Kraton Assembly Issues

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JasonG

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Arrma RC's
Got a kraton for xmas - yeah.
Still waiting to run it - I guess mine was not a RTR :)

Out of the box the front right wheel had a talion AR310484 17.6mm wheel hex with a broken pin?
The three other wheels had the correct kraton AR310592 24.6mm wheel hex.
Ha - I guess 3 out of 4 ain't bad.
Anyway tower hobby was good to ship out the correct parts.

So took apart the whole thing to make sure everything else was in good working order.
Used lots of loctite everywhere - good - but used red "permanent" loctite on the diff input cup grub screws?
Those grub screws where hard to remove.
The front diff cup had so much red loctite it seized the cup onto the shaft and the shaft onto the outer bearing. Had to use some acetone and some force to separate cup from shaft and shaft from bearing. Wow!

Front diff was full but center and rear diff were pretty empty.

Anyway, everything else looks good and have some fast eddy bearings on order.
Also not sure why they used brass bushings for steering bell-cranks?
The bearing kit will fix that.

Looks like a solid design and it is easy to work on.
But I would recommend a complete inspection and tear down before your RTR is ready to run.

Curious if anyone else has had similar issues.

kraton_wheel_hex_small.jpg
 
You're the first person I've ever seen with that problem, that's crazy. How would a tech not notice the visual differences..lol
 
Thats odd mine came with a bad bearing in the front hub so i just orded the fast eddie bearing kit
 
You're the first person I've ever seen with that problem, that's crazy. How would a tech not notice the visual differences..lol
I thought so, I might have expected two out of four to be wrong but only one is really odd.
 
Glad to hear that Tower Hobbies made it right for you; I haven't heard of any issues like this. However, I did hear a bad report about using Fast Eddy bearings the other day - I'll try to dig up the link just for reference.

Good recommendation on checking over the whole vehicle when you first receive it - my Arrma Talion was flawless when I first received it, but now I'm waiting on a new ESC. :(
 
Damnnnnn it
Putting truck back together today and should have know/noticed before because of the other incorrect front right wheel parts.
Front right wheel has a talion front cvd axel - of course this goes with the shorter talion wheel hex.
But that won't work with the longer kraton wheel hex - duh.

Called tower again and sending the correct kraton part - thanks.
Looks like assembly tech put a completed talion front wheel assembly on my kraton,
many parts such as carrier and bearings are the same between the two.
But the standoff difference when complete should have been obvious.

Thanks for the fast eddy link.
I have ordered from avid before and been very happy.
I did get one bad bearing and they made it right on my next order.
Avid does not have a kraton bearing kit, could find right sizes your self, but being lazy.
Seems like lots of others have ordered fast eddy kits for their kraton so I thought I would try them out.
I have not used them before so we will see.
Let you know.
 
Glad to help in any way I can. Very interested to hear how your experience goes with the Fast Eddy bearings.
 
A lot of people on the Arrma 1/8th group use fast eddy bearings and love them. One guy swears by avid.

Boca Bearings(range from $31-$250...lol) and Boom racing also make kits for our 1/8th Arrmas. The boom racing is really cheap but only offers 10 bearings instead of the 18 with the rest of the kits. I don't know anyone who has used either kit though.

I just ordered the Boom racing set(because I had just enough on a gift card) and plan on ordering one of the cheaper Boca kits in the next week or two so I can play with both.
 
Got fast eddy bearings installed and seem like good quality and have bearings in steering gear :)
Will see when get truck running.

Putting truck back together found no 3x8x0.5mm washers on front shocks for top nylon nuts.
No big deal as I had some extra laying around - but really more missing parts.
And again overkill on thread locker.
Red thread lock on pinion grub - leaked all over motor shaft and pinion.
Changing pinion was a pain - had to get some bearing pullers to remove it.
The attention to assembly detail on this new truck is lacking.
The rear was almost perfect but front end has been terrible.
 
Your situation sounds terrible! Have you contacted their customer support? I had a great experience with them. However, keep in mind that this is their busiest time of the year, so you may have to wait on hold for a while...
 
After getting replacement parts for wrong, broken, and missing parts got the truck out for a run today :)
When almost done with first run, I found a small tree!
Thought everything was OK until suspension would not rebound.
Bent the FL shock shaft :(

Parts on backorder till March.

My setup:
  • Fast Eddy bearing kit.
    • No issues after initial 40min run.
  • Mamba Monster with 1515-2200kv motor from an E-MAXX that was always broke.
    • Used one AR723312 (3x12mm cap head) with two AR709003 (3x8x0.5mm) washers for each motor mount screw.
    • The Arrma motor has 4mm cap head screws and mamba requires 3mm.
    • Used 3m velcro to secure ESC
  • 4S2P 6500mah SPC lipo.
  • Futaba R304SB receiver with SBS-01TE motor temp sensor.
  • Tekno yellow springs
    • The stock springs are short and really weak, esp. if adding more motor and battery weight to truck.
  • 14T mod1 pinion

Seems to be pretty good setup. Good temps 55F outside and 85F max on motor.
Might go with Tekno orange springs - the yellow are as low as I would go.
When I fix the shock shaft will put Team Associated 50wt (650cst) stock is (550cst)
- A little heavier oil for the stiffer Tekno springs.

Thanks for the help I found on this forum.
 

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