TLT or Wheely King or ???

[mikesss]

I'm driving a Stampede on the trails I walk but it doesn't climb the steep stuff very well, not surprising being 2wd and having a diff. It is a great trail car though.

But climbing is fun, I need a 4wd car that can do both trail walking and climbing, but I'm not sure what to get. The object here is to do as few modifications as possible and still have something that will climb the interesting stuff and do a few miles on the trails every day that I walk.

The plan is to lock the center diff and the diffs in both axles. A maximum speed of 3 mph would be fine for trail walking, should I use a 45T or 55T Integy motor? Eventually the wheel base will be extended, 2.2 Moabs or Mashers will be mounted on bead lock rims. I'll get narrower rims at some point too.

The TLT has a chasis that sticks down so far it looks like it would high center easily. I have a spare Pede and could use it's transmission. Can the bottom of the TLT's chasis be trimmed off to give more ground clearence if you use a Stampede transmission? Or do you need to get something like a SW2 chasis? I'm a bit concerned about future availability of TLT parts.

The Wheely King looks like you just lock the diffs, move the battery to the front, put in an Integy motor and lengthen the links while removing anything that limits articulation and you have a pretty decent car. The Wheely King would seem to be cheaper to get running than a TLT.

Simpler and easier is better because I'm lazy and have way too many other hobbies.

Well, what should I get? Why?

Thanks

[savage100]

Well, you say that you want as little modifications possible, so a wheely king would be best. But then you say that you would stretch the wheelbase. If you are going to do that stuff, and not keep it stock, i say the tlt. If i was in your position, i would get a tlt, and a 45 turn motor. You have a pede tranny and other electronics right? I would get a K2-3L or K2-3S scale chassis.

Ok, so a 4wd wheely king is 210 from tower. For that much, you could get a tlt, ($100) a K2 chassis ($55) from http://www.rcpcrawlers.com/chassis.html (they are at the bottom)and some shocks like these http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXD375&P=7 and some longer links. Here is a great build for this chassis. http://www.reignrc.com/downloads/K2-3x%20Build%20Document.pdf For that much, you could get a wheely king with some mods, or this. It would end up being about the same price since all you are asking for is the motor and if you already have a radio, esc, servo, and all that stuff. If not, the wheely king is a great choice because later on, you can get that chassis if you want.

[mikesss]

The Radio I have in my 'beater' Stampede is a (probably wide band) Futaba Magnum Jr. 75 MHz TX, a narrow band Futaba RX and a forward only Novak ESC made for wide band. This radio will not work with the reversing XL-5 ESC in my new Stampede, so if I go TLT I'll have to get a new radio and ESC. Anyway I'd like to keep the Beater Stampede running too. So the TLT would need a new radio, esc and steering servo.

The K2 chasis looks great and the price is right.

Didn't mention bodies but I sure would like a Toyota Land Cruiser body. Scale look would be good as would a winch.

[savage100]

Ok, now that is going to cost a little bit more than you are probably willing to spend. You would basicly be buying a tlt, chassis, shocks, radio, esc, motor, servo, body, tires and wheels, and for the winch, another servo. That is going to cost about

TLT $100
K2 chassis $55
Motor $25
Body $30
Tires and wheels about $60
Shocks to fit the K2 $30
Pede tranny $50
2 Hitec 645 MG's $80
Speed Controller (which ever you want) about $50
Traxxas TQ3 and reciever $60
And add $70 for shipping, driveshafts, links, spare screws, ect.

It's going to be over a $600 truck for the full on tlt. But you could at first just extend the wheelbase, then get the scale stuff like winch, tranny, and chassis.

For the wheely king, it is going to be $200, and you can use those axles later on for the scaler, but it isn't going to look the same as a tlt'd scaler because i think the wk's axles are a little wider. Oh, and on the bushwacker body (i assume that's the one you are talking about) you would probably want to get the K2-3S, otherwise, you would have to cut a little off of the 3L to fit the body on there right. If you need any other help, just ask.

[BrandonWilcox]

you can get tq3's on ebay all day long for 30 - 40 shipped brand new.

[savage100]

You need a reciever too, not just the radio. So add another $25 onto that and it is still about $50-$60.

[mikesss]

The simplest, easiest way to get a 4wd going looks like just buying a Wheely King. I'll drive it stock and then start changing things one change at a time so I can see what difference the change makes.

The Proline Bushwacker body is the one, I love it. Always wanted to have one of those Land Cruisers, the closest I got was owning a 4wd 4 Runner, that was the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned.

Speaking of changes, I put 1/4" shims on the rear springs on my Stampede so it was just on the verge of having sag when sitting still. It got too much wheel spin on the trails and when climbing. Today I tried 1/8" shims and it was little better and still had no sag. So I removed the shims, this gave some static sag, but traction increased by a huge amount on the trails. On the first battery, with the shims, it got wheel spin on the semi difficult stuff. Without the shims there was very little wheel spin, it just climbed over stuff. The bottom got a few more strikes but there was no increase in high centering tendancy, if anything there was a devrease in high centering because of the increased traction. So, some sag is a good thing for IRS.

Looked on ebay and found TQ3's with reciever and sometimes servos. A TQ3 with RX, a servo and also getting an XL-5 ESC costs almost $100 with shipping. I can get a complete Wheely King 4x4 from Ultimate Hobbies for $190 to the door. So the WK is definately the way to go.

RC is fun! RC cars don't get grounded by weather.

[savage100]

RC is fun! RC cars don't get grounded by weather.
Balloons and zip ties are your friend. :)