TRF801XT ELECTRIC

[percymon]

Ok, old thread revival, and its hardly the latest bit of kit these days, but TamiyaUSA are flogging these off again for $99 with free US shipping.

I have a good forum colleague in the US who is sourcing me one, as well as the MBX6 Kershaw Design motor mount ($28 shipped).

One heck of a bit of kit for that money, even with the extra $65 shipping to UK and a bit of customs VAT etc.

[jph]

Originally Posted by percymon

Ok, old thread revival, and its hardly the latest bit of kit these days, but TamiyaUSA are flogging these off again for $99 with free US shipping.

I have a good forum colleague in the US who is sourcing me one, as well as the MBX6 Kershaw Design motor mount ($28 shipped).

One heck of a bit of kit for that money, even with the extra $65 shipping to UK and a bit of customs VAT etc.

Hi Percymon, i've been interested in doing a brushless conversion on a TRF801XT ever since they dropped to $99 at the end of last year. You say you are using a motor mount designed for the Mugen MBX6 - do you know for certain that this will fit the 801XT or does it need some modification?

I was going to use the RC-Moster conversion -Click Here but the Kershaw Design mount is a lot cheaper.

[percymon]

The honest answer is that i'm not entirely sure until i have it all in my hands (several weeks away since Tamiya USA still havent shipped out to my US 'helper' )

From reading the posts over on RCTech, it appears people used the RC-Monster MBX6 mount until they machined the true TRF801 version. A few posts say the MBX6 mount fits fine and all screws on the centre diff top plate align. I exchanged a few emails with Mike Cronin at RC-Monster and he confirmed that both MBX6 and TRF801 mounts from him work fine; he did state the TRF801 was the better option but didn't elaborate on what the differences were (perhas range of pinion sizes ?).

I went with the Kershaw one purely on cost grounds, like you say its a lot cheaper than the RCMonster one ($28 toal shipped to my helper). The best i could do with RCM, shipping direct to me in UK was $25 shipping, and then import duties/handling etc - it was looking like a £50 motor mount using that route.

My only concern is that the guys on RC tech seem to be running a smaller spur, 46T/48T versus Tamiya's 50T, so maybe there is a slight issue with the scope of the MBX6, or perhaps they just chose to run that gearing. there is some discussion about Kyosho Inferno spurs (ST-RR, MP777) but no definite answer i could see as to whether they were a direct fit, needed a bit of modding of the spur slot in the chassis or fitted well against the centre diff.

I'm keeping an eye on the thread over there - probably worth reading from page 100 if you are interested

http://www.rctech.net/forum/nitro-of...801xt-100.html

There are a few necessary mods during build..

boil the suspension arms to soften them
rebuild the CVDs, flat spot the cross pins and use flat bottomed grub screws loctited in
use Losi 5430 bladders in the shocks

If you want to go for it find a trusted colleague in the US to do all the ordering for you, there are incidences of kits being incomplete so any issues would need to be sorted out prior to onward shipping to UK.

I also have the alloy chassis braces coming - purely for a bit of bling, the kit plastic ones are apparently very sturdy.

there's currently a build thread on tamiyaclub forum too, in the final stages now.

[jph]

Thanks for the reply Percymon

Sounds like the MBX6 mount will work OK but might limit the gearing options compared to the proper TRF801 mount. As a $28 gamble it's got to be worth a try though.

I have a friend in California that I go and visit every year so I'll get him to buy the kit & check it over for missing parts, then bring it back with me next time i'm there. Is it a case of individual items being missing from a bag or is it that a whole bag of parts is missing. Just wondering if my friend will have to check through every single item or just check that all the bags are present inside the box?

I agree about the chassis braces, plus they are pretty cheap on Tamiya-USA at the moment.

[percymon]

Re the missing parts, it does need a thorough inspection. Reading the threads over on RCTech some guuys had missing shocks, others just small parts. One reported a cracked driveshaft. Bear in mind I've read back over 2 years on that thread, so not necessarily limited to recent sell off pricing.

My US contact has my kit now, so is working his way through checking it for me. He bought three himself a month back, one kit had one small nitro part missing but that was no issue for him as it was always going to be electric.

I'll post what the inspection of mine reveals when i get news, hopefully later this week.

The MBX6 moutn is also with my contact - he says the screws for the chassis plate and the centre diff top plate align perfectly, although the mount itself may need some 1-2mm of shims to set the correct height (its a bit short ! ) and may need shimming to set the spur correctly - not impossible tasks, time will tell. I hope mine ships out end of the week, so it'll be another 2 weeks before i see it for myself, and then it won't be an immediate build.

