New to the Arrma Family......looking for needed upgrades

[ElectroNoob]

Hey everyone.

I just recently picked up the Granite Mega because I had an extra Velineon system laying around and wanted something 2wd to throw it in. I've been having a blast with this truck so far and am wondering what some of the needed upgrades are. I know i need to convert the current drive gears to the BLX ones. I am looking to do that here soon. I'm only running 2 s for the moment so it's not a terrible rush to get done. First run, I popped one of the tie rods off when clipping my ramp, and popped a shock cap and popped the rear upper tie rod/connecting rod when clipping the corner of the garage mid flight. Lol. I noticed the shocks seem kind of chincy. Is there any aluminum caps for them or and swaps that might make it more durable?? I don't plan on hitting many garages in the future, but you never know. Lol. Any info would help and be greatly appreciated. I've been checking out Arrma for a while now, and so far Im not disappointed. Will possibly be getting a Kraton in the future.

 

[TheJoker]

Welcome man!
About the granite i let other people give you advice, but with a kraton you can never go wrong

 

[Pro4XBlizzard]

Welcome @ElectroNoob !! You can find shock upgrade suggestions here https://arrmaforum.com/threads/affordable-1-10-scale-aluminium-shock-upgrade.67/ There is not a whole lot of choices right now unfortunately. I am still undecided which way to go but am seriously thinking of getting the Traxxas Big Bores. I just upgraded the servo to a Traxxas 2075 so for now shocks will have to wait but is my next upgrade.
Have fun!!

 

[ElectroNoob]

Welcome @ElectroNoob !! You can find shock upgrade suggestions here https://arrmaforum.com/threads/affordable-1-10-scale-aluminium-shock-upgrade.67/ There is not a whole lot of choices right now unfortunately. I am still undecided which way to go but am seriously thinking of getting the Traxxas Big Bores. I just upgraded the servo to a Traxxas 2075 so for now shocks will have to wait but is my next upgrade.
Have fun!!

I have some Traxxas Big Bore's pulled from a Slash I have and I was thinking of putting those on there as well. I don't have the ball ends to snap into the cap right now or I would have probable done it already. They seem like a much better made shock. I really like the truck so far though. Thanks for the info.

Welcome man!
About the granite i let other people give you advice, but with a kraton you can never go wrong

Thanks, I heard nothing but good things about it. I know I'll have one soon. I'm setting down for the moment though. Ive spent some money over the last few months on RC stuff. Lol.

 

[TheJoker]

Haha...then i would wait and pick a 2016 model kraton up in a few months. That way you can save some money and get the new updated model

 

[ElectroNoob]

Haha...then i would wait and pick a 2016 model kraton up in a few months. That way you can save some money and get the new updated model

Yeah that might make for the better choice. Plus it gives me time to get some funds back. Lol.

 

[Rdub]

Hey everyone.

I just recently picked up the Granite Mega because I had an extra Velineon system laying around and wanted something 2wd to throw it in. I've been having a blast with this truck so far and am wondering what some of the needed upgrades are. I know i need to convert the current drive gears to the BLX ones. I am looking to do that here soon. I'm only running 2 s for the moment so it's not a terrible rush to get done. First run, I popped one of the tie rods off when clipping my ramp, and popped a shock cap and popped the rear upper tie rod/connecting rod when clipping the corner of the garage mid flight. Lol. I noticed the shocks seem kind of chincy. Is there any aluminum caps for them or and swaps that might make it more durable?? I don't plan on hitting many garages in the future, but you never know. Lol. Any info would help and be greatly appreciated. I've been checking out Arrma for a while now, and so far Im not disappointed. Will possibly be getting a Kraton in the future.

Busted my drain pipe right off my garage the other day. No damage to the Raider !!!!

 

[ElectroNoob]

Busted my drain pipe right off my garage the other day. No damage to the Raider !!!!

Thats awesome. About the no damage that is. Lol. I haven't really done much damage to it other than popping the shock cap and tie rod twice. I haven't really beat on it yet, but I'm getting there. I working on getting the metal gears for the transmission before I really start bashing it. Plus I need a wheelie bar. Lol.

