Tamiya 42319 & 42320 lightweight Cardan Joint Hop-ups Review

Despite initial fears, it is apparent that Tamiya are still developing TRF cars and accessories. So as a keen racer of the blue cars I was all over acquiring a set of the lightweight double cardan drive shaft parts as soon as they were announced. It's always great to shave off some weight if its not needed, but how much weight? Lets take a look.

For the double cardan drive shafts Tamiya has released the following new parts.

Tamiya 42320 lightweight Joint Casings

Tamiya 42319 Lightweight cross joints for Double cardan

These are a direct replacement for the standard parts so lets just have a closer look.

The kit steel cross joints are 0.7g the new cross joint parts are made from hardened alloy and have such a negligible weight they don't even register on the scale. (they are 0.04g)

They are a good fit (I use a generous amount of Tamiya's AW grease on them to ensure a good amount of durability).

The original joint casings are made of steel and weigh 1.4g. The new hardened alloy ones around half od the weight. not bad :)

So as a comparison a std double cardan weighs in at 9.5g

The cardan with the new parts weighs in at 8g not bad. So an overall weight saving of around 3g at the front of the car.

Would I recommend them? Well they seem to have held up well with the runs they have had, and they are a good weight saving. It isn't going to make a huge difference to how the car feels, but every little helps so it is down to personal choice. Although if servicing the parts then I would consider these instead of the standard parts :)

These parts will work on any of the Tamiya chassis that have double cardans. Such as TRF419, TRF418, TA07, TB05