Crawler King....My 1st crawler build

[wyd]

I'm a newbie to the crawler world but been racing R/C for 25 years. I have ran Dirt Oval, Offroad, Touring Cars, fly some airplanes and helis so I do have experiance.

I wanted a cheap fun crawler that wouldn't break the bank that I could put a few improvements on and just go have fun. I didn't need the best crawler out as I will not be competing so this is where the Crawler King comes in play. Looks like a reliable crawler and I have had lots of experiance with HPI products over the years and never have had any problems so I stuck with a brand I know.

The CK will be here Wed. Here is what I plan for it for starters and will determine if I need anything else.

STRC Steering kit
Futaba 451 Brushless servo w/Futaba 4PL radio
Aluminum servo horn
HPI Threaded aluminum shocks
Castle Creations SV2 esc
HPI 73 Bronco Body (Fat Head Designs to custom paint)

I plan in the next week or two some new tires (not 100% on what I want) but looking at a few brands and some Crawler Innovations 2 stage foam inserts.

After this I just plan to run the crawler with some buddies and do what the truck was made for and have FUN.

Pictures will be posted by the end of the week. Any suggestions or ideas are always welcome. Can't wait to get started into crawling. I have a ton of places nearby to go so that is even better.

Just ordered my Crawler Innovations Double Deuce tire inserts. Just need to order tires and some rims and I will be ready to go plus I will have an extra set of tires as I can keep my stock ones or I will take them apart and use the rims and just buy new tires.

My tires choices are the following. HB Rovers, PL Chisels, J Concepts Rocx, or HB Sedonas.

Leaning towards the PL Chisels or J Concepts Rocx as I use their tires in offroad and very happy with overall performance and quality of both brands.

Any other recomendations are welcome. I heard the Rovers are very nice as well.

[Cordwood]

The pit bulls are closer to a scale look and perform really well. If you just want performance you won't be disappointed with the rovers or sedonas.

[stolps]

The sedonas are great all around performers and look awesome with the Bronco body.

[wyd]

Thanks guys for the info. I'm leaning towards the Sedona's for overall performance. I know the CK isn't the best crawler but if I can make it better with a simple tire change then that is fine with me.

I decided to go with the Sedona tires so I laced them on our order along with my HPI 73 Bronco body. Also ordered a new set of beadlock rims. Can't wait to try my stock tires vs my new tire setup.

At least tomorrow my CK will arrive and I can get some pics. Not really nothing that hasn't been seen before but I need to start somewhere. Get some pics stock and then add the new shocks, STRC steering kit and will add my updated servo (might have a change of plans for what servo. Looking at a all aluminum cased Savox with 419oz of torque)

The CK arrived today at the shop. I didn't run it yet but did get to look over it and check it out. First impressions are this is going to be a blast to mess around with and that I'm glad I got the STRC steering kit for it.

Overall I really like the layout.

[hoghead5150]

for a servo, if your planning on crawling get a good one. if your just trail running you can get by with a lower powered one. the savox are pretty decent just loud and a little power hungry. i run a hitec 7950 on my ax10, and a jr 8711 on my losi. both work very well. one thing to remember is to check the physical size of the servo. a standard size one usually will work on just about all 1/10 scale rigs, the larger servos can work with a little modification. also, if your going to get a high torque servo you better get an external bec also. the bigger the servo the harder it is for the esc to supply the power for it. the castle creations 10a bec is basically the standard around crawlers. i run one in all my rigs.

[wyd]

Originally Posted by hoghead5150

for a servo, if your planning on crawling get a good one. if your just trail running you can get by with a lower powered one. the savox are pretty decent just loud and a little power hungry. i run a hitec 7950 on my ax10, and a jr 8711 on my losi. both work very well. one thing to remember is to check the physical size of the servo. a standard size one usually will work on just about all 1/10 scale rigs, the larger servos can work with a little modification. also, if your going to get a high torque servo you better get an external bec also. the bigger the servo the harder it is for the esc to supply the power for it. the castle creations 10a bec is basically the standard around crawlers. i run one in all my rigs.

