Anyone interested in the new Redcat KAIJU MT 1/8

[KnowAir]

That's how the MT410 is, so i expected as much (there have been several design similarities i've seen betwen the two). But there's definitely a designed gap between the axle and the hub. The inner/outer bearings are the same vs most other designs where the inner is larger.

You know, I had noticed that when browsing through the "spare parts" section of the redcat page and wondered "what in the world are those for???" Excellent observation! I should have studied the exploded view more closely. I'm just glad there's a solution.

The pin tapped back into the CV with a hammer and held pretty well (some sort of an interference fit), so it made me wonder if Redcat thinks the CV covers are "optional".

Optional doesn't make sense to me, more likely someone forgot to install that one..understand these things are slapped together at what is likely a ridiculous rate. Production standards are probably to blame..you MUST assemble 100 per hour or "no soup for you!"
As a temporary fix, you could spray the affected area with brake cleaner, allow to dry and install a short strip of electrical tape. I'd only do one or two wraps because too many will likely catch on the hub carrier and just peel off.
You need the sleeves on these tho ultimately.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

Optional doesn't make sense to me, more likely someone forgot to install that one..understand these things are slapped together at what is likely a ridiculous rate. Production standards are probably to blame..you MUST assemble 100 per hour or "no soup for you!"
As a temporary fix, you could spray the affected area with brake cleaner, allow to dry and install a short strip of electrical tape. I'd only do one or two wraps because too many will likely catch on the hub carrier and just peel off.
You need the sleeves on these tho ultimately.

Yeah that's what I meant by "optional"

The tekno axles have an inner lip that prevents the bearing from working it's way out. If that were the case here, I wouldn't have had any issues--just find an old bearing and salvage the outer race.

Looks like the kaiju CV covers install from the inside of the hub, like slide on before you insert the axles in the hub. Can you confirm that? Gonna order some up right now.

 

[KnowAir]

Yeah that's what I meant by "optional"

The tekno axles have an inner lip that prevents the bearing from working it's way out. If that were the case here, I wouldn't have had any issues--just find an old bearing and salvage the outer race.

Looks like the kaiju CV covers install from the inside of the hub, like slide on before you insert the axles in the hub. Can you confirm that? Gonna order some up right now.

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Yup, they slide on from the wheel side before installing into the carriers. Tekno is a different setup, on those the pin is captured by the bearing. On the kaiju, the cv joint is inboard of the axle where the bearings are.

 

[razorrc]

Ah sorry, you guys are right, I forgot about the sleeves on the Kaiju, good catch!

 

[KnowAir]

Ah sorry, you guys are right, I forgot about the sleeves on the Kaiju, good catch!

Guess we'll allow it..
Especially since you've shared so much insight with us

 

[Hector_Fisher]

Welp, first casualty this weekend. I was sending it pretty high though. Front right upper arm as expected. Going to make an order from the team redcat website for the new gen upper arms. I was positive I read this somewhere and now I can't seem to find it, but can i run front upper arms on all 4 corners?

 

[KnowAir]

Welp, first casualty this weekend. I was sending it pretty high though. Front right upper arm as expected. Going to make an order from the team redcat website for the new gen upper arms. I was positive I read this somewhere and now I can't seem to find it, but can i run front upper arms on all 4 corners?

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I don't recall reading about it, but see no reason you can't. There is a minimal difference in length between front and rear uppers if I remember correctly. I'd buy whichever is longer and thread the steel turnbuckle a bit deeper to fit.. I prefer the 5mm camber links with pivots at each end myself.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

I don't recall reading about it, but see no reason you can't. There is a minimal difference in length between front and rear uppers if I remember correctly. I'd buy whichever is longer and thread the steel turnbuckle a bit deeper to fit.. I prefer the 5mm camber links with pivots at each end myself.

I believe it was updated around the time the MT8 came out. I don't remember seeing anyone have too many issues with it (i know people start breaking turnbuckles with the updated design, but I'm okay to get new turnbuckles eventually). After ordering last night, i looked at the TA website, and they sell replacement upper arms for the MT8 in a pack of 4. They all look just about identical, like you said with the difference being in a little bit of length. Also watched Razorrc's video about the MT8. Seems the new design was much improved in the plastic neck, so i'll give it a shot.

