Natedog's Trail Findering TF2 Tiny Truck

[Natedog]

Yes, for now buttonhead screws. New2rocks settled on buttonheads with a loctited flat nut and ground smooth so that it stays with the body, slips into slightly shortened body mount posts on frame, I’ Liking that as best idea atm.

Installed A&M Garage front shackle reversal, needs fine tuning with shock length and towers. Had to slightly loosen left front mount for spring to move freely, right side is fine. Recommend this kit! Playing with front and rear shocks length, mounting points and oil thickness. Front 3000wt is good, if I can’t get rear shocks stood up I’ll thicken the oil, they really need stood more upright. Front axle caster increased, binding front driveshaft at droop, good thing I have leaf spring shims on hand. Will shim rear pinion up a little too for better ground clearance.

Disassembled transmission to check stock shimming which originally felt too tight, it was. Removed both 5mm ID x 0.008” thick factory shims on input and output shafts. Ended up with one 0.003” thickness only on input, just a tick of free play, much better!

Loosened all wheel screws and started over on tire mounting, little tighter everyday. Stock Berserker foams are listed as dual stage, but are actually single stage dark grey, not thrilled about it! The foams inside edges are getting pinched with tire beads and that’s definitely causing extra mounting problems. I’ve been massaging and working tires as I tighten the screws, we’ll see. CI 1.55” DW foams are too small for these 3.95” tall tires. Might make my own foams if stock Pitbulls don’t work well.

[TheManOfMiracles]

When I linked my tf2 lwb the stock shocks became useless....I ended up putting 90mm traxxas trx4 shocks all the way around....they work great.

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[1beatjeep]

[QUOTE=TheManOfMiracles;5847000]When I linked my tf2 lwb the stock shocks became useless....I ended up putting 90mm traxxas trx4 shocks all the way around....they work

Got a build thread or picture of this?

[TheManOfMiracles]

This is what I did

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[BIGW0RM]

I moved my rear shock tower back and I might have flipped it. I don’t remember if I did or not. But moving it back and playing around with it, i got mine level.

Works I until my shocks come.






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[Natedog]

Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

Totally agree on the rear shocks not being strong enough. Look forward to seeing your setup!

I bought some RC4WD 80mm shocks to try out, gotta rebuild them before installation, already removed the internal springs.

Originally Posted by TheManOfMiracles

...I ended up putting 90mm traxxas trx4 shocks all the way around....they work great.

They are very nice shocks and not giant diameter compared to stockers.

Originally Posted by TheManOfMiracles

This is what I did

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Originally Posted by BIGW0RM

But moving it back and playing around with it, i got mine level.

Works I until my shocks come.

Cool, what shocks and did they arrive yet?


I added a 1mm Axial orange aluminum spacer at each end of my tie-rod to get a little toe out to improve steering, stock is noticeable toe-in. Got Pitbull Braven Berserkers mounted and balanced on RC4WD 1.55 whitespokes, perfect size and the rubber is sooo much better compound. I can feel the grip of the tires just running my finger across the tread. Looks great too! Springs are starting to break-in and gettting little more travel. Axles etcetera getting nice patina, I'm still liking this tiny truck.

[Natedog]

Anybody have a picture of the new Incision Driveshafts (for SCX10-2 RTR & SCX10, SKU: IRC00220) pulled apart to see how long the splines are on male and female halves? Anybody tried these on TF2?

Incision Driveshafts for SCX10-2 RTR & SCX10 - Vanquish Products

[AnimalHippie]

Truck is looking great Nate! You multi build guys make me wanna build more! I'm sure that wouldn't make the wife wanna murder me Lmao! Keep up the awesome work brotha! Very inspiring!

