The DC

Hey all,thanks in advance for any thoughts or info. Just getting back into the hobby after several years away from it,never owned a crawler/trail rig. I'll be more into bashing,running mtn bike trails with it than anything. Being on a strict budget (a "fixed income" since I'm legally disabled now) I was curious about the HPICrawler King. Thoughts on the truck?

SyCo_VeNoM

should be decent
I have a wheely king and it does a good job (the crawler king is essentially the same with a lower center of gravity, and a slower motor)
will say if you want speed though it probably isn't a good choice as with the wheely king it can't take extremely powerful motors without modifications(the trannys gears are plastic, and need metal to take faster motors)

nitrosportsandrunner

you could look for a used, already upgraded wheely king....like mine

the axial scx10 is a better rig for varied driving...as it can be setup many many different ways.

But to an extent the same goes for the wheely king. Mine has a custom chassis with alloy trans case and a special pulling mount that puts the weight on the front axle.
As syco said, the crawler king is more stable and better for crawling. Either truck can be fitted with many different types of tires (crawler, scaler, puller, paddle) and the speed will depend on motor choice and gearing. You can have a torque monster that goes 3-5mph, or a trail rig that will do 15mph and still have enough torque to get over stumps/rocks ect.
Then there is the options of 4 wheel steering.....

One reason crawler/trail trucks are popular is cause they look cool. The other main reason is because you can keep changing the setup and thus make the truck new again.
heres mine:

The DC

Thanks guys (and good looking rig you got there,my friend). Some very good points,and answered some questions Ihadn't asked yet ("yet"being the opporative word ). It's looking to be a possibility Imay have a bit more budget than originally anticipated,so Imay look into a Axial (Ridgecrest or whatever it's called,or even a Wraith)....but then again,Ihave 2 kids* (daugher will be 16 February,son 11 in May) and Imay be planning to budget more than one,so the CKis still on the front burner. Question,are they waterproof or reasonably so from the box and/or tips on getting it there if not?


*I'm already looking at having to buy3 SC 2WD RTRtrucksin the next month-1 1/2 months,LOL! (for which I have a few prized and soon to be missed mtn biking parts on eBay to finance ),so if it looks like I'll be needing to buy 2 or more crawlers/trail rigs too,then to make it fi in even the tax refund budget......LOL!

SyCo_VeNoM

crawler king isn't waterproof out of the box the wheelie king is though. Now depending on what you want to do you could waterproof the ESC, and just strap a traxxas waterproof radio box on to the crawler king(like I did on my wheely king).

Axials are not waterproof either. In mine I use a traxxas XL-5 waterproof ESC, and modified a traxxas radio box to fit where the stock box should be.

My wheelie kinds cooler than nitros


And yes the 6 axles all work

But as he said the crawlers kinda leave it upto your immagination to a degree in how you want to mod em

nitrosportsandrunner

syco, dont suppose youd trade your wheely king for mine?

The DC

Thanks for the info (on both the CKand Axials),yeah Iwondered wether anyone was using Traxxas waterproof electroics on any of these. Good looking 6 wheeler,BTW

The DC

Thoughts on the Venom Creeper kit? I'm seeing them on eBay new for under $150 (knowing it's an electric-less kit )...

SyCo_VeNoM

nope got it set to mostly how I like it. Been planning on sorta redoing it to make it better with a custom frame from the ground up, but that keeps getting pushed back as I have one other project that I want to do 1st, but lack funds.
Plus its the season I made it for
Just wish it would snow [:@] (seriously its snowed a pile all around the city, all we got was a quarter inch of slush where I live...)


The venom creeper I heard was ok, according to tower it was discontinued, and they don't have any parts anymore so if it breaks you might be screwed.

nitrosportsandrunner

the creeper is one that often gets overlooked.

The safari creeper is just under $260 RTR.

Ive owned one and liked it alot....after I changed the tires

The dig unit is fun. What is nice with the safari creeper is that it has scale looks, but runs 2.2 tires and has nearly the same crawling ability as the full crawler creeper version.
The center shafts gave me some issue...but only after a winter driving in the snow.

I never broke the trans or the axle gears. The trans is very well built...overly so.

The stock ESC says its waterproof. I disagree. On mine the heat sink fell off after a few packs. But a used traxxas xl-5 is only $25-$30.

If you want scale-ish looks but cant afford an axial...the safari creeper is best IMO. To me, its between the crawler king and axial, in looks/cost/performance

The creeper kits are $130ish. You dont get the scale body or dig unit of the safari version, but you have the ability to spend the saved money on the electronic gear of your choice.

SyCo_VeNoM

read somewhere else that the stock tires sucked on it when I was looking to see if it was really discontinues or did tower just stop carrying it. Changing the tires was the first suggestion on that other forum with a few others agreeing lol

The DC

Thanks for that info...Isee a few on eVilbay as we speak for inder $150 is the reason asked. So did anyone find out if it's discontinued or if just not gunna be carried there anymore? I may not have the scratch before those auctions end (I SHOULDBEpicking up a new ECXTorment this weekend,barring unforseens,but could possibly have some budget as early as the following weekend at that price...Igots some thingson eVilbaymyselfright now too,LOL! Selling some mtn biking digs to finance getting back into this ).

nitrosportsandrunner

you will like the torment. Best SC Truck for the money. I like mine. Handles well out of the box. Not a very fast top speed, but good acceleration.

Venom is changing its name right now. IDK, but that could be part of the discontinued stuff. We may end up seeing it again under the new name.

