HPI Update - Parts Availability (New Type Diff's Incoming)

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MooGoCow

Active Member
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Location
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I have posted a message in my build log but to those that haven't read it - some interesting news I got from HPI in reply to a moaning e-mail I sent about lack of availability of parts, in particular replacements for 'glass' differentials ;)

Most of the message was regurgitated copy paste from the message posted Here by ELWOOD.

However in response to my diff problems or lack of availability they said:

The sintered differential parts you enquired about, we have had several batches of stock but are currently sold out. More are expected in the next few weeks.
The Machined Bulletproof differentials are an item that was affected by the factory closure in Taiwan. It has taken us much longer than we would have liked, but we have found an alternative supplier that can provide these at a quality we expect from a HPI Racing product. A large batch is due to hit the warehouse in August.
We hopefully also have a new third option on the way for the Crown gear and Pinion that came about from our extensive search for alternatives, these we will be looking to announce shortly.


Potential new Bevel & Crowns? Sounds good to me!

Full reply below - warning LONG MESSAGE!! Lots of info here and pretty positive for HPI's future (y)

Logo-Transparent-Background.png


FULL MESSAGE:

Thank you for contacting HPI Racing. Thank you for your patience. We apologise for the delay in replying.



HPI Racing as a brand has gone through some major changes since Vestergaard took over and we would like to outline below what they were and our challenges moving forward.
All our work is with the aim of making HPI Racing a sustainable and reliable business with the focus on the long term future of the brand and its customers. Detailing everything going on right now is impossible but the main things are:
The rebuilding process is very different from the previous times the HPI Racing brand has changed ownership. It is a completely new start up. No systems, staff or internal logistics were transferred in the sale which has meant that HPI Racing, as a company and as a brand, is truly rebuilding from the ground up. Over the last 9-10 months HPI Racing and Vestergaard have worked hand in hand to start that rebuilding process.

Existing inventory and body production machinery in the UK has been transferred to Vestergaard Groups extensive distribution warehouse in Viborg, Denmark. The Vestergaard Group will handle all logistics for HPI Racing and Viborg will be its new central warehouse location.

Manufacturing:

HPI Manufacturing ( HPI’s own factory or HPIM for short) has been up and running for about 6 months now. Cars and Spares are shipping from our China factory. Not everything is available but we are working hard to get everything currently considered as on sale, produced asap.

HPIM and other partners will continue to manufacture the same HPI Racing products, with the same QC to keep the same level of specification we expect in HPI Racing products.

Cars in normal production schedule:
E-10,
RS4 Sport 3,
Jumpshots,
Venture,
Savage XS,
Wheely & Crawler King,
Micro RS4,
Savage X 4.6 RTR,
Savage XL Flux.
Trophy’s
Bullet’s
Vorza
WR8

Manufacturing in Taiwan is still a work in progress. Unfortunately, the cars manufactured in Taiwan have been affected by a supply chain issue. These issues are largely down to the closures of sub suppliers or external manufacturers, which are circumstances outside of HPI’s control.

We are in the process of trying to re-establish supply from alternative manufacturers where possible but this will probably just for spare parts supply right now. Not RTR cars.

A major RC factory in Taiwan closed down in the wake of Hobbico’s financial collapse. Leaving a lot of tooling missing and financial problems all down that factories supply chain. It is a very complicated picture HPI Racing has been trying to solve/work around for a long time.

We are now classing chassis made in Taiwan as On Hold. We will re-release them, resource them or discontinue them on a chassis by chassis, spare part by spare part basis as and when its future becomes clear. We are still hopeful we can bring the majority of these items back to market.

Car families currently On Hold from Taiwan:

Baja,
Blitz,
Firestorm,
RS4 Nitro 3,
Sprint 2.

For the Savage, It will depend on which version of the car. If they are standard items from the Savage X 4.6 RTR or the Savage Flux XL then these are in production at “HPIM” and will flow through our network as normal.
Many older standard items and optional parts are discontinued or will be hard to get hold of still, as they were also made in Taiwan. The Savage 5.9’s will be a mixed bag because anything that is standard on the current Savage X 4.6 will be available as normal however anything unique will be difficult to find as it was made in Taiwan.

The sintered differential parts you enquired about, we have had several batches of stock but are currently sold out. More are expected in the next few weeks.
The Machined Bulletproof differentials are an item that was affected by the factory closure in Taiwan. It has taken us much longer than we would have liked, but we have found an alternative supplier that can provide these at a quality we expect from a HPI Racing product. A large batch is due to hit the warehouse in August.
We hopefully also have a new third option on the way for the Crown gear and Pinion that came about from our extensive search for alternatives, these we will be looking to announce shortly.

