Crawler King as a Trail Truck...

[Gimpdiggity]

Hello everyone.

I'm going to ask this question despite the fact that I am 100% sure it's been asked before, but I haven't been able to find what I would consider a great answer, despite reading a TON about this truck.

I have an Axial Honcho. I have two Tamiya CC-01s.

My Honcho was my go-to trail truck, until my wife discovered that she actually enjoys driving on the trails, and she kind of "took" it from me as her own when we're going trailing together.

That means that I've been driving one of my CC-01s. The other one I don't drive much, because as much as I hate to say this, I don't want to get the body all dinged up because I was so proud of my paint and body work on it...but anyways, the CC-01 that I've been driving has suddenly started having some issues with it's steering. I kind of knew it was going to happen eventually, but the last couple of times I've got it out, it has not wanted to turn right pretty much at all. The servo will go from side to side perfectly with no load on it, but as soon as I set it down it won't go to the right at all. The fix for this is a PITA...basically, I have to pull the entire front end apart and put it back together. I'm not sure what is getting stuck, as everything SEEMS to work just fine. When I get it back together, it works again for a few days then locks up. Anyways, I'm sick of it, so I'm thinking about retiring it.

Anyways, after all of that, I get on to my question.

I like the Crawler King because it fits my budget really well, I've had good luck with my other two HPI trucks, and I'm kind of drawn to oddball RC stuff.

The thing is, I can't seem to find what I would need to do to it in order to make it a good slow moving trail truck. I know about the torque twist issue, and I've read that a bit of preload on the right rear shock can generally "fix" that...but is that a good solution for just trail running?? There's no serious climbing or crawling, just kind of hiking while driving the trucks on a hard packed mountain bike trail.

See, I seem to find that people say it's a perfect truck for trail running, or they say to stay away from it like the plague because it's so terrible.

I've seen videos of the torque twist, and it seems to occur only when giving the truck quite a bit of throttle, which I don't think would happen very often where I'm going to be running.

My main concern is the "fix" of using the preload...will that in any way have a negative impact on using the truck on trails?? I could see it being a bit of an issue for a crawler that you want more and equal flex on all the wheels, but for trail running I can't really imagine it's a real problem.

Thanks in advance for your help and patience with this question. I've done a lot of looking, and it seems about 50/50 that the truck is what I'm looking for/is not what I want.

Thanks.
Jeff

[lonleycreeper]

I am not sure if you have this truck yet or not.
They are great trail trucks, not great crawlers, to slow it down use 96/14 gearing and add a couple of spacers to the right rear shock. The cause of the torque twist problem is the suspension link geometry, until that gets corrected (new chassis) you will have a problem with torque twist.
Hope i helped lmk if you have any other questions.

[Gimpdiggity]

So Creeper will that torque twist not be too much of a problem when just using the truck for trail driving??

Thanks.
Jeff

[lonleycreeper]

With a lexan bodied rig it is not a big deal. If you put a heavier body on it or add alot of accessorys it makes it worse. Stiffer springs can ofset it.

[hank the crank]

I'll jump in here, been playing with WK's and CK's for awhile now. The torque twist can be annoying but with some time and tweaking with spacers and such it becomes predictable and actually, IMO, it adds to the ride. While trail riding/trail running, I found its kinda cool to know you will lift that left front wheel and a challenge to work with it and drive thru it. I like watching one climb with the wheel in the air. The gearing should be as described, 96/14 with a little case trimming you might go as low as 12. Hope this helps, if you go this route I think you'll have fun and the future mods are endless. Check out my build thread, R2 trans in a CK. Hank

[Gimpdiggity]

Thanks guys.

What is the stock gearing on one?? I'm at work and can't seem to load HPI's site.

thanks!
Jeff

[road_rascal]

According to the manual it's 21/90, which is the same as the Wheely King. Much too fast for crawling, but it may be OK for trail running. I converted my Wheely King over to a Crawler King, but I'm mainly going to use to for snow bashing. I haven't decided whether or not to do the full conversion (I haven't locked the diffs yet).

[Gimpdiggity]

Okay cool.

I think the Crawler King comes with a higher turn motor, so it should be slower than the Wheely King in stock trim. The Wheely King has a 27t motor, and the Crawler King has a 55t motor...so that should make a bit of difference in the speed of the truck.

