Will it ever run sweet ?

[CeilidhKeith]

Yet again i am grounded, just had it back a week both the esc and the motor have been replaced.
Last night after three sets of lipos my spartan started making noises like a motor boat, so i brought it in took off the lid to let the smoke out and what did i see a twisted flexi shaft between the collet and where the flexi enters the stuffing tube. How it can twist like that in about an inch of space beats me.
So it is all off again in the post to Logic RC, and its back to the waiting game.
When will all this end i have had the boat two months now it has been in the post longer than i have had it.

[Diesel6401]

Yet again i am grounded, just had it back a week both the esc and the motor have been replaced.
Last night after three sets of lipos my spartan started making noises like a motor boat, so i brought it in took off the lid to let the smoke out and what did i see a twisted flexi shaft between the collet and where the flexi enters the stuffing tube. How it can twist like that in about an inch of space beats me.
So it is all off again in the post to Logic RC, and its back to the waiting game.
When will all this end i have had the boat two months now it has been in the post longer than i have had it.

Sorry for your luck, sadly the Spartan has been dubed by the vetern boaters as possibly the "worst rtr boat in history". The stock drive-shaft as been reportly failing in the majority of boats. Your best option would be to purchase a "REAL" cable like a Octura and cut it yourself to size. Any .150 3/16 cable will work: http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...at=Flex+Cables

If your not up to cutting yourself I believe Jan at Kintec may have some pre-cut ones. I didn't see any on OSE store, but I may have looked past it. I see a lot of other rtrs. Here's Kintec though: http://kintecracing.com/Spartan.html

The fix for the boat is going to be replace the factory items with better ones. Sending it back your still gonna be in the same "boat" so to speak with the junk Traxxas items. The following recommendations will prolong the life of the boat and make it more enjoyable. All may not be applicable to your setup, but this is what (as a more "experienced" boater) I would do hands down before it ever hit the water.

1) Don't run 6s
2) DON'T RUN 6s (the boat is not designed to be ran on 6s, forget the sticker on the box). 4s or 5s max.
3) Replace the stock drive system with a better one such as Octura or Huey or a Wire drive from Jeff.
4) Replace the stock motor coupler with a better one
5) Change the prop
6) NO 6s

[Jesse J]

An inch of gap is pretty much a guarantee that the flex will fail. If you can get the gap down to less than a quarter inch between the end of the collet and the entry to the stuffing tube, you will eliminate that weak point. A 3/16 flex drive will further decrease the likelihood of failure. .150 flex is marginal on the power to boat size ratio.

[sanyijr]

1) Don't run 6s
2) DON'T RUN 6s (the boat is not designed to be ran on 6s, forget the sticker on the box). 4s or 5s max.
3) Replace the stock drive system with a better one such as Octura or Huey or a Wire drive from Jeff.
4) Replace the stock motor coupler with a better one
5) Change the prop
6) NO 6s

Diesel, your subtle approach is very nice. But I think you missed the 7, 8, 9 and 10 rules of driving a spartan.

7) No 6S
8) No 6 cell Lipos
9) don't go over 18.5 Volts
10) NO 6S....

There, i think we got it now....

Kieth, this is not to make lite of your situation, really. I feel your frustration. Been there, done that. Just in a different order!

You have pictures of the damage or setup? It would be curious to see the clearance between the collet and stuffing tube. And the rear end hardware...

Sean

[Diesel6401]

Diesel, your subtle approach is very nice. But I think you missed the 7, 8, 9 and 10 rules of driving a spartan.

7) No 6S
8) No 6 cell Lipos
9) don't go over 18.5 Volts
10) NO 6S....

There, i think we got it now....

Kieth, this is not to make lite of your situation, really. I feel your frustration. Been there, done that. Just in a different order!

You have pictures of the damage or setup? It would be curious to see the clearance between the collet and stuffing tube. And the rear end hardware...

Sean

Yea I'm a straight forward kinda guy lol.. No need to sugar-coat anything. Hopefully other Spartan runners see that post and get the hint. It's obvious the Traxxas boys don't know how to bulid a boat, so why listen to there recommened setups... See have far that's get this boat

[CeilidhKeith]

This surprises me no 6s you are all saying, looks like i have been runing my spartan beyond its limits. Yet most guys are runing 6s on the other forum.
When i get it all back again i will drop down to 5s and see how it goes. I am learning a lot from this site. Many thanks to you guys. It is my first FE boat as you can guess.

