Krakens - done to death?

[Bontic]

I know the Kraken has been done to death in these forums, but I am still puzzled by an unresolved mystery. Why is it that we receive reports of badly shimmed gears, horrible clear plastic air nozzles, cylinder heads, and spring guides; crappy piston heads, nylon bushings, and crappy wiring, and yet...

1. the gun frequently manages 350-plus fps, with a cylinder head, piston head, and air nozzle that have no right to that good an air seal.... wtf? How do the guns do this? are those plastic parts really not as crappy as is made out?

2. No one is complaining about their ******n Kraken croaking. All i hear is "running for a year no probs unopened mechbox" "running on 10.4 volts till it breaks" etc. yet they still keep going, without shattering their pathetic spring guides or their bushings failing and causing stripped gears. Once again, are those spring guides and bushings better than given credit for?

3. As I understand these are rebranded CYMA CM.028 mechboxes. The CYMA 028s rightly gained a reputation for outstanding stock reliability - but they never shot more than 285 stock. The Krakens must have a "ridiculous spring" that would destroy internals only designed for 285 fps. Why does it not do so?
Putting that kind of spring in a stock marui without swapping out the internals is as good as turning your mechbox into scrap, as I understand it.

Most old timers predict the gun will fail soon for all these reasons. Why are there only reports to the contrary? It defies common sense.I am very conflicted - to whack in new parts or not? Is it just a waste of money "just in case, because such cheap chinese garbage is sure to fail sooner than a stock marui" maneuver, or is it a worthwhile investment in longevity? The mystery needs solving. Someone please explain, or present new evidence.

[pusangani]

well I can't speak for those older Cyma 028's but I got one about a month ago and it does approx 350-370 fps, so I'm guessing that the new Krakens are coming with the updated Cyma ver.3 gearbox as well, just a guess

[Azathoth]

The Cyma V.2 gearbox may shoot at 280ish FPS but could be rated to withstand 350+ that the kraken spring provides.

[Drache]

The Kraken I sold to my friend failed... well it didn't really fail. It made a weird noise and wouldn't shoot the entire time he pulled the trigger. To fix it, just a good shimming and metal bushings thrown in for good measure.

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by Azathoth

The Cyma V.2 gearbox may shoot at 280ish FPS but could be rated to withstand 350+ that the kraken spring provides.

Interesting considering the AK doesn't have a V2 mechbox

[ancorp]

There are alot of people that have never handled a Kraken that say it needs this and that and that. Sure, it may help, but I don't really touch gearboxes unless I have to. My stock Cyma gearbox (older 300fps version) ran perfect for several thousand rounds till I opened it to upgrade, and now it still runs perfect at 400fps+. My Kraken came with the newer "pre upgraded" Cyma gearbox, and it clocked 360fps outta the box. Runs great.

Quality control - that might cause one of these to have premature failure once in a while (not very common it seems), and that might cause some bad reports on these, but overall they are great stock. Sure it has plastic bushings, thick grease, and possibly imperfect shimming (although my older Cyma gearbox had no signs of bad shimming via gearbox markings from the gears what so ever), but it works.

Just my .2 cents.

[Drache]

ancorp and I see to be the leading advocates on Krakens lol!

[yanhchan]

My spring guide was starting to detoriate when I went to replace the spring and bushings. To be fair the spring was weakened because I left it in the compressed state for about a week. It really doesn't need much upgrades besides the bushings.

I got a kraken about a week ago and it was doing a weired noise so I decided to open up the mechbox, The piston head was not provideing a good seal I had to change it to a old JG I had laying around.

I was at a game a couple weeks ago and there was a kraken owner trying to ajust his hop up, the range he was getting was horible, im sure he has the same problem.

I ordered some other gearbox parts since I plan on droping a 400 fps spring in there Bushings, piston,piston head, cyllinder head, spring guide and a noszle.

I reshimed it however the original job was good and the grease seemed fine.

I put in a pro-win hop up however It seems to not really fit all that well as others have had similar problems.

[KNIVEZS]

Originally Posted by Bontic

2. No one is complaining about their ******n Kraken croaking. All i hear is "running for a year no probs unopened mechbox" "running on 10.4 volts till it breaks" etc. yet they still keep going, without shattering their pathetic spring guides or their bushings failing and causing stripped gears. Once again, are those spring guides and bushings better than given credit for?
.

my kraken lasted for about 3 months and it took 13000+ round before it broke down

[Crunchmeister]

Some cheap guns' internals are pretty tough. My first AEG was a Double Eagle AK47 I got last spring. I fired at least 20000 rounds out of it, mostly in long, full auto bursts. The gearbox still works great. The gun fell and the stock broke off, so it's not really useable now, but internally, it still works fine.

Now, it doesn't perform anywhere near like the Kraken does in terms of velocity, but it does show that even cheap internals can work well. My brand new TM M4 blew out its gears after less than 10000 rounds.

[Bontic]

Great, mystery solved!

It must be the CYMA CM.03 mechbox then? or at least an improved .028... reinforced gears etc., even better than the original CM.028 (which was still a V3 TM clone - Kalnaren - Azaroth meant the CYMA CM.02, I am sure, which is a V3.)

I guess that cheap and nasty looking plastic has some surprising properties. This just leaves the question, how on earth is it so reliable with cheap materials???

And the other problem... I have just wasted around $100 on upgrades I didn't need. Great. and the one I potentially needed to match my new piston head, a cylinder head, I neglected to get. I hope the stock cylinder head maintains its seal better than the stock piston head. Perhaps with good greasing...

Consolation is I suppose I get even more certain reliability and an fps/rof boost? I am getting steel bearing spring guide, polycarbonate bearing piston head, shims, double oil channel bushings, air nozzle, guarder hop-up, 16 gauge wiring, deans connectors, new battery, some superlube, and a king arms 70 rnd magazine. I guess it can't hurt reliability.

Can anyone tell me how to de-grease the original mechbox without using petroleum based solvents? I can't think of any solvents that would not damage the rubber O-rings etc.

[Crunchmeister]

Get the proper cylinder grease. It works best. For gears, you can use white lithium grease from Cdn Tire.

take the piston and cylinder assembly out when cleaning the mechbox. Then take a rag and clean it out. I sometimes use brake cleaner to clean it once the majority of the grease is gone and clean the gears...

[Bontic]

OK, thanks. My initial intention was to open the mechbox up before even firing a single shot, sort out all the shimming and greasing and stick in the new parts while I'm at it, to minimize any risk of failure and reduce potential wear caused by a lemon set up. Is this sensible, or should I just fire it for the thirty day warranty period? I realise there is no correct answer, but I am just interested in hearing a more experienced personal preference.