Kraton First 6s Arrma owner (v4 kraton)

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Arrma RC's
  1. Granite
  2. Kraton 6s
do have another thread regarding a few questions, but wanted to make a build thread/log for it.
recently purchased a Arrma Kraton 6s V4 used.
the bad: when received, the rear shock tower was bent, one of the tread lugs of the tire was ripped off, foams on 2 of the wheels had separated inside the tire, rear wing missing, as expected with V4, had the SXT RX/TX, and as later figured out bumper was missing 5 of the 9 total screws (EXB Bumper)
the good:
came with 7 3s batteries (sadly 4 are EC3 connectors), EXB Bumper, came with a few extra front body mounts, and other misc parts. oh yeah and came with a Granite 3s BLX too.

started with straightening out the shock tower, and took for a test run, ran great, no funny sounds, electronics worked great, nothing got hot, motor did get warm though, but not alarmingly. on the first bash ended up doing an endo and breaking off the wing mounts, front bumper pulled through on the bottom as i didnt realize it was missing many of the screws.

future plans:
so to start given i don't know its maintenance history, decided to get a bearing kit for it through Fast Eddy bearings - urgent
got new diff fluids- planning on doing the diffs as soon as bearings come in - urgent
got a new wing mount, and repurposed a wing that i had laying around (arrma wing going to be purchased soon)- non urgent
going to purchase new wheels ( at least a pair to replace the damaged ones) - going to run the existing for now, semi-urgent
replace the RX/TX- urgent
replace the chassis braces with aluminum ones, most likely EXB, or m2c. -not urgent
replace chassis with exb -not urgent
i want to get a fan system for the motor just as an added cooling, going to keep stock gearing, plenty fast as it is. -not urgent

overall very happy with the purchase, and excited to get my start in the arrma 6s scene. will post pictures and updates as they come up
thank you for reading along.
 
M2C Chassis and Braces, Skip the EXB stuff. When the time comes. Well worth the few extra coins. 👍
Solder some XT90 or EC5 connectors(whichever your ESC uses) onto those 4 EC3 Lipos.👍 An easy one. Lipos don't come cheap. Connectors do.
For my diffs, I run 60k fr-500k center- 30k Rr.
Stock is 10k-100k-10k FWIW. Do you have a manual with it?
If not, go to Arrma-RC.com and locate and browse the Blowup diagram and download the Manual as well. It's your rigs bible.
Yea, an upgrade radio would be nice for sure.
Go to JennysRC.com to get the complete hardware kit. And other parts as needed. The cheapest way to have fasteners on hand. You will need them here and there.
Consider RPM A-Arms and Wing mounts. Boil the RPM Nylon stuff in water and they will remain flexible and less chance of cracking.
Good luck.
Nice score.👍:cool:
 
M2C Chassis and Braces, Skip the EXB stuff. When the time comes. Well worth the few extra coins. 👍
Solder some XT90 or EC5 connectors(whichever your ESC uses) onto those 4 EC3 Lipos.👍 An easy one. Lipos don't come cheap. Connectors do.
For my diffs, I run 60k fr-500k center- 30k Rr.
Stock is 10k-100k-10k FWIW. Do you have a manual with it?
If not, go to Arrma-RC.com and locate and browse the Blowup diagram and download the Manual as well. It's your rigs bible.
Yea, an upgrade radio would be nice for sure.
Go to JennysRC.com to get the complete hardware kit. And other parts as needed. The cheapest way to have fasteners on hand. You will need them here and there.
Consider RPM A-Arms and Wing mounts. Boil the RPM Nylon stuff in water and they will remain flexible and less chance of cracking.
Good luck.
Nice score.👍:cool:
appreciate the insight, don't know that i am ever going to get to the point of needing to drop the extra 100$ for the chassis itself, i just don't send it that hard to be worth it, the extra few bucks in my case for the chassis braces, definitely seems worth it.
yeah that is the plan with the connectors, i still don't trust myself with soldering battery connectors, ESC's and motors, can do, but with live load behind what im soldering... makes me nervous lol, going to take it to the LHS and see if he can do it for me.
have some 30k, 50k, and 200k for the diffs, waiting on bearings though, going to replace all the bearings as i go, tracking says monday :)
yeah, have a manual, and been scanning the exploded view quite often, mostly trying to compare v4 and v5 parts, the interactive exploded view is so very nice!
good tip on the hardware, shop with them whenever they have parts in, but sadly seem to be sold out of alot of stuff, haven't checked the hardware kit yet.
already have RPM on the front, doing very well, plan to upgrade the rears either as v5 is released, or when the stock breaks, whichever first lol

again thank you for the insight, it is very much appreciated :)
 
