Just got mine today.....

[theiceman72]

Whats up guys. Well today after a few days of intense anticipation my Wraith came in. My wife got me a RTR version. I wanted to just test it out in stock form so I charged up a basic Team Orion 4400 stick pack I had for my daughters eSavage. Well to my disbelief I am very disappointed. I do like the look and build of this. But I put the Wraith on my carpet in my basement and low and behold I think I stripped my gears in about 10 seconds. Then I stood there in amazement and said naaaaaa its just me. So I ignored the noise that I was familiar with when I was just introduced into this hobby with my Tamiya Grasshopper. LOL. It was the same sound of stripped gears. But I ignored it. Took it out side in my yard for about 5 - 10 mins. I swear the Wraith got in the middle of my lawn and just sat there whining. Again in amazement I punched the trigger again and it moved. Then I tried to crawl on top of a little kiddie pool I have in my lawn thats kinda upside down but has a lil slope on one side. Nada. I could not get up there to save my life. Heck I could barely turn the front tires let alone get up on the little kiddie pool. Is this really expected? I did some reading and I swear I saw a couple times faqs and threads said the oem gears were not too bad. I mean it just sounds horrible. Its almost embarrassing to myself. In all my years of RCing (its been a long time, I will be 40 this year and I was the original owner of my grasshopper). I have never killed a RC by literally doing nothing to it but driving it from my man cave to out my back door. I can't imagine trying to punch this thing to get any speed out of it. Should I call Axial or Tower Hobbies in the morning? I got a nice Summit 1/16 today and that thing is a tank. This Wraith as it is now is just not cutting it. What do you guys think I should do?

[freakofnature]

id call axial

[theiceman72]

Yeah I am going to do that first thing in the AM. I mean this is just unacceptable . I really was expecting a bit better quality than this. LOL.

[SlowGrynd]

It sucks that your having trouble with it, I got my RTR last week, been beating it pretty hard on the rocks out back and it's working flawlessly. Other than that damn Tamiya battery plug.

[theiceman72]

Originally Posted by Slow

It sucks that your having trouble with it, I got my RTR last week, been beating it pretty hard on the rocks out back and it's working flawlessly. Other than that damn Tamiya battery plug.

Yeah I saw that plug and was like WTF. I just made a converter really quick to deans. I did not want to cut anything as of yet. I am so glad I made that decision. Good grief. I am going to call them and see what they say.

[OSWHollowpoint]

Just out of curiosity, have you taken it apart yet to see what is going on? Maybe something is just loose and needs to be tightened?

[summervillecrawler]

This may be a real stupid question, but.... Did you check the tension on the slipper clutch?

Pug

[theiceman72]

I have not cracked it open to investigate. Honestly all I did was pop on some batteries and put it on the floor to drive it to my yard. Then comes the noise. This is my first Axial product so I didn't think about tearing it down to check stuff. I was amazed at the crappy use of like 1980 connectors and really really bad steering servo. Then I hear the noise. OMG!

[summervillecrawler]

Yeah, Axial is what i call a builders dream, RTR's nightmare. I had to take all my shocks apart and take the burs off the pistons cause they kept sticking, take apart the clutch and clean that, it was like really greasy fingers put it together!!!!

Pug

[diesel kawboy]

Just check the slipper clutch, mine was finger tight after 2 min of use. No big deal, other than that mine ran like a champ. I used it for 3 months bone stock except for a Titan 21 swap.

[theiceman72]

Originally Posted by diesel kawboy

Just check the slipper clutch, mine was finger tight after 2 min of use. No big deal, other than that mine ran like a champ. I used it for 3 months bone stock except for a Titan 21 swap.

I will tear it down today when I get off work and check.

Thanks guys

[chevysucks]

I have had mine for 4 days now with the exception of a broken rear lower link, and the stock knuckles keep working loose it runs awesome, i have been beating hard on it to see what needs the most attention! I also would tear it down and look for something simple?

[diesel kawboy]

The stock screws are coarse thread, I replaced them with fine thread with blue locktite. No issues since

[theiceman72]

Thanks for all the good info guys. I have my work cut out for me when I get home tonight.

[theiceman72]

Well I finally tore it all down and i looks like the pinion was not put on correctly and it chewed up the spur gear. So a bunch of teeth were chewed off and the pinion was installed kinda under where it was suppose to be. I should have been tightened higher up. So I will give them a call in the morning and see if they can send me out another.

Anyone recommend any other brand that may be of better quality? Maybe even change gear ration while I have it open?

[freakofnature]

try kimbrough gears

[theiceman72]

Originally Posted by freakofnature

try kimbrough gears

where can i pick those up from?

[freakofnature]

Originally Posted by theiceman72

where can i pick those up from?

most hobby shops should carry them or check out an online place like tower or rpp

[theiceman72]

Originally Posted by freakofnature

try kimbrough gears

I found the site and based on your recommendation and my reading have decided to maybe go to 39 gears. Do you have a recommendation on a spur/pinion combination that would give me kinda in the mid... not all speed but not all crawling. I would like to hit some trails and would like to be able to get over some stuff but at the same time not be so slow that its not enjoyable.

[freakofnature]

Originally Posted by theiceman72

I found the site and based on your recommendation and my reading have decided to maybe go to 39 gears. Do you have a recommendation on a spur/pinion combination that would give me kinda in the mid... not all speed but not all crawling. I would like to hit some trails and would like to be able to get over some stuff but at the same time not be so slow that its not enjoyable.

not sure what you mean by going to 39 gears. but im running a 80 tooth spur with a 24 tooth pinion with decent wheel speed but im also running a 55t motor til i can get my 27 turn motors then i might drop to bet a 19 and 22 tooth pinion