Tamiya CC-01 Pajero Scale Crawler / Trail Rig Project Part 2

I’ve been doing a little more work on my Tamiya CC-01 Mitsubishi Pajero Scale Crawler project this week. After adding the JunFac front skid plate initially I decided begin to tackle the rear suspension to a) give it more movement and b) allow it to move much more freely.

The rear suspension travel on the Tamiya CC-01 is a little too restrictive for crawling, and the stock plastic components are a little too toy like for hardcore crawling applications. The configuration is a 4 link type with is the setup of choice for crawling, but the plastic components just won’t withstand much abuse, not do they move that precisely or smoothly. But this is where another JunFac upgrade comes into place. Those clever Koreans have developed a rather nice kit to upgrade the stock plastic 4 link arrangement to a full aluminium setup. Their J100210 JunFac CC-01 4-Link Suspension Conversion kit also comes with a nice black centre skid plate to protect the central drive shafts & transmission.

Installing the kit begins by simply removing the current rear suspension links and associated screws, and removing the ball joints from the ends of the rear shocks.

The JunFac upgrade kit comes very nicely packed in a tough polythene bag, but there’s one massive omission in my opinion… No Instructions! Which leaves you faced with a rather stylish looking aluminium puzzle, which take a bit of thinking about! So I began by separating out all the different screws, rods and brackets into sizes so I could try and work out, with the aid of the JunFac website, what went where and how.

It doesn’t take too long to work out what goes there though, and by measuring the hex screws against the various holes you can soon work out which ones hold which part in place. I used plenty of Liquid Thread Lock on all metal to metal joins such as the rods and brackets. There’s little chance of them coming undone but I didn’t want to take the risk! Hopefully these few close up pics will help show how the whole thing goes together .

Rear Axle Mounted Shock Brackets

Close up of rear axle brackets

Rear Aluminium Axle Brackets and 4 Link Kit Installed

Testing Testing 1, 2, 3

It’s pretty easy to test the whole setup once it’s in place. With the chassis upside down, give each rear wheel a press, compressing the suspension fully on each side one at a time, then press both wheels down, checking for any rubbing or straining on any components as you go. Finally, give the rear axle a twist to flex each side fully in opposite direction.

The JunFac upgrade gives very slightly more rear end articulation than the original set up, so you don’t gain a lot there, but what you do gain is a much more durable 4 link arrangement that’s less likely to break or get hung up on the rocks or other obstacles when you take your Trail Rig out into the wild.

Finally with the centre skid plate in it’s now ready for a proper test run.

In the next installment of the Tamiya CC-01 Pajero Scale Crawler project I’ll be looking at Tyre Upgrades. Thanks for reading!

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