mods for a 4wd WK (noob)

[Joeyblaze]

ok so have been trolling for a while trying to find out info on a good starter crawler and it seems like the WK might be the next TLT

so from reading it seems there are three mods that need to be done

1 lock the difs: how hard is this. is it as easy as locking a dif on TT01? whats the best method

2 remove the plastic links for articlation: does any one have pis of what part needs to be removed. and how hard is it

3 relocate the battery pack: in order todo wheelies they put the pack in the rear but this is bad for crawling. so u need to relocate it. where is the best palce to move it to. and how hard is it?

so with these 3 basic FREE mods is the 4WD wheelie king a good beginer crawler im just looking to have fun and bash.

are the stock servos, motors, and drive train strong enough?

[Calderwood]

so far i have removed the cross brace and taken out the preload spacers... both of these things helped alot.

[JIA's Dad]

All of your questions are well thought out and are answered many times in the forum. read some more and use the search button for more help

[Joeyblaze]

Originally Posted by JIA's Dad

All of your questions are well thought out and are answered many times in the forum. read some more and use the search button for more help

yeah i know searches dont like me, lol plus i figured it would be a good way to say hi and get all my quetions in one nice thread. but thanks

[MikeSSS]

The battery can be hung under the front between the frame rails. I used velcro ties from Lowes for this. Two ties to hold the battery up and one over the front to keep it from sliding out of the front. This gets the battery lower than reversing the chassis by reversing the axles, because the stock battery box is higher than a hung battery. I did reverse my chassis because the stock battery box is fast and easy to use. (batteries run out when you are on a steep climb and are covered with mosquitos)

The plastic 'brace' on the rear lower links is an anti roll bar, it's good for fast driving but not for crawling, it just unscrews.

WK diffs are capsules inside the axle. They are held together by 4 screws, when you open it make sure to see the spacer behind the spider gear so that it gets put back in. I put Poster Putty in my diff capsules and made sure there is some grease in there with the putty. (Poster putty is the sticky putty stuff used to 'tack' pictures to the wall. It's firmer than silly putty.) Putty in the diffs gives you limited slip diffs which are excellent for trail driving and crawling but not as good for crawling as locked diffs. The axles are easy to remove and take apart. After removing the axle take out the two screws at each end that hold on the "C's", you can leave the wheels on the 'C'. Pull the whole wheel end off and pull out the inner axle, the long one. Take out the four center screws around the pumpkin and open the axle housing. Take out the diff capsule and do you thing. When you close the diff capsule make sure that an axle will go into each side, this gets the spider side-gear in the right place before you close up the axle and find out the long axles won't go into the diff capsule. When you put the C's back on make sure the axle pins go into their drive slots in the C.

The tires work best with the tread on the bottom orientated so it funnels dirt toward the center. I swapped my tire/wheel units from side to side to get this.

Servo mount, I made mine from plastic and positioned the servo higher and more centered than most people do. Also farther forward so it's base isn't hit by the battery box when the suspension is compressed (reversed chassis)

After you have the battery in the front, the anti roll bar removed, the diffs puttied and the tires reversed you will have a great trail truck and a good climber. Then it's time to think about lengthing the wheelbase. I bought Traxxas no. 1942 ball ends, all thread and lots of 4-40 hardware. See my post on simple changes to the WK. 4-40 by 3/4" bolts, get too many of em and some 1" and 1 1/4" too.

Stock WK tires have pretty stiff rubber and they stink, Masher 2000's or Moabs are sposed to be better.

The 27 Turn motor climbs by pulling too many amps, it overheats the esc and motor. A 55T or 65T motor should climb while pulling less amps and so the esc, etc should run cooler. When the esc overheats it shuts itself down for a short time. If this happens on the wrong climb the WK can come tumbling down and might end up in some water that you don't want to get into to rescue the WK.

A drill, dremel tool and belt sander are your friends.

Look at all the pics you can of suspension setups, copy the pics to a desktop WK folder and use them as a reference.

Hope this helps, lots of guys have been in your situation, you are not alone.

[smokinubyrc]

Originally Posted by MikeSSS

The battery can be hung under the front between the frame rails. I used velcro ties from Lowes for this. Two ties to hold the battery up and one over the front to keep it from sliding out of the front. This gets the battery lower than reversing the chassis by reversing the axles, because the stock battery box is higher than a hung battery. I did reverse my chassis because the stock battery box is fast and easy to use. (batteries run out when you are on a steep climb and are covered with mosquitos)

The plastic 'brace' on the rear lower links is an anti roll bar, it's good for fast driving but not for crawling, it just unscrews.

WK diffs are capsules inside the axle. They are held together by 4 screws, when you open it make sure to see the spacer behind the spider gear so that it gets put back in. I put Poster Putty in my diff capsules and made sure there is some grease in there with the putty. (Poster putty is the sticky putty stuff used to 'tack' pictures to the wall. It's firmer than silly putty.) Putty in the diffs gives you limited slip diffs which are excellent for trail driving and crawling but not as good for crawling as locked diffs. The axles are easy to remove and take apart. After removing the axle take out the two screws at each end that hold on the "C's", you can leave the wheels on the 'C'. Pull the whole wheel end off and pull out the inner axle, the long one. Take out the four center screws around the pumpkin and open the axle housing. Take out the diff capsule and do you thing. When you close the diff capsule make sure that an axle will go into each side, this gets the spider side-gear in the right place before you close up the axle and find out the long axles won't go into the diff capsule. When you put the C's back on make sure the axle pins go into their drive slots in the C.

The tires work best with the tread on the bottom orientated so it funnels dirt toward the center. I swapped my tire/wheel units from side to side to get this.

Servo mount, I made mine from plastic and positioned the servo higher and more centered than most people do. Also farther forward so it's base isn't hit by the battery box when the suspension is compressed (reversed chassis)

After you have the battery in the front, the anti roll bar removed, the diffs puttied and the tires reversed you will have a great trail truck and a good climber. Then it's time to think about lengthing the wheelbase. I bought Traxxas no. 1942 ball ends, all thread and lots of 4-40 hardware. See my post on simple changes to the WK. 4-40 by 3/4" bolts, get too many of em and some 1" and 1 1/4" too.

Stock WK tires have pretty stiff rubber and they stink, Masher 2000's or Moabs are sposed to be better.

The 27 Turn motor climbs by pulling too many amps, it overheats the esc and motor. A 55T or 65T motor should climb while pulling less amps and so the esc, etc should run cooler. When the esc overheats it shuts itself down for a short time. If this happens on the wrong climb the WK can come tumbling down and might end up in some water that you don't want to get into to rescue the WK.

A drill, dremel tool and belt sander are your friends.

Look at all the pics you can of suspension setups, copy the pics to a desktop WK folder and use them as a reference.

Hope this helps, lots of guys have been in your situation, you are not alone.

wow you are pretty informative with all that

[Joeyblaze]

MikeSSS

thanks for a great post