though. 

[B.RAD 240]

New set up is BRILLIANT!! Had so much fun today running laps around a garden course with @Bunty. Despite me being on truggy wheels and him being on buggy wheels, the cars are really evenly matched and it made for some great battles. I think our driving skills may be the only limiting factor! 😁 Thanks for a mega fun day dude! 

Can't wait to get a couple of battery packs charged and get another fun session in the bag!

[Bunty 22]

That was seriously addictive, I found it hard to stop and go home! 
 I’m very impressed how much those buggies can take. I don’t think we broke anything? ( apart from a servo horn!?) but that was the bushes fault right!?

They were hard to control anyway , I don’t think I could handle a hotter motor in mine..... at least until I can manage one lap without crashing!!