Kraton Kraton must buy parts/spares?

[HansDampf]

Had the truck 3 days now, doing a strip down to give it a clean and just learn how it comes appart for when I need to fix it.
But what parts do you need to have on hand, like do gears strip a lot (happed all the time on my old truck) or any upgrades that are a must out of the box.
While I'm asking, are RC car services a thing that hobby shops do if so what tends to be done and how much would the labour cost be? (I'm a bike mechanic so in my mind I'm drawing a lot of parallels)
And what tools do you guys all use, I need new ones anyway as my hex bits are going a bit round so I keep stripping heads, and what do you lot think of those small electronic drivers, they seem like they could speed up some work?
Thanks guys

 

[FlipSide]

If you are a bike mechanic, you’ll find that RC wrenching is easier and less frustrating than bikes. That’s my experience at least. The 3S platform is dead easy to work on. I guess the 4S will be somewhat similar. The 6S line is more involved, with a lot of metal parts for which screws were bathed in red locktite prior to installation at the factory.

The tools you absolutely need IMO:
- Hex drivers: 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5mm (3.0 nice to have, but rarely needed). Buy good quality. MIP are well regarded.
- Nut drivers. (4.0, 5.0, 5.5,and 7.0 mm)
- Little butane torch or soldering iron to heat the locktited screws.
- Needle nose pliers
- Headlamp (I use a Petzl LED lamp from my camping gear)
- Hobby knife
- Blue locktite.
- Good quality grease

Not mandatory, but nice to have:
- Electric screwdriver with the MIP speed bits. In my mind, this is a game changer for the overall wrenching experience. It is not needed, but I strongly recommended adding this if you have the funds. I have no patience to screw/unscrew 16-20mm screws by hand.
- Air compressor. Very usefull for cleaning and drying the truck.
- One thing I don’t have, but could be handy, is shock shaft pliers, or whatever is called the tool to hold the shock shaft when you disassemble it.
- Soldering iron, if you want to change battery connectors and stuff like that.

 

[HansDampf]

If you are a bike mechanic, you’ll find that RC wrenching is easier and less frustrating than bikes. That’s my experience at least. The 3S platform is dead easy to work on. I guess the 4S will be somewhat similar. The 6S line is more involved, with a lot of metal parts for which screws were bathed in red locktite prior to installation at the factory.

The tools you absolutely need IMO:
- Hex drivers: 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5mm (3.0 nice to have, but rarely needed). Buy good quality. MIP are well regarded.
- Nut drivers. (4.0, 5.0, 5.5,and 7.0 mm)
- Little butane torch or soldering iron to heat the locktited screws.
- Needle nose pliers
- Headlamp (I use a Petzl LED lamp from my camping gear)
- Hobby knife
- Blue locktite.
- Good quality grease

Not mandatory, but nice to have:
- Electric screwdriver with the MIP speed bits. In my mind, this is a game changer for the overall wrenching experience. It is not needed, but I strongly recommended adding this if you have the funds. I have no patience to screw/unscrew 16-20mm screws by hand.
- Air compressor. Very usefull for cleaning and drying the truck.
- One thing I don’t have, but could be handy, is shock shaft pliers, or whatever is called the tool to hold the shock shaft when you disassemble it.
- Soldering iron, if you want to change battery connectors and stuff like that.

Ah ok, well I have most of all that already!
I'll grab those hex drives when I can and maybe the electric driver too (the only 2 I don't have right now).
But to be honest I think I like bikes more, bigger parts are easier to work with and a bit less fiddley, also they are very open so you can reach every without taking much appart (also cleaning them is much easier) this could just be cos I work on bikes all the time but who knows

 

[Aive]

Hex drivers, checkout the Wera Hex+ ones, I find these to be great value versus MIP.

