Oh look, Another TF2 build thread...... (Watch me transform a used ebay TF2)

[RC Perspective]

Here are a few of my favorite pics from USTE 2022. I'm still compiling video together. I got most of it on the 3rd day as I wanted to enjoy the first 2 days because it was my first year. Wasn't as much footage as I hoped for, but I can make something out of it.





My buddy bought a nice TF2 while we were there. Prebuilt so he was able to throw a battery in it and drive it. It was stiff and pretty much brand new but didn't do as bad as I thought it would.







The truck also now has new Junfac Driveshafts, Shooter shackles on the rear of the rear springs, and zboxes on the rear of the front springs. Articulation is greatly improved.

More in the next post.

[RC Perspective]

I experimented with lug trimming after looking through countless threads and pictures. I did this on the old set of Mud Thrashers, And stretched them onto 2 inch aluminum touring car wheels, with boom racing dual stage outers only, then glued in 5 spots inside and outside. Had zero issues absolutely bashing it.
Holy cow! this thing turned into an absolute monster! I used this combo for 2 1/2 days out of the 3 days.

Also of note, The bumper was an issue maybe 4 times the entire 3 days on 10 trails, most done more than once. AKA hardly at all.
Even with the whole thing hanging after my buddy stopped short in front of me the first day

You can kinda see the cut. Ill post a better comparison.
On the left are New Mud Thrashers stretched onto stock Sendero 1.9s with stock foam. On the right is my cut on the 2 inch touring rims.

Here you can see the zboxes installed on the front, and my 3d printed alignment shim.

You can see the Revolvers on the rear, and the I have installed the new 100mm shocks the "right way around" on all 4 corners. (same as the 1:1) You can also see the dual split collars on the axles; these also made a big difference!

And as you can see here, I found a black USTE sticker, and have taken the New Bright sticker off in favor of it.

More soon!

[durok]

Great stuff!

The pics are gorgeous, looks like you guys really had an excellent time out there...

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by durok

Great stuff!

The pics are gorgeous, looks like you guys really had an excellent time out there...

Thanks bud! It was the first year for both me and my buddy.

Funny story about that.

I had spent far more money than I would care to admit on a Tamiya TT02R, and two TT02s in the past year. Highly enjoyable though. So my buddy had mentioned the USTE event and I was like, nah no thanks, not really interested in crawler comps and stuff like that.

In between then and now, we took a few of his crawlers out to Markham park I think in Brandon, FL. Had a blast.

Started watching crawling videos and came across some from USTE 2021. I was hooked, and I hit my buddy up and said, Lets do this. This is how I came to own the TF2, Because I HAD to have a truck of my own to bring to this event.

So the TF2 became a "Budget Build", As I had already put too much into my Tamiya stuff; A speed run rig, Drift rig and rally rig.

You can see just how quickly the RC hobby can spiral!

[RC Perspective]

Alright, A proper update.

So just before the event, I wanted a little more than the the 45T Tekin offered. I mean, I could crawl with both gears, but couldn't do donuts. Sue me, I like a little wheel speed coming over from the 1/10th touring car world

My buddy gave me a 27T motor. Don't remember what he said he had in it. I had also thrown a 12T pinion on the 45T, but that was lackluster to say the least. With the Motor drop mod, the biggest pinion I can squeeze in is a 13T. Once I dropped the 27T in, I went back to the 11T pinion, as wheel speed is now more than adequate in second gear. It honestly is a hoot to drive LOL


The steel punisher shafts which are approximately 5 years old or so, were looking a little, sad you could say. I tried to break them at USTE, but failed to do so.



Found some Junfac shafts at USTE, one of them only needed about 1/4 inch trimmed off of the center shaft, and both Diff input shafts needed to be shortened slightly, and rounded off and it all works perfectly. There was ALOT of play in those old driveshafts

Just before USTE, I decided I wanted to hook the headlight switch back up that was in the dash, So used an old PC harness from the front panel. Recycle.


It tucks in nicely and can be unplugged/bypassed should I need to pull the dash out.
Onto another improvement I made, thanks to TRX4 stainless Kingpins. Here you see the stock knuckle bushings on the right, SCT10 wraith bushings on the left.

And TRX4 stainless kingpins. DISCLAIMER- You need to SLIGHTLY drill your knuckles to accept the kingpins, it is not much at all and this Is how you will determine how tight you want the steering knuckles to be. You'll also need to trim the M3 studs to not go deep enough to hit the dogbones/XVDs.

For me, they work perfectly with just a tiny bit of slop. Far, far less than with the regular bushings.

Next up, #soupcanlife


This is with one set of revolver shackles on the rear of the rear springs, one set of Zboxes on the rear of the front springs(filing required on the Zboxes for free movement from the compressed position), Chino mod, Oring mod, and 100mm cheapie shocks. Front comes in just shy of 4 inches.
It is also a partial droop setup (I believe that is what this is considered?).




Ill try to get a few better pics of the filing I had to do using the Zboxes on the front springs. they bind when compressed, so to free them up you just gotta take a few sharp edges off.

More soon!

[durok]

Very cool post...

Been a while since we have had such a detailed thread on TF2 mods, lots of great ideas to digest here!

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by durok

Very cool post...

Been a while since we have had such a detailed thread on TF2 mods, lots of great ideas to digest here!

This build is the culmination of TF2 info out there. I've done lots of research on stuff that's been covered, and some things I've found answers for that I haven't yet seen posted.

It's all about the community!

