Kraton Shattered Front Inner Wheel Bearings

[GraniteVorteksKraton]

I've only ran about 10 battery packs through my Kraton. I'm getting annoyed at having to replace front inner wheel bearings. So far I have had to replace the left side once, and the right side twice. It's obviously something that needs to be addressed.

Can anyone recommend any fix or mods for this? Bearing suggestions would be appreciated too. I didn't use ARRMA original bearings to replace the Shattered bearings. I used standard, blue rubber sealed bearings and they still Shattered.

 

[WoodiE]

Dang! What bearings did you buy to replace the previous busted set?

I've had good luck with FastEddyBearings and BocaBearings.

 

[GraniteVorteksKraton]

I got mine from an Aussie supplier, Plaig Bearings plaig.com.au

I just bought the generic type but they do have all sorts of bearings especially for the world of RC. Maybe I should try better quality for the front inner wheel bearings.

Has anyone else had such bad luck with the front inner wheel bearings failing on the Kraton as often as I am experiencing? The problem is that when it breaks, it wrecks the steering block as it splits the plastic from too much pressure. If it happens again, I will also need to buy the composite steering block set AR330187 as I have now used up both steering block pieces from my other bearing failures.

 

[Walter]

Have you tried calling Arrma for support? I'm guessing they will send you some new bearings. It's also been my experience that when they know something is failing and they have a better replacement they will send the better unit. My ADS-5 plastic geared servo failed and they sent me an ADS-7M with metal gears. It possible that they will have some other bearing available (perhaps from another Hobbico product line - Axial, Durango, etc).

If nothing else it will at least save you a little bit as you don't have to buy the next set of bearings.

 

[GraniteVorteksKraton]

I spoke with the guys at plaig bearings. I always use their bearings for my two slash RCs and for all my crawlers and everything else. I have never had any quality issues with their bearings, they are pretty good quality and i know its just not the fault of the bearings. Heres what they had to say :

plaig.com.au :

 

[GraniteVorteksKraton]

I appreciated plaig bearings quick response. These guys are always quick and reliable. They are a good aussie seller for any aussies out there wanting to stock up on bearings. I usually recieve bearings within 3 days and i am in West Australia and the bearings get sent from the eastern states. You can find them on ebay or use their website. I stock up on common sizes for my axial and traxxas cars as well as my 3 Arrma cars. I definitely gotta stop smashing bearings to bits. I will write to Arrma to see what they can say about it. I just hope there may be a new design to prevent this from happening.

Did any of you experience shattered bearings in your Kraton?

 

[WoodiE]

Did any of you experience shattered bearings in your Kraton?

I've been doing some searching and it seems this was a pretty common problem toward the end of last year. The bearings where blowing up in the steering knuckle due to the design of the front steering hubs and how they slit right on the lip.

Arrma has since updated the knuckle with a thicker design, as you've already seen in the AR330187. My recommendation would be to buy the new knuckles and get some good quality bearings and that should help if not completely fix the issue.

 

[GraniteVorteksKraton]

I'm just worried that the Australian stockists still have the old stock. Maybe I will take the old knuckle with me and compare the old with the new. Thanks for the info about the new updated parts. I guess that means no one else is having similar problems with the bearings shattering. Thanks

 

[Moffe]

My experience is that even high quality bearings fail when driving hard. After changing to the beefed up knuckles (as Woodie wrote), I have had no problems. With the original ones, I had to change bearings every 2-3packs. Both front knuckles had small cracks which I guess made the bearings want to dance tango.

 

[GraniteVorteksKraton]

Does anyone have both varieties of knuckles to place side by side to take a photo so i can see the difference?

 

[Djinn]

i had the same problem realized my dog bone was bent got me some new ones and some ceramic bearing and haven't had an issue since.

 

[GraniteVorteksKraton]

i had the same problem realized my dog bone was bent got me some new ones and some ceramic bearing and haven't had an issue since.

I've noticed ARRMA are now making a better quality knuckle. I still have the old ones in my Kraton so most likely I will shatter more bearings. I took one of my old broken parts to the LHS with me and noticed the thickness around the bearing has been updated. I will eventually buy the new knuckles and take a photo to show everyone the difference from the old and new knuckles.