Normally I run all Futaba brushless servos but in this case I'm looking at this Savox Servo. If this can't make the wheels turn nothing will. Lol Our shop has one in stock and since I work their can get a super cheap price so bang for the dollar its hard for me to beat.

BEC is no problem since I race for Castle so I have a few sitting around if I need one.

Savox SA-1283SG Aluminum Case Digital "Super Torque" Steel Gear Servo [SAV-SA-1283SG] | Radios & Accessories - A Main Hobbies

Tonight I did work on my CK some. I got my new HPI shocks on and they feel great. Super smooth and easy to bleed the oil. I went with Losi 30wt to start and will see after I run it some if I want to change it some.

I also got almost all the STRC steering kit on my CK tonight as well. Just need the one piece that connects to the side of the chassis. When I do that I will be putting bearings in instead of the supplied bushings. I'm going to change the servo with the Savox 1283 SG that has 416oz of torque at 6v. I'm also going to use al aluminum servo horn so I think my overall steering should be pretty good.

Just need my new tires, rims and 73 Bronco to arrive next week. GOing to have my buddy at Fat HEad Designs to paint me something. Probably go with something wild overall and bright.

Got all my STRC steering on and I made a new adjustable linkage coming off the servo. Much nicer setup and zero flex. The new Savox servo with al\n aluminum arm works great.

Now for the freaking slipper thing in the tranny. What a POS that is and don't seem adjustable from the outside so looks like I need to tear the tranny out and do the modification that is posted on this thread. It starts crawling and the rear tries to bite and the clicking starts and won't climb. That really pisses me off I have to say. Otherwise it would be a lot of fun. Even hitting the throttle from a stop it will click.

Ok I tore the transmission apart and did the tranny repair so now I have no more slipper internally. Very easy to do as I just followed the directions given in the WK tranny fix thread. I drilled 4 small pilot holes and i had some nice small 2-56 self tapping screws I used and boom it was all done. Put it all back together and tried it out. Damn it I hear clicking. I guess the rear gears are slipping. Not sure how that is possible as this thing has not been run for more than 2 minutes total.

Did HPI do any testing on this thing when they made it or what!!!!!!! My steering worked great with, my new tranny went perfectly and works great so now onto the rear setup. Thats for another day. Need to read some of the other threads and see what I need to do to fix that. Love this truck but if your not an experianced builder of R/C this RTR is not for you to be honest.

After all this I would never order one in for our hobbyshop as I wouldn't feel right selling it to a customer knowing of all the problems. I should of stuck to my guns and bought the Tamiya CR-01 I originally wanted, spent the extra 75 bucks and built it myself so its right. That will teach me. My first impresssion of crawling right now is not a good one. If I didn't get the CR-01 I should of bought the Axial Wraith. Both wouldn't of been broken in 2 minutes of trying it out.

On the other hand the repairs cost me nothing other than some time and I can see if I get the rear fixed this truck will be fun and what I'm looking for so it might not be so bad afterall. We will see.

[wyd]

Some pics:

[adamargue]

Looks cool man. I loved my 2.2 flatirons on my ck.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

[wyd]

Originally Posted by adamargue

Looks cool man. I loved my 2.2 flatirons on my ck.

Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks Once I get my rear axle ring and pinion shimmed and my new Sedonas get here I get to start having fun with it. Right now it just sits til I get my new hardened ring and pinion.

[wyd]

New ring and pinions are on order and should be in Wed. I did make me a new graphite steering link so now my stock steering is all aluminum from STRC with a custom titanium link running off the servo and the new graphite link running off the steering belcrank on the axle. Stock steering really works well and with that 419oz servo in it really works great. Maybe down the road I will put the servo on the axle but since I have the stock configuration working well I will just keep it.

