Kraton Kraton EXB Brand new exb center diff clicking issue.

[MrXD]

So I was installing some new hot racing parts for the center diff mount and I noticed the center diff did not spin freely and had a clicking sound, I did alot of reading up on the issue and Im going to tear mine down and see whats going on with it, I do have some very slightly play with the diff cups moving in and out so I don't feel its the gears meshing to tightly together, the feel i get is like the lsd parts are the ones causing the problem. I will post more as I tear this down and examine it and try to see whats actually causing this and what I can do to remedy it before any parts or shims need to be ordered. If anyone here also ran into the same issue please post here what your issue was and what you did to fix it.

 

[AIan]

sounds odd your right

 

[Yas]

As you mentioned it needs a tear down. It could be that the LS plates or disks are round the wrong way or they just haven't been assembled properly. Worth watching if it's the first time rebuilding one of these LSDs:

 

[kreeg]

@MrXD Thank you for posting this issue. Please do post a follow-up. I look forward to your findings and possible solutions. Knowledge is power.

 

[jondilly1974]

So I was installing some new hot racing parts for the center diff mount and I noticed the center diff did not spin freely and had a clicking sound, I did alot of reading up on the issue and Im going to tear mine down and see whats going on with it, I do have some very slightly play with the diff cups moving in and out so I don't feel its the gears meshing to tightly together, the feel i get is like the lsd parts are the ones causing the problem. I will post more as I tear this down and examine it and try to see whats actually causing this and what I can do to remedy it before any parts or shims need to be ordered. If anyone here also ran into the same issue please post here what your issue was and what you did to fix it.

My guess is a poor assembly of the ring side LSD plates. This puts added pressure on the plates and likely the click you are hearing.

 

[MrXD]

So today when I got home I started the tear down of the diff, fluid was only about half filled, took everything apart and cleaned everything, no parts were broke and the ls plates were installed correctly and it did have the proper shims and in the right order, but I did notice alot of burrs on the ls plates and some burrs on the back side of the small spider gears, Im in the process right now using 800 to 2500 grit sandpaper to smooth all ls plates and the backside of spider gears till I get a smooth reflective finish. The ls plates I will be smoothing both sides of the plates, from what Im seeing here on the plates is the burrs are from when they were stamped out from the factory that made them the back side was not really deburred from the stamping process which in this case its causing alot of roughness to the surface of the next plate and before I started the sanding I placed the plates on a flat surface to check to see if they will sit flat and every one of them had a degree of wobble which can happen from the stamping process at the factory and being these are very thin pieces of metal. I will post more info as I go along as for now I got some sanding to do as it will be a little time comsuming for now, and I will try to get pics up of the finished plates and gears. Thanks everyone for your inputs much appreciated.

 

[MrXD]

Heres some of it done so far

 

[MrXD]

so after spending time smoothing out the lsd plates, it did smooth it out some but still has the roughness and I can see marks where the plates are polished and you can see where they are rubbing unevenly due to the plates not being perfectly flat, I will admit just my opinion the maufacturing on these parts is horrible. I even removed one shim from each side and it did nothing to really help it, looks like I just got a poorly assembled diff from arrma and im contemplating on making it an open diff, I used to run nitro 1/8 scale buggies and truggies and never had this much issue with a diff especially being a new diff, If I do convert it, Im just gonna do all three diffs to open and tune it with fluids. Im still going to work on this and see what else I can do with it, I will post more later.

 

[Yas]

I would just run it in... the diff action becomes smoother over time

 

[MrXD]

I just used my drill to spin the diff and as I was holding diff it was gettting really warm and you can hear it more, just doesn't sound good lol and thats just speed from a drill, I would hate to see how hot it got from running it full bore with 6s's, I may be wrong tho.

 

[jondilly1974]

I just used my drill to spin the diff and as I was holding diff it was gettting really warm and you can hear it more, just doesn't sound good lol and thats just speed from a drill, I would hate to see how hot it got from running it full bore with 6s's, I may be wrong tho.

Yeah that doesn’t sound good. You can also rearrange the plate order. That might help.

 

[Fatal]

I just got a new rear diff from JennysRC and I opened it up so I could change out the fluid to 30K. It had a slight noise as your center does. When I opened and inspected everything I noticed all the plates had rough edges on the rough side. Almost as if they punched the holes out rather then drilled them out. I too sanded them down as best I could. Filled the diff up and ran the car today. All seemed good so far. I will check the diff tomorrow but it does feel smoother.