[Diesel6401]

This surprises me no 6s you are all saying, looks like i have been runing my spartan beyond its limits. Yet most guys are runing 6s on the other forum.
When i get it all back again i will drop down to 5s and see how it goes. I am learning a lot from this site. Many thanks to you guys. It is my first FE boat as you can guess.

If the other forum is Traxxas's the ones with issues had their post deleted. Theirs a handful of guys here that where posting detailed fixes over there as well as here and they've since be band on traxxas forum. I believe I made a post and it was also deleted.

Boating is all about amps and rpms. Everything in boating is different then say cars and planes. What works there, burns here if that makes sense. Your rpms should be mid/high 20,000 to low 30,000. To get your unloaded rpm take kv x volts.

In the case of the spartan 1800 x 22.2 =39,960 unloaded rpms, so the boat is about 10,000rpms over the limit it should be as a sport boat. At that kv the chances of failure is highly likely!

They made a smart move by changing the horrible velineon 1600kv motor to a castle 1415. The orginal motor was a epic failure. Problem is though, they increased the kv from 1600 to 1800. Big mistake!!! If they swallowed they're pride and scrapped the giant 6S label, I could almost guarentee the failure rate would be reduced by rather large porportions. I started a thread a while back called Obsession with 6s, its in the battery section of this forum. Have a read on why the issues with 6s.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

[sanyijr]

That is quite the pisser! I have not bought traxxas stuff just because this is how they handle mistakes.... I just can't believe this is how they work. And then you see Castle's handling of their ESC issues. Time will weed out the bad companies, just seems like it sometimes takes a while.....

[Diesel6401]

That is quite the pisser! I have not bought traxxas stuff just because this is how they handle mistakes.... I just can't believe this is how they work. And then you see Castle's handling of their ESC issues. Time will weed out the bad companies, just seems like it sometimes takes a while.....

I've bought Traxxas in the past and liked them (trucks), but seeing how they designed, ignored, band and crap one so many people with this hull I know will pass on purchasing from them.

[Brushless55]

Yet again i am grounded, just had it back a week both the esc and the motor have been replaced.
Last night after three sets of lipos my spartan started making noises like a motor boat, so i brought it in took off the lid to let the smoke out and what did i see a twisted flexi shaft between the collet and where the flexi enters the stuffing tube. How it can twist like that in about an inch of space beats me.
So it is all off again in the post to Logic RC, and its back to the waiting game.
When will all this end i have had the boat two months now it has been in the post longer than i have had it.

I got your fix bro!
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXBXEPRW&P=7
and only 300bucks with a Tower coupon!

I've bought Traxxas in the past and liked them (trucks), but seeing how they designed, ignored, band and crap on so many people with this hull I know will pass on purchasing from them.

hate to really say it, but I'm the first to move a friend from traxxas products to some other because of this crud they do...

[mtbenjamin77]

That is quite the pisser! I have not bought traxxas stuff just because this is how they handle mistakes.... I just can't believe this is how they work. And then you see Castle's handling of their ESC issues. Time will weed out the bad companies, just seems like it sometimes takes a while.....

Traxxas has no business building boats. too many mistakes even if they did get the motor esc problems resolved. .150 cable on a 36" boat, not gonna work. ESC with reverse running a flex cable, what were they thinking? Supposedly 6S power with a plastic prop, what? A 50mph boat made of plastic, there's a reason why all FE boats worth anything are made of fiberglass. what else? crappie radio system that's rediculously difficult to program. Traxxas, stick with making back yard bashers.

[Diesel6401]

Traxxas has no business building boats. too many mistakes even if they did get the motor esc problems resolved. .150 cable on a 36" boat, not gonna work. ESC with reverse running a flex cable, what were they thinking? Supposedly 6S power with a plastic prop, what? A 50mph boat made of plastic, there's a reason why all FE boats worth anything are made of fiberglass. what else? crappie radio system that's rediculously difficult to program. Traxxas, stick with making back yard bashers.

Yea they seriously dropped the ball on that thing. Everything about it was bad from the start. The first Velineon junk motor man that bad bad BAD. If I'm not mistaken Feigao makes the Velineon series motors. One guy removed his rotor and put it on glass man I've never seen a motor rotor that far out of balance. Looked like a flat tire wobbleing around.

They really honestly need to swallow their pride and except the boat doesn't need 6s at all or if they don't they need to get up with castle and get a lower kv motor, still can be the same size just really needs to be in the 1500kv range. They're find out the hardway the cheapest parts don't work in boats like they do in cars. Teaming up with Castle was a great move, but increasing the KV was just bone-headed. I wish they would listen to seasoned boaters, and they could easily turn this thing around about honestly the damage to the Spartan name has already been done. Any forum (exception to Traxxas who deletes negative content) if horror story after horror story. I don't even think the LHS in my area carry them anymore because of the massive headache its caused to them.

