Hey guys and gals lets talk here about mods to your TLT 1 and what works and what doesnt!

Great idea! I love my little truck for a number of reasons.

First a question though: Mr. Tamiya, are you a Tamiya rep or just an interested fellow trucker? I would love to hear input from Tamiya as well as share info with anybody interested.

I see the TLT as the next Clod. It is already being put into stretched crawlers all over the place, both with and without the stock guts/wheels/chassis etc.

Personally, I ditched the stock chassis for a PSW chassis very early on. Now I wish I had waited. Although the PSW looks better it is even harder to get to the motor and pinion. In both cases removing the electronics plates seemed the only way to make space. With the PSW that meant dropping the axles as well to get to the unsecured nuts under those plates. Stupid!

I brought mine to Monster Jam this last summer on a whim, sporting a Stinger motor. Although it ran OK, after I got used to it's total tippyness on carpet, I was horribly underpowered compared to a couple of the other trucks. Everybody loved it though! We were surrounded by Clod/TXT/e-maxx drivers asking for turns. I was running the stock tires and the truck's 1/2" of clearance was also a killer as my lousy driving skills often put me on a sandbag where I would then sit, high cnetered, waiting a marshall to rescue me. :rolleyes:

I am currently designing a new chassis to make a 10" wheelbase truck using a Stampede tranny w/ locked diff. It will also hold a standard stick pack, mounted sideways for easy removal and therefor easy access to the motor!

I haven't seen the other Tamiya little truck yet but I hear some of the issues have been addressed.

i also have the max climber they are both great! no I am not a Tamiya rep, I collect older tamiya vehicles and have been so nicknamed MR Tamiya because of my knowledge of the older cars, I agree its the next clod, the juggernaut was great but never caught on this is like a cross between the clod and jugg!!!! When you have pics of your chassis design shoot my way Iwould like to take a look!!! C ya round

well, I have TLT-1 axles on my truck, so I guess it qualifies as one... :rolleyes::lol:

oh yeah, camera is at my dad's work, and he's not going back their untill monday, so ur gonna have to wait Chris :freak:

That's exactly what I mean about it being the next Clod! I mean, how many people actually have "real" clods? That truck in anemic at best, in stock form but the axles for an awesome base for any solid axle truck you want- as long as it is big! The TLT's axles will do the same thing but on a true 1:10 scale.

Spent more time last night trying to mock up my chassis. My kid pointed out that I HAD to make it so I could use a stock stick pack instead of a pair of 3 packs glued down. That was my old configuration and that was fine as long as you only wanted to run one pack. I am trying to make one out of masonite or something like it so I can try stuff out before I carve it out of aluminum. Actually I was thinking of finding someone who could do up a CAD drawng so I could send it out to a water-jet place to cut it. That would be very cool. My latest thought will have an oval hole up behind the Pede tranny that you can slide a stick pack into and hold it in place with...something. :lol:

well, if you want to go all out with a chassis...
(Plays_with_Toys' milled TLT chassis)
http://img36.exs.cx/img36/5024/chassispic.jpg

or you can just wait. He is going to be milling a wee bit simpler chassis. here's the thread @ rccrawler about it
http://www.rccrawler.com/postt4000.html

One word: Wow. Still used the stock tranny though.

yes and no. If you look close you can see the sides of the tranny are metal and there is a 3rd pully (tensioner, Im guessing). uses a 4-tec diff, too. motor is mounted VERY high though

meh, to lazy to edit. heres mine. yes, those are the stock tires; the glue on my cut&shut masher2000's is drying. no, no more pics till monday or tuesday; Im waiting for a camera I know how to actually use (had to have my sis help me)
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/20.jpg

With the lid on it, it is hard to tell what all you did. Obviously you stretched it and used Pede sliders. Is it still the stock tranny? Are those stock chassis plates? Gotta say those tires looks WAY small when used that way. Sort of like when I put M2K's on my Clod just for yucks. :freak:

What's the wheelbase?

pede tranny, "aftermarket" chassis plates (home depot), & the wheelbase is about 12"

Nice. What is your chassis width? Did you keep the standard 2" or did you widen it? I am trying it narrow at first but I might go wider. Too many choices. Narrow is nice because it will let me use the stock link brackets for the upper links.

yeah, I used the link brackets for the upper links but the traxxas ball-ends are a bit to tight for them. they do; however, go on with enough force :) chassis width is stock width, I just had to dremel down the pede tranny alot to get it to fit (which is ok because I bought one just for this project).

once I get the camera, remind me to take a pic of my "custom" electronics plate. You dont get better paint masking if you sit around and think about doing it...

