KRATON ... From a box of parts, Parts purchased but never used ... Lots of Custom work.

[Big Kid]

This started after watching my 35 yr old son Play with and modify his Kraton over the past 6 years or so. Along side him 5+ years of doing similar to a Typhon as viewed here: Modified Typhon & here: More upgrades
So in these past years as my son purchased parts and pieces, some of it was not used for one reason or another, or swaped out for an upgrade. We had a used belly pan & shock towers, Diff cases & differentials F-R-C off the typhons due to those have LSD's now Good but loose on pivot pin A-arms etc, OEM 185 ESC and 2050 motor etc ... tho we're starting out with 2350 for 4S running.

So starting with a perfectly good Early Gen pan, The Diffs got serviced and outputs modified as in the Typhon build referenced above. The diff cases were the webbing reinforced newer versions.
Going to E-bay we found Brand New G5 or EXB take off parts lots ... All the plastics w/o A-arms, Full sets of drive shafts & axles, Steering rack assembly etc made for a HUGE contribution and a major $$$ savings from buying piece by piece what would be needed for completion.

Made up rear wing support struts, Placed PEEK bearings in all the A-arms tightening them up, PEEK bearings in the steering linkages too. Fabricated lots of smalls at hardware attachment points adding MUCH greater integrity threw out the build .. many can't be externally seen.
The inexpensive GPM shocks were NEW from my son, OK to get it going. Reworked the pivot bearings at each end, which should help them from egging out

*Note: some parts fitted when pictures taken did not remain or were further modified before final assembly

We're still waiting on some parts such as chassis braces, Front upper a-arm pins, wheels and some misc smalls ... but we're close, Thread will continue as we move along ...

PEEK inserts in A-arms .... There 1/4" long pressed into an oversize counter bore machined in on the Milling machine.
F & R Diff Gears and center, along with housings also received tight tolerance PEEK bearings.
Output cups all around got a stack of o-rings that fit just right keeping out the dirt !!! * 5+ rough years of the same in the typhon and Zero wear noted !!

 

[Luke66]

looks spicy!

 

[Big Kid]

Not sure what Body this is, but it fits and was repairable on some cracks using G6000 ( Goop ) on the inside
We're using Hot racing TYPHON Hubs & Axels so our width is going to be a tad narrower ( @ 1" ) and planning on using @ 125mm TRUGGY wheels in lieu of the OEM @ 155mm size.
Motor is a 2350kv that came from the Typhon when upgrading ... Plan on this being a 4S battery rig so this should be a pretty hot & fast runner !!
* The Battery tray being the most recent style ... Took 5 extra holes in the rear section to be drilled threw pan & countersunk on bottom side ... No issue doing so.

 

[Luke66]

looks like you've got a talion body goin on there.

 

[Rowdyray]

That's awesome! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Big Kid]

Here is the powerplant as we're starting out ... GPM quick diff access motor mount. Motor wired up to speed controller on a Tri 3 wire connector that took a little mod to deal with the 10 AWG wire. 35mm Rocket fans on SC an well heat sink on motor. Motor fan to speed controller, SC fan to 3rd channel on Receiver.
13t / 50t gearing to get us going, May want 12t or 14t pending tire diameter we end up with ultimately.

Steering ... 1 piece Billet servo mount with SAVOX TI gear Coreless high torque. Secondary adjustable servo saver on servo, Mix & match Red/Blue on Horns / Ackerman, having Ball bearings on posts shimmed with stainless .002 - .003" washers for ZERO Up/Down slop. Ackerman also has PEEK bearings in lieu of Hard steel or brass bushing.
Modified "HR" link with PEEK bearing material each end keeping attachment low & tight to horns.

Top plate is .125" 7075 Aluminum & solid across the top ( No cut outs ) HR chassis brace plate on top.

 

[Dan B.]

Nice work, man! Not bad for a parts bin rig!

 

[Big Kid]

The other day when getting to the Rear hub lowers and prepping for the front top a-arms ( Waiting on the screws ) we made up some nice wear resistant shim washers of various thickness. ( Again love that PEEK material ! )
It allows for nice gap free fit and still allows free motion under light tension when the correct thickness's are in place
Just prior to assembly the pins / pivot screws as well the bores they go into get sprayed down with Aerosol graphite & allowed to dry a couple minuets.

 

[Dan B.]

I use PTFE shims. Self lubricaring, and come in a variety of sizes. I’ll have to research that Peek stuff. They look like paper rings. Do they hold up well?

 

[Big Kid]

I use PTFE shims. Self lubricaring, and come in a variety of sizes. I’ll have to research that Peek stuff. They look like paper rings. Do they hold up well?

Peek has exceptional self lubrication properties while maintaining incredible wear resistance and high impact resistance
The material holds up Very very very well.

