Custom Brake MOD for 15€ | Thrustmaster T3PA

[Giovaneveterano]

I'm a happy owner of a Thrustmaster T300 for a couple of years now, it's an awesome wheel for the price, but I never felt satisfied with the brake pedal of the T3PA, it just feels wrong: the stock metal spring is too soft and gives almost no resistance in the first centimeter of travel, later when the pedal hits the black conical rubber the brake output jumps all the way up to 100% within few millimeters. The brake feeling is NON EXISTENT.

Thanks to these Xmas holidays I had some days free, so I decided to build my own brake mod with a small amount of money. My key point were:

• have a decent force to apply right from the start
• longer pedal travel than with the conical rubber
• better brake feeling close to 100%

I ended up with this:

1. 2 shock absorbers for RC cars (https://goo.gl/i6BpFc 18x100mm, holes 4mm, 14€ shipping incl.)
2. A Scooby-doo to tie the two abs together
3. L-screws for wood (3mmx30mm, 0.20€)
4. A piece of soft rubber I found under the sofa
5. Galvanized steel spring (1.7x18x30mm, 6kg (60N) at full compression, 0.50€)

And here's why it works better than the stock one (way better!):

• The steel spring (5) gives a good resistence as soon as I press the brake pedal, while the two shock abs (1) have a more progressive feeling right to the end of the travel. Be sure that the steel spring goes on full travel just before the shock abs, so that the extra force doesn't go on the thin L-screws (3) but on the stock metal bracket that's designed by Thrustmaster exactly for that.
• The thin black rubber, glued on the stock metal bracket under the spring (5), soften the shocks given by the pedal at full travel on the spring (5) and on the stock metal bracket.
• The stroke is longer, but the force required is pretty much the same I used to apply with the conical rubber, so that modulate the brake input close to 100% it's definitely easier.

I'm sharing this because on RaceDepartment we always help each other and this time I'd like to improve some else's sim-racing experience.

 

[Ken Bell]

Brilliant idea and job.
Wish I could be creative like that. I just got the conical thing and its just rubbish.
Nice one @Giovaneveterano

 

[Giovaneveterano]

Brilliant idea and job.
Wish I could be creative like that. I just got the conical thing and its just rubbish.
Nice one @Giovaneveterano

With this cheap update I instantly started to trailbrake with ease. The conical rubber makes everything harder.

 

[Scottbed]

I posted directly to you but wondering how you keep the spring in place? I found a 6.8kg spring on Amazon....I think that will be ok. Great idea and post! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

I posted directly to you but wondering how you keep the spring in place?

You mean the spring #5?
I simply glued it on top of a piece of black rubber (#4) that it's glued again on the Thrustmaster metal plate. Glue like the SuperAttack is fine, it's stronger than the rubber itself.

Be sure that the #5 spring has to go at full travel before the #1 dampers. So when the brake pedal is fully compressed all the force is going through the stock metal structure. Otherwise you'll put all the force on the tiny screws #3 and they'll break.
#1 dampers should never ever go at full travel. Check that, it's crucial.

I suggest you to buy the springs from a physical store, find the right one it's easier and cheaper.

 

[Neilski]

Be sure that the #5 spring has to go at full travel before the #1 dampers. So when the brake pedal is fully compressed all the force is going through the stock metal structure. Otherwise you'll put all the force on the tiny screws #3 and they'll break.
#1 dampers should never ever go at full travel. Check that, it's crucial.

Fair enough, but if you stamp on the brake pedal really hard, it will move very quickly and that will still create a large force on the damper mounts. If the force they can exert is significant relative to the spring, then surely you'd need a beefy mount for them too? (This logic is leading me to suspect that the force they exert is pretty modest...)

 

[Giovaneveterano]

Fair enough, but if you stamp on the brake pedal really hard, it will move very quickly and that will still create a large force on the damper mounts. If the force they can exert is significant relative to the spring, then surely you'd need a beefy mount for them too? (This logic is leading me to suspect that the force they exert is pretty modest...)

