Getting really fed up with my TC6. Was going over it after building tonight and noticed excessive slop on one of the front C-hubs. Noticed the outer hinge pin moving inside the arm when I rocked the C-hub. Pulled the outer hinge pin and measured it at 2.35mm diameter at one end and 2.36mm at the other. Pulled the outer hinge pin on the other side and measured it at 2.47mm diameter one end and 2.48mm the other end. Measured 2 unused ones from my TC5r at 2.47mm and 2.48mm. All out of round when rotating in the caliper jaws but only by 0.01mm. Measured a Lunsford titanium one at 2.47mm at one end and 2.48mm at the other and not out of round when rotated.
During my build over the past week I have had to:
Swap all underside chassis screws to stainless so they can fit in the countersunk holes so I can check chassis tweak on a flat surface.
Countersink some of the chassis holes that stainless screws still didn't fit into.
Could only use 3 out of the 4 inner hinge pins due to them being bent slightly. The 4th was too bent to be used.
Had to swap in Lunsford outer hinge pins at the front since 1 of the stock ones was too small.
I suppose this is all part of the fun of the hobby and building a kit but when a chassis kit costs $399 USD I expect it to be able to go together without major issues. My TC5r cost less and went together with no major issues with all kit supplied parts. I don't have any hobby stores in the country I live for the extra stuff I needed to finish building my TC6. I waited over 6 months to buy a TC6 so the quality control issues could be worked out but it seems there's still issues. If I didn't have spares and extras for running my TC5r I'd have had to put in additional mail orders to get this kit put together which would have added weeks to the build time and additional money spent in tax and shipping.
I e-mailed AE about my chassis countersinking issues last week and am yet to get a response. I'll send an additional e-mail with the other issues I'm having and attempt to follow up by phone since these issues should be reported to them. I've been a big fan of AE for years but the quality of their product has really gone down with this kit. Hopefully their offroad products are still good. I really want to keep supporting AE but at this point if I buy replacement components such as a bottom chassis plate and additional hinge pins I have no way of knowing if they'll have the same issue that my kit supplied ones have.
If I was newish to the hobby and this was a first time kit after stepping up from an RTR this would be a major turn off and I'd probably walk away from it.