Pro-DMT 17mm Hex Adapters for M6 Axles

I have been using the Ofna adapters on my Senton 4×4 for a while and they do work but there is some slop around the axle as they are nearly 20 years old and show some signs of wear. I have been searching for a better solution for 17mm hexes for a while now and I think I have found it. I found a set of M6 17mm hex adapters on ebay and thought I would give them a try.

The adapters come in simple packaging with the adapters and drive pins in a resealable bag inside. The pins are quite a bit longer than stock and match the size of the adapters well. This a key feature that will come up later when talking about their function.

The new adapters fit the axles very snugly. There is no slop around the axle shaft and the wheel spins very true once mounted. The offset is comparable to stock and the tires do fit inside the fenders as they should. The wheel nuts are not tapered or serrated so using a little thread lock on them is a must.



When mounting the adapters I thought there would be a system of holding the drive pin in place once the wheel was removed. Most other 17mm hex conversions have either a barrel nut to hold the adapter on the axle and the drive pin is captured by the slot that is machined into the rear face of the adapter itself or the pin is used to hold the adapter to the axle and is retained by a set screw. These adapters use the pin to hold the adapter to the axle but uses the wheel to keep the pin in place. This is why the drive pins are so long, they need to match the diameter of the adapter to maintain a uniform wheel mounting surface and preserve the strength in this area. This works just fine; there is no slop once everything is together but you need to pay close attention to the pin when you remove the wheel as it will get away from you.



Here are a few shots of the truck with the adapters installed to show how they fit with the body.

The adapters work well out of the box but I wanted to make them a little more user friendly during tire changes and maintenance. The drive pin hole in the adapters is the perfect size to be tapped to m3 and I did this to both sides of the adapter. This allowed me to insert an Axial m3 screw pin (part #AXA176) which is just long enough to pass through the axle and rest into the other side of the adapter. There is still no slop in the assembly and when the wheel is removed the pin is still held in place.

Until Arrma themselves offer an all-in-one kit I believe the Pro-DMT adapters are the best option going for the 4×4 Mega and BLX line of vehicles. They are easy to install, inexpensive and work quite well. The Axial screw pin mod isn’t required but does make future wheel removal less finnicky. The adapters don’t add much rotating mass so the truck accelerates, brakes and steers much like it did when stock. If you need a more durable option for hexes these are a great way to go.