9398 - Lego Technic 4x4 Crawler

[jacobkristensen]

It has been available on e german lego store, i could buy some and sell them on ebay if i wanted to right now. Which is probably why that seller offered the sets so overpriced. I think he watned 189 or 199€ for the crawler?

But like i said, there was nothing underground going on, the sets came from TLG who sold them ahead of the release date to the public

I just prefer not having reached suspicious in the trade but I have repeatedly speculate about Lego is trying to coordinate the release(think about 8110 last year and 8275 back in 2007 that gave birth to PF or saw the public release of it).

Both of the release where imho bigger than the normal yearly techninc flagship model, and the same goes for when rcx and nxt was released for the very first time.

[Jetro]

I just prefer not having reached suspicious in the trade but I have repeatedly speculate about Lego is trying to coordinate the release(think about 8110 last year and 8275 back in 2007 that gave birth to PF or saw the public release of it).

Both of the release where imho bigger than the normal yearly techninc flagship model, and the same goes for when rcx and nxt was released for the very first time.

I'm having a really hard time understanding what you are trying to say. I can't really make any sense of it... :(

[davidmull]

I'm having a really hard time understanding what you are trying to say. I can't really make any sense of it... :(

I think he means any major flagship with new parts ie the new motors are released earlier than August.

[Jetro]

Well, in this particular case that's true, but not in the way implied. Several people were given access to the set and given a date before which they were not supposed to mention they had it, and then the set appeared before the intended time. I'm convinced it was yet another unfortunate error at a sales point. The boxes were not supposed to have been put on sale, but once the mistake was made there was no turning back.

[jacobkristensen]

I'm having a really hard time understanding what you are trying to say. I can't really make any sense of it... :(

I am sorry about that, as you politely pointed out I am not god at expressing myself in written english( nor in my own language). And that post was made using machin translation, and is post I am just trying to spell it out myself.

I am just not that used to trusting a shop posting on ebay instead them haveing their own website. I find it much comforting just to see a person listing his stuff for sale on ebay. But I do know my view, proberly could be consider a bit old school.

But my second point was that tlg, in my eyes sometimes has made bigger or more important flagships models than in other years.

I think he means any major flagship with new parts ie the new motors are released earlier than August.

In a way david, would also if think early backwards in time. Say that the first set to introcude pneumatics in it current form was more important than the other years flagship model. Not that they ain't important all.

My view also fits what was said in the interview posted over at TB(http://technicbricks.blogspot.com) e.g. when TLG releases important new parts or groups of parts(think about studless and the first years of sets that contain no or very few classic studded pieces, while nowdays they are often more of a mix, with a clear focus on studless but also on releasing pieces fitting in the old studded sub-system of lego)

Edited July 16, 2012 by jacobkristensen

[Jetro]

I am just not that used to trusting a shop posting on ebay instead them haveing their own website. I find it much comforting just to see a person listing his stuff for sale on ebay. But I do know my view, proberly could be consider a bit old school.

I agree with you. Especially if they sell things that are not yet available through standard channels.

But my second point was that tlg, in my eyes sometimes has made bigger or more important flagships models than in other years.

I remember a discussion mentioning LEGO seems to alternate big flagships with smaller ones, but I don't entirely agree. 2010 brought us the Excavator so then 2011 should have been smaller flagship, but we got the Unimog. Is this year's Flagship really smaller? Well, there are fewer pieces and the price is lower, but I wouldn't say the set was designed to be smaller. It feels like they tried to put as much into the set as possible within the budget and reasonable sales price (Think of it this way: if the Crawler had been at the same price point as the Unimog, what additional features should it have had to justify that price?)

[davidmull]

I would have taught this set should be on toy shop websites by now but nothing,we have 2 weeks to release in most country's but nothing on toy sites in uk or ire :( I think the mog was up early July last year.

Does anyone know when Lego normally add the flagship to there site or have the promotional advert?

[Sariel]

Here is a video with the 9398 with differentials removed, doing fine with Power Puller wheels on. It's almost unstoppable in this set-up, and does way better off-road than it did with differentials. Of course, removing the diffs leads to tire wear and parts wear, but I have noticed that the transmission pieces in 9398 are getting worn even with the differentials.

Edited July 16, 2012 by Sariel

[jacobkristensen]

Here is a video with the 9398 with differentials removed, doing fine with Power Puller wheels on. It's almost unstoppable in this set-up, and does way better off-road than it did with differentials. Of course, removing the diffs leads to tire wear and parts wear, but I have noticed that the transmission pieces in 9398 are getting worn even with the differentials.

Wow, that is nice of you to make a video studying quit few of the concerns that been discussed in this thread. But I think that your finding aint that surprising, did you notice if the knob wheels course the car to vibrate more than when using the differentials?

[Sariel]

Wow, that is nice of you to make a video studying quit few of the concerns that been discussed in this thread. But I think that your finding aint that surprising, did you notice if the knob wheels course the car to vibrate more than when using the differentials?

Thanks. I'm not sure if it vibrates more, but there certainly is a lot of tension going on between the wheels. There's a part in this video early on when you can hear the knobs squeaking, which is a sign of very high torque.