And I swear a lot less working on RC than my bike

Electric driver - I use a cheap one from IKEA and have bought these, waiting for them to arrive: https://www.banggood.com/RJX-4pcs-M...p-1185249.html?rmmds=myorder&cur_warehouse=CN

I only use the driver to save a bit of labour - not for torquing-up or loosening. It really helps, as long as you can get the driver into position ><

 

[HansDampf]

Hex drivers, checkout the Wera Hex+ ones, I find these to be great value versus MIP.

And I swear a lot less working on RC than my bike

I have heard of were we have a few of their tools in the bike shop, they where going to be my first pick.
And about working on bikes, I guess I tend to be working with people so it's kinda chill, especially with some music, but we are all different, right?

 

[FlipSide]

I love working on my bikes, I don't have to do nearly as much as I used to. I am old school and I was riding DH in the early 2000's. You needed a bench grinder and a hammer to fit a chainguide in those days...

Actually, wrenching on RC cars sort of replaces the wrenching I don't do anymore on my bikes since they're now so reliable.

I agree with you that bike are bigger, so it's easier. True, but you often need a tool to extract bearings, another one to press the bearings, rear shocks are not user serviceable, like many fork cartridges as well, brake bleeding is always frustrating (for me...I always manage to do it, but I hate it). ...and let's talk about the internal cable routing. You need friends and music to endure such a chore! There are also now about 159 headset standards, several hub spacing standards...so I can't mix and match my bike parts on all my different bikes like I used to.

I still love riding, but I don't work on the bikes for fun anymore. I send it in the shop every winter so that my bike mechanic friend can do a complete overhaul...and everybody is happy!

 

[HansDampf]

I love working on my bikes, I don't have to do nearly as much as I used to. I am old school and I was riding DH in the early 2000's. You needed a bench grinder and a hammer to fit a chainguide in those days...

Actually, wrenching on RC cars sort of replaces the wrenching I don't do anymore on my bikes since they're now so reliable.

I agree with you that bike are bigger, so it's easier. True, but you often need a tool to extract bearings, another one to press the bearings, rear shocks are not user serviceable, like many fork cartridges as well, brake bleeding is always frustrating (for me...I always manage to do it, but I hate it). ...and let's talk about the internal cable routing. You need friends and music to endure such a chore! There are also now about 159 headset standards, several hub spacing standards...so I can't mix and match my bike parts on all my different bikes like I used to.

I still love riding, but I don't work on the bikes for fun anymore. I send it in the shop every winter so that my bike mechanic friend can do a complete overhaul...and everybody is happy!

"there are also now about 159 headset standards", no one tell him about bottom backrests, also shocks are serviceable, just getting the air can off sucks hard, but yeah i get you with the tools but i do most work in a bike shop so i have all the tools anyone could need and if we don't, well a hammer and a block of wood can do most things.

 

[FlipSide]

"there are also now about 159 headset standards", no one tell him about bottom backrests, also shocks are serviceable, just getting the air can off sucks hard, but yeah i get you with the tools but i do most work in a bike shop so i have all the tools anyone could need and if we don't, well a hammer and a block of wood can do most things.

Yeah, BB standards... I still have an amazing Middleburn RS7 ISIS crankset. That thing was a work of art. I would love to be able to fit it on my main ride.

Sorry if my post came out as grumpy and negative. It wasn't my intention. My post was intended to be tongue in cheek, but that probably didn't work out. Biking is my #1 passion and I absolutely love everything about it. My point was just that I find RC cars to be easier to work on and requiring less tools..

 

[HansDampf]

Yeah, BB standards... I still have an amazing Middleburn RS7 ISIS crankset. That thing was a work of art. I would love to be able to fit it on my main ride.

