Senton How do the 3S BLX plastic gears hold up?

[iep]

Sorry, vague question I know.

I have a Kraton 6S which is a total blast but something about the stadium truck thing is very appealing. With the 6S senton discontinued and the Mojave never in stock, I guess that leaves the Senton 3S.

It looks very nice but I'm curious about how well the drive train holds up. Plastic diffs just seem a bit frightening. Has anyone had any issues or do they 'just work'.

Cheers.

 

[Jay R]

Mine are holding up fine and I haven't seen many posts here about problems so I'd say they are good enough. The spur gear on the other hand.... holds up fine till the motor bearings go, then it gets shredded.

 

[iep]

Mine are holding up fine and I haven't seen many posts here about problems so I'd say they are good enough. The spur gear on the other hand.... holds up fine till the motor bearings go, then it gets shredded.

I have heard rumors that the newer models have better bearings. But, that aside I guess we're saying the parts work as long as they remain correctly meshed.

After that it's just my usual Typhon vs Senton debate.

 

[Jay R]

Well, all the other bearings now come shielded which is great. The V3 now comes with a different motor (Spektrum rather than Arrma) but i think its a bit early to say if those bearings are actually better. It may even be the same motor just re-branded and with a smooth body.

Best bet is to put the o-ring on the motor shaft and foam tape the on the bottom of the clutch housing to stop any crap getting to the motor bearing in the first place.

 

[Yonic]

Driveline is completely fine. i have a 2yo Senton which i drive on 3s only and i just replaced the rear diff crown/pinion for the first time, and not because it stripped, just because the teeth became a bit thin and i didnt like the play, so i assumed it's going out soon anyway..

plastic spur require replacing every 4-6 month, but it so cheap and i like it better than the metal since its so much quieter.

So yeah, driveline is surprisingly good.

 

[Rlapre85]

Anyone have a link to the o ring on motor shaft and foam tape on the housing? I was planning on getting a 3s model soon and I don't want to wear out any parts prematurely.

Thanks

 

[Jay R]

O ring and tape. Both easy and both work really well.

This thread made me want to check my motor bearings and I'm glad I did, the 5x16x5 bearing nearest the pinion was sloppy as sh*t!

Debris and dust was still getting in and busting the bearing, so I've just done this mod using green slime, an o-ring and a washer I got from a hardware store ?‍?

I've gotten 5 good runs in, so I think the ESC is working. I decided it was time for the pivot ball and bearing swap, and check out how the seal did. It got a little of the sticky stuff from the tape in there, but no sand! I think I just didn't trim it as nice as I should have. No sand in there after 5 runs is great, so happy with that. This is how I'm going to trim it from now on. I line up the tape on the front side of the PM, then lay the extra over the rear. Then cut through the tape at the very edge of the plastic. I will run it a bunch more like this and report how it does.

View attachment 77017


I switched out all the bearings except the ones in the diffs. All bearings (stock shielded) looked fine. All I did to them previously was put a little marine grease on the outside to stop the sand from getting in. I thought some would at least be gritty, but no. It seems the ones in the power module really take a beating without the PM being sealed. They were literally getting locked in minutes.

I got a run in after adding the steering bearings, and HR pivot balls. I can't believe how much better it steers now! I thought it would help a bit, but it really is noticeable. Way more precise. It seems like the gyro works much better. Can't wait to get the 25KG servo and 124 servo saver I ordered.

I also cleaned up and topped off the shocks during the rebuild. Man, I should have done that sooner. They were all pretty low, and I don't think they were leaking. I always thought the shocks seemed weak., and I think they were low from the factory. You could drop it from a foot off the ground and it would easily bottom out. Now that I have them full they are way better. They don't bottom out so easily and you could see them doing a lot better over bumps.

Next up, I got a body and some MT tires on order. I also need to see if I can cut up a 2 liter bottle and put it under the dust cover so the sand doesn't "pool" on top of it. The motor is still getting pretty hot after a run, but not enough to trigger the thermal. Bigger tires may help (with appropriate gearing), as 1.8" wide tires really have to spin a lot to get it moving, and tend to dig into the sand.