For owners of the Kyosho Mad Force Kruiser it's been a problem of finding a suitable set of drive shafts for new, longer wheelbase truck. The older Mad Force and Twin force had a few options like heavy MIP CVD shafts or the Kyosho universal. But for the Kruiser, finding a shaft long enough to span the increased wheelbase in the rear had been a void left unfilled. But SuperShafty recently released the Crazy 8 driveshafts which addresses this need, so let's take a look.
Here's a link to the shafts: Crazy 8 Drive shafts - Super Shafty
The set includes four 8mm CEN ball ends and associated hardware and two complete sets of plastic shafts. It retails at SuperShafty for $65 and while that may seem a little pricey you have to take into account that CEN retails the ball ends alone at $14 EACH!
My first impression of the components is that everything is beefy. But being as the shafts are plastic it is also significantly lighter when compared to something like MIP all metal shafts. While you could draw a comparison to Traxxas Revo shafts in size, these shafts are stiffer and more robust in construction.
Installation: Kyosho Mad Force Kruiser VE
My truck is a modified eletric Mad Force Kruiser VE. It is currently setup for side by side elimination solid axle monster truck racing(Clodbuster style) with a MMP/Tekin Pro4 4600 on a single 2s lipo. One less battery than stock but it's faster. In this pic the front shaft is a upgraded Kyosho universal.
Rear driveshaft: For the sake of simplicity let me just say it's a complete bolt on. Just assemble the CV ball ends onto the shafts and mount everything onto the truck. No cutting, no grinding, no sanding. There is the perfect amount telescoping play in the drive shafts for the suspension and you have the maximum amount of overlap in the shafts to transmit power.
Front shaft: The front shaft on the new Kruisers are the same as the front AND rear driveshafts on the older Mad/Twin Forces. So this install will cover all those applications.
First step remove the stock driveshaft retainer and discard as you won't need it for the Crazy 8s.
Remove the stock dogbone and drive cups.
Mount the Crazy 8 driveshaft to the transmission output shaft and you will see that it cannot be mounted flush to the transmission bulkhead. You have two choices here: 1) grind the flat spot a little larger and mount the driveshaft as is. 2) Cut the trans output shaft so the ball end sits flush. If you choose the first option you can skip ahead to cutting the plastic shafts. I chose the second option.
I am cutting the shaft still on the truck so I wrapped a towel around the area to catch any debris and protect the rest of the components. I cut the area from front up until it hits the flat spot.
I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel and had no problem cutting through the hardened shaft. I also increased the size of the flat spot.
Ball end mounted up to the cut shaft now sits flush with the trans.
Now on to fitting the shaft itself. First I assembled the shaft and used a piece of painters tape to mark where shaft bottoms out.
I then mounted the shaft onto the truck but with male and female ends side by side. I compressed the suspension until the shafts are at their shortest length and mark them for cutting.
After cutting the shafts with a dremel cutoff wheel I go back into them with an exacto knife to clan up the burs so the shafts telescope smoothly.
Here's the final product, mounted up, set screw have loctite and the ball ends with CV grease.
Impression: Shafts are ultra smooth and take out the slop of the stock dogbone/drive cup setup. I've done a short test run and I love how quiet everything is now. Hoping this weekend I'll be able to do a video of durabilty tests, so stay tuned.
Here's a link to the shafts: Crazy 8 Drive shafts - Super Shafty
The set includes four 8mm CEN ball ends and associated hardware and two complete sets of plastic shafts. It retails at SuperShafty for $65 and while that may seem a little pricey you have to take into account that CEN retails the ball ends alone at $14 EACH!
My first impression of the components is that everything is beefy. But being as the shafts are plastic it is also significantly lighter when compared to something like MIP all metal shafts. While you could draw a comparison to Traxxas Revo shafts in size, these shafts are stiffer and more robust in construction.
Installation: Kyosho Mad Force Kruiser VE
My truck is a modified eletric Mad Force Kruiser VE. It is currently setup for side by side elimination solid axle monster truck racing(Clodbuster style) with a MMP/Tekin Pro4 4600 on a single 2s lipo. One less battery than stock but it's faster. In this pic the front shaft is a upgraded Kyosho universal.
Rear driveshaft: For the sake of simplicity let me just say it's a complete bolt on. Just assemble the CV ball ends onto the shafts and mount everything onto the truck. No cutting, no grinding, no sanding. There is the perfect amount telescoping play in the drive shafts for the suspension and you have the maximum amount of overlap in the shafts to transmit power.
Front shaft: The front shaft on the new Kruisers are the same as the front AND rear driveshafts on the older Mad/Twin Forces. So this install will cover all those applications.
First step remove the stock driveshaft retainer and discard as you won't need it for the Crazy 8s.
Remove the stock dogbone and drive cups.
Mount the Crazy 8 driveshaft to the transmission output shaft and you will see that it cannot be mounted flush to the transmission bulkhead. You have two choices here: 1) grind the flat spot a little larger and mount the driveshaft as is. 2) Cut the trans output shaft so the ball end sits flush. If you choose the first option you can skip ahead to cutting the plastic shafts. I chose the second option.
I am cutting the shaft still on the truck so I wrapped a towel around the area to catch any debris and protect the rest of the components. I cut the area from front up until it hits the flat spot.
I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel and had no problem cutting through the hardened shaft. I also increased the size of the flat spot.
Ball end mounted up to the cut shaft now sits flush with the trans.
Now on to fitting the shaft itself. First I assembled the shaft and used a piece of painters tape to mark where shaft bottoms out.
I then mounted the shaft onto the truck but with male and female ends side by side. I compressed the suspension until the shafts are at their shortest length and mark them for cutting.
After cutting the shafts with a dremel cutoff wheel I go back into them with an exacto knife to clan up the burs so the shafts telescope smoothly.
Here's the final product, mounted up, set screw have loctite and the ball ends with CV grease.
Impression: Shafts are ultra smooth and take out the slop of the stock dogbone/drive cup setup. I've done a short test run and I love how quiet everything is now. Hoping this weekend I'll be able to do a video of durabilty tests, so stay tuned.
