Wheely King When...my new build...

[Natedog]

Bought my HPI Wheely King two-wheel drive several weeks ago and ran three batteries through it in stock form. Quite impressed with it's quality and design! Here are the part numbers needed to convert it to 4x4:

Wheely King axles HPI # 86813
A431 diffcups
A549 outer stub axles
A855 final drive gear set (stock ring and pinion)
86014 hardened steel spider gears (gear diff bevel gears 13T/10T)
86810 diff input shaft (gear shaft 5x6x29mm)

I've done alot of research reading here and playing with all the parts after disassembling mine and now have figured most of the build except what I'm going to do for a chassis. My home pc died about two weeks ago as I was getting ready to upload my progress pics to photobucket.com. Just got my new pc up and running last night...so...pics to come!

Trying to figure motor, tranny, etc before buying and trying all the different possible setups. My TLT is all together and I don't have a spare gear set to count.

WK axle is 13/38 = 2.923, WK tranny is 15/28 = 1.866, therefore final drive ratio without considering the motor pinion and spur is 5.456...not very good.

EDIT: Axial axle is same as the WK axle.....the ring gear is 38T and the pinion is 13T. That is straight out of the instruction manual.

Searched and read for my TLT axle ratio but coudln't find a definitive answer (and don't feel like tearing apart my TLT crawler to count) so going with 2.66 axle ratio as provided here: TLT axle ratio if you have the actual pinion and ring gear tooth counts please post here in my WK build thread and I will update my calculations for all to use.

My Stampede tranny in my TLT is 2.72 final gear ratio...so that with the TLT axle ratio of 2.66 = 7.235 final crawl ratio. Since I'm using the WK tranny I decided on a 65T Axiom lathe motor based on the motor specs here: http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20761 that I got from Tammies Hobbies Crawl*Mart: http://www.orcrc.com/crawlmart/crawlmart.htm I'm using an Integy 45T lathe motor in my TLT with 12/87 pinion/spur gearing and really like the wheelspeed and low speed crawling ability that this combo provides. 45T motor is about 9325 RPMs and the 65T is about 6400 RPMs (approx 1/3 less RPM) at 7.2 volts with 1/3 less amp draw. Since the final gear ratio of my WK is about 1/3 higher than my TLT I think the 65T motor will make up the gearing difference in RPM and torque so that I get about the same wheelspeed with my WK.

Motor pinion and spur gear is going to be 32 pitch and anywhere from 9/67 to 14/66 using the clocked motor mount template drawn up by Harley0706 here: Wheely King Clocked Motor Plate Template or something very similar...kinda depends on the chassis that I settle on and where the motor plate and center driveshafts end up at. Driveshafts are Traxxas T-Maxx shafts p/n 4951X cut or lengthened as needed: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXSP55&P=7 , tranny and diff yokes are the heavier duty TMaxx 3.3 yokes p/n 5458X: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXMJG9&P=Z ,however you can use the standard Maxx yokes # 4927X: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDDT2&P=7 .

I'm currently using the stock WK upper and lower links with the stock lower axle mounts modified and rotated up 90 degrees, therefore I need a chassis with about 2.75" between the lower link mounts to get my 12.5" wheelbase. The inside distance between the chassis vetical plates needs to be about 2.125" to use the WK upper link...this distance is about the same as any TLT chassis (stock or aftermarket) that uses the stock TLT crossbraces...ie. Bender's SW2.

[Natedog]

OK, mocked up my tranny, axles, and all today getting ready to cut my motor mount. I used the hot water trick and the little Traxxas tool to get the u-joint pieces in the ends of my TMaxx driveshafts, but can't get them into the mega thick yokes at the tranny and diffs, anybody got a suggestion?

[lonewolf039]

I just use the hot water to soften up the ears, and push like Heck to get them together. They are a pain, but they will go.

[Natedog]

Did that...guess I'll have to try again...way more of a bitch to assemble than the standard T-Maxx yokes!

Some pics I took a couple weeks ago...had pc trouble. So here they are:

Front axle assembly with diff JB Welded, gears all shimmed ready for grease. Note the shims in lower pic (HPI # Z892) used on the diff itself and HPI # Z852 used on the pinion. Ended up with the stock number of shims (two) on each side of the diff carrier assy and then two HPI shims and one Traxxas black fiber washer (Traxxas # 1985) on the pinion...this allowed just a tick of freeplay between the ring and pinion gears...anymore shims and it was too tight. Note the Stampede outside narrowed only front wheel test fitted on the axle. Think I'm going with Stampede rears inside narrowed only to end up with about 10 5/8" overall width.

Same axle with my cut foams:

Front axle with my link mounts rotated 90 degrees and going to use the stock upper and lower links (but not the weak plastic balls that mount to the chassis). Broke one of those ball crosspieces already just trying to snap it out of the link end. Have a couple ideas for my lower link frame mount balls in steel, not plastic. I used two layers of thin black double-sided tape to take up the space between the axle and the link mount brackets:

[Natedog]

Here's a shot of 9 tooth pinion and a EDIT: 67 tooth spur....little too much backlash and thanks Josh for the modelling.

Kimbrough 32 Pitch spur gears:

T and E MAXX Gears
Part # Gear Size Price
364 64T 32Pitch $4.00
366 66T 32Pitch $4.00
368 68T 32Pitch $4.00
370 70T 32Pitch $4.00
372 72T 32Pitch $4.00

http://www.kimbrough-products.com/

OK, so maybe a 9 tooth pinion and a 70 spur...

[Natedog]

Ooops I accidentally bought Revo driveshaft yokes...no wonder they were so hard to get on the u-joints! Bought the Traxxas T-Maxx 2.5 yokes #4928X like I thought I was getting originally and they fit great.