My new Titus rims from Proline are in and so are my new CI custom foam setup. Soon as my Sedonas get here this week the CK will be pretty much the way I pictured it. Just need to have my 73 Bronco body painted.https://www.ckrccrawlers.com/ckrc-wk...unt-p-856.html

I did just order this last piece for my steering. The aluminum mount for my steering rack to go onto the front axle. Now no ore flex .

At least one I get the new ring and pinion in the rear setup I can start actually do some trails and light crawling. The fun of using instead of fixing is going to kick in.

[wyd]

Today my Sedona tires showed up along with my new hardened ring and pinion gears for my front and rear axles. Now just need a little time and I can get the last of the problems fixed and then I can start running the truck more and less working on it. The extra time spent now will payoff later. Hope to get the rear axle done by Friday so I can mess with it some.

[wyd]

Did pretty good yesterday. I had time to put in my new HPI MT4 hardened ring and pinion gear. The new setup by looking at it is so much stronger and you can easily see the difference between the stock white metal crap and the hardened setup makes for the MT4.

Only real problem I had was with the yoke attaching it back onto the new pinion gear. The new pinion gear is shorter coming out of the axle and the directions where not clear at first to me. Then I remember seeing some extra parts that came with my CK and their was the yoke that had no lip on it and was made for this modification. Perfect fit and problem solved.

Finally the time came to test out everything except the new tires. I had my fingers crossed as I put down m CK and came up to the first rock. Front wheels up ok and with rears getting onto the rock I awaited the clicking sound from my rear axle...........ah music to my ears not one click. I ran over a few more things with the stock 55 turn HPI motor and Castle Sidewinder SV2 speedo and still no clicking. Man was I happy not to hear any of the clicking in the transmission or the rear axle gears.

Now I will get my tires mounted up and try them out. Either way without the new tires I like that my CK is now up and running correctly. I will get some more pics today hopefully with the new tires. Need to work on mounting them.

[wyd]

Thursday night was the day that I finally ran my CK with all the repairs to the transmission, rear ring & pinion, and all my steering upgrades done.

I ran the CK for a little over an hour last night and had a great time. The CK had zero problems and worked as good if not better than I thought it would. The way it worked overall is how I hoped it would after the mods I did to it from this website.

The new Sedona tires with Crawler Innovations Double Duce foam setup in 5.25 worked great and I was climbing over stuff I didn't think the CK would make. Now I have the crawler I wanted. A reliable, fun truck that climbs well but not a competition truck. Perfect for what I want to do.

Thanks to all that sent me PM's and helped me along the way. The tire info was excellent (still have so much to learn) but the to be honest I don't plan on every doing a comp so the Sedona tires for climbing stuff overall are awesome and look great on the Proline Titus rims IMO. I do plan on another set of Titus rums with the with a 2.2 set of Super Swamper TSL tires for when I plan on trailing riding more vs climbing and overall just to give the truck a different feel.

Soon as I get to the hobbyshop tonight I will be crawling and messing around for the next couple of hours. Now my HPI CK is the crawler I wanted it to be.




Another 35 plus minutes of running the CK and another day of trouble free crawling. THe only change for today was adding the 93 tooth spur gear. I still have the stock 19 tooth pinion but it worked excellent. I can notice the little extra power overall so I'm pretty happy.

I really like the Sedona tires and the CI Double Duce inserts. For my experiance they are working great and are feeling better all the time. They are fun to run, excellent traction, and with the Titus rims I think they look great.

[wyd]

Didn't get to use the CK over the Memorial Day weekend but plan to use it during the week. Honestly I don't care much for really hot weather and it was in the low 90's and very humid so I didn't bother taking it out.

I think my plans since its working so well for me is to add fans to the speedo and motor. Don't really need to honestly as they don't get but since I don't run in water and have plenty of battery to do so I figure I'm going to add them. Not sure on how I will mount the stuff as I need to take a closer look tonight after I get done with work. Once I get it all setup I will take more pics of how I have everything right now.

