Noob crawler questions.

[cotharyus]

I know enough to be dangerous. I know I've been wanted to build a shafty for a number of years, but just never _did_ anything about it. So I just happened to have put my hands on a Wheely King last week. And I'm looking for advice.

So far I've lowered the battery holder - it's low enough that the rear axle hits it before it bottoms out the suspension, but it's high enough to allow full articulation of the back axle. I've also got designs on putting some lead shot in the wheels/tires. And of course, making it 4wd (waiting on back ordered parts). Also, I'm looking at extending the wheel base some - I think I've got a pretty good idea on that.

Things I need some advice on:

What's the best way to lock or firm up the diff? I've got some heavy weight silicon stuff from racing, but I suspect that's not going to cut it. Of course, I'm also not quite hard core enough yet to use jb weld on it. What do you recommend?

Waterproofing: I see a lot of shots of vehicles in the water around here, and the only good place I have to crawl nearby I'm going to be contending with water on a regular basis. I remember seeing something about plasticoat - is that what it's called? Where does one purchase it? What about ESC's? I know there are water proof ones out there, what does everyone recommend? Also, I assume I just bag (balloon) the receiver and go on.

One other thing - the Wheely King seems adept at running off down hills, there seems to be very little drag. Is this a property of the stock motor (curable by lathe motor) or is it something else?

I'm also open to any tips or tricks anyone else has figured out about this truck, orj ust in general, and look forward to making my stops in here more than just occasional chances to stare at other people's rigs and dream.

[Rat1]

Well to cure the down hill problem you will need an ESC (electric speed control) with a brake in it. For the waterproofing, people use balloons or boxs to install the radio equipment it. They then zip tie the end of the balloon shut. Another idea is to use a waterproof container to install the electronics in. The servo will need to be packed with grease to keep the moisture off the electric internals. Silicoln Dielectric works the best.

For extending. Well this will require longer 4 link rods which makes it harder to do on the WK since the upper links are not like your normal 4 link setup.

Strap your battery to the top of your upper links and let it travel up and down with the suspension. Moving it to the front of the vehicle would be perfered though.