Metal Suspension Arms for TAMIYA Leopard 2A6

[zooma]

I am also going to change all of the plain bearings to ball bearings, so hopefully I will be able to prevent any more broken suspension arms ........heres hoping......

I can buy the bearings here in the UK with optional rubber shields for less than buying them (without the rubber shields) from China

[zooma]

The metal suspension arms from AFV arrived today so I will start stripping the Tamiya Leopard 2A6 that I have been having some problems with breaking plastic suspension arms and fit these along with the rubber shielded bearings.

This should be a simple fit that will hopefully resolve the problem and make the tank more reliable and durable.

[Ad Lav]

Good modification, a worthy upgrade for sagging or broken swing arms.

Keep the tank off the ground when not in use. I use polystyrene blocks cut to size to keep the suspension off the ground.

[BarryC]

Good modification, a worthy upgrade for sagging or broken swing arms.

Keep the tank off the ground when not in use. I use polystyrene blocks cut to size to keep the suspension off the ground.

Excellent suggestion. Keeping the weight off the suspension.

[zooma]

I didn't realise that AFV also make solid brass axles to replace the black plastic axles that come in the kit.

When the metal suspension arms arrived I was surprised to find just how heavy they were and I wasn't sure just how well they would work long term with the plastic kit axles.

I may need to check my funds next month as a set of turned brass axles with the metal suspension arms could be the ultimate solution!

[zooma]

As a matter of interest my youngest son visited today, and being more "tech savvy" than his dad (most people are as far as computers go) he pointed to the "View" button on the top of my iMac screen and it dropped a menu that included "translate".

Simply pushing this button and choosing "English" translated everything on the AFV site for me instantly, so that I could enjoy viewing the site and seeing just what they had for sale.......and buying a spare sprue to allow me to continue building my unboxed Leopard 2A6 kit !

[Herr Dr. Professor]

I don't have an iMac, and--shucks--the feature seems not to be on the iPhone. If others are interested, however, here's a good translator I use on the PC: https://www.deepl.com/translator

[zooma]

As reported in the Heng Long or Tamiya Leopard 2A6 for regular use comparison, my troublesome Tamiya Leopard 2A6 found that the cast brass suspension arms from AFV combined with a set of rubber shielded ball bearings from “rcbearings” solved the problems that I was having with rough running and broken plastic suspension arms.

I am now preparing to run another Tamiya Leopard 2A6 that was built by a friend of mine before he passed away.

This tank has not been run (other than for initial testing) so I will fit a set of ball bearings to the suspension axles and I will order a set of the KingKong cast suspension arms from eBay to see if these fit OK and work as well as the more expensive AFV types.

[zooma]

AFV brass suspension arms fitted and working on my first Tamiya 2A6 Leopard - not painted or weathered yet - but working very well.

[zooma]

I will be testing the less expensive metal suspension arms from King Kong next to see if they can work as well as the AFV ones that I am using on my first Tamiya Leopard 2A6. These will be fitted to my second Tamiya Leopard 2A6 that was built by a friend of mine some years ago. I was fortunate enough to buy this tank from him just a few weeks before he unexpectedly died, but I have not run it yet, and he only briefly test run it, so this tank has not had any real use since he built it.

Given the age of this second 2A6 (probably 15 - 20 years old) I am expecting the plastic to be a very similar age to my first 2A6 and to be just as brittle (if that has anything to do with the reason why the kit supplied suspension arms break so easily?) and so they will need replacing so I will do this next.....and order a set of rubber shielded axle bearings to fit it from rcbearings.

The AFV metal arms are very good - but they are also very expensive - and they are made even more expensive by the very high delivery charges from AFV in Germany to myself on the other side of the channel here in England!

Thanks to the link provided to me by r32 I was able to find a set of genuine Tamiya metal suspension arms and also a set of genuine Tamiya metal front idler adjusters .....and when bought together..... they actually cost LESS than the the AFV suspension arms on their own (when the expensive delivery charges are taken into account).

The Tamiya metal suspension arms will be fitted to the new unboxed kit that I am (slowly) building in-between playing with my other tanks. I am assuming that the Tamiya metal suspension arms will fit their own model well enough (!) so eventually I will be able to compare all three known makers of metal suspension arms that are currently available to fit the Tamiya 2A6.

I would have been more than happy just to buy two more sets of the AFV suspension arms for the second two 2A6 tanks if they were not so expensive (with high delivery costs).

Worrying comments about the King Kong metal suspension arms dubeous quality are causing me some concerns, but others that have bought them previously have recommended them to me as being OK and working OK so I have taken the chance and I am hoping they will be alright.

Nobody that I know has bought any of the Tamiya metal suspension arms, but I have bought them as another option to try - and at a lower price than the AFV metal arms.

I would have preferred NOT to have to buy any make of metal suspension arms just to enable my Tamiya 2A6 tanks to work reliably, but since running without them is not a realistic option I have shopped around to see just how much needs to be spent on metal suspension arms......and hope that all three types will fit and work as well as each other.