Tamiya Grasshopper Rear Suspension and Gearbox conversion kit

Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago

Again, this is an upgrade to my forever favorite tamiya grasshopper!
Grasshopper's gearbox with rigid axle is what makes this car very unique, and everyone loves it's durability, simple structure, and even very good performance on easy roads! which made it a perfect beginner's buggy for everyone in this globe around my age^^
This conversion kit enables users to simply upgrade their hopper or hornet into a VW dune buggy style 'trailing arm' based independent suspension, with new designed gear box enabling rear positioned motor for better rear grip and shock absorbing.
I tested the kit and am pretty satisfied, except the center gear nut(Gearbox5_nut.stl), which is not strong enough for life-time warrantee. This nut part have endured more than 3 pack runs, but will need to be upgraded to metal parts (will update when metal part is available and tested) if you are a serious heavy user. If you are not, this PLA nut may be enough, you can always reprint if it wears out.
The benefit of conversion :
far enhanced rear grip, -> better road holding in any roads
higher road clearance -> better performance rough terrain, such as grasses and sands
scale look -> similar architecture to real dune buggy, or more scale vehicles such as wild one/FAV
This kit is a hop-up kit, just print, assemble and attach it to it's chassis, without any cut or modification to your original grasshopper/hornet kit.
However you need below additional parts to make this kit run :
Tamiya M03 or any touring car's gearbox joint hub
Tamiya M03/05 drive shaft (30mm), OR M03 option swing shaft(54410)
Tamiya Frog/Brat's wheel axle hub, OR Frog/Brat option Universal Shaft set (53908)
6 O-rings for axle/joint hub, OR some silicone pipe
70mm damper/spring, I used DT03's front CVA shock set
All the hopper/hornet's internal gear parts will be reused.
I will update with further build instructions in my youtube channel soon, but I guess the build is pretty straight forward if you have basic RC skills.
Few things to be careful when building the kit :
You need to be very careful with screw holes. 3D printed parts are not as durable and acurate as commercial kits, you need to trim every screw holes with 2.6mm drill bit before screwing.
Some parts will warp during printing, do set your printer well to minimize any warps
Please visit my youtube channel for further information later. I will upload detailed build instruction video soon!
Test run : https://youtu.be/Z_58uAlQDb8
Build instructions : to be updated!
Please post comments in thingiverse or youtube for any feedback or queries!
Enjoy!