Megasty's Kraton 8s Mods

[mickRR]

I had severe cogging issues off the line with the Dynamite Fuze 56114 780kv motor and that was with a Max5. I was running a 44t pinion. It was so bad that I pulled that motor and went with a HX 5687 1100kv motor and it rips right from the moment you pull the throttle.

I knew there would be a bit of a learning curve and trial-and-error with this. And it's because of your videos I got to 44t in it .LOL I just don't have the extra money to go out and buy a motor right now. There's got to be some kind of fix for this. How can it run so good in a dbxle? I'd like to find out how Megasty got into the ESC to change the parameters and apparently unlock it somehow. I hate saying this but I'm ready to trash the whole system including the dx5c smart and just go to a sensored castle 800kv system. What are your thoughts on that system? Another guy on YouTube put it in a kraton the and it seem to do very well. Thanks again for any and all input.

 

[bicketybam]

I knew there would be a bit of a learning curve and trial-and-error with this. And it's because of your videos I got to 44t in it .LOL I just don't have the extra money to go out and buy a motor right now. There's got to be some kind of fix for this. How can it run so good in a dbxle? I'd like to find out how Megasty got into the ESC to change the parameters and apparently unlock it somehow. I hate saying this but I'm ready to trash the whole system including the dx5c smart and just go to a sensored castle 800kv system. What are your thoughts on that system? Another guy on YouTube put it in a kraton the and it seem to do very well. Thanks again for any and all input.

I think the stock ESC is more than capable. @Jimbobjr uses it with a long can motor. It just has to be the right long can motor. For whatever reason the Dynamite Fuze 56113 doesn't work well in the K8S. I couldn't tell you why.

 

[Megasty]

Cogging issues can either be power delivery or motor strain. The latter is rare. Most motors will smoke before not being able to turn a pinion. All ESCs have an upper limit to how much power they can deliver to any motor. The problem with ESCs is the same with CPUs. They aren't all built or binned equally. My firma seem to handle the 2028 with ease but my motor is also at its prime efficiency. Trying to find the right combination of parts to fit your situation is a lottery at best. Unlocking the firma turns it into a full max6 that's just dumb enough to fry itself with the Fuse 56114. For some reason the Fuse I have uses MUCH more power than my 2028 to push the same pinion (44t), so it will cog even with the max5. While I can dump a 53t on the 2028, & it'll run to LVC with no problems.

 

[gotnitro]

I hate saying this but I'm ready to trash the whole system including the dx5c smart and just go to a sensored castle 800kv system.

If I had to do it all over again and looking back at it now "if it was available" I would have done the 2028 sensored in mine. I have it in my limitless and can make it crawl with a 55t pinion. I bought 2 at the time, waiting for my dbxle to get here. I'll be putting that system in it and most likely selling the stock one. I absolutely love how controlled the X8s is. If you dial in the right EXPO on a good TX, it's as soft as a kitten but still brutal as a Lion. I ran the MAX5 with the HW800kv mill and it didn't have any cogging issues, that could be another route. The 800kv HW motor cogged with my beast pro but I dialed in the right timing and that's gone. You have some options, just takes that green..

 

[mickRR]

Cogging issues can either be power delivery or motor strain. The latter is rare. Most motors will smoke before not being able to turn a pinion. All ESCs have an upper limit to how much power they can deliver to any motor. The problem with ESCs is the same with CPUs. They aren't all built or binned equally. My firma seem to handle the 2028 with ease but my motor is also at its prime efficiency. Trying to find the right combination of parts to fit your situation is a lottery at best. Unlocking the firma turns it into a full max6 that's just dumb enough to fry itself with the Fuse 56114. For some reason the Fuse I have uses MUCH more power than my 2028 to push the same pinion (44t), so it will cog even with the max5. While I can dump a 53t on the 2028, & it'll run to LVC with no problems.

Yes I am looking for the easy way here even if it's going to cost me a few bucks. What's your opinion on the New Castle sensored 800 KV system? And is it basically plug-in play put it in and run it with my 44 tooth pinion? After seeing your videos and others it looks like a very sweet system. Thanks again for all your help

If I had to do it all over again and looking back at it now "if it was available" I would have done the 2028 sensored in mine. I have it in my limitless and can make it crawl with a 55t pinion. I bought 2 at the time, waiting for my dbxle to get here. I'll be putting that system in it and most likely selling the stock one. I absolutely love how controlled the X8s is. If you dial in the right EXPO on a good TX, it's as soft as a kitten but still brutal as a Lion. I ran the MAX5 with the HW800kv mill and it didn't have any cogging issues, that could be another route. The 800kv HW motor cogged with my beast pro but I dialed in the right timing and that's gone. You have some options, just takes that green..

Even though $$$ is tight. From what I've been seeing with that new Castle sensored 800 KV system I may just have to put my name down and get on a waiting list for one. My last thought was trying a 39 tooth spur and about 834 tooth pinion before I go out and get the castle system. Thanks for your reply in any help is appreciated.

