Tekno support.. this is a funny thread since when they call you don't actually get Ne

[Ryu James]

Originally Posted by stum

I used my dremel on the end to trim it for a PERFECT fit.. the hole point was it should be RTR or state that you need to do work. If I buy things that will need tweaking I expect it and have no issues. The clutch really tames the brushless torque in tight turns and stop and go.. w/o hurting top speed. This is really a must when racing iMO. I have tried both before (not w/ this exact kit) but I know how it feels. You are right about the direct drive w/ pinions though.. it is quite a bit more quiet.

man a 1.5d on a buggy.. THAT is a SUPER fast motor, too fast on 4s iMO. I bet dropping to a 1y, 2d or similar 1512 motor you get better lap times.. that motor can't be geared right iMO, unless you have some of those football field size tracks around you :) I use a Medusa v2 2000kv 60mm motor and no nitro can touch me.. in my v3 8ight buggy; temps around 140 after hours of play. (nice motor for $100.00 can't go wrong) I ran a 1.5d in my erevo all summer and at the end of the summer ended up throwing a bearing and ordering in a new one from neu and they sent a 2.5d by mistake and I kept it and for the last race turned in my fastest lap times all summer.. slower is faster sometimes ;) Anyway.. I plan on dumping the 1.5d in my tekno v3 truggy kit here soon, but I'm sure it will be too fast.. I wish there was a 12t clutchbell.

yeah, i hear your point about the kit stuff.

as far as my 1.5d i love it. a lot of people say that it is probably too fast for racing but i think it works out great. i can almost hit top speed on the straights at my local tracks. besides, i like speed. maybe if i get more serious about racing i will change things up a bit. i will tell you this though. my 1512 1.5D as a lot faster than my 1515 1.5D. i have used both in my buggy but now the 1512 is going in my new losi 8T. i will post some pics of the build as i build it.

i just went to a different local track today than the usual one i go to. it is indoor and very nice but a bit smaller. about 110 guys there to race today and no one drives 1/8 scale. it is electric only but everyone was driving 1/10. so before racing started i had a couple of hours to practice. i was surprised at those little 1/10 buggies. they were flying around the track and look so light weight as they fly in the air. they were faster than my car. mostly because they had better stopping power so they could hit the gas longer. the tires i had were not right for the track despite my brakes working stellar. however, my 1/8 was like the "bully" of the track. i would clobber the other cars as i came up on them. not on purpose, but if i hit them they were toast. my 9 lb buggy vs. their 2 lb buggy. it was a lot of fun.

[gramey]

Due to the time difference between myself in the U.K. and Tekno in the U.S.A I communicate via e mail and I've had nothing but fast and polite help from Daniel at Tekno.
I have the same issue with you in so much a my screws stand proud of the chassis and Daniel has advised me to swap them out to M4 x 12 & M4 x 16 screws as some of the chassis were mistakenly countersunk for M4 screws. It's slightly annoying but for the sake of the price of a few screws I'll do it as otherwise the kit is spot on. I never had the problems with the spacing on the clutch that you've had so I don't know what went on with yours. I'm running a 1515-1Y so I don't know if the shaft is slightly different?
Anyway glad to hear that your sorted as personally I've found Tekno to be really helpful.

The issues with the chassis is unacceptable in my opinion. Not only are they countersunk not deep enough, they are countersunk at the wrong angle. Metric screws use a 90 degree countersink, standard uses an 82 degree countersink. Whoever answered the phone for me was pleasant enough, but selling a retail product that is built incorrectly is NOT an acceptable business prectice. They did say they would send me screws, but that is still not right, they need to replace the product and that was never offered. It was put on ME to fix the problem. They told me that they are a small company and cannot afford to send all the chassis back to have them fixed. WHAT??? So evidently in America we can sell junk and use that as an excuse. Amazing.
I am not going to put double length metric screws into my plastic that is already drilled/tapped for larger 8-32 hadrdware. This will also destroy the holes even further if I decide to go back to the nitro setup. Now I need to go buy an 82 degree countersink and fix every single hole in the chassis. (They are ALL countersunk for metric hardware.) The problem with using standard hardware in a metric countersunk hole is that only a tiny amount of the screw head is touching the chassis, right near the center hole, with a small gap around the rest of the screw head taper. The tapers on the screws are supposed to match the taper on the chassis to spread out load and stay tight.
Be forwarned, wish I would have read about this before spending my money and gone with the Losi kit.............

