Coming back to off road with a TLR22 - some questions

[scoyle]

Hi,

I am coming back to 2wd off road this year having been doing touring cars since 2004 when I won the Irish stock 2wd championship... and I have decided to go with a TLR 22. I will be racing primarily on an astro track outdoors.

My buggy is due in the next day or so and I have been busily reading up on it here and have a few questions which may or may not have been answered before;

What spares do I need including the obvious ones like arms etc.?

What tuning options do I need - I have read here about springs, the Cream weights, high roll centres etc. Can you point me in the direction of the recommended bits to have in my pit box?

Looking at the from camber link mod that is being discussed on the Bloomfield success at Area 51 thread - is there anything else that I need to look at.

Thanks,
Stephen

[Delves]

Hi Stephen

Glad to see that your chosen the 22 as your first off road buggy Having come from a TC background myself I feel the 22 fits my driving style well, so hope you get on well with the car too.

With regards to spares, I haven’t broken anything major on the car to be honest. On big jump landings I have pulled the ball stud out of the rear hub and rear camber block but I wouldn’t buy spare plastic parts of those, spend your money on the ali versions and I feel it makes that end of the car near bullet proof. I’ve seen people snap the front shock tower on occasion so might be worth having a spare in the box just incase, but having said that I feel the car is one of the most robust cars on the market. But if you have the money having spares of items such as arms, steering knuckles etc… is always good. Some cheaper hop ups that make a big difference is the low friction O-rings from TLR, they really do help to reduce the sticktion when building up shocks.

Moving onto tuning products, springs are a must have obviously as is the HRC rear toe blocks (make sure you get the HRC shim pack as well). You might want to look into getting the 5degree caster blocks, as it seems to have become the standard. The rear brass weight is handy to have when traction is low to get better stability in wet/greasy conditions.

With regards to the other weight options, I have heard good things about the cream weight but personally never tried it. I have got the RudeBits side weights and feel they are a good addition.

If you are going to do the camber link mod you will want to look at getting the 55mm turnbuckles, as the ones you get in the kit are a little too short for this and I fear that if you were to build this mod with them they might come out of the ball cup if that makes sense).

As for other things to look out for, I would say make sure you run the diff in properly and buid it with plenty of grease. A good upgrade here is the Tungsten Carbide diff balls or ceramics… but I can’t stress enough the importance of running the diff in on the bench. Another little thing you can do with the standard pistons is to round off the piston edge. Personally I think this makes a big difference to the small bump handling ☺

HTH

[mycodenameisgraeme]

Originally Posted by scoyle

since 2004 when I won the Irish stock 2wd championship...

You just had to slip that in there didn't you Stephen....

Good to see another one defecting back to off road, i take it its ballymena you'll be racing at?

When i got my 22 i got the stuff i needed to roughly put the setup bloomfield was running at that time onto it to use as a base minus the long link mod. That was the 3.5 degree HRC block, blue and black springs for the front and i think red for the rear, and maybe the aluminium rear camber block to build weight into the rear. And i have to say the car was good in that set up.

As for spares, i agree the things the most sold losi i've owned it seems to take a really big hit to break it, just carry the usual wishbones/hubs/shocktowers etc. on the off chance you have that big hit.

I look forward to seeing you back off road soon!

Graeme

[scoyle]

Originally Posted by mycodenameisgraeme

You just had to slip that in there didn't you Stephen....

Good to see another one defecting back to off road, i take it its ballymena you'll be racing at?

When i got my 22 i got the stuff i needed to roughly put the setup bloomfield was running at that time onto it to use as a base minus the long link mod. That was the 3.5 degree HRC block, blue and black springs for the front and i think red for the rear, and maybe the aluminium rear camber block to build weight into the rear. And i have to say the car was good in that set up.

As for spares, i agree the things the most sold losi i've owned it seems to take a really big hit to break it, just carry the usual wishbones/hubs/shocktowers etc. on the off chance you have that big hit.

I look forward to seeing you back off road soon!

Graeme

Off course I had to mention it - I bring it up as much as possible!! Was actually talking to Johnny Dunn the other night about the last lap of the last race and me managing to get out of the last corner first!!

I will be doing some TC but have decided that off road seems to be taking off again and will hopefully get the numbers here in Northern Ireland that it once had. And a review of the TLR22 will be up on the rcracingni web site before long!!

Thanks for the advice on the other bits and pieces I will be making up a list for Mr Rennick to hopefully get everything with the buggy next week.

Looking forward to it...

[jaywestwood]

Oh all us tc ppl doing off road
the 22 is awesome!!!! i have tried a few but compared to the 22 they are hard work...
I have broken a baulk head when it should have been the whole front end

the mod to front camber link really makes the car feel good

[scoyle]

Originally Posted by jaywestwood

Oh all us tc ppl doing off road
the 22 is awesome!!!! i have tried a few but compared to the 22 they are hard work...
I have broken a baulk head when it should have been the whole front end

the mod to front camber link really makes the car feel good

There is quite a number of people who are jumping (no pun intended) to off road again over here! Although TC will still remain my favoured race category I am looking forward to some 'fun' racing.

Cheers for the advice - planning to put the camber link mod on from the start so I can try the two versions back to back from run one.

[colmo]

Originally Posted by scoyle

There is quite a number of people who are jumping (no pun intended) to off road again over here! Although TC will still remain my favoured race category I am looking forward to some 'fun' racing.

If you see the kids in action at Craigavon, you'll have fun alright.

Originally Posted by scoyle

Cheers for the advice - planning to put the camber link mod on from the start so I can try the two versions back to back from run one.

Mole2k has just modded his 22 - he shaved the threads off the stud instead of reaming out the knuckle for a bushing.

[mole2k]

Originally Posted by colmo

mole2k has just modded his 22 - he shaved the threads off the stud instead of reaming out the knuckle for a bushing.

First run with it tomorrow night, car was mega with the standard long link! Hopefully it should bring the times down a bit more!

[Fred79]

Hey guys, is this long link mod only ment for mid engine cars?

[mole2k]

Yes it is, it will reduce the amount of steering you have on corner exit which you don't really need on the mid car.