Tamiya FJ Beast Mode

[OSRC]

Got 2 or 3 CC01 chassis in various stages of mutilation laying around. A while ago I consolidated all of my hop ups and better ideas onto the other 5 rigs, and have a ton of leftover parts, chopped chassis, and random rickrack in a box. So one rainy day while I was looking for a project I started digging through the box ...

...and got motivated. I love working on these little trucks - no two are the same in the end. Pretty sure there's not another going to be one like this out there anywhere. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's what I started with. A rough chassis that was used pretty hard as an FJ in a previous life. (Actually, this was about 1/2 way through mockup. ...)

This chassis had a homebrew gear reduction that I worked up with some 5mm bore pinions and some spare parts. I've never ran it, but it tests out nice and smooth. It's about 2.5:1 as it stands, but I can change the pinions to vary the ratios. Nice little mod for about $10 in parts.

I wanted to go a different route here, so I dug through my big Tamiya suspension box and found some old Wild Dagger/TL01B arms and hubs and made everything fit. Works out to a 220mm width from hex face to hex face so it's about Axial XR mod width (ish). Rear is spaced out with some hex wideners (for now)

Dug around for some shocks in my big box of mostly old shocks, and found some Kyosho shocks from a Nitro ZR-1 Vette that have amazingly held oil for nearly 25 years, and were in very good shape. They were close enough for the rear. Some old kinda matching Kyosho nitro TR-15 shocks were the perfect size for the front. They have a built in notched adjuster for preload that is so simple and handy that every shock should come like this. In any case, I cleaned them up, dumped out the oil from both sets, drilled the pistons for crawler duty, and filled them both with 20wt oil. Started with the stock CC01 shocks out front and some Wraith purple springs out back. Total WAG on the setup...very much subject to change.

Rear shocks for mounted to some old CR01 (staying in the family this time!) chassis parts modded for shock tower duty and braced up for stiffness. Cleaned the chassis up quite a bit here too. Fuel tank here maybe?

Fronts get Hot Racing aluminum mounts up top (some upgrades I apparently forgot to rob for my other CC's) which give 3 different upper mount locations. I made a front tie bar to stiffen everything up as well. Really, it was just an excuse to drill up some speed holes.

While I was at it, I made a new radio plate just for giggles.

Have more pics, tired of typing. Here's where this is going kinda maybe sorta not sure yet but I like it:

More coming.

 

[makya]

Always love seeing your cc-01 builds "thumbsup"

these builds are why I put my bruiser up for sale, to fund either a cc-01 or mf-01x build, after seeing what you've done to yours

 

[OSRC]

Thank you sir! My MF01 is in the background. Not really impressed to be honest. Another project that needs finishing.

 

[aiden102408]

Got 2 or 3 CC01 chassis in various stages of mutilation laying around. A while ago I consolidated all of my hop ups and better ideas onto the other 5 rigs, and have a ton of leftover parts, chopped chassis, and random rickrack in a box. So one rainy day while I was looking for a project I started digging through the box ...



...and got motivated. I love working on these little trucks - no two are the same in the end. Pretty sure there's not another going to be one like this out there anywhere. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's what I started with. A rough chassis that was used pretty hard as an FJ in a previous life. (Actually, this was about 1/2 way through mockup. ...)

This chassis had a homebrew gear reduction that I worked up with some 5mm bore pinions and some spare parts. I've never ran it, but it tests out nice and smooth. It's about 2.5:1 as it stands, but I can change the pinions to vary the ratios. Nice little mod for about $10 in parts.

I wanted to go a different route here, so I dug through my big Tamiya suspension box and found some old Wild Dagger/TL01B arms and hubs and made everything fit. Works out to a 220mm width from hex face to hex face so it's about Axial XR mod width (ish). Rear is spaced out with some hex wideners (for now)

Dug around for some shocks in my big box of mostly old shocks, and found some Kyosho shocks from a Nitro ZR-1 Vette that have amazingly held oil for nearly 25 years, and were in very good shape. They were close enough for the rear. Some old kinda matching Kyosho nitro TR-15 shocks were the perfect size for the front. They have a built in notched adjuster for preload that is so simple and handy that every shock should come like this. In any case, I cleaned them up, dumped out the oil from both sets, drilled the pistons for crawler duty, and filled them both with 20wt oil. Started with the stock CC01 shocks out front and some Wraith purple springs out back. Total WAG on the setup...very much subject to change.