 

[Walter]

Thats awesome. About the no damage that is. Lol. I haven't really done much damage to it other than popping the shock cap and tie rod twice. I haven't really beat on it yet, but I'm getting there. I working on getting the metal gears for the transmission before I really start bashing it. Plus I need a wheelie bar. Lol.

T-Bone bumpers and T-Bar wheelie bar are highly recommended for the Granite.

This wheelie bar:
http://tboneracing.net/96020-t-bone-1-10-monster-truck-wheelie-bar-y097/

Fits on this bumper which goes on the 2014 Granite Mega and BLS models:
http://tboneracing.net/10005-tbr-nm2-rear-bumper-arrma-rc-granite-mega/

With the ultimate look being something like this:

http://tboneracing.net/tbr-nm2-rear-y097-wheelie-bar-set-87003-for-the-2011-arrma-rc-granite/

 

[ElectroNoob]

T-Bone bumpers and T-Bar wheelie bar are highly recommended for the Granite.

This wheelie bar:
http://tboneracing.net/96020-t-bone-1-10-monster-truck-wheelie-bar-y097/

Fits on this bumper which goes on the 2014 Granite Mega and BLS models:
http://tboneracing.net/10005-tbr-nm2-rear-bumper-arrma-rc-granite-mega/

With the ultimate look being something like this:

http://tboneracing.net/tbr-nm2-rear-y097-wheelie-bar-set-87003-for-the-2011-arrma-rc-granite/

Sweet deal. I'll check them out for sure. The wheelie bar is a must. I'm only running 2s for the time being and it pulls the wheels up constantly. Lol. Thanks for the info and the links.

 

[Darren Wes]

Sweet deal. I'll check them out for sure. The wheelie bar is a must. I'm only running 2s for the time being and it pulls the wheels up constantly. Lol. Thanks for the info and the links.

I recommend the t bone bumpers too....nothing worse than driving an expensive rc without the best protection...

The traxxas ultra shocks for the 2wd slash are imo the best freaking shocks u can get... I use them on my slash tmaxx(back ones from the set of 4) and granite mega...

Just yesterday I was flying my slash down a gravel road at 50mph hit a divet did about 20 cartwheels ripped an rpm a arm off a stock gearbox didn't even phase the shock.

That is just 1 occurrence out of many with my slash (i beat the hell outta it) those shocks are overpowered greatly with a probability of bulletproof

Also look into parma Inc. Rc bodies ment for t maxx (has been called both 10 and 8 scale) because the vanilla t maxx is a little short of an 8th scale and nearly a 10 scale the bodies fit with some love and good eye....best part is the bodies, youll have to check, are .6 thick lexan making it almost 2x as thick as a proline or jc concepts body giving you a bullet proof lid

Lastly in making a bullet proof arrma... take a motor fan and find a way to attach it to the motor mount and have that thing right up in your brushless blowing on your motor bearing....

[DOUBLEPOST=1463429859][/DOUBLEPOST]If u decide to go with more power I would suggest the hobbywing 120amp waterproof sensorless brushless esc for like 60~65 bucks it is also basically bulletproof

 

[ElectroNoob]

I recommend the t bone bumpers too....nothing worse than driving an expensive rc without the best protection...

The traxxas ultra shocks for the 2wd slash are imo the best freaking shocks u can get... I use them on my slash tmaxx(back ones from the set of 4) and granite mega...

Just yesterday I was flying my slash down a gravel road at 50mph hit a divet did about 20 cartwheels ripped an rpm a arm off a stock gearbox didn't even phase the shock.

