Let's check out the steel differentials for the Arrma Granite Grom basher monster truck! Is this upgrade RC basher better than the MJX Hyper Go and WL Toys trucks? Does it beat the 1/16 Traxxas trucks?
I found that adding just a slight bit of silicone ear plugs will help on unsealed diffs. Don't fill it up. Just enough to cause resistance and it doesn't leak out Like oil
Yeah for truly unsealed differentials that's a good idea but these are ostensibly sealed and are supposed to come from the factory with 3K fluid in them so hopefully they will hold fluid.
My only complaint of the Granite Grom is the body clip system. I wish they had done it like they did the Typhon Grom version. Other than that the truck is great in my opinion.
Where’s the love button! 😍 😂 Thank you Arrma! 🙏 So awesome! And they got this problem taken care of FAST! I’ve put my Grom through the wringer! And other than a few cracks in the rear of the body, from one too many obstacle course tumbles, 🤷🏻♂️😂 the only problem I’ve had, is the plastic drive cup teeth stripping off. This upgrade was needed badly, and they delivered it fast IMO. Great video, brother! You showed us every aspect of those new metal gears! As soon as my local hobbytown gets these, I’m all in 🙌🏼 😂 This Grom is by far the most fun I’ve had in my basement in years! All it needs now (just my personal opinion 😊) is a cooling fan upgrade that will work. Since thus far, I haven’t found one that will work. For me, it’s because the motor in this thing, even with a heat sink, does get pretty hot after about 10-12 minutes. Some people say “ah that’s fine, it’s because it’s a brushed motor”. And they’re not wrong. 🙂 I’m just too old school OCD 🤦🏻♂️😂😂 Was the motor hot after driving it, especially with the bigger tires?
Once they go brushless with these from the factory, as long as they can deliver speed into the mid 40s in MPH, i just don't see how even a good budget company like MJX would survive in certain parts if the world. There are probably areas where MJX dominates in terms of sales, and it's easy to see why. But now with Arrma doing this Grom line of rc cars, brands like WlToys, MJX, even HBX are in for some tough times on the market just on reliable parts support alone. Once a Grom BLX model hits the market, it's game on, or game over for many budget brands.
I think the cheaper budget manufacturers will still have a place because given the current price of this brushed version a brushless version is probably going to be way more expensive than options from companies like MJX.
I wouldn't think MJX would be going out of business any time soon mate. It is owned by Guangdong Meijiaxin Innovative Technology Co. Who have been around since 1983. They have their fingers in state of the art AI, Robotic engineering and all types of electrical circuitry and components. Arrma has been in business since 2009. The division of GMIT they call MJX is the company to watch in the next 5 years or so regarding RC Cars. By no means am I suggesting they are the best at anything ok... But if they choose to go full send into the RC Car Niche it will be companies like Traxxas and Arrma that will have no choice but to lower prices IF MJX get into the 1/8 1/7 1/5 they will be looking for licencing. A prime example here is the release of the Typhon Grom and the Granite Grom right? Arrma can see them coming. Where as Traxxas seem to really not care. I've had other products from MJX that aren't RC Cars and can safely say their build standards for Chinese manufactured items are '' pretty good '' ( by my standards) compared to some lesser known smaller companies. One thing that is very, very interesting is that unlike most lesser known Chinese companies, the MJX Division uses Australian Iron Ore. Australian Iron ore is rated at #2 in the world with Brazilian ore being rated at #1. Australia is also the biggest Iron ore exporter in the world. China being its largest buyer. This is why we are seeing an incline in improvement of Chinese manufactured items in general. However, Not ALL Chinese manufacturer's are using top quality steel. They would rather take the cheaper ore and '' who gives a shit '' attitude. Anyway, please forgive my essay of a post. I have early onset Dementia and I tend to ramble. But what I have told you here is 100% correct. Don't get me started on ''' Plastics '' I love your channel Do RC, even though I rarely comment. I appreciate you so very much. Thank you. - Jimbo - Australia
MJX has "good" budget cars. They're not a "good" company. They claimed they shipped me some spare steering linkage screws that fell out, 7 weeks ago, I'm still waiting. My Granite servo died and Horizon Hobby shipped me one next day airmail. That's what makes a "good" company is they give a s**t about you even after you give them money.
