Kraton So...Anyone Have a Creative Method of Mounting an XLX2 in a Kraton 6S?

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Diem Turner

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  1. Infraction
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As the title suggests, I'm trying to figure out a way to mount an XLX2 in K6EXB. I was able to mount it on top of my batteries using some Dual-Lock (it was literally jammed under the roof of the body), but that's not really viable for day to day use. I'm trying to see if I might be able to jerry rig a raised platform where the ESC normally goes, just high enough so that it clears the motor mount. I'm willing to try running it without the super structure in the middle.

I know this isn't an ideal situation, but all I have on hand for ESCs are XLX2s (first world problem, I know) but I was wondering if anyone might have run into this problem before and has a solution on tap.
 
As the title suggests, I'm trying to figure out a way to mount an XLX2 in K6EXB. I was able to mount it on top of my batteries using some Dual-Lock (it was literally jammed under the roof of the body), but that's not really viable for day to day use. I'm trying to see if I might be able to jerry rig a raised platform where the ESC normally goes, just high enough so that it clears the motor mount. I'm willing to try running it without the super structure in the middle.

I know this isn't an ideal situation, but all I have on hand for ESCs are XLX2s (first world problem, I know) but I was wondering if anyone might have run into this problem before and has a solution on tap.
I've seen those angled mounts for the xlx2. Ya think that you could maybe make something like that, that goes from the deck up to the center chassis brace @ an angle? I'm sitting here looking @ mine, trying to envision how it'd fit, just spit balling here🤷‍♂️
 
I've seen those angled mounts for the xlx2. Ya think that you could maybe make something like that, that goes from the deck up to the center chassis brace @ an angle? I'm sitting here looking @ mine, trying to envision how it'd fit, just spit balling here🤷‍♂️
That's ma boy!! Good shout brother :) Yeah, that's a workable solution. Thank you!! (y) 💪
 
Ok, now that I look again I think that the motor mount will cause issues. Maybe put it on top of the motor mount, where the rollcage is. Ya might even be able to use the very top of the structure for protection
Nah man, I already looked. It checks out.
1674317729167.jpeg
 
If you swapped the servo assembly to the other side and relocated receiver box, would it even fit properly on motor side of LWB chassis? How about fabbing up something inside the center brace cage?
 
If you swapped the servo assembly to the other side and relocated receiver box, would it even fit properly on motor side of LWB chassis? How about fabbing up something inside the center brace cage?
Reversing the steering assembly would be a massive PITA and inside the center brace cage will wind up being too tall me thinks and I'll run into height issues with the roof of the truck...but if you look at the pic above, I think I can make this fly on the passenger side in front of the motor without much issue and minimal fabercobbling. I appreciate the input though. (y)

I think @joshludden hit the bullseye here. Should it not work for whatever reason...I'll holler. And if it does...I'll post pics.
 
I've seen those angled mounts for the xlx2. Ya think that you could maybe make something like that, that goes from the deck up to the center chassis brace @ an angle? I'm sitting here looking @ mine, trying to envision how it'd fit, just spit balling here🤷‍♂️
Nah man, I already looked. It checks out.
View attachment 271739

That's a Very feasible location and mounting solution.
Just need to come up with some dimensions to design a slanted platform to secure to the center brace and original OEM ESC plate...
 
Ok, main part is done. Just need to make two or three holes for zip ties. The lid fits without issues. The motor wires are right up against the inside, but it's pretty much an exact fit.
1674323005347.jpeg
1674323026776.jpeg

IKR? I don't have any hex head screws that are a drop in fit. I'll need to drill out the holes in the fan shroud a little and then I'll get that sorted away.
Btw, I checked my punch...it was all the way up at 80% and it was already pretty lively on my outing with the XLX2 earlier. I set it to 50% for the next run; see how that feels.
Yeah, man, why?!?!? Where’s the Ti socket heads, man? Where? You have a rep to protect, man!
@Diem Turner you will not be bashing with those Onyx or SRD’s, right? I hope when it’s all together we‘ll see some Zeees or Hoovos in there.
lol...You're gonna have to settle for steel, but socket heads I can manage.

Bash? With my ONYX or SRDs? WHERE'S THE MONEY LEBOWSKI?!?! :LOL: Lot on your knife....not...on your life. I know I'm retarded but I'm not f*!#in' stupid. I'm just running some old 3S Zeee packs in series. I checked and my CNHL G+ will fit in there upright, next to each other. I'll probably use those from time to time as well. That's all I have in the way of 3S that will fit, but that's plenty for me for now.
 