[RC Perspective]

https://youtu.be/eCZ_dBFM5VI
Finally got done with the little footage I got from USTE this year. Hope you enjoy!

[durok]

Originally Posted by RC Perspective

This build is the culmination of TF2 info out there. I've done lots of research on stuff that's been covered, and some things I've found answers for that I haven't yet seen posted.

It's all about the community!

I went on a tear a while back reading everything I could find on multiple forums, and I have all the parts gathered up to build a CCHand steel flatbed conversion based on a Marlin, and to build an Overlander out of a C2X.

Procrastination SUCKS!

Hopefully I'll build one or two of them before I retire...

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by durok

I went on a tear a while back reading everything I could find on multiple forums, and I have all the parts gathered up to build a CCHand steel flatbed conversion based on a Marlin, and to build an Overlander out of a C2X.

Procrastination SUCKS!

Hopefully I'll build one or two of them before I retire...

Sounds like a couple awesome builds!

I too am shockingly good at procrastination. USTE was last month on the 18-19-20th. In my defense I was also waiting to hear back from my favorite artist.

I did slightly rework my home trails. Its a small section under Oak trees with lots of ferns and plants. I took some video clips the other day. Hopefully I'll get to that footage in the next month

[RC Perspective]

Got around to throwing a quick video together running on my home trail. Hope you enjoy!
https://youtu.be/qPApC0UPksU

[RC Perspective]

Not much to update really.

After USTE I've maybe used the truck a handful of times. Been meaning to get back out to Aripeka, And to check out a few other trails that look promising out here in Central FL.

Also been meaning to get out to the Santos Tiny Truck trail in Ocala; It looks pretty cool.

Mainly I've been working on the drift build, which is coming out pretty awesome I think.

I also took the plunge into Tinkercad and made a few splitters and a prototype diffuser for my speed run rig. Guess I should post some of my TT02 builds on here. But I go for realism more or less.

[durok]

Man, that's a gorgeous 911...

I have a Exotek Stuttgart M-Chassis body that is their version of a racing 911, but it's just not going to be that accurate-looking.

Eventually being installed on my M-08.

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by durok

Man, that's a gorgeous 911...

I have a Exotek Stuttgart M-Chassis body that is their version of a racing 911, but it's just not going to be that accurate-looking.

Eventually being installed on my M-08.

Thanks man. At some point I'll toss some pics up in the on-road part of the forum of the GTR34 body I went overboard on LOL. Carbon hood, roof, trunk, window spoiler and lip spoiler. That body has been through hell haha. I was actually thinking about cutting the wheel wells bigger and mounting on the TF2 chassis The 911 RSR looks black, but it's not. Its actually like the Tuxedo Black from the old Corvettes with heavy flake and a ghostly Dark Blue.

That actually sounds pretty cool the body you have, I may have seen one. Though its not an exact replica, It'll still look pretty good.

This is one of the reasons I love the Tamiya lexan bodies. Surprisingly accurate.

[RC Perspective]

My truck made it into another one of Roadside RC's videos at USTE. Actually its in this one alot LOL.
https://youtu.be/BVtCjxypzjU

[RC Perspective]

I guess putting in the 27T was a good idea.
It's a Team Raffee Co crawler motor.

But I have sitting here a Tamiya Torque Tuned motor, and some dangerous thinking has ensued.

Its a 27T with advanced timing. So it would be like a 25T with neutral timing. Would it really make that much of a difference? I know I'd lose precision control, Which isn't too bad as I have the 2-speed transmission. But I'd add some power and probably shorten the life of some components.

Is it worth it for the Memes though? I suppose that's the question here?

What say you?

[B-MOW71]

Nice mods you've done so far! Nice idea on the toggle switch on the dash!

Truck looks great in the vids I've seen of it at USTE.

[RC Perspective]

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Nice mods you've done so far! Nice idea on the toggle switch on the dash!

Truck looks great in the vids I've seen of it at USTE.

Thanks man!

The switch is actually the only part left of the PO's lighting kit. It was neat enough to keep, so I reused it.

The truck was a blast at USTE this year. I can't wait to bring it next year!

It's actually turned into a decent crawler too! Though I haven't gone back to Aripeka yet to try the lines I couldn't do before. Also the Santos Tiny Truck Trail by me down here is on the list.

[RC Perspective]

Oh man, I'm so in love with my Porsche build!



I'll be doing a full breakdown of the TF2 here soon to change bearings and clean everything up. Some of the bearings are quite squeaky.

[RC Perspective]

Did a full bearing replacement on the TF2. Opened both the transmission and transfer case to do those bearings, and used some good, synthetic grease in both. Installed new leaf springs, just the main and small helper, and this finally cured the "gangster lean" the truck had going on. Spun the steering servo around, and moved the mounting hole on the servo horn to mostly cure a rubbing issue. I'm gonna need to invest in a good steering servo as mine is getting, well, weak.

Sadly I have pictures of none of this But I do have these, on the home trail after all the maintenance.








I'm excited to get out to Aripeka again. I also did finally go to the Santos Tiny Truck trail in Ocala, but it started raining and there was nobody else there.

I start a really good job on August 1st. Like, really good, and stupidly easy, its almost unbelievable. But it actually exists. Kroger's Grocery Delivery, for the Fulfillment Center. Hiring on at $18.50. Yes, that is not a typo. Company truck, Company gas, immediate benefits.

If you've got a Kroger's fulfillment center near you, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out. Even more so If you are a good driver with customer service/delivery driving experience.

Pretty bad when the last trade job I had overworked you for 13.50 an hour.

-RC Perspective