My Wheely King, soon to be "Mastodon"

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:57 pm

There's been a few people around here planting it in my head I should build some kind of crawler. When I had seen the Wheely King in action on youtube, I had found my basis for inspiration. I just needed to save for it. That sucked, but its paid off, 'cause now I got one.

When I ordered it, I didn't think I would be very impressed with it in stock form, so I ordered a bunch of goodies with it, but I gotta say, I think this is the coolest RC I've ever owned. I don't know if I'm really in a hurry to modify it right now. I've been dreaming of a scale looking monster truck chassis since I was a kid, and this one looks awesome. I think it looks even cooler in person.

I thought it was cool that 14mm wheel hexes were also included so I can run Maxx and Savage sized 40 series wheels. Also cool is not one but 2 extra sheets of decals, and some spare small parts that are sure to come in handy. Fit and finish seems top notch, every thing seems to be put together well. The front steering arm has a flat blade like design that allows it to flex when needed. Its obviously built to take abuse. Seems like the kind of RC that I'd feel safe handing to my kid to drive. (He's 7 and doesn't have a hang of pistol grip controllers yet

)

Here's my pile o' goodies

Gots me:
Traxxas half shafts
Traxxas ball links
4-40 rod
Dubro 4-40 bolts nuts and washers
Parts to build a pair of longer Savage shocks
that's to do my linkage and extend it

Once I've done that, I'll ad the:
Proline Early 50 Chevy body
Traxxas decal set
Proline Masher 2000 tires
HPI WK wheels
... for good looks. First thing though I'll ad Deans plugs and hardwire the motor, just because I do that to every car.

I still need to get brake line tubing for my linkage, a lathe motor for more power, and I'd like to get some Maximizer diff lockers for the WK. When I'm done I think it be a good compromise of basher/trail rig/crawler, that I should find a lot of use for around here.

Right now though, I need to just play with it. No time left to charge it tonight, but I can't wait to get off work tomorrow to kick off what should be a fun weekend. I feel like a kid, I haven't been this excited in a long time.

sg219 · Post by **sg219** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:01 pm

Hell yeah!!!!!!!!

Gonna have some fun in the dirt now!!

SHAUN · Post by **SHAUN** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:08 am

Good to see you in the game, I was thinking you couldn't resist to much longer. You'll have lots of fun with it.

guerd87 · Post by **guerd87** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:18 am

awsome

another crawler to the ranks

after you have finished bashing it around maybe time for a 4-link setup and some crawler hardware in it

too bad you guys are all overseas

not many people i know have crawlers here

SHAUN · Post by **SHAUN** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 1:19 am

Want me to move down there?

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:42 am

guerd87 wrote:too bad you guys are all overseas not many people i know have crawlers here

That was a big motivation for me, I'm pretty sure there's some kind of crawler scene around here. One thing we have lots of in AZ is rocks, and rugged terrain.

I don't want to go to work. So much playing to do. They can't make me go! Aww dammit, I have to much respect for other people, I have to go.

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:54 am

I took it out yesterday morning, and my Wheely King refused to do wheelies. Oh yeah sure with a little reverse momentum, but that hardly a "Wheelie King".

The lack of wheelies was fine with me, it was really controllable, but too slow and heavy to catch air or any thing like that, so I started running up and down the rock beds that line the parking lot. Hopping curbs and crawling on rocks is one thing it loves to do. Seems like nothing would stop it. I think my only limitation was the diff unloading.

I quickly realized a crawler is about all these are good for, so as soon as I got inside, I got to modding.

I cut out the other side of the radio tray, and trimmed back the servo mount so I run could the steering on the other side. The bell crank is now on the other side of my tranny so its on what's now the proper side with the chassis reversed.

