Tamiya Frog - Custom Rear Suspension.

This is my take on a replacement rear suspension for the Tamiya Frog, either vintage or re-release. It gives full bearing support to the entire rear suspension, eliminating wear and binding, and smoothing the whole thing out dramatically. I also have chosen to limit suspension movement as the factory design has too much travel, which is what causes thrown driveshafts and excessive driveshaft wear. I have not tested this with other ORV chassis kits, so I do not know if this would work with other cars such as the Brat, Blitzer, or Blackfoot.

For install instructions, check out this link to the associated YouTube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmA4Yqwjt4A

I started this project with three goals to updating / replacing the rear suspension on a Tamiya Frog R/C Car.

1: Eliminate the most glaring issues with the Frog rear suspension. Mainly how badly it can bind, and how quickly the original swingarm wears out. But at the same time, keep things working the same as the original. I'm looking to keep the design functionally the same as original... just smoother and more reliable. Oh, and if it looks cool, that's a bonus.

2: Make all the parts easily printable using common materials, a basic FDM printer, and without supports.

3: It has to be bolt-in, no modifications to existing parts, and fully reversible as well.

For the printed parts, PLA works just fine for most of the parts. ABS, PETG, PC are also good choices as well. As I get more feedback from other users, I may update these suggestions. Print the "ShockSwing" and "Link" parts at 100% infill, all others can be done at 50%. The "Bump Stop" must be printed in a flexible material such as TPU, but this part is only used if you swap the shocks to something non-factory. Three different lengths of link are provided if you want to tune your ride height, but I have found a length of 33.5mm to be the best length, this is the Link_33_5.stl part. It most closely duplicates the original ride height.

If you want more suspension movement, use the link_35, and remove the bump stop. But this will increase the chances of thrown driveshafts over bumps.
link_31 will lower your ride height but result in more chassis slap.

Works with all of the various rear driveshaft options for the Frog, including the vintage hex shafts, re-release dogbones, and the hop-up universal joints. If using the hex driveshafts, it's HIGHLY recommended to keep your driveshaft boots.

Additional Parts Required
1: 8mm x 100mm aluminum tube
6x 3mm hex nuts
2x M3x10 Button head cap screws
2x M3x10 button head cap screws
2x M3x21 button head cap screws.
6x 8x12x3.5 bearings.
4x 5x11x4 bearings (you may already have these if you replaced the stock bushings.)
2x Generic 70mm RC shocks (Optional)
8x Tamiya screws from the original kit.