277 replies to this topic

[Ralph Thorne]

Mine has the notorious center section bend and the pan was all out of shape, too. Honestly this was expected though, in slot car racing you have to expect to work on 95% of the things you buy to make usable. Time will tell how weak the pan is during race conditions.
 
IMO the Mossetti is definitely a little flatter out of the bag.
 
I just wish they would pick a body clip/pin hole spot and stick with it. IMO the X25 and Mossetti spots were perfect. The holes so close to the bottom always have a tendency to rip out, especially for newer racers.

[Rob Voska]

Agree on the body mounts.
 
I ran mine out of the bag and never even took the pan off the center section.  When I took it out of the bag and put it on the block it just went clunk! Dead flat. Then I picked it up and held it to a back light and there was no where to improve it except guide tongue.

[Matt Sheldon]

I have three from two different suppliers and all were very close. I did not have any issues with the center except a minor tweak of the guide tongue. The pans all needed a little love at the front, but none took me longer than 15 minutes to get perfect. I never had to chase a bend front to back or any other typical out of the bag issue. 

 

There is no way any of these will ever be perfect unless you want a $100 chassis that someone sits at a bench and finesses, attaches to a backer board, and then puts in a decent box. 

 

I do not have a Mossetti, but by far this is the best out of the bag chassis with regards to being flat and true. To me it is better than expected.

[gc4895]

Just opened my second "A" chassis which I received from a geographically different supplier.  I dropped it on my granite surface plate and checked the uprights with my T-square.  I have to say that right out of the bag this second chassis is exactly like the first - dead, solid, perfect. 

 

Well done JK. 

[MarkH]

Mine were dead flat as well. The uprights were at 90 degrees but the front ears of the pan were stamped with more offset than the thickness of the center pan. So I tweaked those down just a touch to keep the pan off the track.

[Pablo]

So much obsession with perfect flatness - I'm as guilty as anybody, but these are a mass produced item and it's going to vary.

Radius the edges, make it as flat as you can, then go racing. Mine looks fairly flat but I'll probably work on it for a couple hours.

 

I think tongue angle is way more important than absolute flatness. Mine is angled down a little. I'll correct it and go from there. 

 

The fastest JK chassis racers tweak 'em by hand and eyeball every single heat.

 

The exception being Coastal Angler, and it sounds like he just got one that got stepped on. They aren't all like that, Charlie.

If your raceway owner won't replace it, call Tim at JK and if he doesn't make it right, I'll eat my hat.

[Bud Greene]

Mine was not flat either. It took me three hours to straighten it.
 
That's just part of the game.

[Pablo]

Well said, Bud. Low cost chassis are stamped steel. Making them into a race chassis takes work.

[Zippity]

Nobody ever claimed it was going to be easy

 

A huge thanks to JK for producing this magnificent chassis.

[JK Products]

We inspected 250 chassis from the first batch and they were better than any mass produced chassis in the history of the industry, including our own, and by a significant margin. 99%+ of the feedback we have gotten confirms this.  It's always possible that someone in the factory dropped a rock on one but that would certainly be rare. If the UPS driver ran it over with his truck the box should show severe damage as it's a fair challenge to bend the chassis significantly due to the very high-strength steel we are using.

 

If anyone finds an Aeolos chassis out of the bag that's not flatter and with nicer verticles than any mass produced chassis you have ever purchased, (not a perfect chassis, be reasonable, but has to be new and fresh out of the bag) please contact me with where and when it was purchased and we will get you a good chassis, and will evaluate the return. 

 

Tim

[gmpower]

Put together 7 of them so far pretty darn flat no more than 10 minutes of flattening on each one!

[Bud Greene]

Chassis is fine I would like some aluminum pans pretty please

[Matt Sheldon]

Are all the Red Fox Guides made that way? I looked on line and just eyeballing the provided picture the stem appears to be 90 degree to the braid face. Perhaps just an illusion.

Here is a dyed and a std. black. Eyeballing 2 degrees online without a reference would be an incredible skillset.

 

Using a guide threader is the easiest way to show it as the threader is about as square as you will get to the braid face portion of the guide. You will see the front of the guide arcs up. Both guides have had the braid face trued.