 

[MrXD]

I finally got it to where its alot better than it was, I will run it first that way and if it doesn't smooth it out than I will change over to open diff.

 

[MrXD]

Does anyone know if the arrma brand red aluminum diff case will work in the kraton 6s EXB diffs? I noticed the EXB open diff still uses the 4 plates for the spider gears and I can see in the pictures Ive looked at, on how that would work or do you eliminate the 4 plates.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/arrma-6s-blx-metal-differential-case-red-ara220050/p-qqzkqqqalczxactz

 

[leroychurchill]

Does anyone know if the arrma brand red aluminum diff case will work in the kraton 6s EXB diffs? I noticed the EXB open diff still uses the 4 plates for the spider gears and I can see in the pictures Ive looked at, on how that would work or do you eliminate the 4 plates.

https://www.amainhobbies.com/arrma-6s-blx-metal-differential-case-red-ara220050/p-qqzkqqqalczxactz

That one will not work. You need this one --> https://www.horizonhobby.com/product/metal-diff-case-29mm/ARA311061.html

 

[MrXD]

Thank You for posting the right one, thank goodness I didnt order the ones I was looking at. You saved me brotha, much appreciated.

 

[MrXD]

So its been a minute since my last post on this thread, Ive tried to remedy my problem with the center diff and still it keeps grinding I've tried so many different ways to fix it and just cannot for the life of me see what's going on with it, so instead of buying a new one I emailed HH to see if they will warranty it (still waiting for reply), I've decide to go with open diffs on all 3 of the diffs. I've been doing my research on which diffs to go with and I'm going to use the ones they have in the kraton 6s blx model since its the same gear ratio and on top of that is spiral cut also, so I found new take offs on ebay from a reputable seller for really good prices for the whole housing complete and ready to drop in. So far I'm not a big fan of the lsd set-up but thats just me, I'd rather have the open diff set-up like all my other 1/8 scale rc's and even my new typhon 6s diffs were really good straight out the box. Hopefully HH warranties the diff, I'm going to pull all the exb diffs and parts for the drive train and sell them because after I get these new ones from ebay I'll have no use for them since exb's lsd's only work together as a set. Here's where I'm getting my new ones from on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392271485021?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
https://www.ebay.com/itm/333144282678?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

[Surchaufeur]

The LSD setup will always feel rpught and not amooth like peole think it should. Run it. The smotth side of the LSD always towards the spider can also be a diff cup issue. The gears are troo tightly messhed up do QC of the cup or you just squeezed the gasket way too much

So its been a minute since my last post on this thread, Ive tried to remedy my problem with the center diff and still it keeps grinding I've tried so many different ways to fix it and just cannot for the life of me see what's going on with it, so instead of buying a new one I emailed HH to see if they will warranty it (still waiting for reply), I've decide to go with open diffs on all 3 of the diffs. I've been doing my research on which diffs to go with and I'm going to use the ones they have in the kraton 6s blx model since its the same gear ratio and on top of that is spiral cut also, so I found new take offs on ebay from a reputable seller for really good prices for the whole housing complete and ready to drop in. So far I'm not a big fan of the lsd set-up but thats just me, I'd rather have the open diff set-up like all my other 1/8 scale rc's and even my new typhon 6s diffs were really good straight out the box. Hopefully HH warranties the diff, I'm going to pull all the exb diffs and parts for the drive train and sell them because after I get these new ones from ebay I'll have no use for them since exb's lsd's only work together as a set. Here's where I'm getting my new ones from on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/392271485021?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
https://www.ebay.com/itm/333144282678?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Arrma makes a open shim kit for the LSD thats what i run on all of mine
They will warranty it

 

[MrXD]

Well I did get my reply back from HH and I will say their customer support is really good and they gave me an order number and told me what the issue could be with the diff and they said they are going to send me a new one. Pretty glad to see they care about their customers and the products they sell. I let you all know how the new one is when I receive it, thanks for the replys and advice very much appreciated.

 

[MrXD]

Today I received the new diff from HH and boy is it night and day diffence from my original one, very smooth and no grinding or noises. Props to HH for their customer service and fast shipping. I really want to thank everyone here who chimed in to help me with my issue, very very much appreciated, arrma forum has definately made my return back to the hobby very exciting and easy with the help of this community, if you ever need any help with anything (I'll do my best) please hit me up anytime.