[Natedog]

After installing the A&M Garage front shackle reversal kit my front pinion output was pointing down towards the ground and front driveshaft was binding at or near full droop. Fixed this with RC4WD Superlift Driveshaft Alignment Degree Shims (part number Z-S0290 to bring front pinion back up to parallel wtih the ground. The smallest degree shim brought it back about to stock parallel to the ground, the next larger shim brought it up too high and gave undesirable caster to the kingpins, so went with smallest shims. I don't want the rear pinion all tilted up crazy, so going to buy another pack of shims to get the smallest degrees for rear too.



https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Superl...ms_p_1356.html


Ordered Tamiya W Parts Front Grill 58397 TAM9225105, Tamiya Bruiser N Parts Mirror Tree TAM9115336, and CCHand Front Lamp Lens #D-4005, now my 1981 pickup will have proper round lights!


Moved stock 90mm rear shocks to outermost hole which stood up a bit more vertical, still wish they were upright. Maybe I’ll thicken the oil to 5000wt diff fluid, they really need stood more upright, but when measuring full compression and droop, 70mm, 80mm, and 90mm shocks none seem to get all the suspension travel that I have now. There's not a lot of room to mount them, get travel, and clearance on everything. Still researching.

Originally Posted by AnimalHippie

Truck is looking great Nate! You multi build guys make me wanna build more! I'm sure that wouldn't make the wife wanna murder me Lmao! Keep up the awesome work brotha! Very inspiring!

Thanks brotha! Maybe for birthday or Christmas this year?

[AnimalHippie]

[QUOTE=Thanks brotha! Maybe for birthday or Christmas this year? [/QUOTE]

maybe, but I'm not holding my breath

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[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by Natedog

After installing the A&M Garage front shackle reversal kit my front pinion output was pointing down towards the ground and front driveshaft was binding at or near full droop. Fixed this with RC4WD Superlift Driveshaft Alignment Degree Shims (part number Z-S0290 to bring front pinion back up to parallel wtih the ground. The smallest degree shim brought it back about to stock parallel to the ground, the next larger shim brought it up too high and gave undesirable caster to the kingpins, so went with smallest shims. I don't want the rear pinion all tilted up crazy, so going to buy another pack of shims to get the smallest degrees for rear too.

https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Superl...ms_p_1356.html

Ordered Tamiya W Parts Front Grill 58397 TAM9225105, Tamiya Bruiser N Parts Mirror Tree TAM9115336, and CCHand Front Lamp Lens #D-4005, now my 1981 pickup will have proper round lights!

Moved stock 90mm rear shocks to outermost hole which stood up a bit more vertical, still wish they were upright. Maybe I’ll thicken the oil to 5000wt diff fluid, they really need stood more upright, but when measuring full compression and droop, 70mm, 80mm, and 90mm shocks none seem to get all the suspension travel that I have now. There's not a lot of room to mount them, get travel, and clearance on everything. Still researching.

Lots of good stuff. I never checked my angles after installing the A&M shackle kit.

What made you pass on the A&M skid plate?

Mine would have round headlights if I didn't hate body work so much.

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by AnimalHippie

maybe, but I'm not holding my breath

Originally Posted by JatoTheRipper

Lots of good stuff. I never checked my angles after installing the A&M shackle kit.

What made you pass on the A&M skid plate?

Mine would have round headlights if I didn't hate body work so much.

Thanks, better take a look at yours too.


I bought Bowhouse and A&M skidplates to compare them in person. They are both very nice parts, but I prefer the minimalist approach of just the higher skid hanging low in the middle, this is also how I ran my 1:1 Toyota.



It's not that much work (I hope), used E6000 to glue just the two lower corners to the front fenders. I'm getting ready to cut the front straight across just below the stock chrome plastic bumper (that's screwed to the body) for now. Later I'll cut it across just below the grill and build a steel tube bumper with a little help.

[Shinchu]

So I thought I would stop and check back here after we mentioned tf2 in my ascender thread and... WOW! You've been busy!
I love hearing how much effort you put into the minutia of things... Your attention to mechanical detail is incredible. They crazy part is, I can understand you! Lol

I'm with AnimalHippie... Would love to get me a tf2 but I used up my "large rc purchase" for this year on a 3d printed ford body... That might not even arrive now.
Maybe the refund can go towards a tf2 lwb slider...

