Tamiya TRF201 (42167)
Teardown and build-up by Sim Tong
November 1, 2011
I bought this car from a friend and decided it was time we did a teardown, build-up and review.
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The transmission is a standard 3-gear affair. The white kit gears are known to fail.
These black gears are stronger and trouble-free (54262).
Don't overlook the part in the instructions about flipping the diff over before installing the diff screw.
The diff bolt is externally adjustable, so keep the bolt head on the left side of the car.
Ceramic balls are another highly recommended upgraded (42194). Internal ratio is 2.6 to 1.
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The rear arms are the same as the ones from the DB01R kit (54142).
With a bit of Dremel work (to clearance the diff cups), you could also run TRF501X rear arms.
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The rear bottom deck. The kit suspension mounts (aka toe blocks) were plastic pieces.
Mine have been upgraded to aluminium 3 degree toe-in blocks (54252, 54243).
Other blocks are available for 3.5 and 4.0 degrees (54291, 54292).
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Kit rear hubs are plastic.
Mine have been upgraded to aluminium 0.5 degree toe-in units (54245).
1 degree ones are also available (54246).
These come with some really beefy 5mm X 13mm X 4mm outer bearings and use vertical ball studs.
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The transmission comes off with the removal of 7 screws, but it's a fiddly process if you try do it with the
shocks and wheels still on.
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The spur is 79-tooth and compatible with Associated gears. A 77-tooth (54219) is also available.
The motor mount has been upgraded to the beefy one (54276) which has a lip for the spur cover to sit on.
That should help keep dirt out.
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The steering bellcrank is nothing fancy, but includes a servo saver and rides on ball bearings.
Front arm mounts are plastic but the aluminium hingepin brace a beefy 3mm. All camber link ball studs except the
front outers are vertical, so there's no shortage of adjustment possibilities.
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The front axles have a very small offset to them so they can be flipped to adjust the amount of trailing (from the kingpin).
An optional set (54220) works with 3/16" X 3/8" bearings and Team Associated B4.1 wheels.
Kit C-hubs give a 30 degree of total caster.
Optional C-hubs are available for 25 degrees (54244).
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The shocks are TRF affairs. I'm trying Associated brown front springs and green rears for a start.
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The car all wired up. A channel runs under the battery to allow neater routing of the ESC lead, but
I'm more used to the rat's nest setup myself. Not worrying about neatness also allows me to put the power caps
on the receiver side to help balance against the chunky Speed Passion Gran Turismo 2.0 esc.
Receiver is a Sanwa RX-461 and Transmitter is a Sanwa MT-4. Tires are
The shell came with the car. I'll beat on this for awhile before doing another shell.
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I'm running an older generation 8.5T Speed Passion motor.
I like these as they are better sealed against dirt than most newer generation motors.
Sensor wires neatly tucked out of the way once I did the endbell mod.
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The original screws holding the bumper, pivot block chassis and front bulkhead together are only 12mm long.
One screw backed out after my shakedown run, so I replaced all four with 16mm long ones and never
had another problem.
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What you need to complete the TRF201 kit:
TRF201 body shell (54210)
Front wheels (51414,54279,54285 or 54286)
Rear wheels (51321, 54280 or 54287)
Buggy rear tires (1 pair) 2wd front tires (1 pair)
Radio transmitter, receiver, electronic speed control, motor, battery, charger
Recommended bulletproofing upgrades:
TRF201 Alum. Suspension Mount (3.0F) (54242)
TRF201 Alum. Suspension Mount (3.0R) (54243)
TRF201 Rein. 52T Ball Diff Gear (54262)
3/32 Inch Ceramic Differential Ball (12Pcs) (42194)
TRF201 Aluminum Motor Plate (54276)
Useful links:
Downloadable TRF201 instruction manual in PDF format
Lee Martin's setups
Team TRF UK setup sheets
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