Rear shocks for mounted to some old CR01 (staying in the family this time!) chassis parts modded for shock tower duty and braced up for stiffness. Cleaned the chassis up quite a bit here too. Fuel tank here maybe?

Fronts get Hot Racing aluminum mounts up top (some upgrades I apparently forgot to rob for my other CC's) which give 3 different upper mount locations. I made a front tie bar to stiffen everything up as well. Really, it was just an excuse to drill up some speed holes.

While I was at it, I made a new radio plate just for giggles.

Have more pics, tired of typing. Here's where this is going kinda maybe sorta not sure yet but I like it:

More coming.

Seeing this makes me want to hack my unimog


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[OSRC]

I'm stuck indoors for a few weeks, and i don't like using mapp/O2 in the basement, so i dug out my mini butane torch and used up the last of my brass pieces on a simple little cage for the back. It should be strong enough for CC duty. Not exactly 100% straight, but then it will probably match the body work perfectly.

Made a mini bumper for the front. Didn't have any more tube, so I just made a delrin stubby. I kinda like it.

Dropped in my cheapo electronics and got it wired up for a test run. Everything's just mocked up, I'm just glad nothing fell off while tooling around the basement. Well, the body did since I never really mounted it, it's just sitting there. I did find some binding up front, and the steering and camber angles were awful. I'll tune on it when I rip apart for final build/paint, etc.

Onto body work....i have zero patience, I am a function over form guy for sure. Started with 2 used and abused FJ shells. The brown one is really beat, so most likely using the red one. Need to get some glue and what not.

Tried some 1.9's....this is for sure a 2.2 rig. I'f I'm going to have a goofy looking FJ IFS beast in the trail, the big burly 2.2's just look more the part.

What kind of moron builds a 2.2 CC01 anyway?? Of, wait, I've got another one here too...just a bumper, body mount and paint job away from being done.

In fact, got the whole family out today for a group pic since I was swapping axles and experimenting. You really can build anything with this chassis.

 

[Dirt Runner]

How is the lowered version of the cc01 for on road duty?

 

[OSRC]

Well, it started as a 3500kv brushless Pajero with the lexan shell. It was awful. Basically uncontrollable and traction rolled everywhere. I'm sure I could have made improvements, but I didn't bother. So now it's a drift truck. Touring shocks, front 1-way, locked rear. Drifts surprisingly decent - solid rear axle is my guess. Lack of steering is a problem. Fun though.

Some older pics...Never did take a pic of the built Jero when it was done....it had HPI rally wheels and at least looked the part.

 

[OSRC]

While waiting for parts to come in, figured I'd mess around a bit with some odds and ends.

Front needed some work - it was binding and the steering was flat terrible. I dug out some Wild Dagger steering arms and they worked out great with the CC01's bellcranks. I seem to get a ton of steering now - I'll need universals/CVD's to use it all, but at least the geometry is there.

While I had everything apart, I installed some lead weights into the 2 piece arms. Nice little trick to get weight down low on a CC chassis. Jammed in 1.5g per side...you can totally feel it just handling the truck. Great mod. Progress....

And vintage tires anyone? Got some Moabs and Gauntlets out of storage. The Moabs I've had since the TLT was all the rage, and they still feel surprisingly decent. Far better than the newer Gauntlets, so on they go. The wheels were in terrible shape, so I swapped over to some Denali's I've had here and dreading mounting. While everything was apart, I broke out the Dremel and side cutters and sliced and diced on the Moabs and they feel even better now. Added some dual stage foams, a alight lead wrap for each wheel and spent an eternity tightening teeny tiny screws. This combo is never coming apart again! Should be more than enough tire for the CC01 chassis.

Should have my new rear axle tomorrow...then need to work on body mounts (I have no idea what to do) and a few other odds and ends.

 

[K.O.M.]

Front needed some work - it was binding and the steering was flat terrible. I dug out some Wild Dagger steering arms and they worked out great with the CC01's bellcranks. I seem to get a ton of steering now - I'll need universals/CVD's to use it all, but at least the geometry is there.