We have been shipping from HPIM to our Distributors and Central warehouse frequently since October 2019. Several shipments of spares and kits have been delivered between then and now with more on the way every month.
Parts supply has been much improved for cars in our normal production schedule.
The www.hpiracing.com website is the best resource for our up to the minute catalogue. Each parts webpage will say if the item is discontinued or not. We are updating this all the time.

Licencing:
All of HPI Racing's Licencing agreements are being renegotiated and renewed because of the change of ownership. Until we have that particular brands licence signed and sealed we cannot restart production of that product.
This effects mainly body production but also some chassis production that has a licenced bodyshell on it. Some are signed and sealed, others will come back on board later, but some are definitely not. Nissan, Ford and Subaru are back on board and we hope for others to follow shortly.

The Team in the UK, is now focused around a small but dedicated group of staff that will cover all Sales, Purchasing, Marketing, Social Media, Graphics, Artwork, Videos, Website content, Range and Production management and Product development and sourcing.

Distributor Network:
We do not sell directly but use a large Distributor network, please check with your regions Distributor for full local retailer and stock information.
You can find details of all the Distributors we are shipping to currently signed on here:
www.hpiracing.com/distributors
If they do not currently have stock then it is worth contacting them to make sure they have the items on order for you from there next delivery bearing in mind the restrictions I mentioned above.

We are currently setting up the website to show all the retailers that have access to HPI Racing product.
Our domestic region and the retailers that our Distributors have supplied details for, are listed on our shop search section of our website.
www.hpiracing.com/shops
If your local retailer isn't registered with them ask them to get in touch with their local Distributor.

I hope this helps show we are working very hard to push HPI Racing forwards. We are building a future for HPI Racing. In the meantime, we appreciate your patience and thank you for your understanding.
 
I really appreciate how open they are being with their user-base. Nice to know they are trying their best given these very difficult times.
Hats off to them for still pushing through!
 
I've tried cheap diff copies and they 'work' after alot of shimming but their tolerances are poor. Time will tell how robust they are.

I cant see new models, just part support for some models. At least there is some hope of new quality parts.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Yes thanks for sharing info, again all looks positive news from HPI & appears they are cutting through all the ties faced before them! ??
 
Sounds legit. Those kits were from Kingstar in Taiwan. But since Kingstar also or used to supply Axial do they have shortages? I thought Kingstar was still up and running. All my HPI knowledge is from 2016 and prior. It's sad to hear. HPI USA paid for all that Taiwan tooling. And the Baja project was one of the most expensive projects at HPI in terms of tooling/molds, etc. At one point HPI USA had double molds for Savages. One from the Taiwan factory and one from the China factory.
 
this is good to hear! I'm in the process of going through my baja and parts are super hard to find. even third party parts seem to be dropping off. hopefully hpi can really get back up and running, i want to be able to rip my savages without being scared of not finding parts(y)
 
I mailed HPI back about the new diffs for more information and they have told me to expect a product announcement in the next few days.

These are a new crown and pinion set but didn't give any more detail other than they are a new manufacture of the machined set but at a better price point.

Distributors should have them very shortly. Interested to see what they are all about.
 
So are these the new design type from HPI that was mentioned/posted they were bringing out then?

These are:
i just noticed them in stock in USA. not sure since when. but get them while they're here. i suspect they'll sell out soon. $39

https://www.hobbyrecreationproducts.com/products/hpi160090-forged-bulletproof-diff-bevel

Also at RCPlanet for non-sale price:
https://www.rcplanet.com/hpi-racing-29t-9t-forged-bulletproof-differential-bevel-gear-set-hpi160090/
 
Do you guys tend to have more problems with diffs running electric as opposed to nitro then?
 
Do you guys tend to have more problems with diffs running electric as opposed to nitro then?
Yes. Well, since the BP stuff became available and I got an X. My X came with machined small tooth ring/pinion and alloy cups. On older pre-x savages, I would replace the diff cases with alloy and shim them well while using the smaller tooth ring/pinions. Even then, with nitro, if I wasn't easy on it, they would die. Usually it was due to the 10x16 bearing dying though and by the time I'd realize it, the ring/pinion were toast.