Sorry if my post came out as grumpy and negative. It wasn't my intention. My post was intended to be tongue in cheek, but that probably didn't work out. Biking is my #1 passion and I absolutely love everything about it. My point was just that I find RC cars to be easier to work on and requiring less tools..

nah don't worry man, i got what you meant

 

[Max Attitude]

My K4S has taken an absolute beating so far. I’m in love with this rig. I have replaced 1 shock shaft I bent due to blasting a stump, 1 rear arm and 1 front arm from big air landings. I ended up getting the rpm arms but they seem to have slightly less drop travel. Not sure I’ll notice a difference. If they don’t hold up better than stock I’ll probably switch back.
I’ve also broke the 2 front shock spring cups on the front.
So I reccomend having a set of arms, upper tie/rods (bent one and bent it back), and extra set of shocks or shock rods. Note: front and rear shocks are different length.

 

[jondilly1974]

My K4S has taken an absolute beating so far. I’m in love with this rig. I have replaced 1 shock shaft I bent due to blasting a stump, 1 rear arm and 1 front arm from big air landings. I ended up getting the rpm arms but they seem to have slightly less drop travel. Not sure I’ll notice a difference. If they don’t hold up better than stock I’ll probably switch back.
I’ve also broke the 2 front shock spring cups on the front.
So I reccomend having a set of arms, upper tie/rods (bent one and bent it back), and extra set of shocks or shock rods. Note: front and rear shocks are different length.

I used to break a stock at every single run. Now I have RPM arms with probably 20 runs on them.

 

[Max Attitude]

I'll also add this... I ran my truck box stock and the response was horrible. I went through the throttle brake setup and then turned the punch up to 4. It's a whole new truck now! Still using the stock radio and it's not so bad anymore.
My 3 year old has been driving it a lot too and just loves it. That's the only reason I'm keeping the stock RX/TX so i can run it at 50% power.

I used to break a stock at every single run. Now I have RPM arms with probably 20 runs on them.

I broke a front one by lawn darting it on that side. The rear broke where the shock screws in. Tons of abuse before that.

 

[HansDampf]

ah got it, ill buy a set of rpm arms then, i did here a lot of people complain about the transmitter (im also not a fan) what would be a good budget replacement

 

[JAM]

Not sure if anyone noticed that the K4s has 2 different part numbers for suspension arms listed on their site, further proving they’ve made adjustments.

I can stand behind that as I finally just broke a factory arm after many insane landings while getting to learn how to drive.

I didn’t realize how much they’ve turned into banana peels but still were holding up to my abuse. I’ll post up a pic in a few.

 

[HansDampf]

hm, ill still get the rpm ones i think as i have heard real good things about rpm, anything else you broke yet?

 

[Surchaufeur]

For me no rpm i only broke 2 arms in a year and it was me hiting metal pole at high speed nothing would have saved them from death. Twice as expensive than the stock arms it does get quite pricy and they start to bend like bananas after a while same for the stock arms but a lot less and takes more time for it to happen but hot boiling water snd bending them in the opposide sides fixes that. The things you might break often would be the turnbuckles maybe its q quite common failure point. Get the hot racing alluminum pivot balls for the 3-4s line to remplace the plastic ones or you will wear fast the rod ends of your turnbuckles and become a bit sloppy.
Keep a few shock shafts for the front its also a comon failure point b idk how tf you break a rod end of those shocks i never broke one the only time i broke it was by spashing it with an hammer by trying to unbend the shaft itself i glued it back togueter with jbweld and ran like that until i got the remplacement

Not sure if anyone noticed that the K4s has 2 different part numbers for suspension arms listed on their site, further proving they’ve made adjustments.

I can stand behind that as I finally just broke a factory arm after many insane landings while getting to learn how to drive.

I didn’t realize how much they’ve turned into banana peels but still were holding up to my abuse. I’ll post up a pic in a few.

Interesting maybe they are softer the new pairs?

 

[JAM]

@Surchaufeur not sure. I must of received the updated arms on mine that I purchased back in feb. I just threw rpms on the front. Check out these warped beauties. The rear arms are still in ok shape but are showing some bend in them as well.

 

[Surchaufeur]

Yeah mine also become like that after months of use