[jacobkristensen]

Thanks. I'm not sure if it vibrates more, but there certainly is a lot of tension going on between the wheels. There's a part in this video early on when you can hear the knobs squeaking, which is a sign of very high torque.

yeah I could hear that, but a few day ago during a clean up of my build area. I made a small 4-wheel construction that was power by two pf-xl motor, first by differentials and the by knob wheels.

And with knob wheels and every other piece gearing being the same, the car vibrated so much that I had to reinforce it inorder to hold together.

I belive the reason was that for long time the power tranfers from each motor was made by pairs of bevel gear only touching half. That is the gears wheels was deplaced by that half stud on the axel above coming from the motor.

And during the end, befor I split it. I tried to make the gears diretly above each others, as is normal and implict recommend way of building if you are studying the tlg sets. But the vibrations continued.

My guess as to why you aint sure is be course you are using the pf-l motors.

[davidmull]

Works great, how many years have people been saying power puller wheels are useless for weight reasons and now finally we get to use them :)

Gear reduction also works well , I wonder how it would perform now in truck trials?

I'm so glad I bought power puller wheels now or should I say 8466 set :)

[pluto7443]

I once had a vehicle with 3 NXT motors all hooked onto one driveshaft, and the axle's knob gears were noticeably worn after, and were squeaking very loudly.

[rm8]

I once had a vehicle with 3 NXT motors all hooked onto one driveshaft, and the axle's knob gears were noticeably worn after, and were squeaking very loudly.

The main advantage i saw in PP tires is that they are heavier, So the center of mass is much lower than with original tires. But as for me, i prefer more torque than better stability. When I receive my 9398 i will test my opinion. May be I am not right...

Edited July 17, 2012 by rm8

[Jetro]

I have noticed that the transmission pieces in 9398 are getting worn even with the differentials.

Can you explain what you have seen¿ Which parts are most affected?

[rm8]

Can you explain what you have seen¿ Which parts are most affected?

It is time to open Lego dealer service centers to sell spare parts, to make regular maintenance

Edited July 17, 2012 by rm8

[Sariel]

Can you explain what you have seen¿ Which parts are most affected?

The news 4L tan axles that come out of the differentials, for example. When I was taking them out, I noticed some plastic dust around them. But then remember, that I gave my Crawler a really, really hard time before.

[GuiliuG]

. There's a part in this video early on when you can hear the knobs squeaking, which is a sign of very high torque.

Rather of high speed I would say. Knob gear is not made to turn so fast and due to its 4 teeth, its performance is worse at this emplacement.

Edited July 17, 2012 by GuiliuG

[Anio]

The news 4L tan axles that come out of the differentials, for example. When I was taking them out, I noticed some plastic dust around them. But then remember, that I gave my Crawler a really, really hard time before.

I noticed some tan plastic dust on the U-joint too.

[jacobkristensen]

The news 4L tan axles that come out of the differentials, for example. When I was taking them out, I noticed some plastic dust around them. But then remember, that I gave my Crawler a really, really hard time before.

I have ob several time noticed the same kind of dust from the orange axle mounting hole on pf-xl motor. And I can't decide for self it is intentional from tlg or it because that they put under high load.

[davidmull]

The news 4L tan axles that come out of the differentials, for example. When I was taking them out, I noticed some plastic dust around them. But then remember, that I gave my Crawler a really, really hard time before.

Maybe these new tan axles are made from a harder material as some people were saying there was no real need for them.

[DLuders]

Over on the Eurobricks Digital Designer Forum, P4trickvH posted the B-Model virtual building file for the 9398 4x4 Crawler. His Lego Digital Designer (LDD) .lxf file allows one to "see" all angles of the model (since nobody here seems to have built it yet in real life). Again, some parts are not included because they don't exist in LDD.

[z3_2drive]

Over on the Eurobricks Digital Designer Forum, P4trickvH posted the B-Model virtual building file for the 9398 4x4 Crawler. His Lego Digital Designer (LDD) .lxf file allows one to "see" all angles of the model (since nobody here seems to have built it yet in real life). Again, some parts are not included because they don't exist in LDD.

Cool! It looks great from the front but as you look towards the rear side, It seems to get more and more boring and empty, but this can be solved with an extension of cage and panels, and cover up that unnecessarily colorful chassis thats showing.

[AVCampos]

My fear is that all that weight in the front and so little in the rear will make it topple easily when braking and/or going downhill. For example, Sariel's video of the modded Crawler going down stairs would certainly go a lot worse if he used the B-shell instead of the A-shell.

[edit] And I agree that the rear looks simply awful.

Edited July 17, 2012 by AVCampos

[mrklaw]

Here is a video with the 9398 with differentials removed, doing fine with Power Puller wheels on. It's almost unstoppable in this set-up, and does way better off-road than it did with differentials. Of course, removing the diffs leads to tire wear and parts wear, but I have noticed that the transmission pieces in 9398 are getting worn even with the differentials.

thats a great video. Did it ever make it down that hill? I was rooting for it :) with separate drive motors I wonder if it would have been useful to control them separately, then you could have braked/not driven the back wheels which might have helped with the descent.

Do you think you'll be leaving it like that - is the lack of steering outweighed by better traction when you lose the diffs?

Do you think the power puller tyres make a big difference? I don't have them so I'm wondering if I should get hold of them before 9398 is available to buy here in the UK. I know that on my RC crawlers weighted tyres help but I also realise there needs to be compromise with a lego version.