Kraton Devin’s Kraton 6s EXB All Show, Plus Go!!!

[Dan B.]

If you would take the time to read about them on their website you would see that they are CNC machined and they also stamd behind their products and offer awesome customer support. Do some searching on the web about their Losi Monster Truck differential’s vs the Vitavon ones and you will quickly find out that Treal and Vitavon products are very comparable and both CNC machined not made out of cheap cast aluminum like the ones that you keep referring to. Plus this bulkhead has a oversized pinion bearing in it to make it stronger. Do you find that on any of the cheap knock offs that your referencing? And I’m not being hostile by the way I personally think your being ignorant by bashing someone’s products “because you think it looks similar to something other companies are selling” without taking a little time to research the company. Do yourself and others a favor next time by doing a little research about the manufacturer and read some reviews about their products, warranty and Customer service before you comment.

The specs are listed below and they speak for themselves

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I respect what you’re saying, and like I mentioned before I have no experience at all with Treal beyond knowing someone who has some of their stuff on his crawler and a couple of shout-outs from KT on YT. That said, I’m sort of in @Moirae ’s camp when it comes to new products, there’s an innate skepticism before you personally experience them or at least read a lot of posts about something coming from people with a lot of experience. No offense is meant here, so please relax a little bit and let this conversation continue without name calling and hostility. That’s why this forum exists. And welcome aboard, man!
Also, I know the Kraton has the longer stub axles so the knuckles aren’t a “universal” fit, but most of the other parts could be marketed to the entire 6s line for the most part, not just limited to Kraton.

 

[Devin]

I respect what you’re saying, and like I mentioned before I have no experience at all with Treal beyond knowing someone who has some of their stuff on his crawler and a couple of shout-outs from KT on YT. That said, I’m sort of in @Moirae ’s camp when it comes to new products, there’s an innate skepticism before you personally experience them or at least read a lot of posts about something coming from people with a lot of experience. No offense is meant here, so please relax a little bit and let this conversation continue without name calling and hostility. That’s why this forum exists. And welcome aboard, man!
Also, I know the Kraton has the longer stub axles so the knuckles aren’t a “universal” fit, but most of the other parts could be marketed to the entire 6s line for the most part, not just limited to Kraton.

Ok guys so I asked the people from Treal to comment on the quality of their products compared to what they call other “street over manufacturers” i.e. Ali Express and this is the response I got. I hope this clears some things up. I will have the parts in hand very soon by the way.

 

[Pablo1980]

If you watch kevin talbot on you tube he uses treal alot and the product looks amazing

 

[Dan B.]

If you watch kevin talbot on you tube he uses treal alot and the product looks amazing

Definitely favored by KT, and the stuff does really look nice. I never really paid too much attention though because I’m not a crawler guy. It would be nice to see them jump in to the 6s Arrma scene so there could be a high-end alternative to Vitavon, if the Treal stuff really does compare to it. They have a lot of homework to do though, at this stage it‘s apparent they don’t really know the line at all or they’d be marketing their bulkheads (for example) for multiple models. We‘ll see in time, I suppose. It’s very reasonably priced though, I’d probably give a couple of pieces a shot. More products in the market can’t be a bad thing, especially if the quality and tolerances are indeed near those of Vitavon at a much lower price point.

 

[Devin]

So I started de anodizing the shocks tonight with anticipation of the rest of my part showing up next week. I wasn’t going to polish them but after rubbing a a little bit of semi chrome polish on one of them I have now decided that I will.

 

[Dan B.]

Looks great, looking forward to seeing your build!