Just make sure to not solder a lipo when it is fully charged and you are good. Don't disconnect both lipo leads at one time. So there can't be 2 leads to accidently touch. Only solder one lead at a time. So it won't short out. Been there. Watch some Lipo soldering videos. It can be done safely. I solder brand new lipos all the time. I usually buy what ever lipo I want regardless of the type of connector if it is a good deal or good spec lipo. I don't let the wrong connector be a deal breaker.
Just me.
 
now that bearings are out for delivery, started to work on getting a deep thorough clean.
was pretty embarrased the amount of mud and grime all over the truck, but didnt want to ruin the bearings before giving it a few test runs to make sure everything was in working order.
started with removing all the modules (battery holder, esc mount, servo mount, motor etc, then spraying it down with some simple green foaming crystal cleaner. cleaned the modules with some soap and water and toothbrush, scrubbing the inside of the battery tray, the velcro, etc.
foamed.jpg

you can see already the amount of dirt and grime came off during the spray down.
then came the blowing off all the cleaner and rinsing off:
after blown off.jpg

looks almost brand new for the most part.
got it back home and started installing the modules again, temp installed the motor as i know i am going to be removing the center diff to service and replace bearings.
looks like a whole different truck.
assembled.jpg

some reason it feels like the right rear shock is very springy, feels like really lightweight shock oil, i know the previous owner had said at one point there was an issue with one of the shocks, so im thinking he might have rebuilt one and used a different oil.
have to get some more shock oil (didnt know i was out of 60wt), gonna get more today hopefully and service the shocks as well.
from what im reading 60wt in the rear and 70wt up front, is this still the recommended? not a "send it" basher, but i do like catching some air.
 
well started into the rear diff, glad i did but unfortunately going to be waiting to get some parts unless my LHS happens to have them.
shaft on one of the out-drives ended up being snapped upon disassembly, and fluid definitely needed changed.
yes it did have the shim there, removed it for picture lol
rear diff snapped pin.jpg
rear diff snapped pin2.jpg
 
update: got everything cleaned up, mocked together for now, ordered some of those pins online, but still hoping my LHS has some.
also... man these input pinions are held on hard, the grub screw came out easy enough, but i cant get the cup off the pinion gear shaft. going to have to attempt to dissasembly tomorrow when i can try maybe getting a punch or something and see if can tap the pinion through? kind of at a loss.
 
update 4/2/2021
diffs have been gone through, shimmed as needed, front took 1 extra shim on each spider gear shaft, rear was actually nice and tight as is, adding a shim was too tight, center was tight at factory as well. the diff cup managed to break off the metal end somehow, so that was replaced, replaced the broken 2.25mm pin. bearings replaced throughout. LHS happened to have a Hot Racing rear brace so snatched that up and installed. figured out the front hinge pins were bent, got new and installed those as well, rear shocks serviced, added new 80wt oil, still need to do the front shocks.
went a bit deeper into it than i was expecting i would have to, but i am glad i did to prolong its life.
now just cant wait to really bash it!
 
update 4/17/2021
truck has been running great so far, super pleased with it. had a shock rod end break, probably because my lack of adjusting the droop correctly the first go around. got it fixed, and ordered some new parts as upgrades for if it happens again.
ended up breaking the hinge pin holder on the front, the upper rear one, ordered and installed the EXB one to put in its place.
ordered RPM rear arms as well, don't "need" them yet, but the front is already RPM, and it bothers me only half the truck having them.
was also able to find a wing in stock as well so that is ordered.
got a RPM front bumper as well and installed it on the rear of the truck for some added protection. really like having it back there, protects the wing mounts pretty well and has taken a few hits already.
 
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