Ok, I guess we can give you a pass on those G+’s. And I don’t know about the money, all I found was Walter‘s poopie undies.
Seriously though, that’s some creative use of some really limited real estate. Well done, man. And I know what you’ve said in the past, but I’m willing to bet that some mindless, banal bashing will be good for your soul. Not nearly as stressful or engaging as putting one of your speed runners down on the tarmac. It’ll be stress relief. I’m glad you got a Kraton, man!
Also, please play with the gyro in that R7FG and tell us what you think. I really don’t want to buy stand-alone gyros for either speed runner unless they’re just so much better it’s stupid.
And I just noticed, does the servo arm clear that XLX2 at full lock?
 
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Ok, I guess we can give you a pass on those G+’s. And I don’t know about the money, all I found was Walter‘s poopie undies.
Seriously though, that’s some creative use of some really limited real estate. Well done, man. And I know what you’ve said in the past, but I’m willing to bet that some mindless, banal bashing will be good for your soul. Not nearly as stressful or engaging as putting one of your speed runners down on the tarmac. It’ll be stress relief. I’m glad you got a Kraton, man!
Also, please play with the gyro in that R7FG and tell us what you think. I really don’t want to buy stand-alone gyros for either speed runner unless they’re just so much better it’s stupid.
And I just noticed, does the servo arm clear that XLX2 at full lock?
A thousand thanks! :LOL:
As Donald Rumsfeld said, "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you want". An interesting perspective which applies to many situations in civilian life. He was a bastard, but he had his funny moments.

Man, I hope so. I mean as for it being good for my soul. The first two weeks with the thing have been a bit annoying regarding the diffs. While I understand the basic principles behind shimming and how to do what, there are little details that can throw a monkey wrench in the works. Like the rear diff...I shimmed the pinion out and it ran smooth...briefly before it started skipping again. Took it apart and found between 1-2 shim rings in the diff case and I was absolutely stumped as to where they came from. I filed it away under "got stuck to my hand during assembly and fell in".

During a subsequent disassembly I discovered that the shims under my pinion had disappeared. ??? As I discovered, the backside of the pinion had cut the shims that were underneath it into rings which then slipped over the pinion and went through the meatgrinder, as it were. Lesson learned...put the shims under the bearing. Anyways, the tl;dr is just that the shimming has been...educational, but I was getting a bit annoyed with it after a while.

Then I finally got everything shimmed out properly yesterday and it's been holding stable since. Just as the car is finally "ready to go"...the ESC dies. :/
Admittedly I began seriously second guessing the purchase of a used car. I'm gonna write the shop I got it from and see if they'll honor any kind of warranty on the ESC since it died so quickly, but that's not really a bother. Anyballs, here's to a car that will (hopefully) run for longer than a day. 🍻 :LOL: Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got the Kraton. I knew it was going to need some TLC as it was advertised as such. So I knew what I was getting into.

The funny thing is...by mid to late summer, going out for a speed run was no longer stressful. I had found a routine that reliably put me into a relaxed Zen like state of mind by the time I left the house.

As for the R7FG gyro...I played around with it a lot when I first got the radio. At the time I only had the Spektrum AVC to compare it to and, for me, I much preferred the behavior of the AVC. Even just with the global control from the DX3, not being able to separately address the steering and throttle gain. It's kind of hard to explain what it is about the R7FG that I don't like as it's a "feel" thing. It just doesn't feel right. To me. I had the same thing with the Flysky GT5 gyro. Again, something doesn't feel right. I don't want to jinx you or put something in your mind about the gyro that wasn't there before, if you take my meaning but, I think the best way I can describe it is that it felt like I was introducing a strange sort of unpredictable instability to the car instead of the "smoothing" feeling I was expecting. But that's such a subjective thing that I wouldn't give two farthings about what it felt like to me and just try it out for yourself (I presume you already have one?). For me personally, it wasn't until I installed a Futaba GYC-441 that I found a gyro that felt like what I expected it to feel like.

I can understand your reservation about outfitting your cars with them as it's not an insignificant expenditure. All that being said, I can tell you this - with the car properly set up I definitely didn't feel like a gyro was necessary. I ran for the longest time without and only recently put it on just to try it out because I had bought it months earlier when I had some excess cash and got it in case I might want or need it later. But I never felt like my car "needed" it. My car ran straight, I felt totally in control of the thing and I didn't install it to address any issue the car had. It was pure curiosity to see how it feels and whether or not and, if so, how it differs from the others. I would have no issue removing it from the car again as I have it turned down so low on the gain that the car, essentially, feels like it did before without it. Sorry for another tl;dr but maybe you'll find the info useful.

