My Eagle TT02-RWD

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I loved my TT02-FRD, but when I saw the new TT02-RWD come out with the direct steering setup and easily adjustable gearing, it intrigued me enough to pick one up.  I removed all the electronics from my FRD, sold it to a friend, and installed everything into the RWD when it showed up a couple days ago.
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So before I went to install the electronics, I inspected the chassis to see how the fit/finish compared to my FRD.  My FRD had several issues in the suspension.....namely loads of bind in the suspension arms and pretty terrible (negative) Ackerman.  So first things first, I removed the shocks from the RWD and lifted the suspension arms.  If there's no bind, the arms will easily fall down and to full droop.  Nope.  They stayed up.  So I started looking into what was binding.  Like my FRD, the issues are numerous.  Some of the ball cups/ball studs are binding and the hinge pins don't move freely so it'll take quite a bit of time and effort to get them up to standard.  But you don't expect a "fully optioned" carbon/aluminum drifter for $250 that won't have fit/finish issues.

The steering rack seems to move freely, but the problem there is the Ackerman again.  In this case, the stock Ackerman will allow the inside tire to "over rotate" into a bind.  Sure, you can adjust your endpoints on the servo, but that's not sufficient because sometimes this "over rotation" can be caused be a slight bump from a wall or other car.  It really needs some sort of hard stop to prevent this.  It's also got a bit too much Ackerman so maybe if I can adjust that a bit, the "over rotation" issue will resolve itself.

So here it is with the electronics installed.  Keep in mind I've made no effort yet to clean up the wiring until I determine my final electronics layout.  
- Speed Passion Reventon R ESC
- Speed Passion 10.5 motor
- Savox 1252 Ultra Speed servo
- GForce GC301 gyro (so I can control it via my transmitter)
- 5000 mah 2s hardcase LiPo
- And a V3 light kit

I also didn't even try the stock shocks.  Instead I installed my TRFs that I ran on the FRD.  Shock oil is about 27.5 front and 15 rear.  Rear weight bias as shown is 54%.  That's more than I'll likely want, but I want to try it like this before I start making changes.  I also ended up running the Eagle springs because they were the only ones soft enough to get a reasonable ride height!  All others would top out the suspension.

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Over the weekend I had a chance to try it out on polished concrete.  Overall, it performed pretty well, but there are some issues...  The steering "over rotation" was definitely an issue despite conservative settings for the endpoints.  The steering would bind and I needed to manually pop it free.  The car's rear weight bias made it a bit challenging on occasion because of the pendulum effect of all that weight in the rear.  In a drift if I would let off the throttle, the car was likely to either over-rotate and spin or it would square up and straighten.  In contrast my FRD had more of a tendency to continue sliding pretty predictably.  I'm hoping more front weight bias will help.  I'm also hoping that reworking all of the suspension joints will free it up and help it work better.  I improved it before running it, but it still has a long way to go!

That's it for now.  Hopefully we'll have another test and tune session soon and I can try out a few new ideas....
Haven't ran mine yet as I'm still waiting on electronics to show up but I noticed the steering issue right out of the box. I figured it could be avoided with servo settings. Oh well. Without electronics I have time to disassemble the chassis and try to free up some movement and see if I can't figure out the suspension geometry. Oh boySmile
(This post was last modified: 02-09-2016, 02:22 AM by Mk1rs2000. Edit Reason: spelling )
I've been struggling a bit with this chassis. So far, it's not working as well as my FRD. I don't know if it's the rear weight bias or maybe a lack of steering, but something just feels.....off. It's not as predictable as my old chassis. Recently I did some more work to it. In addition to trying to free up the suspension some more, I put 15WT oil in all 4 dampers and moved the battery to the forward location. Rear weight bias decreased from 54% to 52%. I also installed some steering stops to prevent the inside knuckle from turning too far and flipping in on itself, i.e. over rotating. However, I think that may have reduced my steering throw some more. I now have a different steering rack on order from Broad Tech so maybe that'll help.

So the other day I went to my buddy's house to run on his polished concrete floor. The car seemed better, but is still too unpredictable. In comparison, I drove my old FRD (my buddy now owns it) and it was fantastic! I miss that car, but I digress... I also noticed that my steering was acting weird....the front wheels were twitching as if the gyro was set to high, but it was only at maybe 50%. After being frustrated with it, I decided to install the stock Eagle gyro that came with the car. It was much better! So evidently there's an issue with running a Savox servo with the G Force GC301 gyro. And I'd even tried adding a capacitor, but it didn't help.

I'm heading to Dallas this weekend to test it out on a dedicated drift track. Hopefully it'll do okay, but I'm a bit skeptical...
Any tips on freeing up the suspension? I have a eagle FRD with the same problem :/
Got some good news and some bad news...

The good news is that I got this car working great!  Spent a lot of time going through the suspension shimming everything for free movement and minimal slop.  The Associated ball cups and ball studs are doing great to hold the alignment in check.  I added some 2 or 3 mm spacers in the front control arms to widen the track similar to what I did with my FRD.  And I moved the battery to the mid-position.  I also played around with the front and rear alignments some more.

The end result?  I competed in my first comp last weekend and the car really performed fantastic!  It was my first comp and I screwed up a bit, but I took third in the clipping point challenge, which I was very proud of given the competition!  

So the bad news?  I came across a deal on a pretty high end chassis and pulled the trigger.  So this car has to go.  I'll be selling it as a roller with the stock TRF dampers, disc brake kit, and un-installed adjustable steering rack for $350 shipped if anyone is interested.  Stock items will also be included. Stealth body mounts not included.

Here a pic from the weekend...
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