I will probably order one and leave it stock for the first few runs to see how I like the feel for the speed and power.

Thanks.

[Gimpdiggity]

Last question for now guys...

Does the Crawler King's ESC have a drag brake?? It's not a deal breaker for me, but I most certainly like the drag brake on the SCX-10 much better than the non-drag brake on the Tamiya TEU104 or whatever it is that comes with the CC-01 kits.

Basically, I can get the King for $190 shipped, but the Axial Ridgecrest comes in at $260 shipped. The Ridge has the better RTR radio setup (but I have an extra FlySky receiver to go with my GT3B anyways, so that's pretty much a wash) but I'm thinking the Ridgecrest has a nicer ESC as well. I'm just not sure if it's a $70 nicer ESC, if that makes any sense.

[MSB]

If you like to build your own stuff/be different, get the HPI, otherwise, get the Axial. That said, I have 3... maybe 4 wheely/ crawler kings and love them, but imho, it takes a lot more "work" to make them "work" than anything axial has out of the box. At this point Axial has done their homework and I feel the WK/CK was almost obsolete out of the box, but it still has its place as long as your willing to put some time/work in to get it to where it should have been in the first place. Four link it first and go from there for the touque twist.

[Gimpdiggity]

Yah, the more I think about it the more I think that the Ridgecrest would probably end up being the "better" buy.

I was just hoping to be able to get into it for a bit less money than the Crest costs.

Heck, I should just buy my Kyosho Blizzard and get ready for winter, then in the summer try driving that on the trails just to see how it works out.

[hank the crank]

To answer your question about the stock speed control, it does not have a drag brake. However it is a very durable piece with instant reverse. You could check out HPI's gear red unit. I have one and its geared low enough you won't want to lower the trucks gearing and its low gearing will act as a drag brake. But its geared really low.Check out youtube for vids of the unit being tested. Its geared low enough you can break parts.

[road_rascal]

Actually, the ESC that comes with the Crawler King and Wheely King (SC-15WP) does have a drag brake. It's shown on page 34.

[Gimpdiggity]

Originally Posted by road_rascal

Actually, the ESC that comes with the Crawler King and Wheely King (SC-15WP) does have a drag brake. It's shown on page 34.

The Crawler King doesn't list itself as coming with the SC-15WP, though. It says it comes with the HPI EN-1 ESC.

[road_rascal]

Whoops- my bad. I was looking at the WK manual.

[Gimpdiggity]

If the Crawler King came with the same electronics setup as the Wheely King, that would make this whole decision a LOT easier.

I really like the electronics in the WK. They work great for me in that truck, and I have no reason to believe that they wouldn't work great in the Crawler King.

That fact is one of the things that makes me want to hold off for a while. I have to figure that eventually HPI will upgrade the electronics in the Crawler King to more closely match the Wheely King, right?? I would hope so...

[Gimpdiggity]

Well, I ordered the Crawler King tonight. It should be here on Tuesday.

Any suggestions for what weight oil and what type of springs I may want to look into getting in order to help with the torque twist?? Or should I just add a few preload spacers to that right rear shock and see how that works out??

Thanks!
Jeff

[TrailDawg362]

I've never owned a Crawler King, but I did have 2 Wheely Kings. Both have been parted out and rebuilt into other rigs. The biggest downfall is the tall chassis and long shocks, IMO. They can still be fun trucks, but a little tippy for good trail perfomance. Down the road you may want to consider a scale chassis and shorter shocks. It's not hard to swap over the parts. I'd try 40 wt oil and preloads. Drive it, tune it, and have fun!

[anthonyjlc]

The stock steering mech. In the ck is crap, upgrade to a axle mount youll get alot more power out of your servo

[caymin last]

Don't have a 'King' myself, just a couple old 4X4 WK's.
To be any good as a trail rig, the tall stock chassis has to be replaced, the steering servo moved to the front axle, and a bit of tweaking on the suspension are required. I used the HPI reduction gearbox as the main drive, connected to the stock tranny by way of a drive shaft, which eliminates the spur gear and increases the torque.
My other one has a custom chassis and a TRX Rustler tranny, a perfect combo for the WK axles, and with the correct gearing it has very true to scale feel.