As for the servo arm...I haven't tried, but I'm pretty sure it does. The ESC is right up against the servo mount but, I'm pretty sure, the servo doesn't extend beyond the boundaries of the mount at full lock. We'll find out shortly. :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, she's all mounted up and ready to go (sans the fan screws, but those can wait until preliminary testing has been completed).
1674329096689.jpeg
1674329110074.jpeg


Edit: Servo arm clearance test: SUCCESS
 
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A thousand thanks! :LOL:
As Donald Rumsfeld said, "You go to war with the army you have, not the army you want". An interesting perspective which applies to many situations in civilian life. He was a bastard, but he had his funny moments.

Man, I hope so. I mean as for it being good for my soul. The first two weeks with the thing have been a bit annoying regarding the diffs. While I understand the basic principles behind shimming and how to do what, there are little details that can throw a monkey wrench in the works. Like the rear diff...I shimmed the pinion out and it ran smooth...briefly before it started skipping again. Took it apart and found between 1-2 shim rings in the diff case and I was absolutely stumped as to where they came from. I filed it away under "got stuck to my hand during assembly and fell in".

During a subsequent disassembly I discovered that the shims under my pinion had disappeared. ??? As I discovered, the backside of the pinion had cut the shims that were underneath it into rings which then slipped over the pinion and went through the meatgrinder, as it were. Lesson learned...put the shims under the bearing. Anyways, the tl;dr is just that the shimming has been...educational, but I was getting a bit annoyed with it after a while.

Then I finally got everything shimmed out properly yesterday and it's been holding stable since. Just as the car is finally "ready to go"...the ESC dies. :/
Admittedly I began seriously second guessing the purchase of a used car. I'm gonna write the shop I got it from and see if they'll honor any kind of warranty on the ESC since it died so quickly, but that's not really a bother. Anyballs, here's to a car that will (hopefully) run for longer than a day. 🍻 :LOL: Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got the Kraton. I knew it was going to need some TLC as it was advertised as such. So I knew what I was getting into.

The funny thing is...by mid to late summer, going out for a speed run was no longer stressful. I had found a routine that reliably put me into a relaxed Zen like state of mind by the time I left the house.

As for the R7FG gyro...I played around with it a lot when I first got the radio. At the time I only had the Spektrum AVC to compare it to and, for me, I much preferred the behavior of the AVC. Even just with the global control from the DX3, not being able to separately address the steering and throttle gain. It's kind of hard to explain what it is about the R7FG that I don't like as it's a "feel" thing. It just doesn't feel right. To me. I had the same thing with the Flysky GT5 gyro. Again, something doesn't feel right. I don't want to jinx you or put something in your mind about the gyro that wasn't there before, if you take my meaning but, I think the best way I can describe it is that it felt like I was introducing a strange sort of unpredictable instability to the car instead of the "smoothing" feeling I was expecting. But that's such a subjective thing that I wouldn't give two farthings about what it felt like to me and just try it out for yourself (I presume you already have one?). For me personally, it wasn't until I installed a Futaba GYC-441 that I found a gyro that felt like what I expected it to feel like.

I can understand your reservation about outfitting your cars with them as it's not an insignificant expenditure. All that being said, I can tell you this - with the car properly set up I definitely didn't feel like a gyro was necessary. I ran for the longest time without and only recently put it on just to try it out because I had bought it months earlier when I had some excess cash and got it in case I might want or need it later. But I never felt like my car "needed" it. My car ran straight, I felt totally in control of the thing and I didn't install it to address any issue the car had. It was pure curiosity to see how it feels and whether or not and, if so, how it differs from the others. I would have no issue removing it from the car again as I have it turned down so low on the gain that the car, essentially, feels like it did before without it. Sorry for another tl;dr but maybe you'll find the info useful.

As for the servo arm...I haven't tried, but I'm pretty sure it does. The ESC is right up against the servo mount but, I'm pretty sure, the servo doesn't extend beyond the boundaries of the mount at full lock. We'll find out shortly. :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, she's all mounted up and ready to go (sans the fan screws, but those can wait until preliminary testing has been completed).
View attachment 271815View attachment 271816
Thanks for that. I’ve heard from both sides about gyros on speed runners. I’ve never used one on the street, but I haven’t even broken 80mph yet. Part of me wants a safety net of sorts, but my Typhon street basher never had any sort of controllability issue into the mid 70’s once it was dialed in. I’ll play it by ear. @Moirae said he has his (Radiolink) turned way down but still felt that it hurt more than it helped over 80. The guys I’ve heard say to take full advantage of a gyro for speed running were all running Futabas. I guess that probably says something, right?
At any rate (see what I did there?) enjoy the Kraton. And as always, video or it didn’t happen!
 
