Not sure if this is the right place for this…

[vaderman]

i have a question to those who upgrade parts on their rigs.
on a smaller off-road car I have from maybe a decade ago, I broke a front trailing arm. I replaced both cool aluminum ones. Then broke a rear one. Same drill. Then the chassis where it attached to the pivot for the front arms broke. By tha time I forgot what the vehicle was and my LHS (where I hadn’t purchased it) also didn’t know. The shop I purchased it from was out of business.
Ok, long way to get to the question (sorry!)
Do you find that you chase pieces as you replace them? I mean, you upgrade a part and it just passes along the stress that would gave broken or flexed it and causes the next piece to then break?

I am starting a build of an ARRMA senton 3S build and love all the accessories and upgrade parts, but wonder if I am setting myself up for a chain reaction of failures.
Anyone have thoughts on this? Maybe it is a naive question, I love this stuff but have only dabbled in it a few times and my knowledge and experience is very limited.
Thanks!

 

[Diem Turner]

i have a question to those who upgrade parts on their rigs.
on a smaller off-road car I have from maybe a decade ago, I broke a front trailing arm. I replaced both cool aluminum ones. Then broke a rear one. Same drill. Then the chassis where it attached to the pivot for the front arms broke. By tha time I forgot what the vehicle was and my LHS (where I hadn’t purchased it) also didn’t know. The shop I purchased it from was out of business.
Ok, long way to get to the question (sorry!)
Do you find that you chase pieces as you replace them? I mean, you upgrade a part and it just passes along the stress that would gave broken or flexed it and causes the next piece to then break?

I am starting a build of an ARRMA senton 3S build and love all the accessories and upgrade parts, but wonder if I am setting myself up for a chain reaction of failures.
Anyone have thoughts on this? Maybe it is a naive question, I love this stuff but have only dabbled in it a few times and my knowledge and experience is very limited.
Thanks!

What you're experiencing is not uncommon and your analysis is spot on. Replacing parts with aluminum can (and sometimes will) pass on the stress to the next component in the chain. It all depends on what part it is. With aluminum arms it's not unusual to see bulkheads break. It can become the proverbial snake eating its own tail.

It's not a naive question at all. That's a good observation right there. If you can, stick to plastic or composites. They allow for flex that metal just doesn't. Now, this doesn't mean that it can't be prudent to replace certain parts with aluminum for a given application. But even then the risk remains of transferring the stress to other components. It's risk/benefit analysis that's needed in such cases.

Welcome to the forum, Great to have you aboard!

 

[chris adams]

A weak point is some times best left weak if it's an easy and cheap fix each time.

 

[WrenchSense]

For me, I consider the a-arms, tires, wings etc as tear-away parts in a wreck. I focus only on beefing up the chassis, towers, braces etc to tank level. I use RPM parts where some flex is beneficial.

 

[chris adams]

Also I see this guy everywhere

 

[vaderman]

Thank you for the replies and welcome.

Following on then, it would seem that shocks are “safe” as would be a few other functional or isolated parts. It looks like the chassis I am dealing with can flex and cause damage to some of the gears and might benefit from stronger mounting of the motor to the gears or differential.
i just started, so I will look for threads that may already exist about specific failures of the ARRMA senton 3S I am building. Meanwhile, any other informatiin is welcome and appreciated!

 

[Tex Koder]

Welcome to the ᴙRanch!

The Senton 3S is a pretty tough rig ,very well protected.
The stock shocks (tends to leak) and the tires (getting shredded against the body ,due to it ballooning) are the most common areas of failure.

You can upgrade the shocks with the 6S line ,here's all the notes you could ever want >
https://www.arrmaforum.com/threads/...d-blx-4s-shock-information-and-upgrades.7413/

For the tires, you can trim back the wheel well area of the body to give the tires a bit more room.

Glad to have you in the club!

 

[Bolshevikjoe]

100%. I've sort of abandoned 'upgrading' anything to aluminum because what's more important than hardness is tensile strength and high-quality nylon-based plastics just have that in spades and the ability to maintain their shape after a bend, which you just can't get with metal. You can hammer something back out straight but, even on a molecular level, it's never the same. But yes, even in the event that a part is stronger you're just going to pass that load from impacts on up the chain to the next weakest link and you want to maintain some flexibility because if everything else is rigid then your motor and drivetrain have to give.

Thank you for the replies and welcome.

Following on then, it would seem that shocks are “safe” as would be a few other functional or isolated parts. It looks like the chassis I am dealing with can flex and cause damage to some of the gears and might benefit from stronger mounting of the motor to the gears or differential.
i just started, so I will look for threads that may already exist about specific failures of the ARRMA senton 3S I am building. Meanwhile, any other informatiin is welcome and appreciated!

I'm on my second Senton after leaving my first at an ex's house when I left and not feeling like dealing with her to get it back, BUT the only two things I've had fail on either one is the original servo, which is par for the course with about all ready to runs, and I did lose a CVD slider shaft on the first one. It's a good idea to take the axles off (there's a 2mm (I think) hex screw connecting the shaft to the axle and apply some thread locker to the screw and then reassemble on all corners as these are a known failure point in the 3s BLX line. The good news is replacements are cheap and plentiful and the same shaft fits about every 3s vehicle that Arrma offers.

The servo was more problematic because the replacement is really tricky and my fingers were neither agile or slender enough to make easy work of reconnecting the bell crank and tie rod together through a relatively small hole in the bottom of the chassis plate, but I might have missed a shortcut somewhere that would have made it easier as I'm still relatively new to the hobby.

