Tamiya TA-02 Ford F-150 Trophy Truck to 1.55 Scaler

[alexchen86]

Well being bored out of my mind I am building a TA-02 Ford F-150 Trophy Truck. I found one at HobbyTownUSA after eyeing it for about 4 months now. I have an extra Tamiya TEU-101bk ESC and a Traxxas 2075 rebuilt servo.

I will build it stock with locked diffs probably just rear depending on how I feel. I have sealed bearings on the way and plan on running the stock motor for now.

I've read people putting up to a 65T motor...my question is how do you lock ball diffs?

[alexchen86]

Well after reading more and more I am concerned about my new kit purchase from my LHS. Haven't unwrapped it yet but a bit apprehensive.

The plastic drive cups on the rear diffs are a problem and the driveline is weak. One of my crawler buddies told me that's why they created the CC-01. I have a CC-01 and am a bit concerned about parts availability on the TA-02 as it's slowly being discontinued.

I was going to either keep it stock as a trophy truck or turn it into a scale 1.55 crawler with an FJ40 Tamiya body 252mm wb as the stock TA-02 wb is 250mm so it should fit quite nicely. I'm just worried about parts as being a crawler things will break sooner or later. Thinking about returning it....any thoughts?

[Gula]

The ta02 is just as tough as the cc01 if you want I can trade you your ball diff for a spider gear diff.

[ghost97ta]

my tao2 truck has had the crap beat out
of it since 1995. get the upgrade prop shaft
and the alum motor mount tamiya made.
it has more gearing choices i run a 14 turn
double in mine.

[alexchen86]

Originally Posted by ghost97ta

my tao2 truck has had the crap beat out
of it since 1995. get the upgrade prop shaft
and the alum motor mount tamiya made.
it has more gearing choices i run a 14 turn
double in mine.

Isn't the prop shaft with the kit already aluminum? In our crawler group out of Houston one of our members has a couple and said that the spur gear tends to strip easily...I'm worried about replacements as this kit will slowly be discontinued like the Toyota and Chevy body versions.

I was planning on running it as a scaler 1.55 with some nice beadlocks and probably a 35T motor. Problem is it will have no slipper and I don't want to wait for parts to arrive overseas and/if they are available.

Now I am kind of hesitant on this chassis I had no idea it was this old almost vintage. Considering returning it as it is still NIB.

[K.O.M.]

I have the DF01 and it's pretty much the same chassis/drivetrain.

Unless you are doing crazy s*** to it, you'll be ok. I bought the Porsche Transsyberia kit and it's been fine. The major limitation is that you will need at least a 55 turn motor for it to be a precision crawler. You'll be limited by the ground clearance/suspension design way before you get into breaking parts.

You can turn ball diffs into locked spools by taking all the balls out of the diff, trace an outline of the diff rings on card stock, cut out the card stock and place one on each side of the diff gear, bolt everything back together and voila, instant locked diff AND slipper clutch all in one.

If you want to try, you can just take the thrust balls/bearings out and leave everything else alone and that will lock the diff as well, it will just slip sooner than the card stock method.

[alexchen86]

Thanks for the insight I think I am going to return it. My original idea was to have a scaler trophy truck that I could eventually turn into a 1.55 scaler and add greater ground clearance with some T-Maxx shocks or similar with some sort of new shock mounts...but with that in mind and the amount I will be spending especially on a new Tamiya FJ40 body and paint as well I might as well get another CC-01 that they released with the FJ40 body.

[gapjr]

There are lots of them turned into scale trail trucks. Check out the tamiya m1025 hummer videos on youtube to see what the chassis can do .

[Atlas32]

I am actually turning my TA-02 into a FJ40 scaler too. There are TONS of used TA-02 bodies that pop up on ebay for next to nothing all the time. For under $100 total I have already picked up three of them for spare parts. One of them even came with all aluminum upgrades, which was amazing!!

I also purchased a solid aluminum center drive-shaft for about $10 on ebay. It strengthened up the drive-train considerably.

As somebody else mentioned, the DF-01 is basically the same truck. You can also use axles and parts from Tamiya's other touring cars and they fit right in. I can't remember which ones at the moment, but lots of parts swap over. Tamiya just doesn't list them as being compatible.

The one thing I LOOOOOOVE about the TA-02 is that it doesn't have ANY visibile torque twist. The motor is oriented sideways. I don't know why, but seeing my other trucks like the CR-01 constantly lunge and twist to the side every time I hit the throttle drives me crazy. I swear that my Wheely King almost looks like the body is permanently stuck sideways at a 15 degree angle when I drive it because the shocks are so soft.

I can also understand you wanting to buy the CR-01, especially if you have to buy an FJ40 body. Mine was left over and unusued from my CR-01.

[itsjust me]

its a fun little rig. i have 1 toyota and 1 f150. make sure you up grade the plastic end dog bones. they will break. tamiya has 2? # for them. they are sp-883 and 50883. they both come up on ebay... as for the ball diffs, take them apart, clean the grease out of them, drill small holes in the rotational cast parts and add some jb wield. let it dry and you have a locked diff. its held up for at least a year for me so far. the drive line has it limits but as long as you don't go crazy on the weight you should be ok. ive never had to replace a gear set yet.