54878 Upgrade set for TRF super Short Big Bore dampers

The SSBB (Super short Big Bore) dampers were released alongside the TRF419X. They followed the tradition of previous TRF dampers and were top quality.. However there was one glaring issue.. The upper shock caps were black. It was a strange decision which basically confused all of us Tamiya guys.

Well it looks like that is all about to change with this new upgrade set available from Tamiya.

In the packet you get two sets of new damper 'V' parts. New shock caps in Tamiya blue aluminium and eight 5.8mm suspension mount balls.

The new V parts are from the stiffer plastic that is found on the new adjuster cups. They provide long and short lower ball connectors for 5.0mm and 5.8mm suspension balls. There is also a pair of wide spring and narrow spring retainers. The upper ball connector also comes in 5.8 / 5.0 mm ball connectors.

The kit comes with 5.8mm suspension balls to replace the existing 5mm versions. The theory is that they will provide a smoother feel for the suspension movement with less slop.

The new upper shock caps will only take the new larger 5.8mm upper shock ball connectors. If you want to use the older 5mm ones you will need to keep the black shock caps.

For the first time there is actually a 1mm circle to show where to drill a hole if you want to do this for the shocks. I've been drilling my shocks for years, this really helps when you are striving for zero rebound.

The new upper and lower ball connectors are reassuringly solid. You need to ensure you squeeze the ball from the correct side, once mounted you get no slop but it moves very freely.

I did find that the lower aluminium spring retainers were a very tight fit on the new lower shock connectors. They do fit, but I opted to use the new plastic retainers instead.

Overall

I have been running these new parts on the shocks for a long while now and they have been great. In reality I cannot feel any difference in how the car feels at the track. After all of this running the new parts are still very slop free even after ten large race events (Indoors and out), so they are holding up well. Importantly they now look like a proper TRF shock in shiny blue, so that has got to help find an extra bit of speed :)