Issue with PTFE ( Teflon ) is it's SOFT and used in a dirty environment wears rather quickly
Delrin / Acetal is not that good of a choice when abrasion is very high ...
NYLON can work very well being IMO second to PEEK for some applications.

 

[Dan B.]

Peek has exceptional self lubrication properties while maintaining incredible wear resistance and high impact resistance
The material holds up Very very very well.

Issue with PTFE ( Teflon ) is it's SOFT and used in a dirty environment wears rather quickly
Delrin / Acetal is not that good of a choice when abrasion is very high ...
NYLON can work very well being IMO second to PEEK for some applications.

I really only shim everything in my street cars, so not nearly as dirty. As often as I would do teardowns (1-2 times a season) the teflon shims work great and are replaced with each service, as tolerances change.

 

[332_RC]

I use PTFE shims. Self lubricaring, and come in a variety of sizes. I’ll have to research that Peek stuff. They look like paper rings. Do they hold up well?

PEEK is one of the best of not the best plastic available. It's awesome stuff. I'm a machinist & have worked with PEEK & it's great. I also run the Teflon PTFE shims / washers in my 6s rigs on the rear hubs & front upper A arms. That works great too.

 

[Dan B.]

PEEK is one of the best of not the best plastic available. It's awesome stuff. I'm a machinist & have worked with PEEK & it's great. I also run the Teflon PTFE shims / washers in my 6s rigs on the rear hubs & front upper A arms. That works great too.

I’llhave to check out that PEEK for sure. I never heard of it before this post.

 

[Big Kid]

In an attempt to save the used & cracked body ... A very GHETTO modification to add some front to back Stiffness / Rigidity added was done

Using some aluminum Arrow shaft and G6000 adhesive, 2 struts tack glued in place. Indeed the body is less bouncy / flimsy went secured to the hold down posts.
Weight added in grams as arrow shaft is super light, yet VERY stiff ..... Sinful hack being too cheap to buy a Kraton body just yet

CA glued in some hobby foam skirts on lower edges as body was sitting a tad high close to a gap for debris to easily enter.

 

[Big Kid]

Thanks to the 1" bench belt sander .... Profiling the front inner wheel well debris deflectors was a trial fit then sand / repeat process until body went on w/o deflector contact, or in this case just very close.
Sadly the upper areas remain having some gap as well a bit on the side ... O'well. It if far better than the gaping hole present w/o them in place

We'll have the Backflip LP's here mid week ... so a tire of @ 150mm Still on the fence with the 2350kv on 4S with this rig ?

 

[Big Kid]

Chassis braces got here yesterday, front/top a-arm screws too ... Just waiting on the aluminum rear support block before we button it up.
Backflips LP's by weeks end & we're done !!!

 

[Big Kid]

Today my son stopped by & dropped off some SS steering post shims. He purchased a couple bags ( 100ea ) of .002" and .004"
There I.D. slides over the steel post & there O..D. goes over the bearing completely.
In playing a bit adding shims one post at a time, tightening down a bare plate while checking for binding, once to tight take a shim or 2 out, was able to remove 95% of the Up/Down slop of the linkage horn / servo saver. Kept a very small amount of wiggle to deal with temp shift & dirt.
** Big plus is now there will be zero wear on the bottom side of plate having the shim/s act as thrust washers

Rear hanger came today ... so the front end is now finished. * Again PEEK washers used on either side of arm to get a slop-less fit with no forward/back motion.
Notice the small shim on center strut mount to scope tower ... Yup, had gap so we filled it so the two parts firmly touch.

Shim washer resting there was simply dropped & replaced with another of equal thickness

 

[Big Kid]

Got it DONE !!!
Still no wheels delivered, so stopped by my Sons house and grabbed his OEM originals which had nearly no tread left.
Got to do the first shake down run on a 6500 3S 100C
Was not expecting the speed it has on the 13t pinion. This thing is going to fly on 4S !!! That 2350 Toro 8X motor allway had some punch on top .. it's still there.
Hope the Backflip LP's make it by the weekend !! I wanna play !!!

Note the Blue hobby foam skirt on body ... no rocks inside. Also added Hobby foam skirts on the rear to deflect debris from entering chassis from the rear due to tire roost.

 

[Rowdyray]

You sound like a kid on Christmas morning. We've all been there. Patience, grasshopper. Lol.

Looking great. Love it when a plan comes together.

 

[Big Kid]

Well after a hour or so of crawling it around, some speedy running about ... The SAVOX 1256TG servo with @ 270 in/oz of torque @ 6v ... IS NOT ENOUGH
So, it went back into the Typhon buggy and my New power hobby 729 MBL with its 440 in/oz @ 6v went in ... Now that works great !!!