Kraton Motor Swap in Kraton

[Vanning]

I put 50,000 in the center diff and tested it out today. It's getting better.... I got a set of Tekno shock springs and some 60 and 80 weight oil on the way also. I think I'll prefer longer stiffer springs and oil.

 

[Dubbl-A]

I think you'll be happy with around 100-200k in the center for all around ripping. I run 3.8 Pro-Line Trencher X's and thats a lot of mass so I went with 500k in the center so all that power would transfer a little more to the rear and not diff out and balloon the fronts so much. A side effect is much more wheelies and craziness but it's a hoot. But thats the beauty of a center diff...tune it to your liking and roll out!

 

[Vanning]

With 50,000 in the center diff I did a few full pulls down the street on 6S. I notice a difference from the 10,000 that was in it to the 50,000. My front end is on the verge of wanting to lift, the fronts stopped ballooning as much. I'm going to 200k next and waiting on the wheelie bar. From what you are saying....I do think I will like 200k in my Kraton.

 

[Vanning]

So I took the Arrma Kraton out last night in a large drainage ditch to test it out with the 2200KV, MMX, and the small pinion that comes installed on the stock motor. I'm on 6S. This is truly my first time ringing out this truck hard. Let me start out by saying.......this is one bad RC vehicle on 6S. I was mostly just checking temperatures last night on my electronics. I got to 180F motor near the end of my pack and I probably had a few more minutes to go on it. That's not too bad on temps for how wicked the power and speed is. So my plan is to drop the temps a little bit to be more under 180. I'll start by raising my Lipo cutoff slightly to lower my run time a little. I can't really put a smaller pinion in it because I have no more adjustment left to mesh. I don't think they make a larger spur gear so I can't do that. So what I'll do is install a nice heatsink and fan on my motor and I'll run my Badland tires to see how my temps do. The Badlands are slightly smaller in diameter than stock tires....this should bring the temps down a bit. That acts as if it has a smaller pinion in it.

 

[Dubbl-A]

Time for one of these.

 

[Vanning]

Down the road Dubs, down the road, I do have my eye on that. I want to make due with the system I have now and get it decent on 6S.....it's on the verge of being within the warm and fuzzy feeling for heat. Too bad I can't really drop a tooth on the pinion. If I can't get her right, then I look into a swap. I'm creeping on 180 F, it took some time to get there, and it was hot outside. I know heat-sinks are great for sapping out 10 degrees as long as they got the air flow. I'll give it a try for starters. I wanted to use the Castle ESC but I'm not against changing the motor. One thing I will have to do is get a harness that will plug into that type of connector on the Leopard Hobby motor and even the stock motor. The harness is stopping me from motor swaps as of now. I'm use to the Castle Software on the ESC's and I like it... unfortunately they use a different method to wire to motors. I'll have to look around for the connectors and make up a harness or try and find one already done. All I know for now is that I'm addicted to all this power in a RC vehicle. Plus no internal combustion to disturb anyone...I can bash up an area and never be too loud to be noticed.

 

[Vanning]

Oh boy......I wonder if this CC 2200KV will fit in my Slash because it's getting removed from the Kraton. I got a 1730 KV on order. I hope my Mamba Monster X can run the 1730 KV 4092 Leopard motor. I don't see why it cant. My concern is...the max voltage on the Leopard 4092-1730KV is 20 volts.

 

[Vanning]

Time for one of these.



View attachment 2461

That motor specs says 20V max voltage....will it be ok running 6S. It's weird, the motors specs also say 3S to 6S LiPo on some web stores, but it claims 20V max voltage . Nominal voltage of a 6S battery is 22.2volts. 22.2 x 1730kv is 38,406 RPM. The voltage rating on the motor is probably to stay under the motors RPM limit with no load. I'm unable to find the Leopard motors max RPM info. My Castle Creation 2200KV reads 60,000 max rpm on the back of it. I'm thinking that the load the Kraton keeps on the leopard motor will never let it over rev. I want to keep the heat down but still get some great speed and torque on 6S. My 2200kv was getting 180F near the end and it would probably get hotter. I hope the 1730KV Leopard does better on 6S.

 

[Dubbl-A]

The 4092 1730kv will have no problems with 6s. It will actually draw less amps than your 2200 does and in turn run cooler and provide more torque. Now, it will not have the same maximum speed as the 2200 but gearing up (pinion) will solve that.
Also, your Mamba Monster X should have no issues with the Leo.
Check out some of Thomas-P's threads...he's been beating on a 4092 1730kv for a while now.

 

[Vanning]

Yeah Castle said no worries with the MMX. This person I'm getting the 1730 KV Leopard says not to run it on 6S. The thing is...is he speaking from experience or just looking at #'s. He said it wont dissipate heat that good on 6S. However....TP looks like he tortures the heck out of that motor. I think the Arrma Kraton is light enough to get away with this motor on 6S. If it's in a slob of a monster truck....it may not do as well. I got a few RC cars with motors in them that I can not get too hot no matter what. The vehicles are too light....put that same motor in a heavier rig....it starts to get hot. Specs are sometimes just good on paper.

OK....I just got a nice reply back from the place I'm getting the motor from. He said, as long as you gear the motor properly for the vehicle....It will be fine. He said don't be an idiot like most people and send it back burnt to a crisp...LOL. He said, if you understand what you are doing, you will be fine. I'm not sure why the specs said 20volt max ???? I wasn't liking that but with some reassurance......I'm getting excited about bolting it up.

 

[Swerny]

I ran into the motor screw hole size issue last night as well.

