TDanny Tamiya Pajero Overland

[TDanny]

Hi Guys,
I've read a lot of useful information here at rccrawler forums in the last few month but didn't had time to start an own thread until now.
So let me introduce my beloved Tamiya Pajero.
I've owned a lot of RC cars in the past few years but to be honest the CC01 is my all time favorite. I don't know why, but these little guys always kept me impressed all the time I run them.
It's been a year now that I came to the idea to buy another CC01 Tamiya Metaltop pajero and try to make it as a perfect trail runner that suits my taste.
This car is a true runner and already have more than 50 miles in it so I am upgradeing the parts that I feel necesarry.

So far the setup is the following:
- Full rubber sealed ball bearing set
- HPI 55t motor
- HPI SS-40WP 10kg waterproof servo
- Tamiya CVDs
- GPM C-hubs
- GPM 4 link rear suspension
- GPM bottom skidplate
- Tamiya Barrel spring set
- HW Quicrun 1080 ESC
- Futaba radio gear
- LED lights with an electronic switch for third channel
- Loops front ARB bumper
- Front brick mod
- 4mm aluminium wheel hexes
- RC4WD 1.9 Breaker aluminium wheels
- RC4WD 1.9 Good Year Wrangler Duratrac tires
- Tamiya TT-02 receiver box
- Tamiya Off Road decal set red stripes

Car weights 5.5lbs (2.5kg) with battery pack

Pictures:




It was not tested with the new wheels and electronics yet so running pictures will follow as long as I have time to go out for a trail run.
Comments welcome. Thank you for looking

[OSRC]

Looks great! Love the wheel and tire combo.

[SFC K]

Looks great! These are my favorite rigs to trail/crawl with as well. I actually prefer to drive these over my SCXs and Gmade rigs and will be building another one next summer. Do you have a picture of the bottom of the whole chassis?

[TDanny]

Thank you Guys!
SFC K:
A fresh imge just for you ;)

[TDanny]

I just wonder that as my rig cought up some weight (from 4.5 to 5.5 lbs...) with the new mods what do you guys think, will the HPI 55t motor still be able to move it around?
In previous form when it was 4.5 lbs the motor didn't even got warm during a 7 miles trail run in hot summer season.
To be honest, almost all the plus 1 lbs weight are the new wheels and tires. Also the tire diamater got bigger. From the stock mud block tires (84mm) jumped up to 96mm.
Should I change to a higher turn motor (etc. 65-80 turn) or will it make sense to install a GRU with a lower turn motor and 20t pinion to keep wheel speed for trailing? Or will it tinker around with the 55t HPI?
The reason why I ask is becouse I have some time to do other upgrades and I don't want my rig to fail in the middle of a 10 miles trail run...
What are your experience on this? Thanks in advance.

[JatoTheRipper]

I share OSRC's thoughts - this looks great with those wheels and tires!

[SFC K]

Originally Posted by TDanny

I just wonder that as my rig cought up some weight (from 4.5 to 5.5 lbs...) with the new mods what do you guys think, will the HPI 55t motor still be able to move it around?
In previous form when it was 4.5 lbs the motor didn't even got warm during a 7 miles trail run in hot summer season.
To be honest, almost all the plus 1 lbs weight are the new wheels and tires. Also the tire diamater got bigger. From the stock mud block tires (84mm) jumped up to 96mm.
Should I change to a higher turn motor (etc. 65-80 turn) or will it make sense to install a GRU with a lower turn motor and 20t pinion to keep wheel speed for trailing? Or will it tinker around with the 55t HPI?
The reason why I ask is becouse I have some time to do other upgrades and I don't want my rig to fail in the middle of a 10 miles trail run...
What are your experience on this? Thanks in advance.

I have been running a 55T brushed motor in my trail rig and it works great. I will not be changing it on mine. I also added a lot of weight to the front and rear chassis. I think it improves the overall suspension performance and doesn't bounce down the trail like a toy...It is my favorite rig to trail with and with the mods I have done to mine, it takes a beating. I have done the HPI GRU and really, it is way to slow for a trail rig, and I am running a stock Silver can motor in it. They are nice if you are staying in a small area as they provide a lot of low end grunt, but wheel speed is none existent.

[OSRC]

Should be fine, I don't think 5.5lbs is all that heavy. How you drive it counts for a lot. if the trails are mostly flat with some small obstacles here and there and you're mostly walking speed, you can get away with the stock gearing.

If you are driving and using 1/2 throttle or more most of the time, you've got a good setup. If you are using 1/2 throttle and less mostly, consider a GRU. If you switch over to a 2:1 reduction and a 35-45t motor, I think you'll like the performance. Much more torque, control, and usable RPM.

[TDanny]

Thank you for the help guys. I think I'll stick to the 55t motor for trail running. The speed is perfect so far. Today I ordered a Tekin 55T HD to replace the HPI motor. I think those bearings will outperform the bushings in the HPI. We'll see. Pictures will follow as soon as it arrives...

[TDanny]

Finally the new Tekin motor has arrived...
I also bought an RW Racing 16t 0.6 module steel pinion instead of the Tamiya aluminium.

I tested it for about a half an hour in the house going up and down on a ramp but it did't even got lukewarm. So far so good. Maybe my open diffs help to keep the temps low. We'll see on the trail.

[TDanny]

Finally I had some time to test the rig with the new parts...
It really handled great compared to the former version. The RC4WD wheels and tires are fantastic. Even with the opened diffs in snow they handled superbly.
Some pics:

[JohnnyAnguish]

Looks great.

Are you using the stock foams in the tires? How did they work? I have those tires on my CC-01, but I put CI Deuces Wild foams in (I wanted closed cell foam for water). The only drawback is they fit a bit too snugly in the tire, not leaving the little air gap you usually need for Deuces Wild foams. As a result they're not quite as compliant as I'd like them to be. I'm thinking about changing out the foams since that rig doesn't get run in water/mud/snow very much.

[TDanny]

Hey Johnny,
Yes, I'm using the stock RC4WD foams that came with the tires. I think they performed superbly. It were around 4 degrees out there but they were still soft enough to find grip. To be honest, this was the first time I ran tires with inner foams. I used the Tamiya soft Mud Block tires before. I didn't even tought about water gettin in there but I guess the rims seal enough to keep water out as long as the tires wont get puncture.
I'm looking forward to see how long they will last with these soft compound in the hot summer season.
All in all I'm really impressed with the performance. My truck weights 5.5 lbs with batteries installed and the wheel track is just perfect. They don't flat out too much with the factory foams so I still have a lot of runtime but also have enough area under the tires to hold the truck even on loose terrain. And thats really important if you run the CC01 with opened diffs like me... Even climbing in snow was not a problem.

[metalry101]

Looks great man! I love that Loops front bumper. I might have to do that to mine some day. That wheel and tire combo looks sharp too.

[Nicadraus]

Looks good! I'm currently rebuilding a CC01 now.