860Crawler

Here's the crap video I took of my DF03.

[link=http://vimeo.com/13060577]DF-03 video[/link]

I can't drive and hold the camera. I was all over the place with the car and the camera

mike_o

Nick, nice video :-) Not half as bad as what I produced with a similar setup..

And now to something different: DF03 Rally to DF03 conversion. I may have bought a brand new DF03Ra on Ebay. When I submitted my bid, I didn't realize the auction was for a Ra version. Is there a conversion kit? or a simple way to convert? I guess, I will be needing everything from suspension parts over steering parts to wheels...

May be better just to sell it again :-(.

EDIT: Igot off the hook:. The private seller was kind enough to cancel my bid. Also, I would have been out-bid: I went for a whopping $130

plasmaedge

Please, buy the graphite front arm brace made by 3 racing or the gpm alloy front bulkhead.

All alloy arms do is transfer the force of an impact onto the bulkhead and will rip it apart. I managed to do it with my stock plastic arms so you will easily do it with your allloy arms if you hit at an odd angle.


http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-df0...th=595_744_923

http://www.rcmart.com/catalog/rc-df0...th=595_744_923

THE HP FREAK

My Feedback: (1)

HI!... I already have one. I used it with the plastic arms. It won't fit with the aluminum ones. There's not enough room in the arm pins.

860Crawler

sounds like you'll need shock towers, shocks, wheels/tires, body, wing mounts and wing. That seems to me everthing that is different although I could be wrong!

positron

Your MS looks very smooth Nick, that track is so big lol. I've only had one battery through mine in awhile. Have ordered another hardcase lipo, hopefully this one fits

860Crawler

Thanks! Which battery did you get? I'm about to throw down on a Trakpower Dark hardcase and I hope it fits. I know I'll have to remove some material on the top of the chassis for the battery leads. I'm fairly certain it will fit since the oople review of the Keen Hawk they used a gold Trakpower hardcase.

positron

<meta charset="utf-8"/> First one was a yeah racing hard case stick pack, it does kinda sorta, i could make it fit, but its gonna break the wires after doing that a couple times, The second one I got was a square yeah racing, with bananaplugs but the battery cover doesn't even fit on at all with this one, it's too thick and too wide. (ill be getting some crazy runtime with that 5200 lipo in my FJ40 lol).

Hope you have more luck than me, think I'm gonna buy the graphite chassis conversion so they all fit.

860Crawler

The Trakpower hardcase came in and it fits nice and snug in the battery compartment. I did have to remove a bit of material from the upper deck as shown in the oople.com review so the banana plugs could come through. I also had to cut the + banana plug right at the end and solder the wire on at a 90 degree angle just as the review as well or the propeller shaft would rub the wire right down to the metal. I'll throw up some pics in a few hours when I get home.

I haven't run it yet, I have a feeling its going to be stupid fast after reading the thread about this pack on oople.

860Crawler

Here's the modifications

removed some material so the battery terminals are exposed


Here is with the leads in. The + side has the resoldered 90 deg. bend. The shrink wrap is touching the prop shaft, but I doubled it up there and I think that is why. It will self clearance with some use. It already has a little just from running it around on the carpet for 2 minutes.

mike_o

I got a DF03 off Ebay for next to nothing. The rear diff is fried, though. The differential gear (part "MG1", page 4, section 2 in the manual) is covered either in glue or melted plastic, and the ball holes are ripped. If I replace the MG1 gear, I think the DF03 will be back in business.

Now, my question is: Does the MG1 gear come as part of the Tamiya #51248 "Spur Gear Set"?



Lower left part: It looks like it, but it's difficult to really say. Does anyone of you gurus know?

thanks!

positron

yes thats the rear diff on the lower left. Probably a good time to pick up some ceramic or carbide balls for it too. hows the front diff?

Nick. that fits pretty well, my new pack the cover wont even go on, still deciding what to do at the moment, had a bit of a look at the toyz extended chassis. Getting a new charger this week though, So get to find out if my charger was playing up or it's my lipo's

860Crawler

Definitely get some harder diff balls and build it up with plenty of grease on them. I always fear I'm going to smoke my diffs from all the stories I hear and read from people. But I think the ceramic balls were a good investment, the diff spins well after every run and doesn't have the tell tale gritty feeling. Yesterday, the car was making a squeak noise with every revolution of the tires and I couldn't figure it out. it sounded like it was coming from inside the rear gearbox. When I brought it in I found the CVD pin was backing out again and the actual drive shaft was out of center and squeaking. I didn't have any shrink tube on hand large enough to go over the CVD ends.