I somehow broke 2 pinion gears in the span of 2 battery packs (5s).

I thought my mesh was either too loose or too tight, was getting louder noise than usual but the Kraton ran OK.

Thought maybe the centre diff was gone.

Took it apart, the CD was fine, but there was nothing but grease in it, so i added some diff fluid for now (rebuild coming soon).

The motor didn't turn smoothly and made a "squeak" sound when turning the shaft by hand, it also felt like there was more resistance than usual.

I have a spare motor (RC Gear Shop 21050kv 4074) that i was going to slap in and low and behold, the screw holes on it are too small.

I had just ordered a new motor for my XO1 and tried it (just for laughs), and low and behold it fits....and it looked REALLY GOOD!

Slapped it all back together stock, set the mesh and tried it briefly outside and it seemed to run fine.

I know people will ask, so here's what the Castle 1717 big block looks like mounted.

Pics

 

[Vanning]

Cool...sounds killer. My Kraton hauls ass with the 2200KV Castle Motor on 6S but was just hitting 180F near the later part of my battery charge. I have a new motor on the way, but I'm still going to test the 2200KV out with a modified Hobbywing heatsink that I just installed. THis thing fits so nice and has a HUGE !!! fan on it. All I have to do is wire it up maybe tonight. I want to see what my temps are at now. That will be the first run to check temps. My second run will be with smaller diameter Badlands installed along with the heatsink and fan. In theory, that should be the same as dropping a few pinion sizes. IDK...this test may be useful to some people. I'll put up some pictures and numbers when I get a chance. If I ever swap in the Leopard motor...I'll try to shoe horn that CC 2200KV in my Slash 4x4. I can turn that back into a rocket ship without heating up. My Slash is fast with no heat now but if I gear to be a rocket...she gets a little toasty.

I'm thinking about getting a Tekno ET48 roller and starting a build on that. I think I'm getting addicted to the speed on wide open grass fields. I think I'll save bashing for the Kraton and build a super fast Tekno ET48....they look pretty nice. IDK...I may have to part with a few RC's first to fund it.

 

[justpassedu]

I ran into the motor screw hole size issue last night as well.

I somehow broke 2 pinion gears in the span of 2 battery packs (5s).

I thought my mesh was either too loose or too tight, was getting louder noise than usual but the Kraton ran OK.

Thought maybe the centre diff was gone.

Took it apart, the CD was fine, but there was nothing but grease in it, so i added some diff fluid for now (rebuild coming soon).

The motor didn't turn smoothly and made a "squeak" sound when turning the shaft by hand, it also felt like there was more resistance than usual.

I have a spare motor (RC Gear Shop 21050kv 4074) that i was going to slap in and low and behold, the screw holes on it are too small.

I had just ordered a new motor for my XO1 and tried it (just for laughs), and low and behold it fits....and it looked REALLY GOOD!

Slapped it all back together stock, set the mesh and tried it briefly outside and it seemed to run fine.

I know people will ask, so here's what the Castle 1717 big block looks like mounted.

Pics

Awesome i want to run a 1717 in mine also , it fits the motor mount with 0 modification ? Please let us know how it runs after you get a chance to test ? Thats a powerful motor also , i would advice in adding a extra cap pack to your esc for some protection ty

 

[Swerny]

Awesome i want to run a 1717 in mine also , it fits the motor mount with 0 modification ? Please let us know how it runs after you get a chance to test ? Thats a powerful motor also , i would advice in adding a extra cap pack to your esc for some protection ty

I am not planning to run it in my Kraton, i just wanted to see if it fit.

It did bolt right up with room to spare, which surprised me.

 

[justpassedu]

I am not planning to run it in my Kraton, i just wanted to see if it fit.

It did bolt right up with room to spare, which surprised me.

If you want to sell that motor shoot me a pm , Glad it bolts right up. That is my next step shortly , I'd love to run the 1717 in the Kraton , i used to have 1 in my Savage Flux , Xo-01 &Ofna Dm1 and it ran so cool.

 

[Swerny]

If you want to sell that motor shoot me a pm , Glad it bolts right up. That is my next step shortly , I'd love to run the 1717 in the Kraton , i used to have 1 in my Savage Flux , Xo-01 &Ofna Dm1 and it ran so cool.

It's going in my XO-1.

I bought it from Jenny's RC. They come into stock from time to time.

 

[justpassedu]

It's going in my XO-1.

I bought it from Jenny's RC. They come into stock from time to time.

Ebay is cheaper , enjoy it man thank you

 

[Swerny]

Ebay is cheaper , enjoy it man thank you

I bought it from Jenny's RC ebay store actually.

Cheers

 

[Dubbl-A]

@Swerny
Wow, how did you break 2 pinions back to back?!!

Also, that Castle motor looks like a beast.

 

[Swerny]

@Swerny
Wow, how did you break 2 pinions back to back?!!

Also, that Castle motor looks like a beast.

never seen it happen either. I sheared 2 or 3 teeth off side by side. weirdest thing.

I'll try to take a photo tonight.

The truck was running fine, a few cartwheels. The first time it sounded awful like something was stripped (the pinion was).

I changed to the 2nd in the field, It was getting dark so i wasn't sure about the mesh. Same thing, it got really loud and then stopped.

Changed to the 14t...ran a bit (it sounded louder than usual so i shut it down before doing any further damage.

Like I said, i reinstalled everything at home and it seems fine in the brief test drive.

Of course it's pouring rain here today...so no further driving until the weekend.