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steelo

Arrma Granite

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Hi guys,

Well guys, this weekend I made an impulse buy. My friend wanted to check out our LHS and I had it set in my mind that I was going to ‘buy a truck’ despite the repercussions from my wife…LOL. After my friend nagging me to buy a Traxxas that everybody and their brother has, I decided to try an Arrma Granite. I’ve been researching it a bit and found that it is supposed to be a pretty tough truck.

So that evening I decided to try it out with the supplied 2000mah nimh battery. I drove it up and down the street a few times and it was slower than I had hoped, but it may just be that the battery wasn't fully charged (I bought the 15T brushed version) The next day, I decided to put in my 13.5T motor, along with a 2s lipo, TBLE-02S ESC and a 20T pinion (stock is 15 tooth). This thing was on the edge of insanity with the setup…I’m sure when it gets warmer outside, I will have to change my gearing a bit to avoid thermaling the ESC and the motor getting too hot. Running it through my front lawn, it seemed to take light jumps with ease….now the bad part, it was 14 degrees F outside and after a few jumps, I noticed I had no steering. I took a quick look and the steering mechanism was jammed up somehow but I couldn’t see why without taking it apart.

Let me tell you, to say pulling that truck apart is a pain is a huge understatement. The moment I pulled the bottom portion off to access the steering mechanism, EVERYTHING just dumped on my table….ugh. Eventually after a few choice words, I found the servo saver arm broke in half and I lost a plastic bushing outside somewhere. I took a good hour to reassemble everything that was left because I like to know how something works for the next time it breaks…The good news is, I called customer service and they are shipping me out an ENTIRE steering mechanism set this week for free. The truck thankfully comes with a 2 year factory warranty and the lady I spoke with on the phone was very cool about it.

All in all, it seems to be a pretty fun toy….this is my first non-Tamiya in a while, although something about it just doesn’t have the excitement and appeal of when I run my Tamiya’s for the first time.

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Steelo,

As you may remember, I have an Arrma Fury Mega (the 15T brushed version). I've been pretty happy with the Fury and like you, it didn't take me long to upgrade the snot out of it. The Granite and Fury use the same chassis. It's a pretty neat design and looks awesome with all the "tubing" bits. The only shocks I've found that will fit without modification are the Integy MSR11 series; 78mm for the front and 98mm for the rear. Within 2 battery packs I had burned up the 15T motor. Rather than wait for the warranty replacement (which came a week later with no hassle) I put in a Hobby Wing 1060 (that now lives in my CC-01) and a Dirt Tuned motor. I ran it like that for months then upgraded again to the Castle Sidewinder SCT combo kit. Best. Upgrade. Choice. Evah!

Over time I've upgraded the stock rims and tires to "standard" SCT style rims and some Pro-Line Blockades and the afore mentioned shocks. I also replaced the ball cups on the steering rods with captured ball ends. Front end collisions and end-over-end crashes don't pop the steering rods off anymore. This truck is a runner now! I'm the only one with a Fury at the track, which I really like!

The failures I've experienced other than the motor include:

1) The diff locked up. I should have RMA'd that too but I just bought the new versions parts. The spacers and cross pin were beefed up in the new version over the version I have.

2) The steering servo stripped it's gears. The weak plastic gears in the stock AS-1 servo strip easily, especially if the truck has been upgraded like mine has. Again, Arrma sent me a no hassle warranty replacement but I want metal gears. The AS-1 servo has been discontinued but I don't know what it's replacement will be. So if the replacement is another plastic geared jobber, I'm going to get the Arrma ADS-7M v2. The Savox I bought is too tall even though it's a standard servo. :(

3) The bell crank pin. I just discovered this today while tearing down the front to replace the servo. This is apparently another common failure because the steering assembly part number from the manual is listed as discontinued and a replacement kit is linked from the old parts page. I just submitted my RMA replacement claim for that. Hopefully they'll send me the new assembly.

That's it. Almost a year now of hard bashing and hammering at the 1:10 and 1:8 scale tracks. I know Arrma is only a few years old but they're the "consumer" branch of Team Durango. While there maybe a couple flaws in their designs they are VERY good at helping and replacing broken bits. They also seem to phase out the weaker parts and replace them with better stuff.

Enjoy your Arrma! I'm seriously considering getting a Typhon to race eBuggy class if the new 1:10 scale track proves to be so unpopular that I can't race my TRF 201.

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Great thread timing, I’m almost ready to buy an Arrma Granite 2WD too with the 15t brushed motor, I just want something a bit tougher to start some light jumping with other than my current Tamiya’s.

I’ve read the gearbox can take a decent 3000-4000kv brushless system on 2s lipo which should make it scoot, what pinion pitch is the gearing?

Effigy what Kv is that can motor you are running, it’s the same gearbox right? 

With its waterproof receiver box being a big plus for me I think I’ll then look to put a stronger servo in place of the 5KG  one it comes with which isn’t waterproof I believe.

I have heard that it’s 28 screws to change the servo though and Steelo’s comments above seem to echo that :(

Great information on the shocks too this will all come in handy no doubt as I can rarely leave anything stock. 

Any pictures you guys can throw up won’t go amiss, especially with the SCT tyres on.

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