Kraton My first significant event

[Kenyon]

So, my family has met up in Pigeon Forge for a week to hang out and my brother brought his Talion 6S. So we decided it would be fun to run them in a big empty parking lot to open them up and see what they could do. We each bought a set of road tires (I bought belted Proline Street Fighters, he bought Duratrax Bandito MT). We were having a good ol' time, his tires were ballooning pretty bad, but mine were holding like a champ. So, he decided to switch to his stick tires. Unfortunately, there was still a bit of water in his stock tires, so we learned that tires with water in them will blow the foam right through the tire tread. A valuable lesson I was happy to learn from his experience.

While he was putting his street balloons back on I was doing a couple of speed runs back and forth across the parking lot. I had a few spectators, so I was trying to open her up and show off a little. The parking lot wasn't huge, but it was probably abou 150 yards square with a couple of light poles in the center. Anyway, I had her going full speed across the parking lot, then as I was nearing the edge of the lot I hit the brakes to spin it around and my Kraton just kept hauling ass until it hit the curb head on and flew about 20 feet up in the air and tumbled off into the bushes. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned. I went over to pick it up and it was completely unresponsive. When I pulled the body off, I saw that one front tire was pointing way out, but I couldn't find anything broken. All three wires came un plugged from the motor, both batteries had come unplugged, and the pinion gear had shifted forward on the motor to the point that it no longer made contact with the spur gear. That was the end of our little excursion. We went back to the hotel and I started pulling everything apart to assess the damage and see what parts I was about to upgrade. I was shocked to find that there was not a single broken part, anywhere!! Not even anything bent! I put it back together and tried it out and everything looks good to go.

Now, I am no physicist by any means, but it seems to me that if you run a Kraton into a hunk of concrete so hard that the weight of the wires carries enough momentum to unplug them you were kinda doing something. And yet, there was not a single broken or bent part. The only adjust ment I had to do was to adjust the ball cup things in the front end.

Needless to say, I am thoroughly impressed by this beast's durability and resilience!!

 

[Spaz04]

ARRMA TOUGH BABY!

 

[Overpowerrc]

If it was an stx2 in control that’s the problem. Throw that sh!t away.

 

[arrmadillo]

Wow, you were lucky, if that Kraton is a V4, it's possible the radio is to blame.
Glad you came out virtually unscathed.

 

[Kenyon]

Yeah, I didn't know at the time that my handy, dandy STX 2 was a piece of junk. What radio do you guys recommend?

 

[Spaz04]

I'm pretty pleased with my flysky fs-gt3c. Very affordable radio!

 

[smokedstanley]

I bought the Dumborc and have been pretty happy with it. Biggest con for me is that it cannot be used on multiple receivers so I think I may upgrade again, but for under $30 it was well worth it, also has an adjustable gyro.

 

[bicketybam]

Yeah, I didn't know at the time that my handy, dandy STX 2 was a piece of junk. What radio do you guys recommend?

If your pinion slid forward you wouldn't have any brake. That's not to say the STX2 isn't crap but it might have been the pinion coming lose.

 

[jkflow]

Teach your brother on how to vent tires or feel free to ask on how to do it.

 

[Jimbobjr]

If your tires are pointing outward you bent your Ackerman. It ties the steering together under the top aluminum plate with the two r’s on it. You can bent it back but it’s a little work to get it apart. Pretty cool you managed to unplug everything, Rock on!

 

[Outcastblxnut]

Get a spektrum dx5

 

[Kenyon]

If your pinion slid forward you wouldn't have any brake. That's not to say the STX2 isn't crap but it might have been the pinion coming lose.

Good point! I didn't even think of that, and I am not sure whether or not I tried to steer at all. I do know that it was getting a little choppy off and on the whole time we were there. I already had the impressions that the transmitter was not sufficient before the incident.

Teach your brother on how to vent tires or feel free to ask on how to do it.

I read something about that a few days ago. Something about drilling holes in the rim, I thought. Do you drill holes in the tires too to prevent them from filling with water?

If your tires are pointing outward you bent your Ackerman. It ties the steering together under the top aluminum plate with the two r’s on it. You can bent it back but it’s a little work to get it apart. Pretty cool you managed to unplug everything, Rock on!

Is that the small aluminum piece that connects the little tower that the servo saver is on to the other little tower that appears to just be essentially an idler pulley? That was the piece I suspected had broke when I started tearing everything apart. When I got down to it, it was good to go.

Get a spektrum dx5

I have a Spectrum DX4C from back in my passer days, but I couldn't get it to bind. I assumed it was just too old and out dated.

 

[jkflow]

No, cover the holes inside the rim with tape, that is how water gets in. Because of that you have to vent the tires on the outside. One method is below:

Do NOT use a drillbit, you will suck out the foam in no time and destroy your tire. Any method that will not snag up the foam will work, I use a dremel tool.
You can burn holes etc, anything to get through the rubber.

2 holes on opposing sites will give water a route to escape, I do it every quarter turn.

 

[MtrxD]

Yeah, I didn't know at the time that my handy, dandy STX 2 was a piece of junk. What radio do you guys recommend?

Actually, I just ordered my wife a spectrum DX3 for her Typhon. It's a new radio that is easier to find these days than the dx5c I have. It's cheaper, non computerized, avc, DSMX2 signal(so comparable with all good spektrum receivers), and allows their smart tech. Mainly, it's the avc receiver and the quality signal we are interested in.

Thinking on it, for the price, I wouldn't be spirited if this becomes their new "in box" radio..

 

[Kenyon]

No, cover the holes inside the rim with tape, that is how water gets in. Because of that you have to vent the tires on the outside. One method is below:

Do NOT use a drillbit, you will suck out the foam in no time and destroy your tire. Any method that will not snag up the foam will work, I use a dremel tool.
You can burn holes etc, anything to get through the rubber.

2 holes on opposing sites will give water a route to escape, I do it every quarter turn.



Thank you. I will do that before I run it again.

 

[olds97_lss]

I have a Spectrum DX4C from back in my passer days, but I couldn't get it to bind. I assumed it was just too old and out dated.

The STX system uses a protocal that isn't compatible with any other spektrum... kind of retarded that it was used at all on any horizon vehicle considering they sell a ton of other stuff with normal spektrum radios...

The DX4C is new enough to work with DSM2/DSMR receivers, so just get a new receiver and bind it up.

I had the DX3C and now have the DX5C. Both work with DSM2/DSMR receivers. I think they also work with DSM (old school spektrum), but they aren't labeled as such. Pretty sure I was able to bind to some old DSM receivers I have laying around. I don't use them because the range sucks.

DSMR SR215 2 channel: https://www.amazon.com/Spektrum-SR215-2-Channel-2-4GHz-Receiver/dp/B07KYGN6HD
Knock off DSM2: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0186QSLZU/?coliid=IWLWI77482EN4

I use a few like the knock off I got a while back. They seem to die after 6 months or so of consistent use, so as they die, I was replacing them with the SR210, but it isn't available anymore. If you want to use more channels than 2, get the SR315 or SR515. They all work with 2/3/4/5 channel transmitters, you just can't use the extra channels the receiver has than your transmitter supports. Or you can't use the extra channels the receiver supports that your transmitter doesn't..