I also decided to clearance the + battery lead myself. Took the Dremel with a sanding wheel and angled the blob of solder and wire at that point. Then I wrapped it in electrial tape since its thinner than shrink tube. So now there is about a hair of space from the prop shaft to the battery terminal.

mike_o

Thanks! (after some more research I found that it's in the manual, actually, page 26, )

What I also found is that the 620 diff thrust bearing is dead. Anywhere to get that without buying an entire set of bearings?

positron: amazingly the front diff is OK. But I suspect the car has run as 2WD buggy w 1:8 wheels as the front driveshaft were removed when I received it. At least that would explain the torn rear diff.

positron

no doubt the thrust bearing is same size as another vehicle, just have to figure out what. Be nice if they were same size as the 501x or something

I read through this whole thread once, plenty of people burned out diffs, wether they were running 3s or just poorly adjusted who knows, I have ceramic balls front and back, and never had an issue with it.

Nick those cv's are giving you enough trouble for me to be happy I only have dogbones.

860Crawler

And the funny thing is it's only the rears which have ever had the pins come loose.

860Crawler

I forgot to add. I did end up picking up a little infrared thermometer. Yesterday I ran the hell out of the DF03, just full throttle runs back and forth and hard braking just so I could check the temps. I topped out at around 136F on the ESC and low to mid 150s on the motor. This is with stock gearing.

positron

Nice, mine stays cool also, im using the stock gearing I think, well the black spur that comes with the slipper kit. Not sure if that one comes with the MS

860Crawler

yes I use the black spur as well.

littlebuddha

My Feedback: (17)

hey guys, sort of a newbe question. I recently bought a 13t brushless and a 4000kv/45A motor/esc system from hobby king. I am not sure what is the best pinion I should get. I dont want to mod the gears and want to stick with the .5 tamiya pinions. Currently I have a super sport motor. the stock pinion, slipper clutch and black spur gear that fits with the slipper. Any help would be much appreciated! thanks in advance.

860Crawler

Just leave the stock pinion for now. I bet it would be fine. I haven't changed my pinion or spur from stock and I have a 8.5T brushless and everything runs cool.

littlebuddha

My Feedback: (17)

Great news! that should save me a few dollars to get the rear brace instead. Thanks! and I will see how it runs this weekend. Hopefully it won't heat up.

860Crawler

I also have a fan blowing across the ESC which helps. But the motor doesn't get overly hot either, I've got those heat sink bars that came with the MS version which helps draw some heat away.

littlebuddha

My Feedback: (17)

thanks nick. seems like your also on rcteck. anyways the hobbypartz battery I got today is a tight fit. Is there any cheap 5000mah battery that will fit the battery compartments without modifying the chassis? Thanks.

glancyguy

My Feedback: (1)

Folks,

I have been running a DF-03 MS with an eZrun 9.5T for quite some time (can I still post to this thread?). I have noticed recently that the motor spins and the gears don't quite engage until the buggy gets moving. The pinion was tight on the motor. I figured the slipper was too loose. So as a test, I tightened it significantly. It made no difference. I then went and tightened the ball diffs and I noticed that the gears engaged more normally. After a few runs, the spinning appeared again. I tightened the ball diffs front and back until both sets of wheels spun in the same direction. Again, the same problem when I give the buggy full throttle off the line. There was a lot of spinning of the gears before they engaged.

So, I assume my ball diff was worn out. I just stripped down the entire gear box for the first time since I built the kit (Jan 2009) and examined the diffs. All gears seem to be intact and I saw no signs of stripped gears. I don't see any wear on the diff plates or any grooves (as some have mentioned on this forum). I don't see any wear or ruts around the balls in the diff gear itself. Of course, I don't remember what the diff gear looked like with the balls when I built it. The only thing I can figure out is that the balls have even worn out the sockets in the diff gear and that if I get a new gear, I will be able to see the difference.

Any thoughts from the forum? What typically goes into maintenance on a DF-03 gear box after 50+ runs with a BL motor? Am I completely off?

PS - I removed the center one-way out of the driveshaft and replaced it with the standard alloy cup when I built the kit.