Looks like the body is on backwards. Either that or the tires are..... Just a thought... Looks good. Get some pics with the bigger tires!

Yeah, and some lidless. :thumbsup:

http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/21.jpg
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/22.jpg
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/23.jpg

will that keep you off my back for a few days?

No way man! We have fun waiting for cool pix! I like it! Did you do the cut and shut on the M2K's (that is what those tires are, right?) What rims did you use them on? Did you cut those down as well? Very nice!

So, after long consideration, I went and ordered a PP chassis! I just don't have the time to build up a whole chassis myself these days. At least not the way I would want it to look. I can and still may, finish up my chop job on the stock chassis just to see how it runs but I couldn't resist the PRP!

They were initially selling them assembled but now they come as kits. Same price! :rolleyes: I guess he always wanted them to be kits but the instructions weren't done so he just put them together to get them out the door.

Oh, and while I am at it Smojoe, how about a shot from the other side so we can see how the spur gear sticks out? ;)

Nice Smoe! Looks so much better with the larger tires.

They look like HPI 5 spoke truck rims that have been narrowed to match the tires.

Now I could get into a truck like that! The clod I had was fun but didn't trip my trigger when I realized the only thing the chassis was for was to tie the 2 axels together and hold the Body, battery, esc, & reciever. Having the motor on the chassis with shafts going out to the axels just seems more real. Like the suspension serves more of a purpose. (I know, I'm weird) Plus it seems a little more scale.

No, that isn't weird at all! That is the reason people loved Juggy's and now love TXT's. The drive shafts to the axle are certainly closer to reality!

Yup, thosed narrowed tired definitely look cool! Might have to try that myself. I have yet to narrow rims or tires. I just assume I am going to screw them up and haven't been willing to sacrifice the material to try.

pic stinks, but you should get the jist of it..
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/24.jpg

:thumbsup: That isn't nearly as much as I expected. The chassis mod I was owrking on, I cut a bigger hole so I could leave the spur gear cover from the Pede tranny. I never used the stock clear plastic cover on mine and have gottn buzzed more than once.

Yup, thosed narrowed tired definitely look cool! Might have to try that myself. I have yet to narrow rims or tires. I just assume I am going to screw them up and haven't been willing to sacrifice the material to try. I used heavy-duty scissors to cut the tire and put a dremel cut-off wheel in my drill press to keep it at one height. you just spin it around to cut it. used IC-2000 to glue the wheels (worked wonders) and tires (not to good, which if kinda funny because the glue is MADE for rubber)

I like the idea of the drill press/cut-off wheel. That sounds like it would work as well as a lathe could. It is the tires that worry me! If you don't get it cut straight, how in the world can you glue it back together? You must have taken a strip out of the middle right? On some tires there would be easy guides to follow but I don't see an easy way with the M2K's. Well done!

actually, it was pretty easy. I cut where the thicker red lines are and took out the center (where all the smaller red lines are). glued it together and it worked pretty well..
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/25.jpg

'mon guys, where are your TLTs?
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/26.jpg
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421471017/27.jpg

The white stuff around the wheels is from the glue. I dont know how to get it off so its stayin in their untill I can figure out how..

Looks like your glue oxidized a little, it's wierd, I had a set do the same once - I just left it alone.

Well, I don't have a lot of photos of my TLT. Yet. And none of them are on the web.:rolleyes: Here is one from Monster Jam 5 this last summer, lining up to get my butt kicked! :p

::shudders:: so little under-chassis clearance. Thats why my TLT only lasted a few hours befor I took it apart and started modding it.