@@Top-Jimmyoh, sweet! I love Guangdong Mixed Martial Arts Shenzhen Random Company Name #57 ! MJX need to work on their post-sales customer service, which for me, was non-existent after they claimed to have shipped me spare screws, I'm still waiting 7 weeks later. Also, need to have options for spur and diff gears that AREN'T powder metal. With as "fun" as those cars are to work on, I wasn't having "fun" changing out a spur or diff every 3 weeks. The problem with random China company #57 is that they are all about selling the largest number of vehicles at the lowest price. Random New RC Customer #75 isn't going to understand why powder metal parts suck. They see the word "metal" and think it's better than plastic. Same goes with pressed vs CNC machined aluminum: New Customer #75 sees "aluminum", not knowing it's pressed aluminum, which may be worse than plastic in certain applications \ parts. Random MJX Guangdong Shenzhen will always be making new iterations of their vehicles, which will generally be bought and thrown away, and the new version bought, spare parts and repairability \ ease of repair \ upgrades will always be an afterthought. I love my Granite 3s BLX and my Felony, and they're a breeze to wrench on, spare parts are varied and plentiful, and I've had top notch Warranty service from Horizon Hobby, who sent me out a new ESC, new servo and new receiver all within 7 days, and even though the ESC wasn't the issue, I get to keep it for spares or to put into another car. That's a $150 ESC they didn't even want it back after I determined it wasn't the issue. I'm incredibly happy with having 2 year warranty with H.H whereas my warranty with MJX doesn't seem to exist except on paper.
@@Boogie_the_cat I am sorry your experience with MJX has been shit mate. Just don't buy anything from them again and you should be happier in the future.
I’ve been having a few issues with my granite grom and this video was the most informative and helpful video I’ve found yet. I’ve been struggling with having no power from the rear and and I’m sure it’s the differential. Sounds like I’m going to be upgrading. Thank you for this video I’m a novice with rc cars and could use more videos like this.
Yeah if you're not getting power from one end or the other on a car with no center differential it's usually the differential on that end of the car. It could be one of the drive shafts but that's normally pretty obvious. In the case of these particular vehicles the ears probably broke off of the output cup.
Yep, this is how a mini truck should be built and those diffs go a long way in making it bomb-proof! Not surprised the diffs held up to the abuse but I think those big tires/wheels are just goofy looking 🤷🏻♂️ You pay for all that goodness, of course, but I will take that any day, over the cheap overseas versions. Thanks for the update! 👍
Yeah the tire choice is going to be a personal preference. For some reason I'm a sucker for really big tires on monster trucks but I absolutely can understand thinking that they look silly. They do look silly I think it's just the kid in me that wants my toy trucks to look as ridiculous as possible :-)
Great videos on the Grom 👌 I bought this for my son’s birthday. Ended up buying all the extras apart from brushless, as it’s fast enough for him. Haven’t put anything in yet as no problem with stock stuff yet but have all on the ready when it does. This little Grom got my love for RC’s back from when I was a teenager so I went and ordered a Kraton 6S EXB V2 😅 can’t wait for it to arrive, mind you I haven’t told the wife yet 😅 loving your channel 👏
Nice Vid! With all the Upgrades - it is expensive - too expensive against a MJX Hyper Go i think. Nice too see, you struggle too to land some Jumps. With this little 1/14 - 1/16 Scale cars - its very hard. They react super fast on trigger movement. Go on - always nice content.
Yeah I consider this to be more of an heirloom kind of mini RC as opposed to the MJX which feels a little more like a toy. Yes it's a very expensive but it's also really fun to work on and nice to drive. And yeah it is hard to land jumps especially with the bigger tires and more power. Even if you land them perfectly over a certain height it's going to bounce simply because it just doesn't have the suspension travel for those huge jumps and basically you're just bouncing it off the chassis. It definitely makes landing smoothly feel very rewarding though :-) Thanks for watching!
Yeah I'm still waiting for my original pre-order for them to arrive. I just happened to see them on eBay and bought them. The sad thing is they came from Horizon through eBay.
@@DoRC Really not that happy with HH these days. Looks like the center diff for the outcast won't be available anytime soon either. They sure have the truck in stock if you want spend 450$ though. I have the original outcast v2. I am not buying the new one for a center diff. Way to go HH.
Yeah I actually ordered mine the day that the Grom came out. They had them listed for a very short period of time so I've been waiting on that order since then.
Mate my dad's Grom has 90w oil in the stock rear shocks and 80w in the front and they are SOOOO soft still, 100% need different pistons if your sticking with the stock shocks but they are the main thing that needs changing in my opinion as the stock cap thread both top and bottom strip/thread very easy.
