Adventure Ready: Tamiya Mercedes-benz G 500
Hit the Trail In Style With Tamiya’s All-new CC-02 Chassis
OPEN DIFFS VS LOCKED DIFFS
Tamiya gives you the option of running open differentials or as locked units so I decided to try the truck both ways to see how the performance was affected. With open diffs the CC-02 turns very well which made it easy to get the truck to go anywhere I wanted. Grease filled diffs however are not that great when it comes to climbing over obstacles. With some vehicles that have an open diff, they may be slowed down by some obstacles but still make it up and over thanks to the fluid or thick grease inside. The Tamiya diffs are very loose and that means that the CC-02 almost stops in its tracks once a tire is free. With the diffs locked up the CC-02 is a little harder to turn on high grip surfaces but it’s not so bad on loose dirt and there was a night and day difference when crawling over obstacles. The grip level was improved greatly and not much could stop the truck.
ON THE TRAIL
I planned on heading over to what I consider a light duty trail to do my CC-02 testing but I didn’t want to assume that it’s only good for that type of trail by looking at it.
So I brought it to a trail that has areas for every type of trail truck that there is and gave it a go. In the easy sections on the trail, the truck worked as expected; it made it up and over everything in its path and was able to maneuver around some tight areas. It did however surprise me in some of the harder areas along the way. There’s a good amount of articulation so getting the front tires up obstacles wasn’t an issue but the hard compound tires gave up traction easily and that kept the CC-02 from getting over any major objects.