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After giving the car few runs I wanted to have a look at the build of the Frog and give it a total strip down. To see what had worn and what might need replacing.

All 4 wheels are secured with long hex head screws onto identical axles front and rear. The actual mounting is a small 10mm hex which got stuck in all  4 wheels and pulled out when taking the wheels off..  The Hex adaptor makes up the outside half of the axle, the inner and outer halves mesh together from either side of the hub and spin on ball bearings.
The inner half of the axle is identical front and rear, and is used on the rear as part of the Universal Joint drive shafts, the front has no drive shafts since this is a 2wd buggy but the same moulding is used any way.
The front suspension does seem capable of being used in a 4wd application, with a recess on the arm for a drive shaft, a large hole in the hub carrier for a drive shaft, and of course the aforementioned axle assembly.   The chassis however doesn’t appear capable of a 4wd upgrade so possibly another chassis is on the way to make use of this front suspension.
Rear hub with hex half of the axle removed
Front hub details
Front hub with hex removed. Large ball races.
The  shocks are shocking!  Ok, comedy aside, the frog comes with springs and items which while look a little like “shock absorbers” are nothing of the sort, there is zero friction or damping in the “shock” bodies.
I took the “shocks” off the car to have a look at them.  They don’t initially appear able to be disassembled, they are, but there is little point.
With the top cap un-screwed, there is a long grub screw which screws into the “shock” body, I removed this and was able to see the shock shaft which has no piston, it merely slides inside the plastic body.
I tried filling this with the supplied grease (not for this purpose) but the action was barely effected and after pumping the shock a few times the grease just began oozing out of the bottom.  Ah well, that plan was foiled.
One of the reasons the frog is so bouncy, along with the zero-damping, is the pre-load on the springs, it is nothing short of immense.   The springs aren’t twice the length off the shock that they are on the shock but its not far off.   54mm off and 33mm on, at the front for example.

The Receiver and ESC are separate units as previously mentioned and are simply taped in, so twist out easily.  The receiver is probably a similar size to any unit in a low priced set of radio gear, its not micro sized in any way.  Like wise the ESC, it’s small with some large FETs poking up but my Quantum 2 is smaller.  This does mean it should be fairly easy to change the electrics in this car.

The motor is "370" sized and connects to the ESC via small plugs so can be easily removed and upgraded at any time with Tamiyas own Hop-Up motor without any messy soldering.
HOT MOTOR !- don't make me laugh.
ESC, smooth, good enough.
27mhz Receiver, nothing wrong here.

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