[D-StyleNZL]

I got my 801XT via MyUS.com. I got most of my Hopups via Trackstar, Vellrip or Amain. I did have mine running electric, but everybody at loca track went back to E-Buggy while keeping truggy's as Nitro.

[kustom chris]

how much was your postage?
i looked at myus.com to buy direct from tamiya usa
was it a good deal?

[percymon]

For info my box (including the extra motor mount from kershaw designs) is just under 11lb in weight. On supposedly 6-10 day international parcel delivery it was $66 (although its looking to be the upper end of that range currently and maybe more)

Be interested to hear what myUS want as its the first time i've heard of their services.

[D-StyleNZL]

When I ordered mine I got the kit plus LW chassis for $370 to my door. (thou the exchange rate was around 1:1)
I got most hopups I could before I built it. Looking at getting some CF Shock Mounts.
My E-conversion was by RCproducts. Nice kit, but i have to re-tap the center diff plastic mount to take longer screws as I stripped them. Also needed alot of shims to stop the play.

No problems so far apart from 1 bend shock shaft. (took me awhile to find some spare Ti coated ones, but I brought extra) and replacement servo mount so I could go back to nitro.

I'll post some pics when i'm back on-land.

I use MYUS alot. Thou the exchange rate isnt as good now days,

[percymon]

Mine is in the Uk and seems to have escaped HMRC

[percymon]

Indeed I did escape customs charges (nice for a change !).

Build has been rather slow, as i have 3 other projects on the go and plenty waiting in the wings too

I've completed Bag A this monring, after boiling the arms (needed an opportune time with the Mrs out ) so the rear end is built, and the front diff is ready n waiting for me to get on with bag B

Impressions (bearing in mind i've never got up close with a 1/8th scale before)..

> its big - much bigger than i thought (ca 16" from hub to hub at the rear)
> quality of the components is pretty good
> boiling the arms went without issue, and possibly they are a little more flexible than before
> some screws are a little long (I hate lots of excess thread showing)
> I'm surprised by how many M3 screws there are - i'd have thought something bigger given the overall size of this thing
> the 3.5mm screws on the diff casing need a lot of grease to prevent stripping the heads (thankfully i had a spare in my kit)

So far though, can't complain for £120 shipped with the hop up chassis braces and losi bladders.

[D-StyleNZL]

Change the M3.5 screws out to M4 Cap screws. Save yourself some heartache down the track.

[percymon]

Originally Posted by D-StyleNZL

Change the M3.5 screws out to M4 Cap screws. Save yourself some heartache down the track.

I know a lot of guys have done this and half a millimetre doesn't sound much but there isn't a lot of plastic on the gearcase framework in places. I've swapped out the Tamiya items on the front end for some 3.5mm x 25mm screws from eBay - they are bigger headed and posidrive heads - the head area is probably twice that of the kit items, and the cotact area for the driver significantly increased. I didn't even have to grease the threads to get these in and no problems whatsoever with head damage.

[percymon]

Made some progress now, the chassis is pretty ,uch built but with one issue. I bought a Kershaw Designs Mugen MBX6 motor mount for the elctric conversion, as other forums claimed it woud work. Maybe i have a poor example but the crew hole spacing on the Tamiya CF tope plate for the centre diff are about 4mm too short. The centre diff fits perfectly in the mount and there is zero fore/aft movement of the diff when installed between the kit plastic front support and the KD motor mount. Seems i'll be making a new CF top plate with revised screw locations- not a biggy but as these kits are havign a bit of a resurgence due to the pricing I thought it pertinent to document this misalignment. Other guys using the RC-Monster electric conversion kit aren't reporting an issue.

I also need a much bigger shelf than i thought i was going to need....

[percymon]

Fabricated a custom top plate, used the kit one as a template so pretty easy, just added an extra 4mm to the rear to allow for the different screw locations...


Cut and sanded the twin servo plate, as only need the steering servo

[jph]

Looking good, keep the pics coming :-)

I'm still tempted to buy one of these when I'm over in California in May assuming Tamiya USA still have them available.

[percymon]

Originally Posted by jph

Looking good, keep the pics coming :-)

I'm still tempted to buy one of these when I'm over in California in May assuming Tamiya USA still have them available.

I don't know what their stock level is like, but people seem to be buying 2-3 kits each to ensure spares back ups. One guy was lucky enough to get one kit with the performance upgrades (by mistake) so short arms, universals etc as well as the stock items !

I'm waiting on a small SC10 receiver box and a ECX battery tray currently. I could use the large kit receiver box and relocate it to the front left but its a bit chunky for what i need and i'm trying not to drill extra holes in the chassis plate.