 

[KnowAir]

I believe it was updated around the time the MT8 came out. I don't remember seeing anyone have too many issues with it (i know people start breaking turnbuckles with the updated design, but I'm okay to get new turnbuckles eventually). After ordering last night, i looked at the TA website, and they sell replacement upper arms for the MT8 in a pack of 4. They all look just about identical, like you said with the difference being in a little bit of length. Also watched Razorrc's video about the MT8. Seems the new design was much improved in the plastic neck, so i'll give it a shot.

That may very well be true, they have updated the parts. IDK, I haven't really dealt with the upper arms since swapping out to turnbuckles which was over a year ago. The price is cheap enough to buy as long as they're not breaking too often. They are an easy and quick part to swap. Glad ur enjoying the Kaiju! Ripped mine a bit yesterday, was like 90f, so I only ran like 10 minutes at a time..no issues tho.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

That may very well be true, they have updated the parts. IDK, I haven't really dealt with the upper arms since swapping out to turnbuckles which was over a year ago. The price is cheap enough to buy as long as they're not breaking too often. They are an easy and quick part to swap. Glad ur enjoying the Kaiju! Ripped mine a bit yesterday, was like 90f, so I only ran like 10 minutes at a time..no issues tho.

I'll get some shots next time I go out to add to the Kaiju legacy here!

Yeah last time out this weekend was a roller coaster. KEXB caught fire, Kaiju broken after 5 minutes, son was driving my big rock and lost a wheel and some screws. Then i whipped out the trusty MT410 and was finally able to have a blast for the whole pack! no fault to the KEXB (minus electronics) or Kaiju though, still awesome trucks.

 

[KnowAir]

I'll get some shots next time I go out to add to the Kaiju legacy here!

Yeah last time out this weekend was a roller coaster. KEXB caught fire, Kaiju broken after 5 minutes, son was driving my big rock and lost a wheel and some screws. Then i whipped out the trusty MT410 and was finally able to have a blast for the whole pack! no fault to the KEXB (minus electronics) or Kaiju though, still awesome trucks.

Fire!? Never good, what happened? Funny, my mt410 is down atm, so the kronos xtr, and kaiju were yesterday's go to's..mojave is down too, front diff is binding up, haven't looked into it yet. It's been so hot, I haven't really run much rc's in the last week or so.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

Fire!? Never good, what happened? Funny, my mt410 is down atm, so the kronos xtr, and kaiju were yesterday's go to's..mojave is down too, front diff is binding up, haven't looked into it yet. It's been so hot, I haven't really run much rc's in the last week or so.

The Firma 150a erupted... lots of smoke and a big fireball. Haven't had the heart yet to go test the other components to see if anything else got fried.

I have a feeling the Kaiju is going to be a good "go-to" once i get the initial hiccups sorted out.

 

[KnowAir]

The Firma 150a erupted... lots of smoke and a big fireball. Haven't had the heart yet to go test the other components to see if anything else got fried.

I have a feeling the Kaiju is going to be a good "go-to" once i get the initial hiccups sorted out.

Doh! Hopefully it is just the esc.. I was reading the other day a thread here discussing different esc's..seems the timing is quite aggressively set out of the box on the Speculum esc's. I do wonder if dialing the timing down would help prevent them from burning up. Too late for ur current situation, but they can be bought so cheaply from kit breakers, might be worth a try..

 

[Hector_Fisher]

Doh! Hopefully it is just the esc.. I was reading the other day a thread here discussing different esc's..seems the timing is quite aggressively set out of the box on the Speculum esc's. I do wonder if dialing the timing down would help prevent them from burning up. Too late for ur current situation, but they can be bought so cheaply from kit breakers, might be worth a try..

Yeah actually the irony is that I had just adjusted the timing down to 3.5 from the stock 22 degrees. Almost like the lower timing caused the issue...? Regardless, it's all spilled milk at this point.