Correct. First, these are RC-car shock absorber so the dampening from each is quite low, plus the spring mounted on them is not very stiff.
That's the reason why I used 2 softer dampers instead of 1 stiffer, to spread the force on more screws.
I'm using this setup since Xmas with no problems, I'm very happy about it and I would never go back to the conical mod. The next step could be new pedals, but that's another story.

 

[davehenrie]

Perhaps a video showing how you assembled everything. Very Interesting project you have there.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

Latest update: I added an additional spring to the throttle pedal and now it feels amazing! It's way easier to modulate the throttle on corner exit.

 

[CaptainSloth]

Hi, I am planning on doing the same to my T3PA's, in fact i already ordered the parts but i have one question: Once you do this mod, the travel won't go 100%, I know that you can set a pedal start and end in rF2, PC2 and AMS but what about ETS2? Is there a way to let the TM control panel think it hits full travel while it's not? How did you get around this?

Great idea and i'll post some pics once i'm done, got myself black and purple shock absorbers

Cheers,
Sloth

 

[Giovaneveterano]

Hi, I am planning on doing the same to my T3PA's, in fact i already ordered the parts but i have one question: Once you do this mod, the travel won't go 100%, I know that you can set a pedal start and end in rF2, PC2 and AMS but what about ETS2? Is there a way to let the TM control panel think it hits full travel while it's not? How did you get around this?

Great idea and i'll post some pics once i'm done, got myself black and purple shock absorbers

Cheers,
Sloth

The Thrustmaster control panel automatically detect when the pedal is on full travel. Don't worry about it, it simply works.

Let me know how you managed the whole thing and don't be afraid to ask. Remember to heat up those screws to let them sink into the plastic easier.

 

[Jason Mullin]

This is a brilliant idea why did I not think of this along time ago? Guess I'm not brilliant but I am an avid RC racer with many extra parts.
One tip with RC shocks, you can adjust the resistance not only with different springs but also changing the weight of the oil.
I'll be modding my t3pas this weekend probably start with some CEN Genesis parts if they're to big I have a Traxxas bin full.

 

[CaptainSloth]

Okay so I finally got the parts! I made it a little bit differently though.

Image: https://ibb.co/N3f7npy

As you can see, my pedals are angled on a wooden base. I added a piece of wood behind the screws to make sure they will not break or something and since my whole pedal base is made of wood, it was easy to attach.

I haven't tried driving with it yet, but when i was testing if it worked in the control panel it felt very good. More travel, better progression and still a nice amount of pedal force compared to the conical brake mod. Thanks for the great idea, I'll make an update once I get used to driving with it

 

[thepharcyde]

I can wholeheartedly recommend a load cell for these pedals.
The only drawback is there is pretty much zero throw with the mod, but I've shaved seconds off my lap times since using it

Else I found using a squash ball had a better effect than the conical break mid. Just place it between the pedal and the mount at the bottom.

 

[Giovaneveterano]

It looks like a good result!
You'll have so much fun with it, no doubt.

Can you share with us your wodden base?

 

[thepharcyde]

It looks like a good result!
You'll have so much fun with it, no doubt.

Can you share with us your wodden base?

I think it's pine, infact I'm sure it's pine

 

[CaptainSloth]

Can you share with us your wodden base?

This is an old picture though, but it's pretty much still the same except for the new mod.
PS: I'm sorry that it is so messy in my room, just installed the base so that's why it's not clean

https://ibb.co/bdSmrRc

I'm a Formula fan so that's why I went with this - Very immersive in VR

 

[Giovaneveterano]

One tip with RC shocks, you can adjust the resistance not only with different springs but also changing the weight of the oil.

I'm planning to update the springs on the shock abs (stiffer), do you recommend a specific one?

 

[Foskifo]

Hello Giovane

Would you mind sharing some more pics of your modding on others pedals as of for the brake one ? I'm really interested by your modifications to do the same on my T3Pa

Cheers m8