pomplemus
Active Member
Hey, been a while since I've posted here!
Got busy with other things and didn't really think about my Kraton much, but that changed a few weeks ago. Had my birthday recently ( 30... :/ ), and used the death of my Hobbystar 4092 (don't neglect motor maintenance!) as an excuse to treat myself/my Kraton to bunch of new goodies, including a Castle Mamba Monster X 8S and 1717 1650 kV! It started out as a V4, so I also went ahead and upgraded to EXB/GP4 diffs after I blasted my ring gear with some standing backflips! I have full HR aluminum diff cases/covers, tightly shimmed ring and pinion, and converted to open using the dual round plate + shims method, so hopefully these will hold up for a while.
I've just run a couple packs through so far, but several of those were pretty special. A few weeks ago I went on a desert trip, and I brought along the Kraton so I could open her up on some BLM land in cool locales.
I had about a half hour stop with time to bash at Red Hill (Right by Fossil Falls BLM campground/Coso Volcanic Field, just off of 395 east of the Sierras) and couldn't pass up the opportunity to have some fun on the volcanic tephra field at the base of the cinder cone and dry lake bed!
I'm a firm proponent of "leave no trace" principles and preserving the natural beauty of special areas like this, so I just stuck to the road/trail areas where other people drive around/camp in their 1:1 vehicles.
Here are a couple short clips -please excuse the poor driving/videoing, I'm not used to trying to do each one handed!
Running the 1717 1650 kv at 16/50 on a not quite fully charged battery, it topped out at 58 mph / 93 kph. I've already geared up to an 18t pinion, looking forward to doing some more speed runs next time I'm out there!
The only casualties were some blades on my motor fan (neglected to install a proper screen and the rough tephra just destroyed it) and hub bearing decided to explode.
I love the variety of environments in California, and how quickly they can change. A couple weeks before this, I was snowed in during a ski trip in Lee Vining, and they shut down 395- perfect place to do some snow bashing! I don't have any pics of my Kraton in the fluffy stuff (was having too much fun), but this is what the highway looked like for the snow bash:
As long as I can fit in in the car, I think my Kraton will be a staple to bring with when I go camping/hiking now.
Got busy with other things and didn't really think about my Kraton much, but that changed a few weeks ago. Had my birthday recently ( 30... :/ ), and used the death of my Hobbystar 4092 (don't neglect motor maintenance!) as an excuse to treat myself/my Kraton to bunch of new goodies, including a Castle Mamba Monster X 8S and 1717 1650 kV! It started out as a V4, so I also went ahead and upgraded to EXB/GP4 diffs after I blasted my ring gear with some standing backflips! I have full HR aluminum diff cases/covers, tightly shimmed ring and pinion, and converted to open using the dual round plate + shims method, so hopefully these will hold up for a while.
I've just run a couple packs through so far, but several of those were pretty special. A few weeks ago I went on a desert trip, and I brought along the Kraton so I could open her up on some BLM land in cool locales.
I had about a half hour stop with time to bash at Red Hill (Right by Fossil Falls BLM campground/Coso Volcanic Field, just off of 395 east of the Sierras) and couldn't pass up the opportunity to have some fun on the volcanic tephra field at the base of the cinder cone and dry lake bed!
I'm a firm proponent of "leave no trace" principles and preserving the natural beauty of special areas like this, so I just stuck to the road/trail areas where other people drive around/camp in their 1:1 vehicles.
Here are a couple short clips -please excuse the poor driving/videoing, I'm not used to trying to do each one handed!
Running the 1717 1650 kv at 16/50 on a not quite fully charged battery, it topped out at 58 mph / 93 kph. I've already geared up to an 18t pinion, looking forward to doing some more speed runs next time I'm out there!
The only casualties were some blades on my motor fan (neglected to install a proper screen and the rough tephra just destroyed it) and hub bearing decided to explode.
I love the variety of environments in California, and how quickly they can change. A couple weeks before this, I was snowed in during a ski trip in Lee Vining, and they shut down 395- perfect place to do some snow bashing! I don't have any pics of my Kraton in the fluffy stuff (was having too much fun), but this is what the highway looked like for the snow bash:
As long as I can fit in in the car, I think my Kraton will be a staple to bring with when I go camping/hiking now.