For the kaiju, have you every experimented with chassis ventilation? I've noticed that even with the powerhobby heatsink/fans that the kaiju motor that it still runs hot. Batteries are hot, esc is hot, basically everything under the body gets warm. The tub-style chassis layout is not the best for air flow, and I think everything stagnates. I have been thinking of ways to get airflow in and out of the chassis, like either experiment with a push/pull air config with fans mounted on the two shock towers or cut a slot in the body and install some light weight fans recessed into the body to get fresh air into the chassis.

 

[KnowAir]

Yeah actually the irony is that I had just adjusted the timing down to 3.5 from the stock 22 degrees. Almost like the lower timing caused the issue...? Regardless, it's all spilled milk at this point.

For the kaiju, have you every experimented with chassis ventilation? I've noticed that even with the powerhobby heatsink/fans that the kaiju motor that it still runs hot. Batteries are hot, esc is hot, basically everything under the body gets warm. The tub-style chassis layout is not the best for air flow, and I think everything stagnates. I have been thinking of ways to get airflow in and out of the chassis, like either experiment with a push/pull air config with fans mounted on the two shock towers or cut a slot in the body and install some light weight fans recessed into the body to get fresh air into the chassis.

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Oh, well then I guess the timing theory is a bust? Sorry to hear, ya think it made it worse huh? I don't own one (Speculum)but my bro has 4 of them I think. Not a whole lot of run time on his to date. The felony has thermally shut down several times he said.
As for the kaiju mine has always ran hotter than I like, but never shut down or failed. IMO the kaiju would benefit from an 1800kv 4274 motor. The stock is more of a buggy motor at 4268 2100kv. I put a HW heatsink with 50mm fan on, helps alot. I don't run 6s tho either. 4s these days, more enjoyable for my use. Not sure if I would mount fans to the body, seems they'll take a beating there. Probably won't last long.
So what will replace the Speculum?

 

[Armarookie43]

I just noticed that this thread has 2k replies? Damn.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

Oh, well then I guess the timing theory is a bust? Sorry to hear, ya think it made it worse huh? I don't own one (Speculum)but my bro has 4 of them I think. Not a whole lot of run time on his to date. The felony has thermally shut down several times he said.
As for the kaiju mine has always ran hotter than I like, but never shut down or failed. IMO the kaiju would benefit from an 1800kv 4274 motor. The stock is more of a buggy motor at 4268 2100kv. I put a HW heatsink with 50mm fan on, helps alot. I don't run 6s tho either. 4s these days, more enjoyable for my use. Not sure if I would mount fans to the body, seems they'll take a beating there. Probably won't last long.
So what will replace the Speculum?

Yeah I probably won't be buying anymore spektrum stuff myself. I would hope any esc would cut itself thermally instead of imploding, but I guess that's the surprise package that spektrum left approximately 15% of their customers

I'll replace with a max6. I definitely didn't need to spend that much right now, but I just got it the kraton back up and running and didn't want to miss a bunch of the summer since it already has. The question is whether I should still use my almost brand new ecopower aluminum fan that got all charred up. Still spins!

I run the kaiju on 6s, only because I only have one set of 2s packs, which I use in my MT410. The rest are sets of 3s. The kaiju gets pretty warm on 6s, but nothing alarmingly hot since im running the powerhobby setup. So maybe I won't do anything about it, but just the tinkerer in me wants to try something out! I think the motor should do fine, I run my mt410 (about the same weight with the copperheads I'm running) with the stock spektrum motor (only slightly bigger, similar kv. It gets warm, but the fan I have on it cools it off. Essentially same setup as the kaiju. Except the mt410 chassis is super open. I think thats the difference. I'll eventually play around with the kaiju ventilation and report any good results for increasing airflow to the chassis.

 

[KnowAir]

Yeah I probably won't be buying anymore spektrum stuff myself. I would hope any esc would cut itself thermally instead of imploding, but I guess that's the surprise package that spektrum left approximately 15% of their customers

I'll replace with a max6. I definitely didn't need to spend that much right now, but I just got it the kraton back up and running and didn't want to miss a bunch of the summer since it already has. The question is whether I should still use my almost brand new ecopower aluminum fan that got all charred up. Still spins!