[teknorc]

Originally Posted by Devilmanak

The issues with the chassis is unacceptable in my opinion. Not only are they countersunk not deep enough, they are countersunk at the wrong angle. Metric screws use a 90 degree countersink, standard uses an 82 degree countersink. Whoever answered the phone for me was pleasant enough, but selling a retail product that is built incorrectly is NOT an acceptable business prectice. They did say they would send me screws, but that is still not right, they need to replace the product and that was never offered. It was put on ME to fix the problem. They told me that they are a small company and cannot afford to send all the chassis back to have them fixed. WHAT??? So evidently in America we can sell junk and use that as an excuse. Amazing.
I am not going to put double length metric screws into my plastic that is already drilled/tapped for larger 8-32 hadrdware. This will also destroy the holes even further if I decide to go back to the nitro setup. Now I need to go buy an 82 degree countersink and fix every single hole in the chassis. (They are ALL countersunk for metric hardware.) The problem with using standard hardware in a metric countersunk hole is that only a tiny amount of the screw head is touching the chassis, right near the center hole, with a small gap around the rest of the screw head taper. The tapers on the screws are supposed to match the taper on the chassis to spread out load and stay tight.
Be forwarned, wish I would have read about this before spending my money and gone with the Losi kit.............

I'm sorry our solution didn't meet your approval and we don't sell junk. Like I said on the phone, we are doing what we can to address the issue. The screws that we're sending you will work perfectly fine and won't compromise a thing. It's the same thing any company would do to fix the problem rather than re-manufacture a $100 chassis. We've been running these chassis with M4 screws and the stock screws every week without any problems whatsoever.

We're having trouble understanding such outrage with such a small cosmetic issue that absolutely doesn't affect anything, while some other companies require heavy mods to get their products to work and get a pass.

BTW it's not every hole on the chassis. There are only 12. We're going to stand up for ourselves on this and send out screws to any customer that requests them. 2 customers out of 100's have tried to make this into a big issue and we have done what we can to help them in a courteous manner.

If you want to ram 4mm x 16mm screws into a hole designed for 8/32" x 1/2" then have at it. In mm a 4mm screw is actually 3.8-3.9mm, depending on brand. An 8/32 is 4.04 +/- depending on brand. May not seem like a lot until you hold the screws side by side. It is NOT the correct way to build a car.
The chassis has 20 8/32 holes in it, not 12.
It also has 20-22 smaller 5/64 sized holes in it. All of those are countersunk for metric hardware also.
Losi would not send out a product like this as you have stated.
This is not a cosmetic issue in any way. If we use 4mm fasteners then the plastic Losi parts are damaged for future use, and they do strip using the holes. (I started assembly per your recommendations, the third one stripped.) Besides the fact that we now have a car with metric and standard fasteners.
If we use the correct hardware for the car we are working on, the heads stick out of the chassis up to 1/16 of an inch and the strength of the fasteners is compromised due to the tapers being incorrect.
Lots of people do lots of things that "work". That doesn't make it right. unfortunately in this hobby, many enthusiasts don't know any better, so when a company tells them to do something to cover their own mistake, the people believe it. People don't know better to stand up for themselves. Or they know that complaining will get them nowhere, as this last post has proven.
If Tekno truly cared about their customers, they would send out 82 degree countersinks wrapped in a $20 bill to cover our time to fix a product that never should have been sold to begin with.

