ORIGINAL: Dragonii
Hi everyone. I'm new here, but I have the same issue that you guys have been discussing.
I just got this rc a few days before Christmas. It was actually bought from Target and boxed an a Monster XX from Extreme Machines... but it is really a Tamiya DF-02 repackaged with bigger tires and a truck body. I only bought it because I had a gift card for Target and only had to pay $43 out of pocket for it.
The first one arived and it was clear that it had been used. When I opened it I found the chassis was broken right at the front diff, I didn't give it any thought, just packed it up and sent it back. They sent me a new one to replace it and it seemed all good.
Fast forward to today... I was running in a parking lot waiting for my fiance to finish up some work at her office, I turned too short and smacked the concrete barrier with the front right wheel and things got a bit out of whack. When I pulled the front end apart I found that the pin had slipped partially out and bent and the plastic around the pin channel point was cracked. After examining it and trying to figure out what happened it is clear that the problem is a matter of leverage and that running the pin into the chassis would remedy this issue.
I ordered a new chassis, only one I could find was on ebay, has to come from Europe and cost me $23. (Any recomendations on where to get parts would be appreciated) When it comes in I will be doing this mod. I also plan to replace all other parts in stages with aluminum. My only concern about that is this... I see that the hole through the pin location on the chassis has to be slightly widened to accommodate the 1/8'' rod, what about the lower control arms? Will I have to drill out the aluminum to make them fit?
Once this is all worked out I will have to work on getting the Jeep body to fit.
I got 3 from tamiyausa awhile back.
There is also some guy in japan that sells em cheap. J.D.T knows that place I've not had the need to buy from them yet.
BTW do NOT get aluminum arms they will only make the problem worst. I put aluminum arm on a RC once, and completely destroyed a bulkhead after one mild bump. This was on a RC I've cracked up many a times, and once I went back to plastic cracked it up many more times and not broke that part. The aluminum will only transfer all the energy the arm absorbs to the weakest piece which is the bulkhead that mounts the arm to the chassis.
Only really good parts in aluminum are the C-hubs, and knuckles. Shock towers are ok but still they put more stress on the chassis. Rear shock tower in plastic is the best bet personally if I had it to do over again I would have just drilled straight through the body mount post and put a screw from one end to the other to hold the body post, and shock on the tower. The front if you don't reinforce from the other side with the CF (or a piece of aluminum like I did on my buggy) it will shatter the plastic, and bend from a good hit.
But yes you have to drill through the arms holes to fit the 1/8th inch wire.