I run the kaiju on 6s, only because I only have one set of 2s packs, which I use in my MT410. The rest are sets of 3s. The kaiju gets pretty warm on 6s, but nothing alarmingly hot since im running the powerhobby setup. So maybe I won't do anything about it, but just the tinkerer in me wants to try something out! I think the motor should do fine, I run my mt410 (about the same weight with the copperheads I'm running) with the stock spektrum motor (only slightly bigger, similar kv. It gets warm, but the fan I have on it cools it off. Essentially same setup as the kaiju. Except the mt410 chassis is super open. I think thats the difference. I'll eventually play around with the kaiju ventilation and report any good results for increasing airflow to the chassis.

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I'd run that fan till it doesn't, but not knowing if it's still working is a buzz kill..what motor ya got in the kraton? A HW wp 8bl150 is only about $100. It can run 5s too, has a profile for it in the menu(kaiju on 5s is perfect to me)..maybe swap kaiju esc into the kraton? Max6/4092 (1650kv)in my kraton..I call it the Kraken!! Straight beast!! TBH, I keep thinking of downgrading to a less powerful setup but don't have anything that's not already installed in a rig. My issue is tires, haven't found anything that gets good grip on clay without tearing the sidewalls apart.. such big problems

The kaiju has an odd gear ratio in the diffs I think, which is why I think a lower kv would be better for it. It's such a fun little truck tho.

 

[Hector_Fisher]

I'd run that fan till it doesn't, but not knowing if it's still working is a buzz kill..what motor ya got in the kraton? A HW wp 8bl150 is only about $100. It can run 5s too, has a profile for it in the menu(kaiju on 5s is perfect to me)..maybe swap kaiju esc into the kraton? Max6/4092 (1650kv)in my kraton..I call it the Kraken!! Straight beast!! TBH, I keep thinking of downgrading to a less powerful setup but don't have anything that's not already installed in a rig. My issue is tires, haven't found anything that gets good grip on clay without tearing the sidewalls apart.. such big problems

The kaiju has an odd gear ratio in the diffs I think, which is why I think a lower kv would be better for it. It's such a fun little truck tho.

I'm running a 4092 as well, and soon the max6. I'm pumped! When i was running the standard firma 6s system in it, it was okay, maybe i just needed to adjust punch or something, but the air-control was much lacking. I know it won't be crazy like my buddy running 8s in his KEXB, but then again, i'm not that crazy... Have you run the backflips on the kraton? Nothing i've tried does well on pavement, but the backflips hook up decently on dirt, imo.

I thought about swapping the spektrum 130a in the MT410 with the 8bl150 in the kaiju so i could try out 6s on the tekno. But you can get the wp 8bl150's on aliexpress for like $65 bucks, so maybe that's a project for another day. The MT410 does amazing on 4s anyway, especially running the copperheads. And besides, i just got the kaiju, i should probably chill out and get to know the truck more before i start changing too much!

 

[KnowAir]

I'm running a 4092 as well, and soon the max6. I'm pumped! When i was running the standard firma 6s system in it, it was okay, maybe i just needed to adjust punch or something, but the air-control was much lacking. I know it won't be crazy like my buddy running 8s in his KEXB, but then again, i'm not that crazy... Have you run the backflips on the kraton? Nothing i've tried does well on pavement, but the backflips hook up decently on dirt, imo.

I thought about swapping the spektrum 130a in the MT410 with the 8bl150 in the kaiju so i could try out 6s on the tekno. But you can get the wp 8bl150's on aliexpress for like $65 bucks, so maybe that's a project for another day. The MT410 does amazing on 4s anyway, especially running the copperheads. And besides, i just got the kaiju, i should probably chill out and get to know the truck more before i start changing too much!

General consensus on the Spektrum is the punch is too low by default(I've read)..
I have the punch turned down on the max6 to 1 or 2..it hits hard with the 4092 IMO.
I do have backflip mt's for the kraton, wasn't impressed by the copperheads that came on it.
Okay for general bashing, too slick for the clay I'm running on. I also tried backflip LP's but on 6s kraton, the sidewalls keep tearing..
The mt410 is plenty fast for me on 4s. 6 is such a tight fit, I haven't bothered trying it. It has a blx185, 4s since day one..just perfect for the mt410 IMO.