[teknorc]

I suppose we can't satisfy everybody. If you'd like to send your V3 kit back to us for a refund, we'd be more than happy to take it back and pay for the shipping. We hope that you keep it and enjoy it as so many others have. But if we can't make it right for you with our suggestions, we'll take it back. Thanks.

edit:
We can apply the refund to the Losi kit if desired. We're just trying to help at this point. Thanks.

[gramey]

Originally Posted by Devilmanak

If you want to ram 4mm x 16mm screws into a hole designed for 8/32" x 1/2" then have at it. In mm a 4mm screw is actually 3.8-3.9mm, depending on brand. An 8/32 is 4.04 +/- depending on brand. May not seem like a lot until you hold the screws side by side. It is NOT the correct way to build a car.
The chassis has 20 8/32 holes in it, not 12.
It also has 20-22 smaller 5/64 sized holes in it. All of those are countersunk for metric hardware also.
Losi would not send out a product like this as you have stated.
This is not a cosmetic issue in any way. If we use 4mm fasteners then the plastic Losi parts are damaged for future use, and they do strip using the holes. (I started assembly per your recommendations, the third one stripped.) Besides the fact that we now have a car with metric and standard fasteners.
If we use the correct hardware for the car we are working on, the heads stick out of the chassis up to 1/16 of an inch and the strength of the fasteners is compromised due to the tapers being incorrect.
Lots of people do lots of things that "work". That doesn't make it right. unfortunately in this hobby, many enthusiasts don't know any better, so when a company tells them to do something to cover their own mistake, the people believe it. People don't know better to stand up for themselves. Or they know that complaining will get them nowhere, as this last post has proven.
If Tekno truly cared about their customers, they would send out 82 degree countersinks wrapped in a $20 bill to cover our time to fix a product that never should have been sold to begin with.

Whilst it's frustrating that these chassis's were countersunk incorrectly I really do think your making a mountain out of a mole hill. Personally it's not a question of not knowing any better as you suggest but being pragmatic. I haven't had one RC kit that doesn't need modding in some way to resolve minor issues that obviously weren't apparent at the time of manufacture, this includes, 1/10th, 1/8th, 1/5th cars and my heli's. Losi aren't immune to this either, everyone knows there's a problem with the CVD pins falling out but you have to buy a third parties upgrade part to fix it, the rear hinge pins on the 8T are made of cheese and I've had to fit the Mugen ones to get over that.
If you don't like changing the screws out for metric, which I personally prefer as US manufacturers are the only ones still using imperial, treat yourself to a countersink and chill out.

First Gramey, I appreciate your input but you are incorrect. I have raced the Losi cars/trucks in the Pro class, from Texas to Illinios for almost two years. I also run a small metalworking rc business, so I am more than qualified to form opinions on rc race vehicles. If your pins are falling out you don't know how to use Loctite. Losi cars do wear faster than others, that is true, but they don't have blatant manufacturing flaws from the get-go. (I do think that Losi has some issues they addressed with the 2.0 version that should have been taken care of on the new cars, but that is why I am now racing another brand.) I have also run just about every other manufacturer's cars this summer before settling on a brand, and the ones that do have issues (RC8) have them resolved by sending out updates that fully address the problems.

Second, I originally popped back on here to apologize and retract some of what I said. There are a total of 12 large sized holes that need to be reworked, the rest of them use metric fasteners that are included in the kit, so are correct. Also, same with the small ones, there are 6 so far that I have found that use standard Losi hardware so I have re-countersunk them. I will fix any more that I find as I go along, as a lot of metric hardware is included in the kit. I think it is also a little bad to mix/match, it makes wrenching more difficult but that is my opinion. My bad on the hole numbers, I apologize for posting before knowing fully what I was dealing with.
The offer to refund me on the kit is also much appreciated, and is what I should have been offered to begin with, in my opinion. I have already bought the countersink and remachined the appropriate holes, I am looking forward to running this chassis this winter.
I am done with the issue, if anyone wants soem help/info on reworking which holes they can pm me.
Thanks.
Chris