Senton Senton Diffs are stiff on one side on front and rear

[derschlambi]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and new to the hobby. Just got my Senton Mega 4x4 and took it for a spin in the woods. The whole thing was completely dirty afterwards. Even drove it into a small creek accidentally. Now after disassembling and cleaning I do have some problems with my Diffs apparently. When I keep off the tires only the drive shafts in the left front and the rear right are turning. Even at full throttle the other two are not moving. With the tires they are moving a little bit, but only at full throttle. What can I do? I heard that there might be a problem with the bearings because they are cheap, but it seems to me that the problem is with the Diffs. Did anyone experience the same problem?

Any help or comment appreciated.

Cheers DS

EDIT: It was the bearings. Two of them were stuck. After the first ride in the dirt. This is ridiculous. Come on Arrma, you can do better than that...

 

[MikeMega4x4]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and new to the hobby. Just got my Senton Mega 4x4 and took it for a spin in the woods. The whole thing was completely dirty afterwards. Even drove it into a small creek accidentally. Now after disassembling and cleaning I do have some problems with my Diffs apparently. When I keep off the tires only the drive shafts in the left front and the rear right are turning. Even at full throttle the other two are not moving. With the tires they are moving a little bit, but only at full throttle. What can I do? I heard that there might be a problem with the bearings because they are cheap, but it seems to me that the problem is with the Diffs. Did anyone experience the same problem?

Any help or comment appreciated.

Cheers DS

EDIT: It was the bearings. Two of them were stuck. After the first ride in the dirt. This is ridiculous. Come on Arrma, you can do better than that...

You are better off replacing the bearings with rubber sealed as you may already know but even with those I wouldn’t just run my rig through dirt and water and put it up without giving all my important exposed bearings a quick cleaning and dab of lubrication. Would be nice if they weren’t metal shielded from stock but I wouldn’t say it’s Arrmas fault your rig had a couple bearings get rough. Like you I am fairly new to the hobby but seem to overthink and maybe clean my stuff too often but it has gone a long way and has left me with zero issues to date.

 

[MikeMega4x4]

I think the easiest thing to do after running in rough, gritty and wet conditions , is to take of the wheels and give all four corners a cleaning and remove /check inside motor module. Just tossing in any little methods I do to maybe help prevent it from happening to you in the future.

 

[derschlambi]

You are better off replacing the bearings with rubber sealed as you may already know but even with those I wouldn’t just run my rig through dirt and water and put it up without giving all my important exposed bearings a quick cleaning and dab of lubrication. Would be nice if they weren’t metal shielded from stock but I wouldn’t say it’s Arrmas fault your rig had a couple bearings get rough.

I disagree. The bearings should handle several rides offroad. It is not that easy and a lot of work to take care of the bearings without disassembling the whole thing. Personally I don't want to spend more time cleaning than bashing. This is how they looked after one ride in the woods:

I replaced these bearings with rubber sealed ones yesterday and today. All eight in the hubs and two at the spur gear. Three of them were broken, some of them were stiff. Should be better now.

 

[Yonic]

Be sure to replace with rubber sealed ones, as they last much much longer on dirty conditions.

 

[MikeMega4x4]

I have a senton with all stock bearing still that sees rough conditions all the time I just stay out of water. If I am in damp or wet conditions I will maintain my rc properly after that run. Yes it does take time to care for them but I’m not talking about removing them entirely after every run.. just making sure the important exposed bearings are at least lubricated before I put it up to sit on shelf. Small can of bike chain lube or something along those lines will have a small straw or tip to reach close to the bearing to give it a little dab and rotate the tires. It will go a long way in preventing future issues regardless of you having rubber seals or not. Maintenance is crucial and is on you not the manufacturer.

 

[derschlambi]

I have a senton with all stock bearing still that sees rough conditions all the time I just stay out of water. If I am in damp or wet conditions I will maintain my rc properly after that run. Yes it does take time to care for them but I’m not talking about removing them entirely after every run.. just making sure the important exposed bearings are at least lubricated before I put it up to sit on shelf. Small can of bike chain lube or something along those lines will have a small straw or tip to reach close to the bearing to give it a little dab and rotate the tires. It will go a long way in preventing future issues regardless of you having rubber seals or not. Maintenance is crucial and is on you not the manufacturer.

The two bearings in the middle of the picture above were in the spur gear. I had to disassemble it completely to get to all the bearings. You are not seriously saying that I have to do that every time after I went bashing?!