The DC

Good to know,on all counts

SyCo_VeNoM

good hated how they had part of my username on their shoddy batteries, and other merchandise
(btw I had the user name since the mid 90's which I believe is before they were in buisness)

Just for the record they got the shoddy merchandise name cause their NiCd's, and NiMh's sucked ass, and if you got 70% of the rated capacity you were a very lucky person. Their brushed motors also were absolutely terrible to the point it made you wonder if they had any QC workers(I had one burn up in literally under 3 minutes in a very light RC, and it took an ESC with it). Even their Stadium truck body I had was terrible the lexan was a little thicker then paper, and ripped 1st time my truck flipped on its lid.
Heard they turned themselves around, but lets face it jaded consumers usually won't go back which is prolly why they are changing their name.

nitro stan

venom is now atomik. i get my parts from https://www.ckrccrawlers.com/index.php.
iv never owned ether of the hpi trucks,but my bro in law has. from what i seen with his,i dont care to have one. my venom would run circles around it.
issues iv had with my venom, the stock esc is junk didnt last 5 minutes before loosing reverse. i have a losi msc12L esc in it now. it has a crawler mode with drag brake and a 2s lipo cut off.
the lockable diffs are junk, i filled mine with jbweld. got almost 2 years on one of mine now, and iv broke 1 rear driveshaft, and 1 front cvd. that was before i found out what the axle update parts were that came with the truck. had i known what the update parts were, i would have never broke the cvd.

the stock servo and motor lasted around 6 months, there was a lot of mud and water involved with there death though.

its a good truck but has a couple small bugs to work out. all are cheap and easy to deal with

The DC

Cool,thanks So since theybasically just changed the name there should be support then (IYO)?

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

My brother has one of those Venoms. It's a fair rig but he tells me the CG is too high for legitimate crawling. It's kinda like the Wheely King / Crawler king in that it has crawler intentions but it won't keep up with a competition rig. Otherwise, he says it's built well and it's done fine for him.

We were talking earlier today about building a new truck and for the most part we keep going back to Axial. Ijust finished building my Dingo (thank you for the tips ...sandrunner) and I really like what this truck has to offer. I'm not looking to crawl but Iwant to take it to a dry riverbed and run through the ruts and channels carved by the water. These are probably the least expensive scale looking kits available.

road_rascal

I've slowly turned my Wheely King into a trail truck. Used the Crawler King conversion kit, did a 4 link setup (completely eliminated the torque twist), ran AX10 shocks and springs, added a front axle servo mount, painted an HPI 1973 Ford Bronco body, and using a Traxxas XL-5 ESC (for winter bashing). I'm going to get a stronger servo, and will probably do a 4 wheel steering setup. Fun truck, probably will never be a comp crawler (have a Ridgecrest for that), but as a trail truck/ light crawler, it's pretty decent. I have photos of [link=http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/hpi-wheely-king/418543-turning-my-wk-ck-into-trail-truck.html]the build here.[/link]

The DC

Thanks guys,all good info to keep in my grey matter. Neither the CK or the Creeper is out of the running,but neither will be bought first...Ihave an update-the items/auctions Ihad going on eBay sold and were Paypal'd to me today,so my budget jumped. After about a dozen phone chats with my friend at the (formerly local to me) LHS I've been loya to for well overa decade figuring budgets vs what he has to have out of each part/item,IF Ican get my excited butt to sleep a little (2:10am here and Iget up at 5:40am to start getting the kids off) after going an hour in the opposite direction first (rent's due ),I'm gunna make the 2 hour drive out there tomorrow (they open at noon,Iwill have a 45 minute window when Iget there as they open to leave,the kids get home from school at 2:45pm and 3:35pm,LOL!) barring unforseens. Since the budget grew,and being what he has in stock at what he can hook me up with (hey, it's good to have been close friends with your LHSdude since he was 10 :P),looks like Ishould be coming hoe with 1 ECXTorment RTR,1 Axial Ridgecrest RTR,one Lipo ready charger and one extra 5000-5500 MaH2s Lipo for the Ridgecrest. IF I can pull the trip off on (apparently) no sleep (too excited),I'll post pics. Proabably won't feel up to running either tomorrow,I'll most likely crash out soon as both kids are home (at least until the Wife gets in,LOL),but I'll get pics. Wish me luck on the trip :P

As far as the other trucks (Venom and CK),I'll be looking hard at them late next month when the tax fairy comes. This also will give me time to gauge any real interest the kids have before spending hundreds each too

The DC

Ihad to start a new P-Bucket,so apologies if these pics are huge,I'll resize when I'm not multitasking (cooking kid's dinner,this and trimming the dog too :P). Made the trip,probably won't even so much as get the boxes open today (maybe not until Saturday,will be outta town tomorrow too)...plus Ikinda need to keep hid one of the 2 trucks,Iovershot the budget (as long as she doesn't SEEboth.... :P).






they sold out of the Lipo Iwas set to buy last evening,so would up with a budget NmhD 5000 MaH stick pack for now,but the charger is Lipo ready for next trip there I'm eerily sleepy (between anxiusness and a severely twitching finger for 6 hours-it's,a long story,but it's synthetic plastic/titanium inside the skin,kinda mangled that finger 11 years ago,LOL,it twitches sometimes-Iddn't sleep at all last night :P).

SyCo_VeNoM

for lipos I'd order from hobbyking.com (turnigy from HK) or hobbypartz.com (the gens ace from hobbypartz)if you want to save on cash.
Own 7 turnigy batteries and they neer let me down. Also own a few packs from hobbypartz.

The DC

Cool,thanks

BKoz559

My Feedback: (3)

The Ridgecrest looks like fun. Maybe you can load a video of it in action.

The DC

Will do,though it may be several days before Iget the chance to run it without the wife home...she ok'd and knows all about the Torment,but the Ridgecrest was bought without her knowing Iwas spending that exta few hundred (my half of the income if fixed,so we budget everyhing,LOL,I'd been setting back here and there for a few months....shhhhhh :P),but will do first op Iget