I think you must have been one of the lucky one then as my bottom caps were also stripped or cross threaded out of the box due to the super thin thread. Had to glue all the bottom caps pre drive. But then I also swapped to 100w oil in the rear and 90w front and somehow they were not much better. I'm 100% convinced it's the pistons that need changing to run "normal" 1/18 viscosity oil in them otherwise you would need like 200-300w oil to feel like your average 1/18 running 45w😅
Kind of similar to team associated 14th line far as the diff design. Amazing how it’s not really sealed diffs kinda cheap but still performs closer to there big brothers , I imagine this guy is the same , a miniature granite . The Chinese guys have no r and d behind them and you can tell when drive em 😂
All depends on how much you use it with the bigger wheels if it took the initial beat down , I’m not so sure I believe my lhs that the metal diffs didn’t hold up . They said they had few come back with the plastic and I asked about the metal and he said them too . They really weren’t available than and I know they don’t like dealing with horizon as much as traxxas
Not sure how they would know that since the metal ones literally were just released for the first time this week. Very few people have them in their hands.
Hate back orders! Love my grom and love my mjxs. Each have their pros and cons. Now we just need a center diff mod like the 3s/4s line got and other minis of the bigger scale models. Arrma would make a killing!
Not sure if I agree with that. In my experience those are put there to reduce wear on the plastic housing. It's possible they are there too tighten the mesh but if that were the case since they're on every single one of them why wouldn't they just design the gears to be the correct size to begin with and eliminate those extra parts?
@@DoRC easiest way to tell between a shim and a washer is thickness and application, though they are often interchanged incorrectly, shims are very very thin, and are used in gearing to change mesh, washers are typically used for fasteners to prevent damage.. Not to say you can't use a washer as a shim, but you defiantly shouldn't use a shim as a washer!
@scottburnham1575 ehh. As someone who's been a professional mechanic for the last 20 years I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that either. I do agree that a shim and a washer typically have different applications but shims can be very very thick. They are often thin but that's not a requirement for the definition. Washers can also be thin. I think the definition would more depend on the application. A shim is specifically designed to move the position of something while a washer is more designed to reinforce something. I believe that these are designed as reinforcement so I don't think calling them a washer is necessarily wrong though given that I don't know for sure that is their purpose I suppose we can call it a draw :-)
@@DoRC yeah, I have only rebuilt maybe 20 or so RC diffs over the last 30ish years, and there is definitely variation from diff to diff on how many shims are installed. The weirdest I have seen was recently on my Arrma Notorious that I had to rebuild, which only had 3 shims in the rear diff spider gears... Probably also why the diff self destructed as well, as those gears were shredded. My friend had his Arrma center diff literally explode... Luckily he was in warranty, and HorribleHobbies actually sent him a replacement free.
@DoRC Currently I am looking for a WL Toys diff replacement, as Arrma has sold out of the replacements and the new upgrades, probably because plastic drivetrain gears are always going to be trash.. Sadly without any real specs from Arrma, it's going to be trial and error..
It does but it's also lower quality overall and doesn't handle as well. It's also harder to work on. Still a good cars though. There's a lot of options in the segment.
Yeah I managed to score mine on eBay even though my original horizon order still hasn't been fulfilled from months ago. I have no idea when they're going to become widely available.
It probably just depends on both the bashing style and lock. I only broke mine on 3S. Never on 2S. That being said I also didn't try bigger tires. I think even on 2S those larger heavier tires might be problematic for the stock plastic differentials
@@dylanwhite6539 Yeah 2S's just fine for this. I have her of other people breaking theirs on 2S as well and like I said I think with the bigger tires it would be a problem too especially doing stupid things like self-righting.
You can check eBay or Horizon Hobby. I got mine on eBay but I've heard that they are unfortunately out of stock everywhere. Not sure what's going on with it.
I don't have the exact numbers but I can get close. The motor was like 20 bucks, ESC is 30 I think, say 20 bucks for your receiver, I wouldn't recommend doing the shock so skip that, differentials were 40, shafts were 40 and I'm going to call the tires optional too so with the car being 130 you're looking at around 300 bucks total. It's a lot of money but upgrading anything is expensive in this hobby.
Just seems like it needs too many upgrades to make the Grom as good as it should be. As it is stock, I wouldn't pay more than 80 for it in hindsight. An EXB brushless version would have me interested at around 150 max though.
