New to this Forum and new Creeper.

[lksyotas]

Hello Everyone! Newbie here signing in. I have been a nitro RC enthusiast for years but just recently decided to get into electric ones. Partly because my Revo is way to loud for my street and the new advances in brushless tech. And Lipo’s are equal to or better in the performance sector as the nitro’s.
I decided to start off with a crawler type as I became very interested in their capabilities after reading about them here and watching vids on Youtube.
Anyway, I started this adventure out by purchasing a Creeper a week ago. I finally got it all wired up and running this past Friday. My build was similar to others. Bags weren't marked and I had a few bad parts (locker ring had bent pins from their factory and some stripped holes in the wheels from the factory installing the screws with to much torque or speed.) But despite those initial issues I am overall pleased with the kit. Specs of my build are as follows:
Tekin FXR/ 45T pro motor combo + Hotwire link.
Holmes 1300mah 3S batt.
Castle Creations BEC.
645 steering servo.
Spektrum DX3.
HB Rovers on the way...
A few notes from my initial runtime with it. Right after it was finally running and I got the Hotwire settings to my liking I was having a great time climbing the couch and other items in my living room. The first thing that I noticed was when the front locker kept kicking out of engagement. So a quick fix with a zip tie around the external lever fixed that. (Rear locker is fully locked same way to start with because the faulty internals from the factory.) Second, I noticed that the rear tires wouldn't drive 100% in either direction. It was like it was an open diff for a few tire revolutions then it would lock up. I figured I must have broken teeth in the spider gear assembly. Upon taking the rear end apart low and behold there were three teeth missing from the spider set as I anticipated. I know the diff was assembled correctly as I took my time building it and actually design ATV 4WD systems for a living so I’m familiar with their workings. My guess is the gears were either through hardened or had stress cracks to begin with because my front is holding up fine.
Next, after it was reassembled, I was climbing on a small set of rocks in the back yard when the right rear tire popped off of the axle. Looks like I got a set of the early axles as it broke in half right were the pin location is... I checked the remaining three hubs and discovered that another one is cracked and with anymore driving it will surely fail.
I sent Venom a few emails covering everything that I just discussed here but have not heard back yet. I'll give their customer service a call tomorrow. I hope they can send me a new set of axles that are improved and not through hardened as my first set appears to be. I checked all the hobby stores online and they all state that they are out of these items until mid April!!!
Hopefully Venom has some for customers such as myself that have had similar luck with their original parts.
Overall, I'm pleased with the kit and think its a fine setup for a first run. I'm sure they will address the issues that I and several others have mentioned. Just wanted to say hi to everyone and let you know what I think of this new rig. I’m really dying to get it back up and running and learn how to drive it…

[JSN]

Sounds like you have had about all the same troubles many of us have had (or still having). Venom should take care of you... I also called and had some replacement stubs in my mail box with in a few day's. If you want some spares this place still has the parts ya need in stock.
http://www.ckrccrawlers.com/shop/ind...&cPath=167_169

I was out today for about 3 hours of crawling on sand stone... god i love that rock!!! anyway, the only thing i broke was a little piece of the front skid when I slamed it down on a rock(went BETWEEN the tires) tumbling about 5-6 feet off a rock face. The creeper just keeps impressing me more each time i take it out... once ya get the bugs out your gona love it

[lksyotas]

Originally Posted by JSN

Sounds like you have had about all the same troubles many of us have had (or still having). Venom should take care of you... I also called and had some replacement stubs in my mail box with in a few day's. If you want some spares this place still has the parts ya need in stock.
http://www.ckrccrawlers.com/shop/ind...&cPath=167_169

I was out today for about 3 hours of crawling on sand stone... god i love that rock!!! anyway, the only thing i broke was a little piece of the front skid when I slamed it down on a rock(went BETWEEN the tires) tumbling about 5-6 feet off a rock face. The creeper just keeps impressing me more each time i take it out... once ya get the bugs out your gona love it

Thanks for the heads up on ckrc. I checked the other day and it appeared they didn't have anymore stub shafts - I'll check again! It is a fun rig, I don't have anything to compare it to as this is my first crawler but it is def. very cooool...