 

[Megasty]

I'm going straight beefcake mode on this thing. All I need are aluminum bulkheads (which are in the works) & for HR to get the rear hubs back in stock (there's no way I'm using GPM for that) But in the meantime, I tried the 34t/34t setup & it was fine but I didn't think the gears would hold up. Messing around with the R5 made me fall in love with the sound of the mod1.5 gears so I might as well give them a shot on the K8S.

HR 23t mod1.5 pinions. I may have gone a bit overboard with this size but I want no motor mount problems like I had with the mod1 gears.

 

[Megasty]

OK, I jinxed myself pretty bad this time with the motor mount problems~ The huge pinion didn't fit. So I had to do some dremel work . . . then when that felt like it would take hours, I knocked it out with a die grinder in a few seconds. This 7075 stuff is a serious nut to crack. But the pinion is in & I never want to do that again

I had to remove quite a bit of material to get enough clearance. The grinder also slipped a few time but oh well, beauty marks Considering how hard a time I had to cut it up, I'm hardly concerned about weakening it any, if at all

 

[KevinC]

Dude me thinks that is going to snap or bend at the 7 o’clock position (spur hole) as viewed from the rear of the truck.....but I hope not because I dig watching your upgrade/driving videos.

cheers,
kev

 

[Megasty]

Dude me thinks that is going to snap or bend at the 7 o’clock position (spur hole) as viewed from the rear of the truck.....but I hope not because I dig watching your upgrade/driving videos.

cheers,
kev

That would actually make for some great carnage. But this is the M2C mount. If it was the junk stock mount then I could see that happening, but I would probably have to cut half way through the mount at that point to get it to fail . . . & I have another just in case

 

[KevinC]

I heard a steam train engineer once describe the carnage if the wheels came off the crazy train.....”hair, teeth, and eyeballs everywhere “....LMAO...

cheers,
kev

 

[Megasty]

I got a few trigger pulls in today & I'm in total gush mode. The sound the 1.5s make is phenomenal. Not as loud as the gear crunching R5 but certainly more grunty than the mod1. As for the performance, effortless half-throttle wheelies before the spur/pinion came loose. I checked it out & the gear is so large that the gear portion covers all of the flat part where the grub grabs on to. So it was stuck with nothing but loctite I grinded a flat spot for the grub so hopefully that will do the trick. This really has turned into an experimental setup.

 

[Megasty]

A new flat spot, some red loctite, & a day later turned BAK into a straight beast. It will wheelie the field no sweat, but I still had the stock tires on & they were definitely in danger so I couldn't go too crazy - plus with that gearing the 6500mah's only lasted around 5 minutes but it was the best 5 minutes I had with the truck so far. Even so, I still haven't put the arms, hinge-pin holders, center gearbox, M2C/HR shock stuff, braces, etc . . . man I still have a ton of stuff to install, not to mention the R5 & Kaiju projects. I really would like to get one of these trucks done this summer & the K8S is the closest by far, especially since it's finally driving perfect w/o that stuff. The pure power & control this thing has with this gearing is difficult to explain with words. I can stand right over it, while it's doing half-throttle donuts & still feel totally in control There's no way I would do that with any other car I own, NONE of them.

 

[Megasty]

These 5 min LVCs are a bit annoying but oh well. Time to find larger packs.

 

[Megasty]

These are the largest aluminum arms I ever seen

They're as thick as my index finger. I would probably have to blow up the truck in order to bend these things

 

[Megasty]

Serious beef with these arms & hinge pin holders but ALUMINUM BULKHEADS PLZ I know they are super thick, the thickest I've seen on any truck on any scale, but they're still plastic & screws can still be ripped out. So they are the elephant in the room until further notice.

 

[Batman]

I always thought it was better to use plastic arms so there is a breaking point?

 

[Megasty]

I always thought it was better to use plastic arms so there is a breaking point?

That subject has been beat to death & back. It becomes moot when the car weighs enough that it becomes a matter of luck whether an arm will survive a single tumble. I have had decent luck on that front, but I still been through 2 sets of arms & RPM is still in the design phase. I simply want to see how far I can take this thing before it becomes a metal tank or a shelf queen. If the shelf queen happens first, I'll still beat the hell out of it

 

[Megasty]

Some more early morning Kraton running:

 

[gotnitro]

How's the hinge pin tolerances and the upper/lower front arm slop? Gone?

 

[Megasty]

How's the hinge pin tolerances and the upper/lower front arm slop? Gone?

Yeah, it's all gone. Like it was never there. But I do have to monitor it since it's all loctited. Any play at all means something is loosening. The arms have delrin inserts on each end while the inner parts of the hole is all aluminum. So it's super smooth with no binding - a problem I remember with the all-aluminum arms on the E-Maxx. Heck, even the Rampage arms has delrin insert.