I hear ya! I hadn't intended to race it that weekend. It went OK but they used sand bags to hold down the corners of the PVC pipe. The truck would get hung up on them when I screwed up. Just sit there with all four wheels in the air waiting for a marshal... I think the PRP chassis should take care of that! :D

I think the PRP chassis should take care of that! :D
Yeah, it should. I'm thinkin about re-doing the chassis (current side plated are steel) so I can get a little more articulation and have better triangulation. Im designing a RC hovercraft right now (dont ask how its going, I dont want to talk about it) so that I can build it over my winter break, so it might be awhile untill it gets done. Besides, the rocks are wet right now, so why should I finish it if I cant ever crawl..

Chris, are you coming to the winter monster bash, and will you be running a prp chassis? I'm debating whether or not to keep my tlt stock (chassis-wise) for the next race. If everyone else is going to enlarge their trucks, I may have a go at it, or at least drop in a 12 turn :)
-Brian

I honestly don't think I can make it down there. It was such a huge drive last time and that was in the summer! I would love to come down and run Pede and TLT, leaving the Clods to those who can actually drive!

If I did/can/do come down though, it would be with the PRP chassis. I obviously haven't seen how it runs yet and it may be even tippier but at least it will have some clearance!

12T? That would be a sight to see. I bet that could run with the Juggs and TXT's with that power! Could be fun to watch unless you got run over. :eek: I will have to see how this runs with the PRP chassis and some wider offset wheels- probably front Pede rims to start wtih. I could see dropping my Fantom 14T handwound in there! On 7 or 8 cells? Scary fast for sure.

12 turn? ouch! Hope you have a belt tensioner, 'cause your going to be skipping the belt with ease (i did with my 55t motor while barely going up a rock)

edit- oh, and befor you go and buy the PRP, take a look at this...
http://img65.exs.cx/img65/8306/b3fchassispic.jpg
Guy is thinkin about makin those. 6061 aluminum, laser cut, estimated price around $25

That is a nice looking chassis but having been suckered into one cheap PSW chassis, I would be very hesitant about another one. I specifically asked Ben at PRP how the batts are held and how hard it is to get to the pinion and motor. Only with those answers was I willing to commit! And the PRP is just so darn sexy looking! All that G-10...

Also, how does one anchor a body on that chassis? It looks like you might have to use side posts, especially if you stretch to a 1/10 scale body!

Pretty sure you use the stock (or stock style) posts, judging by the holes at the top left and right of the chassis. I guess if you got your heart set on the PRP, I shouldnt try and convince you..

I don't think a 12 turn will be a problem. I was running a 15 turn at the monster jam this summer and Tad was pulling away pretty easily with his 14 turn. I've run the daylights out of the truck with the 15 turn, more laps and jumps than I could count at Bradenville, along with lots of grass and dirt running here at the house. I run Traxxas slipper pegs in the center diff and keep it pretty snug, but it will give before anything else breaks.

Anyway, it would be nice to see Chris's prp in January, but long drives, January, and the Northeast are not a combination for happiness. If I get a job out of town, I may not be able to attend, so I'm pretty understanding when others don't make it.
-Brian

Heart set on the PRP? I have already started to build it up! It came today! :D

I sold off a bunch of goodies so I don't feel slightly bad about getting it.

So far, I am very impressed. It will take some time to get it together just because there are a ton of parts. I need to talk to the guys at PRP about some stuff before I post my build-up too far and wide. Right on the instructions they say Beta version, etc. so many of my comments may be mute on later additions. The instructions, as far as they go are great but there is clearly some more that could be written.

My ONLY complaint so far is the finish on the aluminum stuff, or total lack thereof. One of the reasons it will take a while to build (other than needing to make 4 link suspension pieces) is that I decided to polish all the aluminum. It will look SO much better at first that I feel it is worth the effort.

The weather is supposed to suck around here for a couple days so maybe I can get it done soon!

"git-r-done!" and take pictures! Weather around here is supposed to suck this weekend too.

I hereby pledge to ignore and neglet my family to accomplish the building task before the end of the weekend. If they let me.:p

I sent an e-mail to the PRP guys asking if they would like input from my build. I hope so as there are some simple things they could add to the kit and/or instructions that I have already come across that would really help. Like telling you what size allen wrenches you will need to get it done! Or maybe including them even. Now THAT would be very Tamiya like and that is a good thing. Luckily I had the ones I needed but I had to look hard for them.

