Finally took the plunge

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OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
So after being out of the hobby for many, many years I finally bought a Wheely King. I had been looking for an RC monster truck for me and my 2 sons, but I was having a hard time deciding which direction to go. A while back, I considered building some custom TLT based trucks, similar to HAWN-MT's little Bigfoot TLT. After I got involved in the project, I realized it was going to be more time consuming and tedious than I wanted. Afterall, whatever I come up with, I'm going to have to do it 3 times (me and 2 sons). So I realized I need a more "out of the box" solution. The Clod racers were always appealing, but they're too expensive and require too much custom fabrication to execute 3 times. I also considered the Ground Pounder, but by the time I modified it to my liking (Clod tires, drivetrain upgrades, replace low quality radio, etc...) it was going to get too expensive and tedious as well. I had considered the Wheely King a while back, but the lack of alternate bodies, and the tires not having "scale" proportions were kind of a turn off.

Then I started noticing some guys starting to run the Traxxas Monster Jam bodies and tires, and it sparked some new interest in the WK. So after studying what modifications and upgrades would be necessary, I decided the WK would be the best solution. I just got it in yesterday, and overall I'm pretty pleased with it. My biggest concern is the tie rods and rear steering lockout. Those links are really flexible. I can see why so many guys replace them with the aftermarket aluminum links. Plans call for lowering the suspension a little, extending the wheelbase, mounting some Traxxas MJ tires/wheels, and some kind of replica body. I've got a few trucks in mind I'd like to make it look like, but haven't committed yet. I also want to upgrade to a LIPO battery and eventually upgrade the tranny and diff gears. Once I complete the mods and know what parts I use, I'll be setting up similar ones for my two boys.
 
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william g

william g

Retired
Moderator
Welcome back to the fold :)

Shocks I usually put some rubber tube or aluminum tube unside to shorten them. 12-16mm depending on the body chosen. I also like to shorten the front ~3mm more than the rear. Gives it a raked look that most 1:1's have.

Also,
Make or buy some 1/4'' spacers to put in the axle mounts, and put the shocks OUTSIDE the axle link mounts for more stability. Example picture http://solidaxlefan.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/wkpounder_004.JPG
 
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johnnyshore

Well-Known Member
Good choice on the WK! What amazes me about the trucks is just how damn strong they are!! We've got around 8 of them running in our club, and other than the stock servo savers (which you might as well replace asap), not a SINGLE part has broken on any of the trucks. And, as you can see in the videos I've posted, we beat the snot out of them.
 
kevinatfms

kevinatfms

Well-Known Member
i have 2 MT Wheely Kings and 1 crawler king.

both of my MT Wheely Kings use the crawler links, traxxas MJ bodies traxxas 2.2's glued into clod wheels and either rumbles or spike clod tires. you can zip tie the original sway bar from the wheely king to the crawler king links and the trucks work great with crawler king springs or the original red springs.

i know most people think the MJ tires are more scale but they just dont seem wide enough for me. it looks more like a mud truck over a monster. i think the rumbles look better and give it that "clod" type MT look.

if someone could widen the MJ wheels and tires by like a half an inch i might be more interested but in stock form they seem very thin.

good luck with the build/bash of the WK, they are truely great trucks and can take a real good beating.
 
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OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
Hey guys, thanks for the tips.

kevinatfms: I know what you mean about the MJ tires seeming a little too skinny. I'm going to try and widen the wheels and balloon them out some. We'll see how it goes. I'll post some updates as I progress.

Thanks to everyone again.

Mark
 
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RCMAN

Well-Known Member
wheely king

welcome back to the hobby! im sure you will have lots of fun with your sons. i sure do even with my daughters. they used to love to watch me build my trucks and then they had to have their own rc cars lol now my 2 yr old daughter likes to watch and help lol me build trucks. im sure next year she will have to have one too! i think you will enjoy your wheelie kings i dont own one but i do have a baja 5b and i beat the snot out of it and havent broken anything to really complain about. i broke the front shock after hitting my brick landscaping blocks and lost a spring stay for the shocks on another accident but thats it! so hpi is a great product to me!
 
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OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
Ok, my Traxxas MJ tires/wheels came in today. There's a little cylindrical nub that sticks out from the HPI drive hex, that indexes in the center hole of the stock wheels. This nub is a little too big to fit in the center hole of the Traxxas wheel. Do you guys drill out the center hole of the wheel to fit over the HPI hex, or are you using Traxxas drive hexes?
 
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johnnyshore

Well-Known Member
OldSchoolDude said:
Ok, my Traxxas MJ tires/wheels came in today. There's a little cylindrical nub that sticks out from the HPI drive hex, that indexes in the center hole of the stock wheels. This nub is a little too big to fit in the center hole of the Traxxas wheel. Do you guys drill out the center hole of the wheel to fit over the HPI hex, or are you using Traxxas drive hexes?
Click to expand...
I trimmed that nub off with a utility knife.
 
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OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys. I found some other posts where people were trimming off the nub, so I took my Dremel to them. I got the MJ tires mounted now. Now I've gotta wait on the crawler style axle mounts to get here, and figure out how I'm going to lower it and stretch the wheelbase.

Are the springs on the Crawler King the same length and are they softer?
 
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OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
Then I got the crawler axle mounts, and put them on to extend the wheelbase a little. I also found some small springs to put inside the shocks. They let the truck sit a little lower, and will allow the suspension to droop. The suspension is pretty loose, so I'll see how it works out eventually. I may have to stiffen it up some. I like how the truck sits though. I've still got to make a spacer for the top center link, and install the longer Traxxas drive shafts. I would have finished that part today, but the screws I bought were too big. Back to hardware store or LHS. I worked on widening the wheels, and I think they're going to turn out pretty good. I glued them together and they're drying. I'll post an update on them in a day or two. Here's what it looked like after lengthening and lowering.


 
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RCMAN

Well-Known Member
wk

Looks really good! better now that is is lowered and longer wheel base now go get it dirty! lol
 
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OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
I got the wheels widened and mounted back on the tires, at least temporarily. Here's how I went about it.

I first cut the front portion of the wheel in half, shooting for about mid way of the front of the rim. I had tried using a piece of 1.5" PVC pipe to widen the wheels, but it was a little too big. Then I found a smaller thin wall pipe piece left over from some sink repairs. It measures around 1.5" OD, and fit perfectly snug inside the wheel. I was stoked! Experimenting temporarily with the bigger piece of pipe, I found making the wheel about 5/8" wider gave the tire the bulge I was looking for.




With the wheel mocked up, I found cutting the sink pipe to 1-3/16" long, gave me the 5/8" wider rim width I was looking for. I bottomed out the pipe in the wheel, and pulled the bead ring flush with the end of the pipe.





Next I got some Goop glue, and glued them all together. I used some blocks of wood and various shims to stack around the wheel, then sat another block of wood over the top, ensuring the bead ring was square and straight.

 
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OldSchoolDude

Well-Known Member
The wheels were dry and cured tonight, so mounted them back on the tires, and I was pleased with it. I'll eventually sand and blend the front edge of the pipe in with the front of wheel, and repaint it all. Here's some pics of how they look. I also opened up the fenders to get an idea of how I might do the replica body I have planned down the road. My hardware store didn't have the right screws, so I've got to order some stuff to finish the top links and then mount the driveshafts. I'm happy with how it looks so far though.







 
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ERIC-TC

Well-Known Member
That's a nice looking wheely king. Great job on making the tires wheels wider, more realistic that way.
 
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