 

 

[MarkH]

Nice, thanks Matt

[Matt Sheldon]

Nice, thanks Matt

No problem. Not sure why the pictures are rotated, but you can still see it.

[MSwiss]

I don't want to get into a big thing on this but I don't see any indication of an angle on the Red Fox guide I just threaded and checked.

Certainly not 2 degrees.
 

 

 

 

Not a great pic, but this is  2 degrees.

[Matt Sheldon]

Agreed Mike. I have never had one that is not pitched in the front and the black one have always had the most. Your results are different than any I have ever had.

[MSwiss]

All my full ones(10-12) look the same.

 

It doesn't matter to me.

 

I haven't been able to get cutdown ones for awhile now and I don't have any reason to try anymore.

 

Way too many failures, especially on Gerding Kings.

[CoastalAngler1]

Nascar Aeolos RTR tonight weighed in at 93g. Made a .055 bite bar to eliminate up and down in rear, didn't like the way the pans rode with body armor and stock .047 bar.  Ran solid, I mean was planted, with just a couple setup changes gained .2 - very good chassis!  

 

However, this center section has the infamous jk right upright tweaked up.  Bend it flat, run it around the big banked turn a few times and back to the ways of the DIY hobbyist.  The rear uprights are braced w .047.  I hate to say it but you need to buy a few center sections, just like motors to find happy ones. True.   

 

Now where did I put that old .025 center with the longitudinal striations in the coating?  Florida should allow soldering the bite of choice...     

[MSwiss]

You probably need to find a hobby where every $12.95 and $28.95 item is perfect.

[swodem]

Had a short session tonight on this chassis. It doesn't like heavy, stiff bodies. Probably because it's lightweight and flexible. It need some lead and some effort flattening..


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[Danny Zona]

I've never seen a perfectly flat stamped steel chassi by any manufacturers including JK and I don't expect to either.

I'm not complaining. It's just a fact. It's part of the process.


I'm sure I'm biased though even though I primarily use JK chassis.

[Guillermo Suar]

I just find a lot of people expecting this to be perfectly flat and straight everywhere. I think is just unreal to have such expectations unless you want to pay 20 times the actual value.

 

Maybe you can order one just made from billet and CNC built. That will only cost a few thousand dollars and you will get what you want.

Or you can hire more people and have every single piece hand blueprinted. That will only rise the price a few hundreds I guess.

 

Get real. I got mine last week . It was not perfect but it was so far the best stamped chassis  I've ever had from the bag. I put it on my granite block, and with a few exceptions I was able to get everything straight with just my fingers in less than 1/2 hour.

 

It would probably would have worked fine with just the guide tongue tweaking. I just did it because I enjoy it. If you don't, look for something else to spend your time.

[Ralph Thorne]

I don't think anyone ever said they expect the chassis to be 100% flat and square out of the bag. We all know stuff happens during stamping and shipping process.

 

They are just saying it may not be as flat as some have advertised.

 

We all appreciate JK's efforts and attempts to supply new and quality products.

[MSwiss]

Put together 7 of them so far pretty darn flat no more than 10 minutes of flattening on each one!

 

 

Just opened my second "A" chassis which I received from a geographically different supplier.  I dropped it on my granite surface plate and checked the uprights with my T-square.  I have to say that right out of the bag this second chassis is exactly like the first - dead, solid, perfect. 

 

Well done JK. 

 

 

Agree on the body mounts.
 
I ran mine out of the bag and never even took the pan off the center section.  When I took it out of the bag and put it on the block it just went clunk! Dead flat. Then I picked it up and held it to a back light and there was no where to improve it except guide tongue.

 

 

They are just saying it may not be as flat as some have advertised.

Ralph,

The wording of your post is confusing to me.

 

It's as if "they" didn't get one they thought was perfect, the many racers who are very happy with the ones they received, really didn't get ones as good as they think.

 

It's as if "they" are disputing the opinion of experienced slot racers.

 

These racers are just relating their own experience, not making a claim on the whole production run of chassis.

 

If guys like Rob got a dead flat chassis, "they" should be happy for him/them, instead of worrying theirs wasn't.