Our first thought is that this Kraton is one burly machine. Thick shock towers, meaty tires, a massive spoiler and it says 6S on the box. Yes, 6S people! While other manufacturers are hyping up 4S capability, ARRMA said 4S is cute and we’re going 6S capable for ridiculous action! But let’s break it down a little further.
The front suspension is a pivot ball design and the arms are flexible so they twist in a crash instead of break. The steering knuckle is interchangeable side-to-side and features an aluminum arm bolted on for better durability. The steering links and rod ends are beefy and the front upper brace plate is aluminum. Basically this truck is braced for impacts. Then it’s on to the chunky rear H-arms and beefy hubs that make up the suspension with hefty turnbuckles here, too. We’re digging the red aluminum shock with black aluminum caps and threaded preload spring collars on a basher machine, the oil and spring combo feels good for successfully landing this monster after some big air. The shocks are held in with pins on the arms and retained with set-screws. The towers measure 5mm thick. Hello; that’s huge!
The chassis is 3mm thick aluminum anodized black with a narrow rear section and a big composite rear stiffening brace. There are mud guards one each side as you would expect and an adjustable battery tray to accommodate just about any battery combo you can think of. Something that we bet caught your eye in the photos is the monkey bars in the center of the truck. This cage-like structure is a body and crash protection system that absorbs impacts when you land the ARRMA Kraton roof-side down.
Without taking too much apart, the ARRMA Kraton’s drivetrain looks solid on this machine. It’s a typical 1/8 layout with triple diffs and steel axles throughout, but those axles on each corner are hefty 5mm shafts; dogbones in the center and rear with CV axles in the front. Well, OK we did take something apart. We took the front diff cover off to see the diff because it was super easy! Remove four screws, pop off the swaybar links and you can access the diff… awesome! The pinion and spur are steel, too, for excellent durability.
The Kraton’s overbuilt components didn’t end there. The steering arm on the high torque metal gear servo is aluminum. You don’t see that often. The speed control is equipped with a cooling fan and the 4-pole motor is rated at 2050Kv. Rounding out the electronics is an ARRMA 2.4GHz radio.
We’ll finish up with the look of the Kraton. The blocky body has some wild graphics and we love the modern Cadillac inspired front grille and headlights. The massive small lower front/ large rear deck wing is a nice departure from what we usually see and the knobby d-Boots tires look like they will provide plenty of traction for the ARRMA Kraton mounted to the black spoke rims. This truck is pre-built and just requires you to install batteries and as you can imagine since its 6S capable, we’ll be going 6S for our tests. Look out for the full ARRMA Kraton review in the January 2015 issue of RC Driver magazine.
FACTS
Manufacturer: ARRMA
Product: Kraton
Class: 1/8-Scale AWD Off-Road Speed Monster Truck
Power system: Brushless
Kit type: RTR
What’s in the box: Assembled truggy with painted body, brushless motor/ESC system and electronics installed, 2-channel radio, wrenches, speed pinion and manual
Needed to complete: Battery or batteries, “AA” batteries for the radio, charger and a big space to play
Who it’s for: Any RC enthusiast with some prior experience
Part Number: ARAD81**
Price: $499.99
Full review / vids soon please!!!!!!!!!!!!
bought one of these the other day EXCELLENT car, inlove with it sooooo fast one thing to do before you get it locktight all of the screws!