Btw... What happened to your stock tires? Pm me if you still have them?

[Natedog]

Hey Chris, thanks for stopping by! Thanks, yes I can’t stand excess slop or misalignment with anything mechanical and I’ve been busy dialing this tiny truck in for scale fun! We’re both detail guys for sure, I’m enjoying your Ascender thread too!

Yes, gotta budget for everything, sorry to hear about your 3d printed body, but you’d like a TF2 imo. Stock tires sitting here, I’m keeping the wheels because I love the white spokes. Pm sent, tires and foams are yours if you want them!

[Natedog]

While I was messing with degree shims, I ground every leaf corner at 45' angles (careful not to overheat the leaves). Good quality 1:1 leaf springs are like this and it can help them flex better and the pack to last longer.



Replaced stock dropped rear frame crossmember/bumper mount with straight across setup like the font, preparing to trim the rear of bed. Moved battery plate to put battery behind transfer case in stock location, because it was a little too front heavy with battery forward.

Disassembled transfer case and used the old plastic bag shim trick to help alleviate the input shaft slop. The bearing pockets are machined rather oversized and the bearings flop around in them. Cut small square of plastic bag (may have to try couple times to find proper thickness, for me it was Ziploc sandwich bag), poked small hole in center, gently stretched them over both ends of transfer case input shaft with bearings installed, gently pressed case halves together with everything in place. Pulled case halves apart and trimmed excess plastic bag protruding around the bearings where they were stuck in the case halves, reassembled with little dab of blue Loctite on the screws. Slop in bearings is now gone, but hopefully RC4WD has fixed this on newer trucks!

Something is now kinda binding when I try to roll the truck by hand, going to loosen all transmission, transfer case and skidplate mount screws and see if it gets better. Was smooth rolling before, I don't like how the shaft from transmission to t-case is fixed length and straight, there's zero allowance for any misalignment because of this. Looking into replacement for this setup, but it's so short, that most driveshafts won't work, maybe Traxxas Jato TRA5551 shaft cut shorter, any suggestions?

[HumboldtEF]

Maybe one of the short driveshafts from Devil RC would work? They make a 45-50mm and 63-78mm

Sorry no experience with these, they just came to mind.

[Bananaclip]

I just caught up with your build by reading the entire thing. I am really enjoying the progression thus far. The little details and tweaks (fine tuning) is what it’s all about for me. I used to smooth and shape my leaf springs to my man! Some of them had very sharp edges with raised shear lines. Not good for smooth or longevity. Thanks for the pics of the 1.1 I really enjoy old yotas. I will send ya pics of my 84 when I get back on it.

Oh.... forgot to mention. Your a bad (in a wonderful way) influence on me brother. I’m now gathering parts for a leaf build.






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[HumboldtEF]

Its truly contagious

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Maybe one of the short driveshafts from Devil RC would work? They make a 45-50mm and 63-78mm

Sorry no experience with these, they just came to mind.

Ooh thanks, I forgot about those!

Originally Posted by Bananaclip

I just caught up with your build by reading the entire thing. I am really enjoying the progression thus far. The little details and tweaks (fine tuning) is what it’s all about for me. I used to smooth and shape my leaf springs to my man! Some of them had very sharp edges with raised shear lines. Not good for smooth or longevity. Thanks for the pics of the 1.1 I really enjoy old yotas. I will send ya pics of my 84 when I get back on it.

Oh.... forgot to mention. Your a bad (in a wonderful way) influence on me brother. I’m now gathering parts for a leaf build.

