Dekz

My friends and I are looking to buy some electric off-road trucks. The thing is, almost all of them look like scaled down monster trucks. I mean, it's cool and all having a truck that can make it through/over ANYTHING, but that's not exactly what we're looking for. Instead of a scaled down monster truck, we're more looking for scaled down real trucks.

So I guess we're not technically looking for all-out crawlers, but certainly not a stadium truck or buggy either. Something for trail riding, basically scaled down 4x4ing/wheeling.

I REALLY like the looks of the new Tamiya Land Cruiser kit, but it's quite a bit above our budget, and doesn't come out until April:


I also like the Tamiya Hummer, but it might not quite be capable enough.


Most of us have other RC vehicles, so we're looking for kits, not RTRs, and we'd really like to keep the costs down, preferably around $150, but could probably go to $200 for the right truck.

I really appreciate any suggestions, thanks in advance!

s7jstep1

how about the hpi wheely king. with a little modification, it can look scale. open the following link a scroll down until you see the pics of the white jeep and you will see what i mean.[link]http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6003634/mpage_4/key_/tm.htm[/link] its is not a kit but there is a prebuilt version. many mods can be done for cheap. my whole project cost maybe $20 at most

nitrosportsandrunner

i just got a wheely king, i modded it by streching it 2 inches, locking the diffs, and making a servo mount on the front axle. it is pretty capable, but with the stock motor and tires it can go 11-12mph. it makes a good all around trail truck. i plan to get a body that will look some what scale, and to make it 4 wheel steer.
heres a short vid to show what my lightly modded wheely king can do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcQKysISMk

Dekz

That jeep appears to be on an entirely different chassis. It says the only stock parts are the tranny, axles, battery holder, and springs.


While it looks like you've modded it into an awsome crawler, it doesn't look scale at all IMO.

nitrosportsandrunner

i know that mine doesnt look scale, i was trying to say that the wheely king is a capable chassis, and can be made to look more scale. here is a link to the official wheely king thread, page 4. alittle more than half way down is a really nice rig, that uses all the parts off the wheely king, on a aftermarket chassis.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_60...mpage_4/tm.htm

s7jstep1

well, i have modded mine by streaching the chassis with allthread found at home depot for like $1.00 a piece. and used e maxx rod ends (like $8) and if i just put a different body and tires, it will look just as scale as that jeep. all of those modifications are not necessary to make it look scale

crawlerking11

My Feedback: (7)

i hate so say it nylint really scale good handling crawls pretty good stock do a tummy tuck and its a great fun rig or go ax10 there is no way you wont love that a used rtr for 250 will go as far as you want if you have the technique and skill

Dekz

Well it took me 4 or 5 readings to make sense of this post, try a comma or period once in a while! I looked into these Nylint crawlers and they look cool, but they seem to be discontinued so even if I managed to find 3 or 4 trucks for my friends and I, replacement parts would be impossible to find.

The ax10 is way out of our price range and I'm not sure it's possible to make it look scale.

nitrosportsandrunner

yeh, rock crawlers can get pricey. i scored my wheely king RTR(with the affor mention mods already done) for a "rock" bottem price of $135 shipped. i was lucky to find one that low, they are like $200 new. wether you are going to make a scale/trail/rock crawling rig its going to cost, cause the axles/chassis/trannys are not cheap. even a used set of axles for a wheely king or a tlt will for for $40-$50 a set.

crawlerking11

My Feedback: (7)

i dont have a very many problems with mine that some ducttape or superglue wont fix yes they are discontinued and hard to find parts but they dont break a whole lot except for the axles

s7jstep1

have you made a decision yet?

Dekz

Nope, not yet. Right now I'm leaning towards the Hummer, but Tower is out of stock right now so I have some time to do more research.

ryuhito

Maybe just buy one as a tester. Personally I'D think it was funny if you guys bought 4 and hated 'em, it would probably suck for you guys lol.

s7jstep1

idk if the hummer will perfom that well. from what ive seen on youtube it looks like it has a lot of trouble going over obstacles and up inclines.

icecreamslick

My Feedback: (9)

The Hummer does not have much ground clearance and the open differentials can make it difficult to get over obstacles. However, if you lock the diffs, change to softer tires and install a 55t lathe motor, it will make a fun trail rig. That may still be more money and effort than you want to put into the project, though.

You might enjoy these (the third one is mine):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqd-UPA5taw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNDSDtghiaE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp8bjnkpjmU

Dekz

My friend has one that I tried a couple years go. Except for the MSC, it was a lot of fun. Actually he's coming to town this weekend and I asked him to bring it!

That's kind of the point. A big monster truck will be able to go up pretty much anything, that's not fun. We want scaled down 4x4ing.

I've seen pretty much every Hummer video on YouTube

From what I understand the kit comes with a front open planetary diff and a read ball diff (lsd). Seems the thing to do is move the LSD to the front and then lock the rear diff. Since we're going to have to build the kit anyways, not much effort at all (and free).

My favourite YouTube vid: [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6tRZgJd5ZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6tRZgJd5ZY[/link]

Dekz

Well I got together with my friends today and we decided that having capable crawlers is more important to us than the scale look. We ordered a couple of Wheely Kings! We will slowly mod them into better crawlers and more of a scale look. Thanks for all your help, see you guys in the WK thread!

s7jstep1

you should have a lot of fun with those. earlier you mentioned that you wanted a bit of a challange. that is what i love about my wheely king. it can climb a lot but it takes skill and patience. check out my "official wheely king crawler thread" for tips and ideas. [8D]

s7jstep1

so did you get them yet? i know its still kind of early but sometimes my orders arrive in like 2 days

Dekz

We had to back order them from TH and just recently they changed the stock status from "Late March" to "Early April" [:@]

We are too excited so we can't wait that long. I cancelled the order and went to my LHS. It's gonna cost us quite a bit more, but they will be here on Friday!

DriftingDragon

most build from scratch what u can do build an ax 10 scopian with this frame http://www.tcscrawlers.com/MFM-Racin...r-p-16143.html i would suggest buying the ax 10 kit the get the frame after