My K-5 should be here Monday!

[SilmarilS]

I initially planned to buy the truck after Christmas, but the black friday deal was the nail in the coffin!!

I can't wait to begin building it next weekend. It will be my first kit ever, and first scale truck.

I fetched the electronics right and left. I got a used ROC412 2300kv, a Hobbywing sensored ESC and a WP RX. Will use a old patched servo from my sporty crawler.

Never painted a body before. So it will be a interesting experience!
Just need to choose the color and where to grab them!

[M1tch]

Enjoy the build, it's a good way to learn how it all works. Check the ring and pinion in the axles as they need shimming to make sure they don't have too much play in the gears. Apart from that it's a great truck which drives really well out of the box.

[SilmarilS]

Yeah, I know about the R/P problem, and will make sure it's done correctly!!

[SilmarilS]

Damn.. I'm missing parts for the Rear Links!!!

[M1tch]

.Get hold of Horizon if you can and see if they can send the parts..hope it works out for you

[SilmarilS]

I got hold of Horizon US and they don't seem interested in helping me in their live chat..

I will see what my e-mail to Horizon AND Vaterra will give...

I will have to take the parts from the Panhard link to complete the rear links. At least I will be able to continue the build.
But I didn't know I would have so much fun building a kit!!!!

[SilmarilS]

Damn, sometimes I can be dumb..!!!

I completed the build to see that the front suspension is a 3 link. Not a 4 link. So I had made 1 front link not needed!
There are the part that I needed!
Now the truck is almost complete. And what a mess is to put the diffs onto the body.
Would be a pita to work on the driveshafts / diff gears!

[M1tch]

All the effort is worth it when you get to drive it. Love mine.

[SilmarilS]

I just finished the electronics, to see how everything works before waterproofing everything.
I got a ROC412 2300kv running on a Hobbywing Justock ESC with a 2S and with the stock gears, the speed seem just fine for me!
I will say maybe 10km/h (6mph).

[SilmarilS]

ANd now the ESC is toasted... User error... I have unplugged the fan to make some servo adjustement and various config...
But after adjusting the drag brake and made some 3S test, the heat was too much for the poor thing...!!
At least it's not expensive!

But the water proofing of the motor and servo is done. The RX is already WP.

[M1tch]

Oh well lesson learned. hope you get it running soon. I had my tekin motor fry in my other truck last week. Decided that as it's going to be more of a basher I'm just putting a cheap motor in.

[SilmarilS]

I'm in the process of gluing the tires... Kinda forgot!

The new ESC is ordered and I have brought my white paint. Just need to receive my blue paint next week...

[Fatman489]

I just put in the order for my kit aswell .. post some pix when you can! .. this will also be my first kit and first time painting a body lol

[SilmarilS]

Now, the body is not even painted and I ripped the front drive shaft running around the house on carpet..

I can hammer my Nightcrawler on small dogbones all day, but some carpet is too much for the K-5.
And since all the places are backorder on the stock and MIP, it must be a recurring problem. Just not me!

[sdmf]

Originally Posted by SilmarilS

Now, the body is not even painted and I ripped the front drive shaft running around the house on carpet..

I can hammer my Nightcrawler on small dogbones all day, but some carpet is too much for the K-5.
And since all the places are backorder on the stock and MIP, it must be a recurring problem. Just not me!

If you broke a driveshaft in your living room, there may have been user error. My wraith still has original w8s after running 3s a lot. I ran brushless 4 pole castle and mmp, and didn't break them. As far as I've heard axials ds are pretty crappy. Did you twist it?

[SilmarilS]

We speak the Vaterra K-5, not an axial rig...

I don't know why you compare a wraith here?

[sdmf]

Originally Posted by SilmarilS

We speak the Vaterra K-5, not an axial rig...

I don't know why you compare a wraith here?

All rtr ds are crap, but usually they break when your tires are in a bind. Even my other noncrawler stuff. I'm interested in the kit, and concerned that the ds are so bad you can't even use them

[M1tch]

I surprised that it broke. I have twisted one, but it still worked ok. I got MiP shafts now, but getting them sent to the UK makes them expensive.

[crazydave]

I love my Ascender. I feel box stock vs box stock, it is smoother, and more capable than the SCX10. My friends are all very impressed with it, we all feel that in basically stock form it is very close to all of our SCX10s that have had quite a bit set time in them.

With that said, I do believe the drive shafts to be a problem. I did quite a bit of testing around the house, and the rock pile at the track, but on its first official trail run, the front driveshaft gave out pretty quick. My friend noted that I was bound up, and I did not see that, but I did not give it a lot of throttle, and I am still running the stock driveshafts in my old SCX10 that has endured miles of abuse.

I got the MIPs, and I not very impressed. The front binds horribly when the front suspension is fully expanded. The CVD joint seems to be rather large, and I suspect its going to catch on rocks more, and I feel they add a lot of weight to the truck, for being driveshafts. That's no good for side hilling. And to be honest I have a past beef with MIP, so I am biased, but if JunFac releases driveshafts, I will be all over them, and these MIPs will be on eBay before you can blink.

[M1tch]

I'm running the Mip's myself, but do find the large CVD joint hangs up sometimes. Veterra's idea of putting the joint inside the bearing is a neat idea. All the stock shafts need really is steel center parts or an improved design. I have junfac shafts on my other trucks and they work fine. They handle the 4s power of my foff rig no problem.

I'm sure Vaterra are looking into this, and the pinion problem, from what I have read in Rich's posts. They do seem to back up their products very well.