Maybe though even stock it's a good truck. If you put a brushless system in it and just run it on 2S all of the stock hardware is reasonably competent and should hold up. The upgrades are nice but I'm not sure I would call them necessary. Being said compared to the Amazon special offerings this is a premium product and comes with a higher price tag.
Thanks for the videos. I (santa) got one for my son. He's done the diff in on the 4th pack but it's his first real rc. I've ordered everything you have done plus a bunch of tools... I've gone a bit crazy spent a lot of money but it's not about getting comp ready just keen to show him how to use hand tools and explain things like diffs, motors and suspension. Thanks again he loves his grom.
You're welcome! Always awesome to hear that I'm helping in some small way to bring new people into the hobby. It can be expensive but it's not as expensive as some hobbies and like you said teaching your kid how to use tools is more than worth the cost. I feel like these days fewer and fewer people are learning to work with their hands and even basic knowledge and skills will be invaluable throughout life.
I just got these diffs. Do you think it will to much if I put 30K in the rear ? I have some 30K laying around. Having that heavy of diff fluid in the rear what can I expect as far as the way it will handle? Thanks
Yeah I think 30K might be a little much especially on the stock tires. I'm not even sure the 10K I put in is really necessary. These little cars don't really respond the same to differential tuning as larger cars do because they're mostly just bouncing around all over the place anyway. I would recommend just putting them in with the stock fluid and see how that goes. If you're not happy with it then maybe try adjusting from there. That being said give 30k a try too. This hobby is all about experimenting!
In these Lil trucks, the differentials "are the slipper clutch" you want transfer of energy/motion to HAVE a path of least resistance, with the thick stuff, you're gonna handle like junk on pavement, I've learned to up the front diff fluid thickness, in this small application, I did 30k front on stock diff, and was running grease in the rear, made magnificent improvement in on and off road drive ability and tamed the squirrelyness of the grom in general
The order I placed on Horizon when they first came out is still showing back ordered. I found these on eBay and bought them separately. They actually came from Horizon though. Go figure.
I use some bigger tires on mine I've been super lucky so far but I've started the brushless conversion so probably gonna happen... I didn't see them on the website
Yeah I don't know what the deal is with that. I actually pre-ordered mine the day they became available when the truck was first released. I still haven't gotten that pre-order. I happen to find them available on eBay a few days ago and ordered them. They came from Horizon through eBay even though my original pre-order hasn't shipped yet. Who knows.
Really, most people would be better o off getting the Associated 14MT, you get all the upgrades you talk about, plus a center differential. Cheaper in the long run too
14mt is a good car. I'm not sure it's quite as durable and the upgrade path isn't as good. It's also a bit harder to work on but you definitely do get a lot for the money and I still enjoy mine :-)
@@DoRC the only thing I've found i needed to do to the 14mt was add a bearing to the center differential. There is a spot for a second bearing, but TA didn't populate it for some reason. 4x8x3mm bearing for there. After that, the one common issue (chewing up spur gears for some people) seems to be solved as the center differential is more locked down. I do wish the Reedy ESC wasn't locked down and was programmable like other rebranded Hobbywings. 3s would probably be a bit too mad, so i don't have the urge for upgrading the ESC.
I don't like posting links because they become invalid all the time and then it becomes a logistical nightmare. If you Google the part number for the differentials you should get plenty of results on where to buy them though.
You’re kidding, it didn’t come with steel diffs stock ???? Ouch…. I was about to buy one for my little brothers 10th bday but I think I’ll Grab him a Mojave or Kraton 4s instead it should last him longer and the speed is there for when hes ready
Unfortunately no. There are quite a few plastic parts on the truck from the factory. With the stock brushed system it's not really a problem and it's still a lot of fun with that stock brushed system but once you go with more power things start to break. That being said if you can swing the additional cost so even something like a 1/10 scale granite would be a great option since you can lower the speed for him initially and then he can grow into it. It's also more versatile as these little cars are quite limited in the terrains in which they can run. Even a few inches of grass will stop a car like thism
@@DoRC I was thinking the same thing, I ended up ordering a Mojave 4s because my brother likes the look of my custom 8s senton and he likes short course trucks in general. I’ll start him on 3s dialed at 50% or change the remote to a dumbo so I can fine tune it to something like 30%, I also might get the grom anyways for myself just to add to the collection
Yes the differential starts leaking all do something about it but so far they haven't and they came with fluid in them so I think they're going to be okay.