 

[Devin]

All the Treal parts showed up this morning for this build and a few others for a couple of my LMT’s. Now I’m just waiting on diff fluids, shock fluid and a couple other odds and ends that are coming from eBay later this week. The Treal parts look very nice and I unpacked one of the bulkheads to get a closer look at it as you can see in the picture. I really can’t say anything about the fitment, tolerances and durability yet. We will find out more about them as I get going on the build. I know that I have defended Treal against things that a few forum members said but I promise to give a honest opinion about their products through the build process and actual performance during usage. One thing I can see on the bulkheads “and I will try to take a picture so that everyone can see what I’m talking about” is small gap at the top off the bulkhead where the front cover screws in. I guess I can put a little black rtv silicone on it before final assembly to keep sand, dirt and water out of it, but I would rather it not be present at all. I would like to see the inside of one of the Vitavon’s to see if it’s the same. I can also see from the pictures that the Vitavon bulkheads have more material “which probably makes it stronger” where the lower suspension mounts screw in. The Vitavon’s are more than twice the price and look to me like they were completely re-engineered while the Treal ones look like they just duplicated the arrma bulkheads with machined 7075 Aluminum. I have the bulkhead to chassis gaskets that Basherqueen sells on order that are due to arrive later this week. I will say right now that any products that I’ve got from Basherqueen appear to be very high quality and the finish on her stuff is like a fine piece of jewelry.

More to come including a complete parts breakdown as I get going on the build.

Happy 4th to everybody

 

[Jeremy15086]

Nice build! I would consider trying those Treal products. I have already replace everything they make, except for the steering assembly, with HR or Arrma aluminum parts aready. Looking forward to seeing how they hold up! I do have a few things that are Hot Racing... To be honest I would rather have used something else. I don't feel their products are very high quality. Better then plastic and/or stamped steel but not 7075. If I break the HR parts I will upgrade them with something better...

 

[Dan B.]

So I started de anodizing the shocks tonight with anticipation of the rest of my part showing up next week. I wasn’t going to polish them but after rubbing a a little bit of semi chrome polish on one of them I have now decided that I will.

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Looks great!

Nice build! I would consider trying those Treal products. I have already replace everything they make, except for the steering assembly, with HR or Arrma aluminum parts aready. Looking forward to seeing how they hold up! I do have a few things that are Hot Racing... To be honest I would rather have used something else. I don't feel their products are very high quality. Better then plastic and/or stamped steel but not 7075. If I break the HR parts I will upgrade them with something better...

To be fair, I’ve actually had pretty good luck with hot racing products. Mos def not from the same planet as Vitavon, but not so heavy either. You can build a pretty fat pig pretty quick by going full-deck Vitavon.

 

[Jeremy15086]

Looks great!

To be fair, I’ve actually had pretty good luck with hot racing products. Mos def not from the same planet as Vitavon, but not so heavy either. You can build a pretty fat pig pretty quick by going full-deck Vitavon.

Yea, haven't had any issues so far. TBH I would have gone Vitavon but I have to mail order them and I can get HR from my LHS so they are MUCH easier to sneak by the wife!

 

[Devin]

Yea, haven't had any issues so far. TBH I would have gone Vitavon but I have to mail order them and I can get HR from my LHS so they are MUCH easier to sneak by the wife!

I’ve got a few HR parts coming for my build. For the most part I have been happy with their products, but I have never put them in a high stress environment like taking 30 foot jumps and stuff.
FWIW the Treal stuff I ordered came to my house DHL in less that a week from China. 4 days to be exact.

 

[Devin]

I finally made a little progress today on the build. I got the front torn down, front shocks polished and built with the M2C emulsion kit, front diff removed and rebuilt with Treal aluminum diff holder, M2C diff cups and Treal aluminum diff housing. I spent a good bit of time getting the mesh exactly where I wanted it because the larger bearing that came with the new diff housing wasn’t quite as thick as the original arrma one. Every time I tightened the set screw down on the pinion it was pushing the pinion cup away from the housing causing quite a bit of play so I tried shimming it to no avail. What finally fixed it was making the flat spot a little longer on the pinion with my grinder so that it wouldn’t slide back when tightened. I’m happy with it now. Here’s a few pictures of today’s work.