They also don't comment on using loctite. ALL of the screws go into metal and I would think loctiting all of them would make sense but they use this really sweet button head bolts that take tiny allen wrenches. I would worry that if you do loctite them you might not be able to loosen them without stripping the heads. Perhaps the fiberglass flexes enough that when you cinch the bolts down it will act like a lock washer and hold it tight.

All the things you mention are thing expierienced hobbiests may look over when creating instructions, because they just come naturally to them. This kit you have probably isn't targeted to the inexpierienced hobbiest. Just a thought...... Don't get on them too hard about it!

Good point. They do state it is for the experienced hobbiest. That doesn't excuse the finish on the aluminum though. :) I guess the point is that a simple note at the top of the instructions stating the tools required would take no space at all and would be a big help. I figured that since they were standard size bolts they would use standard hexes... The only driver of mine that worked was the 3/32".

Any thoughts on loctiting 4-40 nuts with TINY hex holes in terms of getting them off. They are even smaller than those on the XXX4 and other Losi trucks.

No. I hates the dinky ones on the bottom of the XXX4, you can probably tell by looking at the ones on the bottom of the one you have! Dremel a slot!

Well, this isn't going as well as I hoped. The chassis is beautiful but I have run across a few...issues. Needless to say they have some revisions to do on their instructions and the bags they put the parts in. I find myself needing to rebuild one of the sections to add shock mounts where they belong. I wont go into details.

The BIGGEST problem though is that a Pede body will NOT fit on this. This chassis is huge. It is about 13" long but the problem is that it is almost 6" wide with the body poss at the outside. i also, at this point, do not know whether you can make this with as short a wheelbase as I had planned. i wanted a 10" WB to match the Pede body. I suspect Maxx bodies are at least a couple inches longer at the wheel wells. I happen to have an El Camino touring car lid sitting in the basement that will probably fit (and look awesome :D but it sure would have been nice to know this before I had ordered it!

Stay tuned.

cruddy muffins thats wide!! mine has a 12 1/2 inch wheelbase (just mesured it to make sure) and the maxx body, as you could see in the pics, looks great on it. plus, you can get "real" crawler bodies like broncho(sp?) and CJ8 and that other one I cant think of right now that HPI makes... RUBICON! thats it! wow, I am sad when I'm tired..

anyways, looks good, but get rid of those tires, FAST! :)

Ha! Yeah, on a truck this size those look as sily as Pede tires on a Clod! I will problby go with M2K's for now as I have several sets of those mounted on front pede rims.

I actually thought that those tires would look real scale w/ a Pede body if you could slam the lid but that aint happening with this chassis! I am still looking forward to seeing how it runs- just as a different truck I guess!

I am actually thinking about having two chassis- one long and big, the other less of a crawler- lower and faster. All I would need to do is swap the axles across if I did it right.

Stock Maxx body wheel wells center to center are 11 3/8 inch, axle to axle on a maxx is 12".

I just measured!

Great. Thanx for that info. I woudln't be getting a stock lid but they should be close. I think I will aim for just over 11"

Oh, and I was wrong. The biggest problem is that they didn't include the stand-offs for the tranny so i can't put the bloody thing together. I sent them an e-mail. I am sure they will fix that but that adds a week. :rolleyes:

Hey Chris, I wouldn't sweat the looks of a maxx body on pede wheels and tires. I've got a cross country chassis with a maxx body and buggy rear tires that looks really scale. Pede tires and rims will look like a really jacked up scale ride. I'll get a pic of the xc to you if I have a chance this weekend.
-Brian

Cool. Thanx!

smojoe
you chassis looks nice!

chris sorry to hear about the issues with the prp chassis.

and for those running a stock tranny vertigo is going to be selling a venter diff locker with outputs for taxxas yokes.

have no web space to host my own pics here, but there is a few at one18th.com

:)
i will post the link to my ongoing thread with pics from the build to all the mods.

but here is a bio of the tlts:
my tlt-1
penguin p2300 chassis with extra servo mount
about a inch stretch
hpi dog bones
hpi F5 rims with imex claw dogs
19x2 element motor
big bore shocks

my son's truck:
tlt-10
monstertec chassis(waste of cash)
t-maxx links 106 and 116mm
cut pede tires
big bore shocks
titan motor
12" axle wheele base