42273 Tamiya TRF Short Type Dampers Review

With the release of the TB04 pro Tamiya produced it's first chassis with low profile suspension. Included in the kit were a set of special short TRF dampers which are 4mm shorter than the std TRF dampers that we use, unfortunately they were not available to buy separately until now.

What's included ?

When you buy the kit you get all of the components needed including fluorine coated shafts. There are also a set of black o-rings so you can make these shocks to a suitable length for M05 / M06 chassis cars. The only thing that's needed is shock oil to be able to make up a set of 4 shocks.

Springs and spring length

The springs included are Tamiya yellow springs, these are medium softness, but crucially they are touring car springs, not the shorter Tamiya M-series style springs.

This matters to me as one of the things I have never liked about low profile shocks is that the springs usually have to be non standard shorter versions, I find it hard to believe that compromising on spring length to lower a shocks would be beneficial (Although I could try to use RC Crew Chief to see if I can spot any benefits).

Making the shocks

As you can see above, the assembly is familiar to anyone who has made these shocks before, the damper collar is aluminium not plastic like the M-Series TRF shocks.

I made the shocks as per normal, just placed a little shock oil on the shafts as I slid the O-Ring over the end of the shaft.

Waiting for the bubbles to disappear

Here I used 400wt oil all around in the shocks and had the rebound set to 3mm.

Here is the final shock. As anyone who has used TRF shocks can confirm, the smoothness and reliability of these shocks is fantastic, that's why they are so well regarded and you will see these shocks on many other non-Tamiya cars.

Comparison Guide

These shocks are 4mm shorter than the std Tamiya shocks. Here are the measurements of the 3 types of  TRF onroad shocks.

1. Tamiya 42102 TRF Special Hard black Damper  61mm
2. Tamiya 42273 TRF Short Type Dampers             57mm
3. Tamiya 54000 M Chassis Aluminium Damper     55mm

So what cars can I use these on?

Tamiya has made special hop up parts for some of their cars that use these new low profile shocks including the TA06, and obviously the TB04. They are also great on the M-Series cars. The TT02 is ok, but quite low so you might need to adjust the lower ball joints to get decent ride height.

Importantly you can also use these on TRF onroad cars if you buy any of the low profile shock towers available from Smokem or other suppliers. I intend to try this in the near future on my TRF418.

Overall

They are TRF shocks so the quality is obviously superb. They are not really suitable on the TRF cars unless you get some third party towers (I am keen to try some soon). I also have them on my M05 v2 (Review soon) and they are superb, especially as I can swap them out to my TT02 if I want to run that low for carpet racing at my local club.