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

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I was going to buy a new one off eBay but I came across this new savage at a deal I couldn’t refuse

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Have not made much progress on the Kraton this weekend. Waiting on more parts from M2C and justbashit. I have been working on this Savage I just got though. Reefs 555 servo and proline trenchers installed. Waiting on center diff to come in the mail

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Have not made much progress on the Kraton this weekend. Waiting on more parts from M2C and justbashit. I have been working on this Savage I just got though. Reefs 555 servo and proline trenchers installed. Waiting on center diff to come in the mail

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I don't know about these and haven't heard much. Any good? I know the Savage used to be "The King" before the XMAXX came out. Interesting...
 
I don't know about these and haven't heard much. Any good? I know the Savage used to be "The King" before the XMAXX came out. Interesting...
HPI has been around for a long time but they about went under a few years back. From what I’ve read the brand was sold a couple times when they fell on hard times but now they are are on solid ground again. When I got in the hobby about 15 years ago they appealed to me because I’ve never been a Traxxas fan and they were about the best alternative out there. Keep in mind that this was before companies like Arrma and Tekno were making rc vehicles. I’ve always been pleased with anything I’ve bought from HPI as they did a lot of R&D before they released a product. I’m not bashing Arrma either but everyone knows that they have released quite a few RC’s with fundamental issues that could have been corrected with more R&D instead of going to market to fast and making the consumer the Guinea Pig. The whole HPI Vorza line of buggies were some of the toughest RTR bashers ever made and now they have updated the lineup and released a Vorza truggy too. Vorza’s now come in three models, the standard brushless Vorza, the S model brushless Vorza which has alot of aluminum components already installed, and the Vorza 4.6 which is a nitro version. They pretty much make something for everyone and though they are not cheap my experience has been that they need far less upgrades then an Arrma does to be something you can go out there and bash the hell out of and not have things constantly break. The only thing I don’t really care for are the Servos that come in HPI products but their ESC’s, motors and transmitters haven’t given me any issues that weren’t my own fault. That’s just my 2 cents.
 
After speaking with a few other Kraton owners I came to the conclusion that the stock input shaft cups are garbage. My front one has a wobble in it and appears to be bent or out of round and I found 3 other guys in the Arrma exb group on Facebook complaining of the same issue. Some people were saying just to run it the way it is but from experience I know that the problem will only get worse and quickly wear out the pinion bearing and potentially cause other issues. I don’t want these issues as I’m building something that’s got way too much money invested in it to potentially have a serious driveline vibration that will adversely effect performance.
My fix was to order M2c center drive shafts and input cups front and rear. That means that I’m going to be running everything M2c makes driveline wise except the driveshafts going to the wheels. I will probably upgrade those too at some point in the near future but those are easy to change out without major disassembly so I will stick with the stock ones for now.
 
After speaking with a few other Kraton owners I came to the conclusion that the stock input shaft cups are garbage. My front one has a wobble in it and appears to be bent or out of round and I found 3 other guys in the Arrma exb group on Facebook complaining of the same issue. Some people were saying just to run it the way it is but from experience I know that the problem will only get worse and quickly wear out the pinion bearing and potentially cause other issues. I don’t want these issues as I’m building something that’s got way too much money invested in it to potentially have a serious driveline vibration that will adversely effect performance.
My fix was to order M2c center drive shafts and input cups front and rear. That means that I’m going to be running everything M2c makes driveline wise except the driveshafts going to the wheels. I will probably upgrade those too at some point in the near future but those are easy to change out without major disassembly so I will stick with the stock ones for now.
It is the only thing I haven't done on my build. As soon as my stock break or bend I am ordering the M2C's as well. I also use panio wire for my diff cup pin.
 
I Got my m2c drive shafts and input cups in today, plus I did a little work on the build. First, I got the rear diff tore down, cleaned and ready for shimming and rebuilding with Treal aluminum diff housing and m2c diff cups. On a side note one of the round LSD discs was missing when I disassembled it “way to go Arrma” so I’m waiting for tower hobbies to respond and hopefully send me the missing parts. Seccond, I got the rear shocks disassembled, de anodized, polished and ready for rebuild with m2c components. I also got my BQ carbon esc plate in and a few things from justbashit yesterday.

