Kraton Kraton 8s issues / troubleshooting consolidation.

[Cr3pitus]

Wellllll...
Esc seems to have spontaneously crapped the bed. Fortuitously I ordered a leopard bl5 (hw max5) that will be here on Tuesday. Today I went out to have just some fun field running, no changes made to anything since the last run, and the esc died in between turning it on and putting on the body. Turned on the radio, plugged in batteries, turned on esc, put in 2 body clips and the esc turned off. No lights just full off. Went to turn it on - no power. Push power again, about 1.5 spins of the fans and then immediately off again before startup tones even have a chance to go off. Seems dead? Stock electronics besides receiver. Guess I'll be calling horizon on Tuesday.

 

[DoNoHarm]

Wellllll...
Esc seems to have spontaneously crapped the bed. Fortuitously I ordered a leopard bl5 (hw max5) that will be here on Tuesday. Today I went out to have just some fun field running, no changes made to anything since the last run, and the esc died in between turning it on and putting on the body. Turned on the radio, plugged in batteries, turned on esc, put in 2 body clips and the esc turned off. No lights just full off. Went to turn it on - no power. Push power again, about 1.5 spins of the fans and then immediately off again before startup tones even have a chance to go off. Seems dead? Stock electronics besides servo. Guess I'll be calling horizon on Tuesday.

Do any of your batteries have a bad connection? What noise did both escs make when they died?

 

[Cr3pitus]

Do any of your batteries have a bad connection? What noise did both escs make when they died?

Checked every pack when I drove home on the iCharger and every pack is in fine shape. If I push the on button, the fan wont make even a full rotation before turning off. If I push on really fast like 5 times in a row it will stay on but only for about 30 seconds and then it will shut off again. There are no tones or lights when it goes off. If I spam the on button like mentioned it goes through the normal startup tones - just doesn't last more than 30 seconds.

 

[Kiwi]

Thought I’d give you a little heads up to watch out for the through chassis screws that go into your steering bellcrank, they can come undone quite easily causing steering issues and at same time I noticed one of my pivot balls steering turnbuckle side had undone aswell. Both items pictured below.

 

[Cr3pitus]

Update on the ESC-
Horizon just emailed me back and have ordered me a replacement - but they are out of stock so not sure when it will actually ship out. Lame that stock is out, cool that they are replacing without hassle.

 

[MyZuC]

Has anyone noticed the center rear out drive axle wobbles? Similar to the issue the infraction/limitless have. Mine is slightly bent and I've only ran it once in my driveway since I got it Christmas day.

 

[bicketybam]

Has anyone noticed the center rear out drive axle wobbles? Similar to the issue the infraction/limitless have. Mine is slightly bent and I've only ran it once in my driveway since I got it Christmas day.

Mine does a little but I'm not concerned. They should have made that one thicker though.

 

[MyZuC]

Mine does a little but I'm not concerned. They should have made that one thicker though.

Maybe it's not as big an issue as it was for the infraction. The wobble would cause bearing failure at high speeds, but I'm geared for 55mph max on the K8s. I would buy a thicker axle if one hits the market, just for piece of mind.

 

[Cr3pitus]

Maybe it's not as big an issue as it was for the infraction. The wobble would cause bearing failure at high speeds, but I'm geared for 55mph max on the K8s. I would buy a thicker axle if one hits the market, just for piece of mind.

Yeah I think we all have it after the first medium jump, but agree with the sentiment that it shouldn't really matter in this car.

 

[Cr3pitus]

Just an update, still waiting on the ESC, currently horizon claims back order until mid to late March holy F...
Glad I had the bl5 around.

 

[Cr3pitus]

Just a follow up post about the esc - if you have anything you are going to warranty, check on the horizon site first for parts availability. If it's not in stock at the moment you're not going to get it for a while.

 

[Cr3pitus]

Just a follow up post about the esc - if you have anything you are going to warranty, check on the horizon site first for parts availability. If it's not in stock at the moment you're not going to get it for a while.