Overall one of my favorite rigs so far and a huge reason I want to go super sized and get a Mojave.

 

[SrC]

I see many slam their rigs with every conceivable Alloy part available out there.
Now the rig is much heavier, and extra mass and weight alone contributes to breakage overall. The rig gets real expensive this way. Only leaving you more frustrated , because you thought being a metal tank made it stronger.
Not.

 

[Bolshevikjoe]

I see many slam ther rigs with every conceivable Alloy part available out there.
Now the rig is much heavier, and extra mass and weight alone contributes to breakage. The rig gets real expensive this way. Only leaving you more frustrated , because you though being a metal tank made it stronger.
Not.

I see a lot of rigs on FB marketplace with every integy add on imaginable asking over $1k lol

 

[Moonstonemike]

Thank you for the replies and welcome.

Following on then, it would seem that shocks are “safe” as would be a few other functional or isolated parts. It looks like the chassis I am dealing with can flex and cause damage to some of the gears and might benefit from stronger mounting of the motor to the gears or differential.
i just started, so I will look for threads that may already exist about specific failures of the ARRMA senton 3S I am building. Meanwhile, any other informatiin is welcome and appreciated!

Spot on. The motor mount plate is a big problem. Once it's bent you will destroy your spur gear and could cause excess wear on the motor bearings causing it to fail.

I'd recommend going either to a 6mm plate from the vendetta or infraction 3s.

Or switch to an aftermarket one.

 

[SrC]

I see a lot of rigs on FB marketplace with every integy add on imaginable asking over $1k lol

I don't know who would buy stuff like that for just bashing.
Many slam their rigs with all that Bling for Bragging rights. Beautiful Shelf queens. Many just like to build and show them off. Drive them a bit maybe, then sell them. I never consider used rigs built that way. And you rarely get your money's worth when selling. Always a loss.
There are key things you do want in alloy. Wallet permitting. M2C chassis and braces/ towers etc. for big Air bashing. 6s rigs.
But Alloy Wing mounts are just useless for example. Wing mounts need to flex. (Arms also). They protect the wing and towers etc. Some plastic parts are inexpensve to replace and designed as sacrificial parts IMHO.

 

[vaderman]

Interesting! So, the Vendetta and Infraction 3S pieces fit, but are beefier? I have a lot to learn about this stuff!
I have seen many of the aftermarket aluminum plates and “doghouses” but didn’t yet know how necessary or effective they were. Plus, they are expensive.
I was also looking at the larger rigs and wondering about the motors, servo and curious about the specs.
I also remembered that one,of my friends was running an enormous battery, which we all saw when he had to pull it as it had overheated and swollen up to the point he was looking for a metal bucket of water to dunk it in.
I will have to ask him what he had. Most of my friends with these are also fairly new to the R/C hobby or at least these ARRMA models.

For leaking shocks… is there a fix or should they be replaced? Tires clearance won’t be a problem as I am not running a stock body on this.

 

[SrC]

Depends where it is leaking from. The Top cap or at the bottom cartridge where the shafts are?
There are O-rings at both. Try rebuilding them first. Just have shock oil and spare O-rings on hand. And watch some videos. Need to bleed them well enough to work best. TA Green Slime shock O-ring lube is great to use also during assembly. If you hydrolock them slightly they will leak no matter what.
No internal shock pressure when compressed is best . Dead/Neutral. See videos in regards. Bleeding is critical here.

 

[Tex Koder]

Interesting! So, the Vendetta and Infraction 3S pieces fit, but are beefier? I have a lot to learn about this stuff!
I have seen many of the aftermarket aluminum plates and “doghouses” but didn’t yet know how necessary or effective they were. Plus, they are expensive.
I was also looking at the larger rigs and wondering about the motors, servo and curious about the specs.
I also remembered that one,of my friends was running an enormous battery, which we all saw when he had to pull it as it had overheated and swollen up to the point he was looking for a metal bucket of water to dunk it in.
I will have to ask him what he had. Most of my friends with these are also fairly new to the R/C hobby or at least these ARRMA models.

DO NOT Ever dunk the swollen lipos into water..

For leaking shocks… is there a fix or should they be replaced? Tires clearance won’t be a problem as I am not running a stock body on this.

Just drive it till it goes bad then repair/replace or upgrade.

 

[vaderman]

I don’t think he found a metal bucket, but he was trying to get it outside away from everyone. I don’t think it caught fire. Maybe I added the water in my mind when he said a metal bucket. Good to know water will hurt not help.

 

[Moonstonemike]

Interesting! So, the Vendetta and Infraction 3S pieces fit, but are beefier? I have a lot to learn about this stuff!

Yes. Most of the parts in the 3s line up are completely interchangeable. Makes it easy to customize your truck.
When they made the vendetta they changed the motor plate from 5mm to 6mm because of all the bent plates.
Like this one

 

[Fishtank]

I see a lot of rigs on FB marketplace with every integy add on imaginable asking over $1k lol

Sad,Those are shelf queens that the builder just wanted to look cool. They ring drive those

 

[Dan B.]

Welcome aboard and enjoy!

 

[vaderman]

I see that bent plate, crazy!
On my Senton, the motor mounts to a little doghouse (that looks like the cooling shroud from an old VW bug), though I see that same shape -icee being made and sold in aluminum. Is mine an older or newer design? I see that same shape inside the box, but it isn’t a separate piece.