I'll gladly offer some suggestions if anyone in the traxxas world is willing to listen and take at advice, it is clearly obivous the do not know how to build a FE boat so maybe they'll finally wise up and listen.

1) quit putting speed claims and lose the 50mph on 6s sign, its killing you and was terrible marketing.
2) if you chose to continue promoting 6s, lower the KV to around 1400-1500 and nothing higher. If you were smart however you would keep the CC1415 1800kv and only recommend users run 4s or 5s. Supply a larger prop for 4s runs and a slightly smaller prop for 5s runs. The key to going fast in boating is not riddiculas high rpms, but proper setup and prop!
3) quit using garbage flexcables and get a real cable, .187 is needed in this size boat and with that motor. Nothing smaller
4) lose the "training" mode function of the esc, if you haven't figured it out by now running anything less then full wot for a long time leads to esc failure. Once again this isn't a slash where u can get away with that as well as a garage 2 pole motor.
5) get a real coupler.
6) fiberglass hull
7) FIBERGLASS hull
8) FIBERGLASS HULL

9) & 10) re-read everything from 1-8

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

[roadrashracing]

Yet again i am grounded, just had it back a week both the esc and the motor have been replaced.
Last night after three sets of lipos my spartan started making noises like a motor boat, so i brought it in took off the lid to let the smoke out and what did i see a twisted flexi shaft between the collet and where the flexi enters the stuffing tube. How it can twist like that in about an inch of space beats me.
So it is all off again in the post to Logic RC, and its back to the waiting game.
When will all this end i have had the boat two months now it has been in the post longer than i have had it.

I'll try to help out from past experience. First I just found this upgrade kit with flex and everything, I would start that.:http://kintecracing.com/Spartan.html

Make sure you pull your flex at least after each day running and use flex shaft grease and not oil that it may have came with.

Might be some info herehttp://traxxas.com/forums/showthread...ken-flex-shaft

[Brushless55]

Yea they seriously dropped the ball on that thing. Everything about it was bad from the start. The first Velineon junk motor man that bad bad BAD. If I'm not mistaken Feigao makes the Velineon series motors. One guy removed his rotor and put it on glass man I've never seen a motor rotor that far out of balance. Looked like a flat tire wobbleing around.

They really honestly need to swallow their pride and except the boat doesn't need 6s at all or if they don't they need to get up with castle and get a lower kv motor, still can be the same size just really needs to be in the 1500kv range. They're find out the hardway the cheapest parts don't work in boats like they do in cars. Teaming up with Castle was a great move, but increasing the KV was just bone-headed. I wish they would listen to seasoned boaters, and they could easily turn this thing around about honestly the damage to the Spartan name has already been done. Any forum (exception to Traxxas who deletes negative content) if horror story after horror story. I don't even think the LHS in my area carry them anymore because of the massive headache its caused to them.

I'll gladly offer some suggestions if anyone in the traxxas world is willing to listen and take at advice, it is clearly obivous the do not know how to build a FE boat so maybe they'll finally wise up and listen.

1) quit putting speed claims and lose the 50mph on 6s sign, its killing you and was terrible marketing.
2) if you chose to continue promoting 6s, lower the KV to around 1400-1500 and nothing higher. If you were smart however you would keep the CC1415 1800kv and only recommend users run 4s or 5s. Supply a larger prop for 4s runs and a slightly smaller prop for 5s runs. The key to going fast in boating is not riddiculas high rpms, but proper setup and prop!
3) quit using garbage flexcables and get a real cable, .187 is needed in this size boat and with that motor. Nothing smaller
4) lose the "training" mode function of the esc, if you haven't figured it out by now running anything less then full wot for a long time leads to esc failure. Once again this isn't a slash where u can get away with that as well as a garage 2 pole motor.
5) get a real coupler.
6) fiberglass hull
7) FIBERGLASS hull
8) FIBERGLASS HULL

9) & 10) re-read everything from 1-8

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

don't forget about the Titan name..
I warned them about it on the traxxas forums and all they did was tell me I was wrong and deleted every thread and or comment I made
and low and behold, they were facing a lawsuit from what I heard and had to spend tons of money just changing the names to hundreds of boats and boxes and all the adds..
and they were also warned about the original motor and esc... yepper and again they had to goto someone with brains cuz they had no idea what they were doing by going cheap on the electronics

[roadrashracing]

with this all said, they are out there and we need to help the people that own them.