Tamiya Blackfoot Xtreme Project
Page 2: Upgrades!
The first thing I change with virtually any kit that doesn't already
have them is ball bearings. This kit came with the dreaded plastic
bushings so they had to go. I also replaced the friction dampers
with
some black CVA oil shocks that I had left over from some other
model. The main change, though, was a conversion to 4WD.
This is remarkably simple since the WT-01 and WR-01 chassis are the same
except that the WR-01 uses a second rear gearbox in the front. I
had already been pilfering other parts from a Bush Devil kit for other
builds, so there was an extra complete gearbox assembly available as
shown on the left. I was able to reuse the suspension arms and
steering knuckles from the Blackfoot. The only other parts I
needed were the drive cups and drive shafts which I also took from the
Bush Devil. The result is shown on the right. This model is
not nicely symmetric with dual gearboxes, dual motors, and 4WD. It
would be possible to also add rear steering but I didn't. I used
Tamiya's dual motor ESC from a Super Clodbuster. I also had to
replace the stock front bumper with a narrower rear bumper.
Sometimes undriven front wheels contain bearings instead of hexes which
wouldn't have worked, but luckily all four wheels on this model were the
same.
The result is seen here. The chassis is almost indistinguishable
from stock except that you can see the front motor protruding behind the
front tires.
©2019 Eric Albrecht