The last thing I’m really waiting on is my cooling system from RC Cooling Solutions and he has it ready to ship out tomorrow. I’m going to be running my fans off a small CNHL 4s battery.

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I Got my m2c drive shafts and input cups in today, plus I did a little work on the build. First, I got the rear diff tore down, cleaned and ready for shimming and rebuilding with Treal aluminum diff housing and m2c diff cups. On a side note one of the round LSD discs was missing when I disassembled it “way to go Arrma” so I’m waiting for tower hobbies to respond and hopefully send me the missing parts. Seccond, I got the rear shocks disassembled, de anodized, polished and ready for rebuild with m2c components. I also got my BQ carbon esc plate in and a few things from justbashit yesterday.

The last thing I’m really waiting on is my cooling system from RC Cooling Solutions and he has it ready to ship out tomorrow. I’m going to be running my fans off a small CNHL 4s battery.

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What fans are those? BTW that's for the Treal info. Just installed my Treal steering rack today. Shits tight... litterally. 😆
 
What fans are those? BTW that's for the Treal info. Just installed my Treal steering rack today. Shits tight... litterally. 😆
Your welcome on the Treal tip and the fans are 40mm high speed fans. I got them from James Broadway @ RC Cooling Solutions. You can check his products out over on Facebook. Nice guy who makes nice stuff at a very reasonable price.
 
Ok guys so I’m in the process of shimming my rear diff and with one shim the ring gear is almost perfect. It rotates smoothly with no free play, but there is on spot during rotation that is a little bit tight but I’m not concerned about that as it should wear in during break in. On the pinion it self I’ve had to add 3 ARA709057 to the outside where the input cup mounts because every time I go to tighten down the set screw it pushes it back on the shaft causing free play. The shaft has notched flat spot on one side and on the other side The whole shaft is flat. What’s happening is that the notch isn’t big enough and it moves the cup every time you tighten it. I could just rotate the shaft and put my set screw on the side that’s completely flat but I wanted to put it back like it came from the factory because it may be that way for balance purposes. I know that I may be overthinking this but I really want to get it right the first time and not have to go back into it later. I welcome advice from anyone else that has dealt with this issue. My fix on the front “before I had the correct shims was to grind the notch a little bit bigger which seems to have worked but since I’ve got to go back in the front now to install a new m2c center shaft and input cup I will probably shim it the same way as I’ve done the rear. You can see where I’m pointing to in the picture, that’s where I added the 3 shims.

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Awesome build!
Also, I have 2 "Trealed Up" LMT's and they can take a hell of a beating now haha.
 
Little more progress. Got the 3DRC wing mount fitted along with the the m2c rear shock tower brace and chassis support. I also installed a HR cross brace mount and BQ rear shock tower. I’ve got the holes marked on the carbon fiber for drilling and I will pick up there tomorrow.

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I’m in the process of rebuilding the rear of the Kraton and I just have to say that these Treal rear hubs are 10 times better than the stock ones. They come with 3 bearings and they are all significantly bigger than stock. Here’s a picture of the new one with the original bearings for comparison. These bearings also feel a very good quality and they have stamp on them made in Germany. Treal rear hubs, Basherqueen carbon fiber rear A arm guards and justbashit +10mm hubs. Looking sexy as hell if I must say so myself

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I’m in the process of rebuilding the rear of the Kraton and I just have to say that these Treal rear hubs are 10 times better than the stock ones. They come with 3 bearings and they are all significantly bigger than stock. Here’s a picture of the new one with the original bearings for comparison. These bearings also feel a very good quality and they have stamp on them made in Germany.

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FAG bearings. Treal made a good choice. One of the biggest manufacturers of bearings in the world. If you take the FAG number off these you can order them directly from many sources.
 
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