That is just 1 occurrence out of many with my slash (i beat the hell outta it) those shocks are overpowered greatly with a probability of bulletproof

Also look into parma Inc. Rc bodies ment for t maxx (has been called both 10 and 8 scale) because the vanilla t maxx is a little short of an 8th scale and nearly a 10 scale the bodies fit with some love and good eye....best part is the bodies, youll have to check, are .6 thick lexan making it almost 2x as thick as a proline or jc concepts body giving you a bullet proof lid

Lastly in making a bullet proof arrma... take a motor fan and find a way to attach it to the motor mount and have that thing right up in your brushless blowing on your motor bearing....
View attachment 1770
[DOUBLEPOST=1463429859][/DOUBLEPOST]If u decide to go with more power I would suggest the hobbywing 120amp waterproof sensorless brushless esc for like 60~65 bucks it is also basically bulletproof

Awesome. Thanks for the info. I actually think I broke it last night. Haha. I was out at a BMX track and hit a jump kinda sideways and once the cartwheels were done, I lost the screw for the lower shock mount and the dog bone popped out. Im not sure if I managed to tear the transmission up too, because when the dog bone popped out, the one wheel that had the axle still in it wouldn't spin. Im not sure how the transmission in a 2wd works, but I thought if one wheel lost traction the other would spin. I dk. I'm going to look at it once I get home today. I have to tear it apart and my Revo. I broke an axle in it too. Lol.

I would love to have more power in it eventually. I have to get the transmission up to that quality first though. I was reading a thread on here on the parts I need to buy in order to have the truck run 3s without stripping the gears. I know the MEGA is plastic gearing and the BLX is metal. From what I read, i'm just swapping out the plastic gearing for some metal ones. Then I think I will be doing the mod.08 upgrade on the spur and pinion. I dk, what the current ones are, but I know he teeth are pretty fine and don't look to bite much. I'd like to have something a little deeper to bite to when using it a higher speeds too.

I'll be posting updates as I do them. Only thing I have done so far is change the shocks to the Traxxas Ultra's (Had em laying around from a slash) and I put the VXL system in it (from the slash as well). It's been pretty fun so far, but I know it would be a lot better on 3s or with a higher pinion gear. I think I'm rocking the 13t right now. Whatever is stock.

 

[Walter]

Im not sure if I managed to tear the transmission up too, because when the dog bone popped out, the one wheel that had the axle still in it wouldn't spin. Im not sure how the transmission in a 2wd works, but I thought if one wheel lost traction the other would spin. I dk. I'm going to look at it once I get home today.

When you hit the throttle with one dogbone missing and only one wheel "connected" did the outdrive without the dogbone spin while the "connected" wheel either didn't spin or only spun a little?

If so, this is most likely just your differential doing what it should... it allows one wheel to spin faster than the other when cornering or when one wheel becomes bound somehow. In this case the outdrive that is missing the dogbone has the least resistance and it's the one spinning. The "connected" wheel has more resistance and in relative terms it appears to be stuck to the differential and thus doesn't get much power. A thicker differential fluid will alter this behavior some.

While opening up your transmission is a great way to learn and it will be necessary if you want to change the differential fluid, I don't want you to do it only to find everything is working properly... unless you just want to do it and that outcome is ok.

 

[ElectroNoob]

When you hit the throttle with one dogbone missing and only one wheel "connected" did the outdrive without the dogbone spin while the "connected" wheel either didn't spin or only spun a little?

If so, this is most likely just your differential doing what it should... it allows one wheel to spin faster than the other when cornering or when one wheel becomes bound somehow. In this case the outdrive that is missing the dogbone has the least resistance and it's the one spinning. The "connected" wheel has more resistance and in relative terms it appears to be stuck to the differential and thus doesn't get much power. A thicker differential fluid will alter this behavior some.

While opening up your transmission is a great way to learn and it will be necessary if you want to change the differential fluid, I don't want you to do it only to find everything is working properly... unless you just want to do it and that outcome is ok.

I plan on opening it up eventually because I want to change the gears out to metal so I can run 3s. Right now though, it's working the way it needs to. It seemed as if there was no power whatsoever to that axle, but once I got it all together, I noticed it was working ok. My only thing now is I noticed the output shafts where the dog bones sit are starting to get bent pretty good where the pins apply pressure to them. Is there a heady duty upgrade for those by chance or at they limited to only those. I haven't been able to find any yet.

 

[Darren Wes]

When you hit the throttle with one dogbone missing and only one wheel "connected" did the outdrive without the dogbone spin while the "connected" wheel either didn't spin or only spun a little?