After that I took my axles off and locked the diffs with a kneaded eraser. Once I got the axles back together I built my pair of Savage shocks.In order to keep the ride hight level I had to lay the Savage shocks down, and keep the front straight as possible. I stretched the rear 2 1/4" and the front by just a quarter inch. I clocked the rear axle forward a little to help with the shock angle, and to help with the drive yoke alignment with the stretch. I mounted the rear shocks behind the mount to help lay them down more, I also moved the top mount to the side to help keep the shocks from binding, and that also laid them down more. I mounted the front behind the shock mount to keep them straight, and with the angle of the axle, it actually raised the front up slightly. When its ll done, the rear is a teeny tiny tad higher, but it levels out nicely when moving. I ended up with a 12" wheelbase. I compromised halfway between fitting my new body, and going for the legal limit.

I also moved the antenna mount, got my Deans plugs in and hard wired the motor.So here it is:

It gets some nutty nearly 90 degree articulation. I was driving on the walls just like this tonight.

Here's a couple pics with the body, not that it matters, I'll start test fitting the new one tomorrow.

I test drove it tonight doing some laundry crawling. I amazed at how it jut drove over everything. My wife happened to leave the steam cleaner facing the vacuum in a way that made a nice valley, and I was having a lot of fun with that. Seems to be a very capable crawler to me... except for the servo, seemed kinda weak to me before, but with the diffs locked it could barely turn the tires on carpet. A new servo just went right to the top of my "must have" list.

So far, I'm really impressed with the truck, and with myself. It was fun working with my hands again, and thinking a lot. That was a fun weekend

sg219 · Post by **sg219** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 1:25 am

I got a servo for ya...

http://bitpimps.lixlink.com/pages/phpFo ... php?t=9216

I bow to these servo's...

I'll send you one out if you like to have one.

As for the $$$....we'll talk.

SHAUN · Post by **SHAUN** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:34 am

Nice. For crawlers I always put my antenna on the inside of the body. Take your front shocks and mount them on the back side of the shock tower.

How much would one of those servos be for me? I never ran the stock servo, hell I never ran the stocks truck. Right now I'm using an xtm steering servo that I got from my 1/8th truck.

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:57 am

SHAUN wrote: Take your front shocks and mount them on the back side of the shock tower.

No way! That'll lower the front end by nearly 1/8th inch. Do you know how much thinking I had to do to adjust the geometry to gain that 1/8th inch in the first place? That'll counteract what took me about an hour to figure out.

Really though, the suspension seems perfect to me. The front is actually softer than the rear, and overall its plenty responsive to uneven surfaces.

Probably a good call on the antenna though. I tweaked the hell out of my tube last night.

sg219 · Post by **sg219** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:44 am

SHAUN wrote:How much would one of those servos be for me?

$19.00 USD shipped and paid via Paypal

SHAUN · Post by **SHAUN** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:06 pm

One thing you might want to do with your stock tires. Take and cut the tread with a razor blade it will allow it to flew more.

crazydave · Post by **crazydave** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:15 pm

SHAUN wrote:One thing you might want to do with your stock tires. Take and cut the tread with a razor blade it will allow it to flew more.

I might do that, but I'll be ditching these in a few days. Gotta mount the M2ks.

Anyone got foam cutting advice, seen lots of different ways, and I don't want them too soft. I could use some advice on what to cut with too. I haven't had good luck cutting tire foams in the past. Seems like it just wants to pull with you, and I end up with a lot of crooked lines.

sg219 · Post by **sg219** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:30 pm

I did a star pattern on Prometheus.

http://bitpimps.lixlink.com/pages/phpFo ... 4862#94862

Key is to use a fresh razor blade. The length of the razor blade makes it easier to get a long straight cut.

You can do any kind of pattern.

My other set of wheels I did a different pattern.

http://bitpimps.lixlink.com/pages/phpFo ... 6106#96106

I highly recommend weighting your wheels.

SHAUN · Post by **SHAUN** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:41 pm

Weighting also does awesome things. I'm running star cut foams, with 56 G of weight in each front tire and 43 in the rear. It runs really good. At the comp I was only running 30 in each font tire and none in the rear.