tamiya baja champ questions
08-19-2015, 04:27 AM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
tamiya baja champ questions
Hey all, I am trying to get my old Baja champ back up and running. It is a stock unit that I built when I was 15 and have not used it in about 13 or so yrs. So far I am able to get it to run ok but finding it a little slow in comparison to the new age cars. I want to change out the motor and possibly the old manual speed control. I was going to put in a 15T brushed motor with esc but I am worried that I might strip the gears and can`t find replacement parts. What are your guys suggestions on my thoughts ?
08-20-2015, 05:16 PM
#2
Bart,
Parts for those cars are still available as they sold them up until just a couple of years ago. The gears in that car are also very strong and will take just about anything you can throw at it. I ran a 3S brushless setup for a long time without an issue so don't worry about it.
Here is where you are going to run into an issue. The Chassis that was is used in the Baja Champ was originally designed as an on road chassis running short tires so the gearing options are limited. If I recall your options are a 19, 21 and 23 tooth pinion. With the 19 Tooth you would be way over geared with a 15T motor and the stock height buggy wheels and tires.
My recommendation is to pick yourself up a Traxxas 12T Titan motor. It's a 550 sized motor so it has the extra torque to turn the 19T pinion without over heating. I'd also recommend that you ditch the stock speed controller for a traxxas XL5 unit. They are about $25 give or take brand new and they are water proof. This is the setup I'm currently running in mine and it runs great.
You should also upgrade to bearings everywhere if you haven't already as I'm sure you know how fast the stock plastic bushing wear and get sloppy.
There is one weak point in the driveline that Tamiya fixed during the years of production. The dog bones on some of the early cars were actually 5 pieces. You can identify these by looking at the dog bone itself. If it has little white nylon balls at either end then you have the weak ones and they will eventually break. If yours are all steel end to end then you have the good ones. As I said Tamiya made a running change on these but I'm not sure exactly when. What I can tell you is that there are knock off models on Ebay called Bonzer trucks. These are exact copies of the TL01B chassis and all the parts fit. These actually have a really strong set of dog bones and make the perfect upgrade. I had to buy a whole non-running truck to get them but it was only $20 as they are knock offs and don't bring much money.
In all honesty that is all those cars really need to be a blast to drive and strong. At some point you'll most likely want oil filled shocks as well but those are easy to find on Ebay for not much money.
Parts for those cars are still available as they sold them up until just a couple of years ago. The gears in that car are also very strong and will take just about anything you can throw at it. I ran a 3S brushless setup for a long time without an issue so don't worry about it.
Here is where you are going to run into an issue. The Chassis that was is used in the Baja Champ was originally designed as an on road chassis running short tires so the gearing options are limited. If I recall your options are a 19, 21 and 23 tooth pinion. With the 19 Tooth you would be way over geared with a 15T motor and the stock height buggy wheels and tires.
My recommendation is to pick yourself up a Traxxas 12T Titan motor. It's a 550 sized motor so it has the extra torque to turn the 19T pinion without over heating. I'd also recommend that you ditch the stock speed controller for a traxxas XL5 unit. They are about $25 give or take brand new and they are water proof. This is the setup I'm currently running in mine and it runs great.
You should also upgrade to bearings everywhere if you haven't already as I'm sure you know how fast the stock plastic bushing wear and get sloppy.
There is one weak point in the driveline that Tamiya fixed during the years of production. The dog bones on some of the early cars were actually 5 pieces. You can identify these by looking at the dog bone itself. If it has little white nylon balls at either end then you have the weak ones and they will eventually break. If yours are all steel end to end then you have the good ones. As I said Tamiya made a running change on these but I'm not sure exactly when. What I can tell you is that there are knock off models on Ebay called Bonzer trucks. These are exact copies of the TL01B chassis and all the parts fit. These actually have a really strong set of dog bones and make the perfect upgrade. I had to buy a whole non-running truck to get them but it was only $20 as they are knock offs and don't bring much money.
In all honesty that is all those cars really need to be a blast to drive and strong. At some point you'll most likely want oil filled shocks as well but those are easy to find on Ebay for not much money.
Last edited by john01374; 08-20-2015 at 05:21 PM.
08-21-2015, 03:35 AM
#3
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thank you very much for the response it is much appreciated. I will definitely go with all your recommendations. Now I am going to have to find one of them trucks for sale now.