 

[Devin]

I noticed today that Treal raised the prices of their aluminum bulkheads form $45 to $60. I think that they must have done a little market research and went up on price because of that.

 

[Dan B.]

I noticed today that Treal raised the prices of their aluminum bulkheads form $45 to $60. I think that they must have done a little market research and went up on price because of that.

It looks like some pretty nice stuff. I hope they keep their prices down. They need to start researching the whole 6s Arrma line, too. Those diff carriers and bulkheads fit a lot more trucks than just the Kraton. In fact, outside of the hub carriers I think all the other products fit pretty much everything, and the diff housings fit all the 29mm EXB ones.

I finally made a little progress today on the build. I got the front torn down, front shocks polished and built with the M2C emulsion kit, front diff removed and rebuilt with Treal aluminum diff holder, M2C diff cups and Treal aluminum diff housing. I spent a good bit of time getting the mesh exactly where I wanted it because the larger bearing that came with the new diff housing wasn’t quite as thick as the original arrma one. Every time I tightened the set screw down on the pinion it was pushing the pinion cup away from the housing causing quite a bit of play so I tried shimming it to no avail. What finally fixed it was making the flat spot a little longer on the pinion with my grinder so that it wouldn’t slide back when tightened. I’m happy with it now. Here’s a few pictures of today’s work.

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Looking good!

 

[Senton_Prime]

Damn i got these same screws for me Kexb.. I needed 2 for the motor mount!? Guess we will find out how bad they suck since they will be put to the test!?

 

[Devin]

Damn i got these same screws for me Kexb.. I needed 2 for the motor mount!? Guess we will find out how bad they suck since they will be put to the test!?

I’m probably only going to use the stainless screws where Both materials are plastic at this point. I don’t want to chance them breaking off in something aluminum. Only reason I got them is because I read quite a few reviews on their website and they were good. I wonder if the team knk stainless fasteners are any better?

 

[Senton_Prime]

I’m probably only going to use the stainless screws where Both materials are plastic at this point. I don’t want to chance them breaking off in something aluminum. Only reason I got them is because I read quite a few reviews on their website and they were good. I wonder if the team knk stainless fasteners are any better?

Mine are already TL to the mount with a few runs on it!!

 

[Devin]

It looks like some pretty nice stuff. I hope they keep their prices down. They need to start researching the whole 6s Arrma line, too. Those diff carriers and bulkheads fit a lot more trucks than just the Kraton. In fact, outside of the hub carriers I think all the other products fit pretty much everything, and the diff housings fit all the 29mm EXB ones.

Looking good!

I explained to Wendy Chang via email that the products they had listed for the Kraton exb were inter changeable with alot of the other arrma vehicles and that I or some of the other forum members could make her a cross reference list if they would like us too. She did respond to my email but she didn’t say that she would like a list. I do see on their website that they changed it from the parts only fitting the exb to all kraton 6s. I have a good relationship with her and she’s given me discounts in the past when I’ve spent over $200. If someone wants to put a list together I will gladly approach her with it and I’m pretty sure get you a decent discount on their products.

 

[Senton_Prime]

I’m probably only going to use the stainless screws where Both materials are plastic at this point. I don’t want to chance them breaking off in something aluminum. Only reason I got them is because I read quite a few reviews on their website and they were good. I wonder if the team knk stainless fasteners are any better?

Nm i lied!! I bought the black hardened ones, prolly why I didn't get that RCscrewz brand!!

 

[Dan B.]

I’m probably only going to use the stainless screws where Both materials are plastic at this point. I don’t want to chance them breaking off in something aluminum. Only reason I got them is because I read quite a few reviews on their website and they were good. I wonder if the team knk stainless fasteners are any better?

I doubt you’ll find any stainless screws that even come close to the hardened steel ones. The stainless ones look good and don’t rust but are inherently softer than the Arrma ones, which are actually pretty good.