It has now been 52 business days since the initial response from horizon that they were going to send out a replacement esc, and I still have no esc despite the part number on horizons website showing as in stock. Sent another email today. Must say I am pretty dissatisfied with the service this time around. Chinese New Year and covid-19 of course caused understandable delays - but its not ok if they have the part in stock and are apparently able to sell it, just not filling the warranty claim. If I didnt have something else to put in this would be like 70+ days with a non functional k8.
Edit: it came today finally (13APR2020), with an order date on the invoice of the 9th. Horizon customer service claims it was ordered the 23rd but their paper says otherwise. Clearly someone just forgot eventually and if I hadn't continued to pester it would have been lost in the sea. At least now I can put my escs back where they belong now and have all cars up.

 

[Fabioesc]

Did any one bend the center brace ? Or the chassi? Because I did at the first jump.

 

[KevinC]

Did any one bend the center brace ? Or the chassi? Because I did at the first jump.

Tons of guys have done both.

 

[Fabioesc]

Tons of guys have done both.

I one of them. I have bought the new center chassi tower , center brace and lower brace

 

[Tigertank0605]

Horizon finally responded about my customer service request for the shock. Took them 4.5 says to update the ticket, still don't know what they're going to do but I will keep the thread updated on it as I suspect others will have the same issue besides me and Jexz.

Also I found the squeaky thing, it was plastic on plastic at the a arm to diff housing. Anyone have a lube recommendation besides wd40 in there? Might try boeshield or an evaporative wax mtb chain lube so it lasts more than one pack.

Hi. I live in North Iowa. It's cold needless to say. I use Tri-lube on my finally CP helis tail rudders so I tried it on the control arm squeak. It works but have to reapply every 4 or 5 runs. I use the spray type or the dripper type. Both work. Hope it helps you too.

 

[Kneesliding]

Horizon here in Europe sucks...

Had the usual bolt snap on the center drive.. you guys in the US seem to get replacement units.

I got told by German support I should be more careful

 

[Kneesliding]

Heres the mail I got...

Hello Peter

We have received your message. With screw connections in metal housings, you must always assume that the screws are inserted with screw lock (Loctite). Only by careful and sensitive turning with the absolutely suitable tool one should loosen such connections.
If there are still remnants of the screws in the thread and you can grab the remnants with a sturdy pair of pliers, then you should heat the housing in the area of the screw with a lighter and slowly unscrew the screw. But this only works if no plastic parts are attached anymore!

Kind regards / Kind Regards

My reply was along the lines of no poop Sherlock....

 

[Hammer Down]

Heres the mail I got...

Hello Peter

We have received your message. With screw connections in metal housings, you must always assume that the screws are inserted with screw lock (Loctite). Only by careful and sensitive turning with the absolutely suitable tool one should loosen such connections.
If there are still remnants of the screws in the thread and you can grab the remnants with a sturdy pair of pliers, then you should heat the housing in the area of the screw with a lighter and slowly unscrew the screw. But this only works if no plastic parts are attached anymore!

Kind regards / Kind Regards

My reply was along the lines of no poop Sherlock....

What a bunch of bull !

 

[Tigertank0605]

I haven't been on in a while but this chat always gets checked. I have babied this car since day one when I broke an upper control arm and then a week later snapped the motor shaft off clean off at the "Safe- D". Jumped maybe 3 or 4 times. M2C everything just to keep this poorly designed glass bazooka of a truck together. I have many vehicles in several different classes from crawler to truggy to rock bouncer to speed runner. Maybe it's just my bad luck but then I see the same issues with alot of people. Its been a rough year with Castle too. I've been waiting over a month to hear anything about my 2 week old XLX2 that just went poof for no reason. Arms/Horizon hobby should've stuck with 1/8 scale where Arrma dominated. I've spent well towards 3500 on this truck. Lots of upgrades but mostly repairs. 34 rear axles?!?! I've payed for the right to my opinion. This is one of the worst rc vehicles of this decade and my worst to date. I'd buy something that isn't Horizon if I could. Cross rc, Traxxas maybe.....ummm........I can't really think of any others anymore. They haven't left us many choices. Sorry if this offends some. Cheers. I'm gonna go drive my Trx6. Its the only vehicle that isn't broken.....