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This is really stupid...I purchased 2 sets of these nice Duratrax joints, which are a nice upgrade for the stock black Kyosho joints. The Duratrax joints included set screws. However, upon trying to insert the set screws into the holes, they only went in about 1 turn, then bound up. I didn't want to force anything, so I did some troubleshooting.

I took some set screws from my stock Optima joints, and they screwed into the chrome Duratrax units just as nice as can be. And since I have about 8 spare joints--some rather worn--I took one of the Duratrax screws and inserted it in one black joint, and it again bound up. It didn't get any easier as I continued screwing it in, and I basically ruined the old stock joint by stripping it out.

This seems really dumb to me. 2 sets of 2 joints and *none* of the included set screws work!

chalk that up to poor quality control.....that's typical of stuff sourced from asian manufacturing. they can make some fantastic stuff, but if the quality control does not keep it in check, you get some really REALLY crappy stuff.

I just bought a 4 jaw chuck for my lathe, and it looks pretty good, but the chuck key they sent looked like it was knawed into shape by a beaver or something...ugh....on my worst day I could never built something like this. so I will mostly like chop the end off and make my own.

They do their machining to each then chrome and didnt allow for clearence for the set screws.
I got two kyosho outdrives if need them.lOOK like new rolling around in my box.With set screws lol.DON

THUNDERSTRIKE1 wrote:They do their machining to each then chrome and didnt allow for clearence for the set screws.
I got two kyosho outdrives if need them.lOOK like new rolling around in my box.With set screws lol.DON

Except that doesn't explain why the correct set screws DO fit inside the chromed joints...(and the wrong ones also don't fit the unchromed stock joints).

I have plenty of Kyosho joints, it's the chromed ones I upgraded to. Besides, you don't do Paypal, Don.

Coelacanth wrote:This is really stupid...I purchased 2 sets of these nice Duratrax joints, which are a nice upgrade for the stock black Kyosho joints. The Duratrax joints included set screws. However, upon trying to insert the set screws into the holes, they only went in about 1 turn, then bound up. I didn't want to force anything, so I did some troubleshooting.

I took some set screws from my stock Optima joints, and they screwed into the chrome Duratrax units just as nice as can be. And since I have about 8 spare joints--some rather worn--I took one of the Duratrax screws and inserted it in one black joint, and it again bound up. It didn't get any easier as I continued screwing it in, and I basically ruined the old stock joint by stripping it out.

This seems really dumb to me. 2 sets of 2 joints and *none* of the included set screws work!

Sorry to intrude, Coelacanth, but could you tell me the part number for those Duratrax joints? Thanks and again, sorry.

shane wrote:Sorry to intrude, Coelacanth, but could you tell me the part number for those Duratrax joints? Thanks and again, sorry.

No problem, Shane. Here's the eBay seller I bought them from. They're also available at Tower Hobbies but they wanted to charge me almost $20 shipping for a handful of parts that could fit inside a bubble envelope. I found them on eBay for maybe a dollar more, and reasonable shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350387929273&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

P/N: DTXC8100

Thank you, sir!

Here's an update. I just purchased 2 more sets of these DTXC8100 joints for another project car. This time, one of the packages was missing a set screw, and the other 3 screws didn't thread properly (again). I don't know what set screws are being packaged with these joints, but they ain't M4 x 4mm screws, as I have some of those and they thread perfectly into these joints.

So, if you decide to buy these pretty joints for an Optima or other project, be prepared to use your own set screws.

I took the time to contact Duratrax Support and inform them of this. Not surprisingly, I was told that the guy had never received a single call about this issue. I find that hard to believe as this has happened to me with 4 out of 4 packages purchased from 2 different eBay sellers, half a year apart.

wow, nice company strategy there. employee : ''hey guy,. we ran out of set screws for these, what should i do?'' guy: ''just put any set screw in there and ship em''

Coelacanth wrote:... They're also available at Tower Hobbies but they wanted to charge me almost $20 shipping for a handful of parts that could fit inside a bubble envelope...

The problem with towerhobbies is they will not use a bubble envelope: I've had this joke happen to me. They basically used a big cardboard box so their promotional flyer could sit flat in the bottom then put a handful of tiny bags with the parts and labels and... a giant plastified air bubble on top of it: to fill the otherwise empty box.

The manufacturing in Asia is not the problem here: I bet those setscrews were added in the US and are imperial size; which simply can't fit the metric thread

That's strange, you'd think the same manufacturer would package the joints & screws together... You're probably right though, because the joints themselves are manufactured perfectly. The threads work perfectly for the correct M4 x 4mm set screws. Just not the ones that somehow got added to the package.

I had to set up a new Dell computer for someone a few weeks ago and it said something to the effect of "Made in China, components assembled in Mexico." So you never never know.

sure sound like some imperial vs. metric issue here... you can screw it on for like 1.5 turns, then you run out of space between treads.

Hence the 4 sets all being "wrong"...

just my 2 cents here

Paul

Duratrax buy cars from different places, some with metric other with imperial hardware.
A mix-up is easy to make when the parts are assembled into spare-part bags.

more than likely they are just very poorly machined set screws.

when you buy parts from the lowest bidder, this type of thing can happen...I've seen it all too often.