TT01-W
The TT01 chassis is an excellent platform for many touring car models. It's tough, cheap & reliable.
Because of that I chose it as a basis for several musclecar / supercar projects. HPI are making some great shells at the moment, but they all run into the same problem when combined with the TT01 chassis (and most other Tamiya tourer chassis for that matter);
WIDTH, well front & rear track to be precise.
A stock TT01 is barely 180mm wide with regular wheels & tyres, thicker spacers & offset wheels will get you out to around 190 if you're lucky. As an example, the HPI Pantera & Countach shells are a full 200mm front & 210mm rear track, sit them on a TT01 & it looks silly. The HPI vintage wheels will help, but it still looks like a Escort with a body kit.
Here's a method for widening this chassis to accommodate shells up to 215mm wide.
Unless you've started with a TT01R, junk the silly plastic drive cups & dog bones & replace them with;
TNS gearbox joint (9804237)
39mm drive shaft (50883)
Then you have 3 choices for axles;
Stock 35mm length (50823) as fitted to the TT01R & many other Tamiya chassis
+3mm each side, use the TG10 rear axles (50808 )*
+7mm each side over stock, use SuperBlackfoot / Mudblaster axles (9805391)
*As Twinset has rightly pointed out, the TG10 axles need thicker hex's to widen the track, the longer thread just allows you to do so.
When combined with suitable hex spacers & the HPI offset rear wheels, the SBF axles can push the track out to around 210-212mm. As an added bonus, the SBF axle cups are slightly deeper, reducing the risk of throwing a dogbone.
If you use some of the more exotic wheels like Kawada etc, they come with some crazy offsets, potentially making it even wider.
The SBF axles do require a couple of extra parts to complete the conversion. Because the hole for the drive pin is further along the axle, a gap is left between the pin / back of the hex & the front face of the outer bearing, allowing the axle to move in & out or worse, letting the bearing fall out. There are several ways to solve this, a couple of O-rings, a small metal or plastic tubular spacer, a piece of rubber tubing like that used in the basic kit air shocks, springs etc etc etc. Anything will do as long as it fills the gap between the pin & the bearing.
Now you too can be king of the road with your Carlos Fandango Super Wide Wheels :D
Talk to me people, I love to see comments in my showroom.
TT01-Wideboy, 210mm rear track
Stock vs. widened chassis.
Standard Imprezza chassis, barely 180mm wide.
Alternative axle variants.
Nicely filled arches on the HPI Pantera shell.
Super Blackfoot axle.
O-ring to keep the bearing in place.
Axle line up with 39mm dogbone for reference.
If you liked those pictures, you should see these...
Yellow Pearl
Comments
TWINSET
The TG-10 stub only widens the track if you use thicker hexes - the extra 3mm (35mm/38mm) is after the dowel hole.
If you fit the same hex to both, you won't widen the track at all, you'll just have more exposed thread
More here; [Click here]
Blacque Jacque
Ah yes, I didn't make that clear, I'm using 12mm hex's, even so with +6 HPI wheels & 12mm hex's, it only manages 201mm, to get the full 210 you need the longer SBF axles, AND the 12mm hex.
TWINSET
Gotcha
If you really want to go mental, junfac.com do 13mm and 19mm wideners
generationx
This is a nice idea, but it will ruin your steering geometry! But to get the looks and the arches filled it works a treat.
djupevik
Nice tip! Thank you
Stride
you can reduce the empty space in the SBF axles by using flanged bearings. reduces high speed wobble too.
Victorious Secret
Brother Blacque Jacque: This is very imformative and excellent article. I have many chassis and this is very helpful! Thank you very much!!
Want to leave a comment?