Once I got the X and the BP stuff came out, even if that bearing died, the BP gears would live through it and I'd put new bearings in and still be good to go. After I put BP's in my X, I never put another gear set in it. Just bearings.

On my flux, I broke 3 or 4 pinions before switching to a trans with a center diff. After that, I didn't have diff issues.
 
Ended up ordering two sets let’s see what they can handle ...so tired of these weak diffs wish I could throw something beefier in there
 
not to hijack this thread, but are arrmas known to have diff issues? I only ask because I'm thinking of getting a raton or outcast 6s.
Some say yes, some say no, everyone says you have to shim them spot on or you will suffer.

I went through 6 diffs (ring/pinion) on my outcast in the first year or so. $40 a piece from take offs that come with bulkheads, input cup and bearings. Just broke my 7th a month ago, this time it was the first time I broke internal parts. I shimmed every single one as tight as it would allow without binding. 1 died due to blown bearings, 1 died due to striped screws in the diff cap on the bulkhead, the others just started skipping teeth and died.

To be fair, it was the truck I'd launch the furthest and drive the fastest...

Until I converted my v1 ERBE to a v2 and started running 6S in it. I've had it over a year and have yet to have diff issues. I replaced the bearings and regreased the ring/pinions when I got it as I bought the roller used. I drive it just as hard as the outcast. Same tires, same esc and motor.

Read up on it at the arrmaforum.com, you will find a lot of info there. The new kraton exb comes with stronger ring/pinions, but people are having issues with the LSD/internals, at least on the rear diff that requires creative shimming out of the box. After adding the recommended additional LSD plate(s), it seems to be doing better, even for those that run stupid big motors/esc's in them. The next time my outcast blows diffs, I'll be getting the EXB ones.
 
Some say yes, some say no, everyone says you have to shim them spot on or you will suffer.

I went through 6 diffs (ring/pinion) on my outcast in the first year or so. $40 a piece from take offs that come with bulkheads, input cup and bearings. Just broke my 7th a month ago, this time it was the first time I broke internal parts. I shimmed every single one as tight as it would allow without binding. 1 died due to blown bearings, 1 died due to striped screws in the diff cap on the bulkhead, the others just started skipping teeth and died.

To be fair, it was the truck I'd launch the furthest and drive the fastest...

Until I converted my v1 ERBE to a v2 and started running 6S in it. I've had it over a year and have yet to have diff issues. I replaced the bearings and regreased the ring/pinions when I got it as I bought the roller used. I drive it just as hard as the outcast. Same tires, same esc and motor.

Read up on it at the arrmaforum.com, you will find a lot of info there. The new kraton exb comes with stronger ring/pinions, but people are having issues with the LSD/internals, at least on the rear diff that requires creative shimming out of the box. After adding the recommended additional LSD plate(s), it seems to be doing better, even for those that run stupid big motors/esc's in them. The next time my outcast blows diffs, I'll be getting the EXB ones.

Oh, that’s funny. See I’ve heard the exact opposite, that ERBE tends to blow Diffs super quick. I know both have super hardcore fans, so it can be really hard to tell truth from fiction sometimes I guess

I sold my savage xl flux a little while agoin search of something else 6s, and it’s been between the Kraton and the ERBE. I’m trying to figure out which would be better, I absolutely hate having trucks that blow diffs constantly (I have an Xmaxx which I finally got to a good place with it after a ton of time and experimenting?)

I might try the ERBE tho then if the v2 doesn’t seem to have diff issues. I’ve always loved arrma buuuuut also my LHS carries only traxxas so?‍♂️
 
The v1 had diff issues if you ran 6S, but mine still runs the original diffs with 3 years of use on 4S. I did change the bearings in them a couple times, but otherwise, I literally never opened the diffs themselves. The v1 chassis with the original diffs is in the closet. Just keeping it for the spares for my nitro revos. I have RPM arms/true track on it, good bulks/rocker posts and the diffs. I took what I could off and put it on the v2 roller I bought.

The issue mostly with 6S in them was the size of the input bearings. They couldn't handle a lot of torque, so they would die quickly then take out the ring/pinion in the process. Found a guy on traxxas forum that used oillight bushings pressed into the outer bearing races and they held up really well then. Just had to change them every so often due to wear, which he said wasn't really that often. Finding the bushings was a bit of a pain. Can't recall if he had to turn down or drill out the bushings he used... I think he did.
 
Yes & finally showing savage sway bar being in stock from Nov 17th, very exciting my friend! ??
 

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