Bigfoot Wheelie King Update

O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
Here's some shots of the Bigfoot I've been working on for my other son. It's very similar to the Captain's Curse WK I built for my older son, but the wheel base is 11.25" instead of 11. It needed a tad more wheel base to look right with the Ford body. Speaking of the body, I count my self pretty lucky to find it. I had a J Concepts F-350 made for the Stampede I was going to use. It would have been ok, but the full size rear doors quad/cab just didn't look quite right. I searched and searched the web for alternative bodies, and I stumbled onto someone using an old Atomic/Venom F-350 body on a Stampede. It didn't look too bad and once I found some dimensions, it looked like it would be just small enough to work with the dimensions of the Wheely King. I just happened to luck out, and Bret at CPE had just one left. I snatched it up.

The other thing I wanted to do differently on this truck was I wanted some tires that looked like the Firestone's that Bigfoot runs. Most of the Chevron tires are either too big or have too much slope on the treads. I found these old CEN tires that are just right. The tread bars are a touch wide, but they had the right slope and shape. Last weekend I cut the tread on the them, and thinned out the tread bars. It was looooong, tedious and messy job. I had a big pile of black rubber dust and bits in my shop. I don't want to do that again for a while.

As you can see, the body isn't painted yet, and I'm still working on the wheels. They're old Stampede/Rustler wheels that have been widened to about 2-3/4". I still have some more sanding to do, finish the back plates and planetaries, and finally paint them. The chassis is almost done except for a servo swap and the driveshafts. Let me know what you guys think.









 
Last edited:
HawnMT

HawnMT

Well-Known Member
Everything looks very proportional and the tires looks great! I have one of those Venom bodies and they are small but I never thought they would work with the WK so well.
 
TXT-2.0

TXT-2.0

Mod Wrapper
Wow great job so far ...can't wait to see this finished !
I can only imagine the tire work ! Hats off to ya that's some patience
 
O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
HawnMT said:
Everything looks very proportional and the tires looks great! I have one of those Venom bodies and they are small but I never thought they would work with the WK so well.
Click to expand...
Thanks Kent. The Venom body is small compared to the typical 1/10 bodies, but a little big compared to the stock WK body. I was worried it was going to be too big, but it actually turned out just about right. I think the wider CEN tires help it a lot. They're about the same height as the WK tires and MJ tires, but they're about 3/8 to 1/2" wider than either.
 
O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
TXT-2.0 said:
Wow great job so far ...can't wait to see this finished !
I can only imagine the tire work ! Hats off to ya that's some patience
Click to expand...
Thanks Tom. I have a new appreciation for the guys that grind and cut their tires. It's a tedious job. I can't imagine how long it takes to do a set of the full size monster truck tires. I've heard numbers like 40hrs per tire, and I believe it. These tires took me almost an hour each. You figure out little tricks as you go, but the repetition is there no matter what.
 
S

SixtysGuy

Well-Known Member
Looks great!

I had never heard of those tires (or even brand). How do they compare in size to stock WK tires? Do they fit a 2.2" wheel?
 
O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
SixtysGuy said:
Looks great!

I had never heard of those tires (or even brand). How do they compare in size to stock WK tires? Do they fit a 2.2" wheel?
Click to expand...
Thanks. They're a 2.2 tire. They were made for the old CEN 1/10 monster truck. They're about the same height as the WK tire, but about 3/8" wider. I'll post some comparison pics later this week.
 
DiggerXX

DiggerXX

Well-Known Member
Very nice work! I love your Wheely King builds. I love that body!


Sent from my Vortec Powered iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
monster_truck said:
I love it! Is there a link by any chance to where I could get some of those tires?
Click to expand...
Thanks. The tires aren't that easy to find, and they're a little pricey. They're made by CEN and the part# is FF035. Here's a link to the tires on their web site. http://cenracing.shptron.com/p/ff035-monster-truck-tires

There was a pair on Ebay, but it was just 2. I have found these in the UK for less money, but by the time you pay the shipping, it sort of kills the deal. I keep hoping HPI will come out with a new and improved Wheely King, with better tires and a chassis that resembles some of the more modern monster truck chassies. I'm not holding my breath though. The CEN tires are heavier than the stock WK tires, but after I cut these, I'd say they're just as light, if not lighter. Do some shopping around, and you may find a deal somewhere. The other snag though is wheels. Any 2.2 wheel will work, but I have't found any that I thought were wide enough to look right with these tires. Even the stock CEN wheels pinch the tire in. I widened some old Rustler wheels using some 2" OD plastic tubing. I split the wheel near the front, cut the tube to the desired lenth, and glued it all together. I forget the exact measurement, but they're either 2-5/8 or 2-3/4" wide now.
 
Last edited:
DiggerXX

DiggerXX

Well-Known Member
How are those tires compared to the stock WK tires in size? They really look good..also, on the Hesse sway bars, what all did you need to make them fit properly? Or do they come with everything?
 
O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
DiggerXX said:
How are those tires compared to the stock WK tires in size? They really look good..also, on the Hesse sway bars, what all did you need to make them fit properly? Or do they come with everything?
Click to expand...
The Hesse sway bars are great, but they take a little fabbing to mount them on the Wheely King. They come with the 2 arms, and the cross bar. You can also get some bushings to help hold the cross bar from moving side to side, but they're best suited for a Clod style plate frame. For the Wheely King, I started with a 1/4" square rod of black Delrin I got from McMaster Carr. I cut it into 4 pieces that are about 5/8" long. These are the mounting blocks I attached to the front of the frame and below the rear of the frame near the wheely bar. The cross bar of the sway bars is 1/8" diameter. I drill a 9/64 hole in the center of each Delrin block. These are the holes the rod will go through. Then I drill two more holes in each block, that straddle the other hole. These are drilled so that they intersect the two front cross member bars of the WK frame. I drilled 1/16" holes in the frame, and used some plastic tapping screws to hold them in place. Luckily, the cross bars from Hesse end up the perfect width for the WK frame. To keep the cross bar from moving side to side, I use a couple of Dubro 1/8" lock collars (p/n: DUB139). These are locked down just inside the two blocks that hold the cross bar. For the links down to the axles, I found a turnbuckle from the Traxxas funny car works well TRA6939. You can use the stock pins to attach them to the axle, or 3mm screws. The opposite end where they join the aluminum arms, take a #4 machine screw. It's the same drill for the back bars, but I shorten the Traxxas turnbuckles about 1/8" on each end.

One thing to note... I was originally going to mount the shocks on the Bigfoot on the outside of the shock towers, rather than the inner side. However, I discovered the frame doesn't stick out far enough in the front, and the sway bar arms hit the shocks. So if you're thinking of doing this, and your shocks are mounted closer to the front, you'll probably have to mount the cross bar under the frame, somewhere closer to the transmission, with the arms running forward. This could also be mirrored on the rear.

 
O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
I've been getting quite a few questions on the CEN tires, so I thought I'd do a little comparison.

The first couple of pics are of the Bigfoot with CEN tires and the Captain's Curse with Traxxas MJ tires. I widened the Traxxas wheels 5/8" over stock to balloon them out a little bit, and make them look wider. The wheels on the CEN tires are 2-3/4" wide.



 
O

OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
These next pics show a comparison of several Wheely King sized tires I've found. The one's on the left are by FS Racing, for an RC truck made in the UK. I think they look kinda like the Ukraine tires some of the new full size trucks are running.




From left to right... CEN tire cut and mounted, stock CEN tire, stock Wheely King tire

 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top