Thanks for that. I’ve heard from both sides about gyros on speed runners. I’ve never used one on the street, but I haven’t even broken 80mph yet. Part of me wants a safety net of sorts, but my Typhon street basher never had any sort of controllability issue into the mid 70’s once it was dialed in. I’ll play it by ear. @Moirae said he has his (Radiolink) turned way down but still felt that it hurt more than it helped over 80. The guys I’ve heard say to take full advantage of a gyro for speed running were all running Futabas. I guess that probably says something, right?
At any rate (see what I did there?) enjoy the Kraton. And as always, video or it didn’t happen!
There's something about a safety net I can understand but, I'd say get at least into the 120s before ever turning it on so that you know your car is dialed and that what the car is doing is truly you and the car alone. To my mind, a gyro should never be used to mask the behavior of the car. If the car doesn't drive well, take the time to figure out why and remedy the issue. I know I'm preaching to the choir, you've been involved in actual racing and I'd bet dollars to pesos that that's how you guys would tune a car's handling. The proverbial lipstick on a pig still just leaves you with a pig.

Yeah, the Radiolink gyro I don't suspect would fare good at high speeds and, you're right. There probably is a reason why all of the speed runners who choose to use a gyro, use Futaba. I do think that if you ever do decide to try one out, you'll also understand why. The way they react is just different, dare I say better. To me it feels far more predictable. It does what you expect it to do.

Well played sir! :LOL:
 
Thanks for that. I’ve heard from both sides about gyros on speed runners. I’ve never used one on the street, but I haven’t even broken 80mph yet. Part of me wants a safety net of sorts, but my Typhon street basher never had any sort of controllability issue into the mid 70’s once it was dialed in. I’ll play it by ear. @Moirae said he has his (Radiolink) turned way down but still felt that it hurt more than it helped over 80. The guys I’ve heard say to take full advantage of a gyro for speed running were all running Futabas. I guess that probably says something, right?
At any rate (see what I did there?) enjoy the Kraton. And as always, video or it didn’t happen!
whoa whoa!! I think you might have mixed me up with someone else! I tried the radiolink up to 113 mph and thought it helped tremendously. I did that on an extremely bad road where it's not even possible to run my limitless or felony on. I had to use my stretched typhon that is way more forgiving. I'm talking road so bad I got airborn every pass. :ROFLMAO: The radiolink gyro has also helped us out tremendously with our for fun drag races. Very noticeable difference with it off and on.

I don't have the big speed experience of others but the radiolink gyro has done right by me. (y)
 
whoa whoa!! I think you might have mixed me up with someone else! I tried the radiolink up to 113 mph and thought it helped tremendously. I did that on an extremely bad road where it's not even possible to run my limitless or felony on. I had to use my stretched typhon that is way more forgiving. I'm talking road so bad I got airborn every pass. :ROFLMAO: The radiolink gyro has also helped us out tremendously with our for fun drag races. Very noticeable difference with it off and on.

I don't have the big speed experience of others but the radiolink gyro has done right by me. (y)
Sorry, I guess I did mix you up! I tried to find the post and I couldn’t, but I thought it was you. Good to know you’ve run it up to the 100’s with good results.
I know I'm preaching to the choir, you've been involved in actual racing and I'd bet dollars to pesos that that's how you guys would tune a car's handling. The proverbial lipstick on a pig still just leaves you with a pig.
Yes, and I was the guy that did it. Good times! I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish with most Porsches, but as I’ve said before (and it sounds ludicrous) if I could set up a 1/8 or 1/7 as well as I could with a 1:1 track car then I’d be in the 180’s by now! 😂 Dude, no BS this is way more challenging for me!
 
Functionally, yes. I just made my own from a bit of sheet metal, drilled four holes and then rolled it over a 3/8" rod so I could hang it on the T2T brace and strap it to the the brace with two zip ties. I wasn't happy with the position though because I have straight soldered connectors on the motor which caused the motor leads to jut out past the chassis a bit further than I would have liked and it was deflecting the passenger side door panel. So I reworked the mount a little to stand the ESC more upright so the connectors would be inside the chassis tub. The result was satisfactory and I think I could live with it like that. This is V1. I think I forgot to take pics of V2. But you get the general idea.
1675161320493.jpeg
 
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