The last real thing is to have my buddy at Phat Head Designs lay some paint for me. Not sure if I want a wild paint job or realistic. Might do a combo of both but need to talk to him on layout and what he is thinking of.

Almost 2 hours on the new Sedona tires and drivetrain.........all working fantastic. I don't plan on too many more changes other than drive the thing and have fun. Thats what I bought it for.

[nut_up_racing]

Hey dude, just checked out the thread and if you have access to parts cheap try setting one up with a 21t 550 Titan and xl-5 esc with a 8 cell hump pack mounted to the front trailing arms. Best basher ever. Look at my posts for more info if your interested in a really fun rig.

[wyd]

Originally Posted by nut_up_racing

Hey dude, just checked out the thread and if you have access to parts cheap try setting one up with a 21t 550 Titan and xl-5 esc with a 8 cell hump pack mounted to the front trailing arms. Best basher ever. Look at my posts for more info if your interested in a really fun rig.

I will check it out. Thanks

THe rain stopped long enough for me to try out my new purple HPI springs I used on the front of my CK. From what I saw it seems to me it works better with the heavier springs in the front. Feel like it puts more pressure on the tires and then they bite better overall. I have some wheel weights on order and when they get here I will try that and see how it feels.

I was suprised but me and a buddy tried the CK and both of us thought the new springs worked better.

I have another 45 mibutes to an hour of crawling and everything is working great.

I decided to get the servo mount that mounts to my front axle. I ordered one from CKRC. Looked nice and is complete with everything for the conversion. I'm sure my steering as good as I have mine now with all the improvements I made will be even better and my servo will have even more power with this more direct linkage. Should have it early next week and installed by Wed.

[wyd]

I added my new CKRC axle mounted steering servo setup. Came really nice. Only modification I did was to slightly dremel the opening for where the servo goes as my servo was about 1/16th wider than the opening. Other than that the only thing I might do down the road is to polish the linkage some as it would take me about 10 minutes to polish up nice and shiny but that is nothing performance wise.

Once on I setup the new steering throws and took it for a test run. Man I really like the extra power and control I have. With my 410oz Savox aluminum cased servo I have power for 2 crawlers. Very happy with everything and how it turned out. Also a little added weight over my front tires never hurts either.

Now just need to get that body done and maybe some trail tires. Might add some weight to my front tires as I didn't add any yet but it still to me climbs great for what the truck is.

[lonleycreeper]

I didn't catch if you still have the stock plastic gears in the trans. If you do those are a weak link. Also the stock dog bones in the axle are faily weak. When I go on a trail run i usually bring an extra or two just in case.

[wyd]

Originally Posted by lonleycreeper

I didn't catch if you still have the stock plastic gears in the trans. If you do those are a weak link. Also the stock dog bones in the axle are faily weak. When I go on a trail run i usually bring an extra or two just in case.

I still have the stock gears but I did do the upgrade posted here to remove the slipper spring and screw the gears together. I also did the hardened rear ring and pinion in the rear axle. So far the front axle has been perfect and everything else is running smoothly.

I don't run any extra power other than the stock 55 turn that came with it.

I will put a set of axles on order and tranny gears so I have them if I need to do a change. I'm very easy on my equipment and if its stuck I don't really push the gears or axles that hard. RIght now I have about 4 hours of running on it since I fixed everything and its been fantastic.

As always I appreciate any info guys have given me and I keep notes on it and keep track on this site as well. Lots of good people giving out great info to us newer guys and experianced as well.

Thanks again
Brian

[lonleycreeper]

I ran the stock plastic gears for over a year, 27t,20t,12t,and a55t motors. One day I heard a clicking that sounded like the slipper. Then the motor spun with no movement :( When I opened the trans case the teeth of the top gear fell out. I replaced them with stock replacement and they lasted 2 battery packs. I am now doing the Mod 1 pinion gear swap. A battery lasts 2+ hrs 96\15 gears and 8 nimh cells.
I am pretty easy on my stuff to. Still have all the stock plastic axle bits.