TOPIC:

Hi everyone,

I’m Jon from Team JB Hobbies. I’ve been working on RC bearing kits and wanted to get more involved with the Tamiya community here.

I’m especially interested in which Tamiya models people most often need bearing kits for, including both current kits and older/vintage builds.

For those of you who build or restore Tamiya cars, which models tend to be the most frustrating when it comes to finding the right bearing sizes or complete kits?

I’m trying to learn from actual Tamiya owners and builders rather than guessing from manuals alone.

Thanks,
Jon
Team JB Hobbies

The G6-01, GF-01, and GF-02 chassis need massive amounts of bearings and don't come with them.  Those would be good candidates.

I spent some time finding flanged ball bearings for the Cheetah and XR311 chassis but finally found some that fit at rcmart.com 😮‍💨

TT02 is a big seller so so bearings for these will go like hot cakes.
ORV family, Frog, Blackfoot etc is still being sold so this would fit the bill. I actually need a set for my current build.
TL01, this has a lot of bearings and  will sometimes cover two buggies.

Many bearing kits do not include trust bearings, some of the older buggies did needed those.
Like Hotshot, Bigwig and even the Porsche 959 / Celica Gr.b.

IDK if I'd go as far as saying I've been "frustrated" when buying bearings, although the vintage Wild Willy and Willy's Wheeler use some pretty obscure sizes (some flanged, some very small (like 940 or 730? Can't remember off the top of my head), skate bearings etc) but I just had to ask a couple of questions here & do a little research.

My first RC car was a Tamiya Grasshopper just after it first came out (spring 1984), IIRC the kit was 44.99 GBP, the radio 49.99 GBP, battery another 9.99 and charger 4.99. A set of bearings (two boxes of four 1150s, plus a single loose 1150 and 850) would have been another 25.96 GBP   

When I got back into RC (2008-2010) I found bearings had got really cheap - but they would often break, leak or fail after one run so the quality was a bit questionable. Now a lot of retailers sell on the quality grade, some even remove the oil the factory put in & use a much lighter machine oil. 

 Most retailers only sell metal flanged bearings, or if you're lucky, give you the option of a full set of rubber sealed bearings. If something I'm building has any chance of being used in dirt or wet I like to use the rubber sealed only where it really matters, like on wheel hubs or gearbox outdrives,  and use metal shielded on the faster spinning bits like spur gears & so on. This usually means buying two sets (one of each), compromising on one or the other, buying the specific number of bearings/types (more expensive, more prone to ordering or picking errors), or buying in bulk ....

What I'd really like to see are "off road racer" sets, for example a Grasshopper/Hornet/Lunchkin has (IIRC) nine 1150 bearing and one 850 - four 1150 on the front wheels and two 1150 on the outer extremities of the gearbox that could/should be rubber shielded, two 1150 supporting the inner ends of the driveshafts where they could be either, and an 1150 and 850 on the spur gear where higher quality and less drag are of benefit.




The bearing kits I've bought most of are:

- Another vote for the ORV ("Off Road Vehicle") chassis (Frog, Brat etc)
- Rolling Rigid Rear Axle chassis (Vintage Pajero Wheelie, Grasshopper, Hornet, Lunchbox, Midnight Pumpkin etc)
- All the M-series chassis but especially the M-05 & M-06
- SRB ("Special Racing Buggy") chassis (Rough Rider/Buggy Champ, F-150 Ranger, Sand Scorcher, Super Champ/Fighting Buggy)
- CC-01 chassis (now out of production)
- Wild Willy 2/Honda City Turbo
- Vintage Wild Willy M38 SWB (short Wheelbase), Wild Willy M38 LWB & Vintage Willy's Wheeler (from memory there are differences between the two) 
- Clodbuster, Bull Head, Super Clod Buster

... but that's just a reflection on what I've been in to over the years.



Nb I take it back about the "frustrated" bit when it comes to the Kyosho Blizzard - the times I looked there was no information on what they used, and as they came prebuilt I've have to take them apart, measure everything then put them back together without a manual. There are so many variations of power (IC, single electric motor, dual motor) and configuration that the info would only be for that one specific chassis ... as it is, I have two as identical as I could buy, one has IIRC some metal ballraces, the other has just plastic bushings AFAIK. As they're close coupled as a Hagglunds BV, that isn't ideal ....

 

Vintage 1/24 tamtech are hard to find with a good price.