When I picked up a HPI Wheely King, I immediately wanted to extend the wheelbase into something a little more scale. Since I wanted a larger project this time around I choose Pro-lines 1/8 Ford F650 body matched with Imex All T's for that 44" tire look.

Project F650 - HP 4x4 Wheely King

Build Pictures

Why this truck came about:

I wanted to take my fun but stock 4x4 Wheely King and give it a more scale look and feel.  Because the Wheely King axles are larger then the TLT axles I normally use. So a large body and tires were what I wanted to use. Pro-lines 1/8 scale F650 and Imex All-T's immediately came to mind for this project. The other main design feature I wanted to incorporate is it had to be simple. My projects tend to take forever and be over complicated. I wanted this to be simple and quick.

Chassis

Starting with the chassis, I had decided from the beginning that continue the scale look and feel. A simple yet realistic looking frame would be needed. I had this chassis laying around from a previously abandoned project. It is made out of 1/8" thick aluminum.

Body

A Pro-line 1/8th scale Ford F650. Paint is Tamiya metallic blue backed with silver.

Drivetrain

The drivetrain is a stock Wheely King transmission and axles with Traxxas Emaxx yokes to extend the wheelbase. The diffs are limited slip using Picture putty and lithium grease. HPI Savage springs are attached to Wheely King shocks. I made a new steering pivot because the stock plastic one breaks a little too easy.

Radio / Motor / ESC / Batteries

An Integy 55t lathe motor allows great run times and a good scale speed. The currently stock Wheely King electronic speed controller resides under the hood, and a custom GP3300 pack that rests in the back of the chassis. The stock Wheely King servo has been reused with longer linkages. Like I said before this was to be a simple and quick project.

Final Shots and Thoughts

This project was a nice change. I was able to just throw together a bunch of parts and make it work. And work very well it does. As with the stock Wheely King it does still have a high center of gravity, tho no at least it has been distributed over a larger area. Wheelies are only happen when you force it not every time you hit the throttle like when it was stock. Crawling ability is way better then before, tho I would never call this a crawler. It was designed as a scaler, based of the works of the awesome vehicles at f650pickups.com