 

[Yonic]

The factory bearings last two-three runs for me, too much of a hassle. The rubber sealed ones last 20 or so runs. But still, every 20 runs you need to disassemble the hubs to check them (I never had the ones in the diff side fail on me since I changed to rubber sealed)

 

[Yonic]

But it’s very easy to check if you need to service. Just remove the center driveshaft and the motor assembly (one screw) and then check that front and rear wheels turn freely. It takes two minutes

 

[MikeMega4x4]

Arrma has made sure these trucks are some of the easiest things to work on in this hobby. Taking the motor module out takes less than 1 minute while only needing to remove 1 screw, center shaft. I have agreed with you the bearings are mediocre and take more maintenance than rubber sealed ones but it isnt up to arrma to do it all on top of giving us one of the best values you can find in the hobby right now. If I have to replace a few bearings in an otherwise seemingly indestructible beast of a truck then I am happy. You said you're fairly new so you still have many experiences to witness and learn as we all do but blaming a company for something they have no control over is a little goofy and I wanted to try and help that mindset. No company is gonna satisfy you if your idea is that your rig should be able to be run in whatever conditions you want without maintaining it until you see fit. There will always be side effects. Please understand I am not trying to pick on you or anything, I just want to try and help the mindset people have when they search for any fault but their own. Nothing wrong with being humble and realizing a mistake, that's how we learn and correct it for next time.

 

[MikeMega4x4]

The two bearings in the middle of the picture above were in the spur gear. I had to disassemble it completely to get to all the bearings. You are not seriously saying that I have to do that every time after I went bashing?!

Not every time you run your truck but every time it has seen water , I would at least check over things. 15 minutes to make sure it's all gonna be smooth and lubricated for next run.

 

[crimsonfancy]

Most of the active members here on this forum replace the stock bearings before they run the truck for the first time. I haven't but I should've. I wait until my stuff is broken or breaking and then I make upgrades but I'm a tight ass. I'm sure I stress other components waiting it out.
I like AVID bearings and have done my BRCC recently with some other upgrades but I've owned and beat on the truck for months.
Before that I replaced Traxxas Slash bearings with AVID Halo bearings everywhere and I'd run it hard for a year.
RTR can be run as is but they build em to meet a predetermined price point that has been researched vs the market. So inexpensive is Arrma for what we get. For under $30 a full bearing replacement really levels up the truck and for many new guys it isn't a priority factory upgrade. Most serious bashers want to have more influence anyway and choice of bearings etc is a plus rather than a minus imo.

edit: I also like that AVID Slip Oil that I can do a quick juicing after I clean the muddy off my trucks. Its a hypodermic needle type applicator and great value. One .25oz tube of the stuff will last damn near forever.

 

[slick2500]

I disagree. The bearings should handle several rides offroad. It is not that easy and a lot of work to take care of the bearings without disassembling the whole thing. Personally I don't want to spend more time cleaning than bashing. This is how they looked after one ride in the woods:

View attachment 32997

I replaced these bearings with rubber sealed ones yesterday and today. All eight in the hubs and two at the spur gear. Three of them were broken, some of them were stiff. Should be better now.

I disagree with your disagreement, those are metal shielded bearings, they are designed to keep foreign objects out of the balls not dirt or dust. Metal shielded bearings are meant for interior or indoor use and not in dirt and mud. Dirt gets into metal shielded bearings really easily and destroys them fast. I've burned up brand new Holms Hobbies motor bearings in one of my brushed motors running in loose dirt after 1 pack, I didn't even hit lvc.
But I agree that it is Arrmas fault. Arrma should know better than to use metal shielded bearings on vehicles that they know are going to be used outside............. I learned not to trust metal shielded bearings the hard way, after one of the bearings on the pinion in the diff case exploded and took out both the pinion and crown gear in my diff.

 

[Phil young]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and new to the hobby. Just got my Senton Mega 4x4 and took it for a spin in the woods. The whole thing was completely dirty afterwards. Even drove it into a small creek accidentally. Now after disassembling and cleaning I do have some problems with my Diffs apparently. When I keep off the tires only the drive shafts in the left front and the rear right are turning. Even at full throttle the other two are not moving. With the tires they are moving a little bit, but only at full throttle. What can I do? I heard that there might be a problem with the bearings because they are cheap, but it seems to me that the problem is with the Diffs. Did anyone experience the same problem?

Any help or comment appreciated.

Cheers DS

EDIT: It was the bearings. Two of them were stuck. After the first ride in the dirt. This is ridiculous. Come on Arrma, you can do better than that...

I got some rubber sealed bearings for my granite3s and they seem to be better. Good luck with your rig. Have fun.

 

[NewSensei]

Been running my Mega on stock bearings for two months and I bash the heck out of it. That said, cleaning your vehicles after every run is necessary but you shouldn't have to dig into the guts of the tranny or diffs. If your running up and down your street a cleaning may not be necessary, if your in basically dry dusty conditions just use a paint brush and dust all the exposed bearings (oil if you feel the need) but most of all make sure you NEVER let it sit in water of any kind, especially tap water as it has a lot of minerals that can cause pitting in the metal of the bearing (making it look dull...

I'm going to run on stock till I can't. I did change my mega to brushless and stock bearings are still fine...

The metal sealed bearings are fine but do need to be watched if they get too much grit along the tracks. It's still quite easy to clean them. Just don't put wd40 on them as that will break down any grease or oil that may be inside the bearing track already and as long as the seal hasn't come off you're more than likely not going to have a lot of issues if you just clean em, doesn't need to be a deep clean, just get the dirt off and lubricate every so often...and dry everything as best you can before setting on the shelf