The 502X in it's element

[kidcongo]

Here is my 502X doing what it does best. Not breaking, wearing out, or jamming up under harsh conditions at our local track:

[DavidAMS]

sweet pic, looks awesome!

[kidcongo]

Thanks....I reallly love this car. Breeze to drive and fast fast.

[dobber]

Looking good!

I'm taking my 502X out for it's maiden drive tonight. Have you changed it much from stock settings, ie springs damper heights etc?

[msxmre]

Awesome pic buddy. Gotta say I absolutely love this car, goes well, jumps fantastic and is easy to set up and drive fast. Want some of those lovely blue shafts that Lee and Marc have on their 502x's.
Scotty....

[kidcongo]

Originally Posted by dobber

Looking good!

I'm taking my 502X out for it's maiden drive tonight. Have you changed it much from stock settings, ie springs damper heights etc?

In my opinion, the factory set-up is very forgiving and a good place to start. I have had the car just over two months, and am finally thinking I will start tinkering, but to be honest the car drives great on my track with the factory set-up.

The only thing I did was add some significant weight in the back. The car seems balanced for NIMH batteries, so the rear end is a bit light with the LIPO batteries I am running. I added 42 grams of weight, in the form of those losi stick-on weights, in the space behind the battery tray. Three 7 gram weights per side, stuck together, and then stood on end, fit in that spot with no interferance and look tidy too. There is also some really nice stainless chassis weight kits available on EBAY specifically for the TRF502X.

[msxmre]

I changed the shock oils to 35wt front, 30wt rear. I also changed the springs on mine to silver associated front and yokomo green on the rear, felt the Tamiya springs especially the rear didn't let me get the desired ride height adjustments. After doing this the car was instantly better and reacted to the track perfectly. I've ran it like this for the last couple of months and it's been awesome. This weekend we are running at a track that's seriously off road so I'm thinking about changing back to the Tamiya springs for practise to see how it goes. Like has been stated previously, this is a beast of a car and when set up correctly is just as fast, if not faster than most other buggies out there. That's my opinion anyway lol, enjoy your car and let us know how you got on.
Scotty....

[Naushad]

Hi,

That's a great pic...

The weight issue is similar to that of the Yoko Bx...I've just built one up and converting it to use Lipos...but that will make the back too light and supposedly roll grip. I'll need to strategically place some weights on the back end.

Maybe it is a feature of cars developed back in that era when lipos were just breaking though?

Naushad

[msxmre]

I may be wrong but i'm sure the TRF502X was Tamiyas first off roader designed with Lipo batteries in mind. There's no cell slots on the chassis and there's the option of having your lipo forward or rearward in the chassis depending on each individuals set up. I've never felt the need to add weights to mine, i did add weights to my 201 and it helped greatly but my 502x goes great without weight. Anyone done any running woith the kit springs but palyed about with different oils???
Thanks
Scotty....

[tamartin]

I changed to Tamiya red in the rear.
And put the Lipos in the most backward position.
Thats it.

No need for weight, cause the softer rear spring and the weight shift did the job.

BTW. 35F and 30R is also my setup.

[kidcongo]

Here are some pics of the weight placement and the DURANGO outdrive boot covers I use. They fit the tamiya outdrives perfectly on both sides and keep the grease in and the rocks out. For these boots to work best you need to put a very small dab of CA glue on the shaft side to keep them from working their way back off.

First Pic - Losi weights (not a "blue" solution for you Tamiya purists - but do the job).



Second pic - The Durango outdrive covers (you can buy these anywhere). Again, not Tamiya blue, but fully functional.

[fastinfastout]

Originally Posted by msxmre

I may be wrong but i'm sure the TRF502X was Tamiyas first off roader designed with Lipo batteries in mind. There's no cell slots on the chassis and there's the option of having your lipo forward or rearward in the chassis depending on each individuals set up. I've never felt the need to add weights to mine, i did add weights to my 201 and it helped greatly but my 502x goes great without weight. Anyone done any running woith the kit springs but palyed about with different oils???
Thanks
Scotty....

yes you are correct. However it seems with you guys over the pond, it doesn't hurt to use extra weight on astro turf.

[jimmy]

Cool pic!

[kidcongo]

The reason for the added weight in my case is that our track is very, very loose small gravel and dust on top, with hard-pan underneath. I felt I needed something to glue the rear end down a bit more in the turns and the weight has helped. The car does not fish-tail as easily and seems more settled down in the straights. I am sure on manicured clay or carpet tracks that would not be as much of an issue. Having said all this, I am inspired to try softer springs as another solution.

What surfaces are the people running on who are not adding any weight?

[muratti]

tamartin and i run on medium grip dirt. Grip changes extremely depending on the humidity. Wet is high grip, dry is low grip, most of the time it´s medium. That said we both don´t use any weights on our 201, no weights on the DB01R, TRF511 and TRF502X too!