I'm using the fly sky G7P with FS-R4P internal antenna receiver. I'm not going to say it's the best value for money system. I use it because it works pretty well and has a very good first party phone mount which is important for my particular use case.
I show the part number at the end of the video. If you Google that part number you should be able to find it though it has been in and out of stock quite a bit.
Not yet. All of my tech videos have kind of had to take a back seat to all the new releases that came out over the last few months. Things have slowed down quite a bit and I'm hoping to get that backlog released in the next couple weeks.
Yeah apparently they never really went off back order. I'm not sure how many of these they even had. My original pre-order from months ago still hasn't been fulfilled. I managed to snag these off of eBay and they came from Horizon so who knows what they're doing.
I used to do those but believe it or not viewership would drop off dramatically during that time so I shifted over to doing this and it seems to really help keep people's attention. Unfortunately sometimes what I would rather do doesn't really align with what the majority of the audience wants to see. I'll try to pump the actual driving audio up for future videos though.
@@martin2004410 I do play with it. Maybe not quite as much as someone who has fewer vehicles but it is my go-to off-road basher right now. As far as the back order I'm susceptible to that just as much as anybody else. I don't get any special consideration from horizon. Thanks for watching :-)
Hey man i forgot to ask. Do you have an outer diameter measurement on the reflex 14mt tires that you put on the grom? Team associated does not specify on their website
I was able to snag them on eBay but apparently they're basically out of stock everywhere. The sad thing is I have my original pre-order for them from months ago still unfulfilled and my eBay order came from Horizon.
@DoRC good to know. Another wheel and tire combo that fits great on this truck are the mjx hyper go tires. They are 82mm in diameter compared to the stock 74mm and foam filled.
Unfortunately nobody. My original pre-order from months ago still has not been fulfilled. I managed to snag these on eBay and believe it or not they came from Horizon. Who knows what they're doing.
Bro what the heck I literally stripped my diff today I’m basically ordering everything you doing it was running like a maniac on 3s but only for so long :/
@@DoRC too bad i have 2 e revo 16 and it feels like i have to dump alot of money on upgrades and even after that it wont be as durable as a grom or mjx. The problem with mjx is the quality and what makes me hesitant with the grom is that its smaller than e revo and it looks to be less acrobatic in the air with backflips etc. although I hate to work in my cars so the grom could be a good alternative. Really don’t like to work in the e revo
That's a tough one. The 14mt is a bigger truck and probably a little bit more capable off-road but this one's easier to work on and has better aftermarket support. I'd probably go with this one but it is close
@idan678 No. I always seal my wheels and vent my tires so any moisture that does get in there doesn't stay in. In my experience though as long as you're not just constantly streaming water directly at the holes in the wheels or tires very little water will actually get in there anyway.
No Horizon never sends me anything for free. I actually pre-ordered them when they were first announced right after the Grom came out. That pre-order still has not shipped. I ordered these on eBay and they came from Horizon through there.
You should help the community by putting this info in the video. We all go running there looking and it still says backorder so we wonder how you got them lol
I generally don't really discuss availability links or anything like that in my videos because that information is always changing. If I put information in my video it's going to become invalid at some point. So it's either a choice of not putting the info in the video and having people ask me about it in the comments or putting the info in the video and then a month from now having a bunch of people tell me I'm wrong :-)
Simple fix for that is to say at the time I filmed this video or that date you were able to purchase. But yeah I get it. The diffs are all I need to complete mine. I like the stock electronics
@@THESERGEANTJRC Yeah trust me even if you say that people will still have a problem with it :-) It's a personal choice and I chose a while back not to put any information like that in the videos. If someone specifically asks me I'll just help them out then if I can :-)
The grom kinda overpriced (but a good rc; small scale is best indoors or driveway, too small for thick grass) even without upgrades, compared to its price competition. without grom upgrades, the hbx lineup is really good; with grom upgrades, might as well just get the gorgon generally (unless one has more individualized reasons otherwise). Arma can have bad parts availability as well (the only consistent parts available I know have been traxxas out of the bigger brands).
Yeah the Grom is a lot of money and the Gorgon makes sense as long as you are okay with a larger vehicle. I think the Grom represents the best of the smaller vehicles once upgraded but it's also very expensive. Horizon used to be really good with parts availability but ever since they did a system change over in July everything has been a mess including parts.
Don't usually do links because they tend to go stale pretty quickly but you can look on Horizon or eBay. They have been out of stock for the most part though