But, when I put it on the WK tranny rear output shaft the outer part of the yoke bottoms against the bearing retaining flange on the tranny case! I'm going to look and see if the tranny output shaft (HPI # 86812) is longer on one end, because it sticks out the front of the tranny 8mm and the rear is only 6mm...might have to shave the backside of my front output yoke. EDIT: According to the manual this piece is the same length on both ends...haven't taken it apart yet though.

Anybody else have this problem?

EDIT: Took the tranny all apart and the shaft is the same length on both ends...however the bottom plastic gear is slightly thicker on one side so I flipped it around and put it back in. Also put one Traxxas Fiber Washer on the top input shaft between the bearing in the deeper side of the tranny case and the gear on the shaft. This almost eliminated the end to end play in the input shaft and made the top and middle gears mesh more completely!

[Natedog]

Out of curiosity and wanting the lowest gearing possible with the stock WK tranny, I bought a RRP 9 tooth pinion (RRP # 0090)

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEW94&P=7

this morning and test fitted it...works with a Kimbrough 66 tooth spur gear! Kinda weird, I guess the modelling software isn't accounting for slight variations in each gear manufacturers tolerances or something. With my 65T lathe motor all the way up against the side of the WK tranny housing it fits and is even a little bit tight (no backlash at all). I'm going to buy a 64 tooth spur today and see how that is.

[Natedog]

Just finished my tranny, drilled the four mounting holes in the spur gear with a #30 drill bit. Used a 29/64 bit (has a slightly stepped chuck end) that I had around as a pilot shaft to align the two gears (stock and 32 pitch replacement) drilled a hole, then put a 3x10mm screw through both gears, and repeated to help alignment until all four holes were drilled.

Modified stock WK motor mount plate is all cut, trimmed and clocked to put the motor on the bottom. Drilled a new motor mount pivot screw hole about 3/16" outside of the existing hole...shoulda gone about half that distance (just enough to get the screw out from behind the spur). Since I went farther away from the existing hole, I had to lengthen the motor mount slotted hole about 1/8" close in towards the tranny. Works great with the 9/66 gearing setup and slot should now have room for an 8 tooth pinion if it needs it. Pics to come, going to sleep.

[Natedog]

Pics finally!

Front side of motor plate with tranny and spur gear adapter attached:

Back side of motor plate with tranny and motor attached:

Tranny with motor spur gear and T-Maxx driveshafts attached. Front axle with WK upper link and test lower links (one Traxxas Maxx link and one stock WK link) in place to determine chassis setup and wheelbase:

[Norcal crawler]

Looks good. Do you know what chassis you are going to use?

[Natedog]

Got a couple ideas, but no firm decision on chassis. May cut out my own design. BTW, also cut off the last tranny mount that was still attached in my pics, don't need it but didn't want to cut it off before I finalized my tranny mounts.

[Natedog]

Well, my axles and re-worked tranny have been done for awhile now...so I'm going to make my own chassis...or course pics to come!

[Natedog]

Too busy and really like the look of the Reign J2-TT chassis, so I bought one the other day and started working on this again Sunday night. Rear links are all built and rear axle and shocks mounted to the chassis....will fine tune link length and location once I get it running. Looks good so far though. Goota buy a couple more link pieces and shock mount bushings to do the front end tonight.

Steering setup is still unresolved! Got a couple ideas for steering servo mount, don't like any of the currently available setups and want to mount my battery on front links/servo similiar to my TLT.

[2Crawlers]

I can't wait to see what you come up with for the steering/servo mount! I 2 would love to have a tlt type setup.

[Rockmuncher]

Any updates, I would like to see how this turns out!
Shane

[Natedog]

The foams are no more, I'm going with BBs in the tires, they work great in my TLT so they are going in my WK too. Shocks are mounted, I'm starting with 20 wt AE oil, 3-hole #57 pistons (orange) and the Losi orange springs. Had to drill two of the shock pistons because they were smaller holes, don't remember the hole # though.

All links are built and installed...she's a roller now! Lower links are Traxxas # 5138 shortened slightly. Pics to come! Ready to build my new upper link mounts and steering servo mount. I really like the looks of this truck so far!

[Natedog]

Settled on Traxxas 5539 Jato turnbuckles for my top links (3.25” eye to eye). Been playing with the linkage axels, and chassis for days just studying how it all moves and measuring ALOT. Also selling my WK tranny with clocked motor plate and running one of my Stampede tranny spares. All stock electronics are staying for now. Pics are in my digicam right now...just gotta get off my azz and dl and post em. Err wait get off the net and get em posted.

[Rockmuncher]

Sound good,
But why are there no pics?
Shane

[Natedog]

My WK roller (next to my TLT) with body setting on it about at the height that I'm shooting for mounted...but maybe too low we'll see once the tranny and electronics are in. Next body is prolly going to be the PTI Dodge-like Xtracab pickup...forget the name...alot like Traxxas Stamede body:



Roller Reign J2-TT chassis with my JB Welded Wheely King axles, Losi 4" threaded shocks with aluminum adjuster nuts and Losi orange springs. That color goes great with the body, hope the spring rate is good. :

Top view of the rear mount for my steering servo and links. Their is a front plate too and the linkage/servo mount plate bolts to both of these (those pics will have to wait for now):

Front axle rotated forward 90 degrees to show the three screws that hold it to the axle housing:

Just noticed that I need to turn my rear tires around too. For now the rear suspension linkage stays as is until I drive it and see how it works. Making the servo plate mounting brackets and keeping the holes all straight, square and level is a real pain in the butt with just hand tools. I made three different designs of brackets and this is the one that I liked the best as far as suspension geometry so it's what I'm using. The rear lock-out setup has to go sooner or later though. RC4WD rear straight axle setup looks really nice...

[bajabada$$]

looks good man