Brother Bananaclip, thanks for the tire mounting suggestions, sometimes I get too much in a hurry to get it done. Thanks and glad you're enjoying it, yes the details are what make a truck for me too. Nice, yes I deburred the edges of the leafs in a couple spots where they were stamped out! You're welcome for the 1:1 pics, I have some more, but lost some of my really good ones going through the Big Sluice back before the dynamited the really big rocks out of the way, that was some pucker factor going through there! I'm liking the Demon hardbody Yota cab too, wish they made doors and a bed for it, the original Toyota 4x4 in 1977 and 1978 was contracted out conversion using Dana front axle, divorced transfer case and I forget what rear axle, but I love the body style too!

Originally Posted by HumboldtEF

Its truly contagious

Yep, watching your hardbody LandCruiser FJ45 at PLBTF helped push me to this!

[Natedog]

FYI , I swapped out my TF2 RTR frame rails for some Marlin Edition RTR rails and now the rear bed/body mount crossmember is about 35mm farther forward than on any other TF2 frame I've looked at. That was kinda pita so I'm just going to drill two new holes in the bed floor and plug the originals, rather than swap rails again. The crossmember with rear bed/body mounts is same piece on both frames, and everything else on it was straight across swap.

Probably going to bob the bed length about 3/8", don't think I want full Marlin bed bob.

Got my Tamiya round headlight buckets (Bruiser/Mountaineer N part tree, 9115336) and grill (Tamiya 19225138 ) , found out the corner marker lights are bout 4-5mm taller than on rectangular headlights version, ordered new lenses for those. Any other fitment problems with the grill/light swap that I just haven't encountered yet? Need some Tamiya screws to hold buckets in, anybody know what size? Maybe I just use some small machine screws, gotta check. Edit: used some 2mm buttonhead machine screws to hold the buckets in and two little dabs of E6000 just in case.

The Marlin Edition TF2 comes with 80mm length, slightly larger diameter white painted shocks front and rear. XXXX I'll measure the outside diameter and update later, not sure if piston diameter is different. These use steel pivot/mount balls swaged into place by the aluminum around them at both ends of the shock. Unlike the previous versions of TF2 smaller diameter natural aluminum, no brass insert so hopefully better) shocks. The way the o-rings are captured around the shaft with nylon guide should in theory be smoother and less leaks. Shafts appear hard chrome plated which should also be smoother, less leaks and longer lasting. Edit: "Hard chrome" peeled off shock shafts first time crawling, along with the copper base layer, shafts weren't cleaned and prepped properly, sad. Hope the chrome didn't cut the seals when it fell right off. I literally wiped the remaining flaky chunks off with a paper towel.

The TF2 Kit and RTR come with 70mm length front, 90mm rear natural aluminum color shocks (pressed in brass with steel ball inserts). XXXX I'll measure the outside diameter and update later, not sure if piston diameter is different. The steel pivot/mount balls are swaged into brass pieces which are externally knurled and then pressed into the aluminum shock body. Shafts appear to be plain un-coated steel which generally not as smooth, leak free or long lasting as shafts that are coated. There is no plastic shaft guide at the bottom either.

I've been playing with the RTR silver 70mm shocks, 80mm white Marlins, and 90mm silvers. At the rear (using stock rear 90mm shocks), I moved the top mount outboard one more hole (all the way out) to obtain the travel that I want and increase damping more. I'm not sure the new Marlin shocks would clear the frame rails in this position because they are a couple millimeters larger diameter. Rear suspension and shock travel is perfect this way for now.

Up front, I setup one side with shorter TF2 shock tower and the other side with taller Marlin edition tower (same tower as Gelande2). Silver 70mm shock in shorter mount doesn't have quite enough up-travel, but on taller tower is not enough down travel, seems ideal location for this shock would be 3-4mm above stock mounting hole.

Using Gelande2 (Marlin) towers with two holes (both up higher than kit mount by about 7mm at lower hole and aboiut 12mm at upper hole) I've got a pretty good setup with the 80mm Marlin shock in the lower hole. However, the larger diameter shock body hits the steering tie-rod (Yota1 axles without BTA steering) near full compression and results in losing a little bit of steering. It's already limited on steering and I don't want to lose anymore. Might make my own shock tower to get it that 3-4mm higher mount.