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Using inner holes on Manta Ray etc red uprights?

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G'day all, I've just picked up a Blazing Star (DF01, essentially a Manta Ray?) for a steal at $20, it appears to be in quite good condition except for a broken motor mount (ordered a metal one) and some damage on the front left; suspension tower has cracked holders for the shocks, I'm attempting to DIY a repair for these until I get it running, but the left red upright / hub / steering arm (?) has split right through where the ball screws in.
Parts seem to be hard to get / expensive here (cheapest I can find is $17), wondering what the effect would be if I moved the ball in to the inner screw hole?  I've moved both sides in and adjusted the linkage length and it "seems" like it would work OK, but is there a major reason NOT to do this?
I'll continue to try to track down replacements, or a possible "upgrade" to aluminium, but I'm hoping to get it to a testing phase with minimal extra cost until I've actually proven it to work.
I'm not familiar with this era of Tamiya, I'm also currently reviving my original Frog, and my wife had gotten me a re-re Hornet a few years ago.

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Moving to the inside is ok until you get a replacement set. I don’t recall it being too much of an issue when I used to break them years back and took ages to get the replacements. Moving to the inside holes can have a few effects. You may have less steering angle- a wider turning circle if the throw from the servo is not moving the hub through the full range of travel. A weak servo may struggle more to turn the wheels as there is less leverage on turning the hub being closer to the pivot. geometry might also be a little out so maybe some bump steer starts to come back in that wasn’t there.

all in all, no issues unless you are racing it.

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Thanks Alangt4, I won't be racing or doing anything serious in any way shape or form, just mucking around.  Can't imagine the turning circle could be much wider than a frog/hornet ;) Haven't checked out the servo to see its specs, but seemed pretty heavy duty.

Saw yesterday that the Top Force Evo is being re-released, which hopefully means the front knuckles will be easier to source; looks like they should be more like $7 if the "local" shops stock them, and supposedly my local toyworld does order such things in (it's the closest I've got to an RC store).  Metal parts are looking like $25+ for the cheaper ones, so that's quite a few broken plastic knuckles to justify.

I've figured out that some old 10mm aluminium tube I had lying around has an ID of a little less than 8mm, so sleeves quite nicely over the front tower ... erm ... tubular sticky-outy screw-receiving bits :blink: which have an OD of about 7mm. Figure I can epoxy them on to inhibit splitting, and/or rebuild the split-off bits, maybe get rid of the screws and go for bolts right through instead.  Or just chop of the nub bits and replace with spacers, ala the TF Evo?  I'll need to go over everything with a fine-toothed comb to see if there are any other cracks I've missed among the dirt/grease (pics below are before any cleanup)

IMG_20210426_142853_r.jpg

IMG_20210426_142817_r.jpg

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Hopefully new knuckles should be available as they are shared between all the DF01 buggies and the TA01 series of touring and rally cars. Since the ball joint is a self tapper it creates a bit of stress on the plastic making them prone to break off after a while especially in the cold.

 

you can bore out the hole a little or use a ball joint that accepts a bolt through it which helps, or use the alloy ones if you find them.

normally plenty of parts for these cars, am sure it’s limited right now though with shipping container and general pandemic related issues.

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Have you checked ebay for aluminum replacements from some of the Chinese suppliers? That's not my usual go-to, but if it's the difference between driving the car and not...

Moving to the inner hole will only slight change your steering geometry. Do it on just 1 side and steer the car left to right and compare the "normal" side from the "broken" side. It should clearly illustrate the change. But for a car that's only being driven for fun, on the dirt - you'll probably never notice ;)

You could also run a ball stud with a longer shank and put washers and a nut to "capture" the plastic if you must use the original hole.

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Hi Unknown Driver, cheapest I can find the aluminium ones is about Aus$25 shipped, cheapest plastic I can currently find is Aus$17 shipped, but if stocks become available again thanks to the upcoming rereleases then plastics should be available locally for about Aus$7.  By all accounts the plastic ones are pretty durable, and aluminium not necessarily more-so, so I'll wait to see if I can get new plastic ones instead.  Have moved to the inner holes (outer one has completely snapped on one side), to my untrained eye the steering looks like it should be "fine".  There's only about half of the original hole left, so capturing would be a fairly dodgy proposition.

I pulled apart the gearboxes the other day to check for hidden damage, and I swear this thing's only been run once, smashed the front left into a wall, and then put away for a few decades.  Maybe not once, but extremely little use.

Metal motor mount arrived yesterday, awaiting some 7mm M3 spacers to retrofit the front suspension tower, combined with brass washers and 4mm brass tubing (3mm ID), need to solder new wires between the ESC and motor, apart from that she looks ready to go!

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Good deal man - have fun with it! As long as your steering servo isn't straining at 'full lock' in either direction you should be good to go. :)

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