Nice find on the steering knuckles. I very rarely have a library of spare parts as I end up selling most of the spares with the vehicles--an old habit from buying/selling racing r/c vehicles I suppose.

The more I have been working with the CC-01, the more I see the challenges the designers had in fabricating this whole package, add in the constraints of trying to minimize costs by using as many existing parts as possible (plastic injection molds run into the tens of thousands). So something like the steering knuckle I designed, would cost Tamiya at least $10k in order to have a mold for mass production.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Very cool as always.

I love the look of the MF-01X as well.

 

[kongluc]

So now it's a drift truck. Touring shocks, front 1-way

[/QUOTE]

So how do you make the front one-way mod? I might be buying another CC01 with all these mods im finding out about...


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[OSRC]

Making it was easy - I traded Jato the Ripper for it. It's a regular Tamiya upgrade PN 53188. Discontinued, but you can find them now and again.

My Vaterra rear axle should finally be here today so I can wrap up the mechanicals on this build. FedEx Smartpost might be worse than the post office.

 

[OSRC]

Finally, after shipping all over the country, FedEx finally found Pennsylvania. Let's build an axle!

Compared to the stock CC01...it's still a little narrow compared to the fronts, so I'll still have to use wideners.

I made a bearing carrier out of an old hub and used some old drivetrtain parts to mate up the CC01 output to the Vaterra axle. This allows for a lot more breakover clearance.

Mounted up! 6% underdrive in the rear..

A closer look at my homemade GRU... couple of pinions, 3mm bearings and an old shock shaft. Works good! BUT the highest ratio I could get 2.5:1.....good for a 1.9, but not enough for a 2.2. I dug out an RC4WD 4:1, switched the 65t for a 35t and swapped it all out. Other than waiting for some front CVD's, the drivetrain is finally done.

Next is to add some sliders and skidplates...Already broke out the E6000 and started work on the body as well.

 

[andymac0035]

I never tire of seeing what you can make out of a CC01.

 

[OSRC]

Time for some chassis protection. When wheeling my 1.9's, the biggest issue I deal with is getting the chassis hung up when breaking over something. So with this longer WB rig, some skidplates were a must!

Started with some Gmade sliders....these things are cheap, simple, and save a ton of time. I bent them up a bit, used the spacers that came with the kit and angled them to fit the body. Came out perfect.

Then started cutting on some of my favorite skidplate material....thin crust pizza pan! I worked at Pizza hut in my teens and they tossed out a ton of old industrial aluminum pie plates...I took a few for future use, and have been slowly cutting them up over 25 years. It's fairly soft aluminum and easily bent/cut, and though it's too soft for structural stuff like chassis and what not it is perfect for skidplates and other odds and ends. They come with a nice grease patina....lol. I've made 2 in the past, so I had a template to work from.

After some cutting, bending, drilling, and filing I've got a center skid. Bolted the sliders on top of that, and made a transition plate from the front suspension. Cleaned the grease off and it's all good to go.

Now have a nice smooth chassis bottom, with a nice link and driveshaft transition.

Wheels bolted on....just waiting for CVD's to come in, otherwise mechanicals of the chassis are finally finished!

 

[OSRC]

And done!

Didn't spend a ton of time on the body since it was already beat. Just made it presentable. I suspect I'll have some shock work in my future, but won't know for sure until I get out on a trail run. For a low budget build, came out great. In fact, this might be my best CC creation to date.

Final specs are 280mm total width, 290mm wheelbase, and a fairly svelte 2742g weight (6.0lbs) with a 55/45 front bias.

Only change I would make is to move the sliders back a bit or make some new ones....May or may not do it later. We'll see!

A few flew shots of course..

Can't wait to get it out on the trail!!

 

[alexleblanc]

I've added many of your patented mods to my CC01 as well, have a few more to build now.

 

[kongluc]

Always love your builds...

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[Natedog]

X2, good job as usual!

Love seeing what you do with your more scale creations and Tamiya stuff. Brings back memories for me, but haven't had a Tamiya or Kyosho old plastic kit in years.

 

[BigSki]

Been missing my old CC-01 for a while, new threads in this section are showing signs of life for this great little trail rig, and now RPP has announced the RE-RE for the 'Jero CC-01. I might have to spend a few coins soon.