If so, this is most likely just your differential doing what it should... it allows one wheel to spin faster than the other when cornering or when one wheel becomes bound somehow. In this case the outdrive that is missing the dogbone has the least resistance and it's the one spinning. The "connected" wheel has more resistance and in relative terms it appears to be stuck to the differential and thus doesn't get much power. A thicker differential fluid will alter this behavior some.

While opening up your transmission is a great way to learn and it will be necessary if you want to change the differential fluid, I don't want you to do it only to find everything is working properly... unless you just want to do it and that outcome is ok.

This is correct.... sounds like a diff fluid issue more than a busted diff or trans

Busted diff would be crunchy and hard to spin...so would a bad bearing and busted gear in the trans

I fixed my issues by rebuilding my transmission and using some 100k wt diff fluid marine grease white lithium and bearing oil

With the dogbone popping i had a bunch of issues

Mainly i fixed that by getting team associated b4 bearing carriers cva locking wheel hex and diff cups used a bunch of heat shrink to keep everything in place and black oil in those spots before shrinking it in place

This isnt by any means the only way.... just the way i ended up doing mine. Look in the build logs for teachers pet
[DOUBLEPOST=1463553012][/DOUBLEPOST]Btw guy i have run my bus on 3s since i put the body on it last year...still haven't had a trans gear break.....spend your money on somthing else....like a senton (much more capable of thrashing)...also not to mention the weight you would add going full metal.....but i like long jumps...and i like more agility...and I'm not racing... and i like not hunting down 80+ bucks in parts (you will need a whole new gearbox plus seprate motor mount)after spening 150+to make it faster

Pretty sure the diff beef u r having is more about the outdrives...try heat shrink around the outdrives, not on the dogbone, try longer dogbones...I ened with different outdrive cups...not a whole new trans

The gears inside the trans are 32p they are like 4x wider than the spur gear (blx is metal,yes, but only 48p)....they are composite plastic...plenty strong for 3s....the diff is all steel on the inside....

Unless you wanna go more than 3s some new fluids are all you will need

 

[ElectroNoob]

This is correct.... sounds like a diff fluid issue more than a busted diff or trans

Busted diff would be crunchy and hard to spin...so would a bad bearing and busted gear in the trans

I fixed my issues by rebuilding my transmission and using some 100k wt diff fluid marine grease white lithium and bearing oil

With the dogbone popping i had a bunch of issues

Mainly i fixed that by getting team associated b4 bearing carriers cva locking wheel hex and diff cups used a bunch of heat shrink to keep everything in place and black oil in those spots before shrinking it in place

This isnt by any means the only way.... just the way i ended up doing mine. Look in the build logs for teachers pet
[DOUBLEPOST=1463553012][/DOUBLEPOST]Btw guy i have run my bus on 3s since i put the body on it last year...still haven't had a trans gear break.....spend your money on somthing else....like a senton (much more capable of thrashing)...also not to mention the weight you would add going full metal.....but i like long jumps...and i like more agility...and I'm not racing... and i like not hunting down 80+ bucks in parts (you will need a whole new gearbox plus seprate motor mount)after spening 150+to make it faster

Pretty sure the diff beef u r having is more about the outdrives...try heat shrink around the outdrives, not on the dogbone, try longer dogbones...I ened with different outdrive cups...not a whole new trans

The gears inside the trans are 32p they are like 4x wider than the spur gear (blx is metal,yes, but only 48p)....they are composite plastic...plenty strong for 3s....the diff is all steel on the inside....

Unless you wanna go more than 3s some new fluids are all you will need

I thought I read somewhere else that then newer Mega driveline could handle 3s. I wasn't for sure about it, but I thought I read it somewhere else. Anyways, I'm not looking to go any bigger than 3s. That's plenty fast and uncontrollable for a 2wd truck. Lol. I did however think about bumping up to the .08 spur and pinion. I have multiple pinions laying around that I could use, but I need to get the 54t Spur first. Thanks for all the info. It helps. I'm not wanting to dump a ton of money into it. I just wanted something 2wd that I could screw around with because I've never had one. They've always been 4wd.