Everything but 8 AA batteries for the transmitter! The truck comes
fully assembled, the body comes painted/trimmed/stickered, the
electronics are installed and set, and you get a 7.2 volt Ni-Cd battery
pack & wall charger. You even get a couple of hex wrenches and an
extra set of 14mm wheel hex adapters.
Tell Me More
The Wheely King is RTR, so the electronic gear is installed at the
factory. The power comes from an HPI Saturn 27-turn motor, which is a
sealed-endbell, non-rebuildable 540 motor with bushings. Nothing to get
exited over but it should definitely last a long time and since it's
the standard 540 size it can be replaced with any 1:10 scale R/C motor.
The transmitter is the HPI TF-1 2-channel AM pistol grip. Again,
nothing exiting here but it does include servo-reversing and trim
adjustment. The receiver is the HPI RF-1 2-channel, and like the
transmitter looks suspiciously like a Futaba unit.
The electronic speed control, a critical part of any electric vehicle,
can make night-and-day difference in the way a vehicle drives. With the
Wheely King you get HPI's Jolt +R high-frequency ESC. Those are the
words you want to see--high frequency and reversing. An ESC that isn't
smooth makes any car feel like a piece of crap and reverse is a must
for any backyard basher. The Jolt is rated for motors down to 20-turns
and will work with 6-and 7-cell battery packs. Perhaps the best feature
of the Jolt is the fact that it's waterproof. Nice.
The steering servo is an HPI SF-1. It's a plastic-gear, standard torque
servo and has a servo saver installed.
As I mentioned above in the specifications list, you also get a battery
pack and charger. The charger is one of those wall-chargers that take
forever to charge a battery and HPI claims it can charge the 1500mAh
battery you're given in 6 hours. Better than nothing, especially if
you're new to RC (or electric RC) and don't have a computerized
peak-charger. Any peak-detection charger should be able to charge the
same battery in about 20 minutes. As for the battery, 1500mAh is
nothing when you consider 4200mAh batteries are the norm. But for free,
you can't complain. Plus, HPI says that 1500mAh battery will run the
Wheely King for 20 minutes! We'll see if it does or not...
The truck itself is rear-wheel
drive, with a transmission in the center of the chassis and front/rear
solid axles like you would find on a full size monster truck. But the
Wheely King is not 4WD. Instead, the front axle is hollow. This cuts
down on two things--weight and cost. This truck was designed to do
wheelies on command so moving the weight bias to the rear was a
priority. The battery, typically one of the heaviest parts of an
electric vehicle is held over the rear axle to improve traction and get
the front wheels up. The good news for the 4WD crowd is that the front
and rear axles are identical, other than the front being empty. You can
buy all the parts to convert it to 4WD.
The suspension links, chassis,
shock towers/shocks, and wheelie bar are all molded plastic. But that's
not necessarily a bad thing. One of the toughest vehicles of all-time,
the Traxxas Stampede, is made entirely of plastic. I've had several HPI
vehicles in the past and if they are any indication, the plastic used
on this truck will take a beating. The differential in the rear axle is
a cast metal 4-gear design found in other HPI vehicles. The
transmission is similar to other 1:10 truck transmissions like the ones
found in the Stampede/RC10/Evader, but the interal gears on the HPI
tranny are stacked vertically.
Impressions
The first thing you notice is how cool the truck looks. The tires are
big, the wheels are chrome and look fantastic, and the chassis is
really cool looking. It's a little smaller than what I'm used to at
1/12 scale, but it's not much smaller than a Traxxas Stampede or 1/10
stadium truck. It's also surprisingly light! It should take much in the
motor department to make it fly. The first thing I do when I get a new
R/C truck is push up and down on the chassis to see how well the
suspension works and squeeze the tires to see how soft they are. I
don't know why but I always do that. The shocks are surprisingly
smooth! Better than I expected for sure. The tires are also softer than
I expected. They are firm enough to support the truck without foam
inserts, but the rubber itself is a lot softer and grippier than I
thought it would be :) I also noticed how small the ESC is. It's a
little guy. Not much more than an inch square. I also noticed the drive
shaft going to the rear axle was bigger than I'm used to. Clearly
bigger than those on a Stampede, close to Emaxx size if not actually
that big. So there are a lot of cool things I noticed right away that
had me smiling saying "this
truck was only $175 shipped!?".
A couple of not-so-awesome
things I noticed was the linkage that locks the rear wheels from
turning left/right (remember the front and rear axles are the same so
there needs to be a mechanism in place to hold the rear wheels
straight). It looks a little flimsy. I can't tell if it's going to
break in a crash or if it's flexibiliity will prevent it from
breaking... Another think I noticed while squeezing and wiggling on
everything was that the steering setup has quite a bit of slop in it.
The steering setup is actually quite involved with multiple links and
pivots. I'm wondering of the truck will track straight going down the
road--if the play I feel when I move the front wheels by hand will be
noticeable from the transmitter.
Performance 1
Before I changed anything, I wanted to try it stock. Who knows, it may
not need anything changed. For the first two runs I even used the
included 1500mAh battery pack, but I charged it on my Integy
computerized charger. There is no way I was going to sit around for 6
hours waiting for it to charge when I can charge it in 20 minutes.
According to my charger, the HPI 1500 pack actually held 1825mAh and
took 27m 26s to charge @ 4A (6mV/cell voltage threshold, 46° C temp
cutoff). So it held quite a bit more than the advertised 1500mAh. It
reached the 1500mAh mark right around 20 minutes. This is significant
because if this pack will power the Wheely King for 20 minutes as HPI
claims, that means you get one min of run-time for every minute of
charge time! I'm really exited to see if that is the case since I'm
used ot 60+ minutes of charging (with a 4200mAh pack) and getting about
20 minutes of runtime with my other big trucks.
I had heard that the Wheely
King was painfully slow with the stock motor and I'm gonna have to
agree. The 11-12mph estimates I've read seem right on. At this speed, I
think 20 minutes of run-time is entirely possible. So it's definitely
not a fast truck, but it sure can wheelie! The name Wheely King is
fitting! From a stop, hammering the throttle will throw the truck back
onto the wheelie bar where it will stay indefinitely! It'll just keep
on riding the wheelie until you let off the throttle or hit a bump that
causes the weight to shift back toward the front. Once the truck is
rolling, it doesn't have the power to lift the front up, unless you hit
a bump that that knocks the front end up--then you'll be on the wheelie
bar again.
The ESC is high frequency and
feels very smooth which made me happy. It's nice to see manufacturers
including nice electronics in ready-to-run cars these days. Also the
steering issue I was worried about wasn't an issue at all. The truck
ran perfectly straight down the pavement. Overall the first two runs
were fun and had me smiling! The only complaint I have is that it's a
little on the slow side for me. I have a plan to change that!
Performance
2
Now that I'd tried it in stock form, I wanted to see what it would be like with a little more horsepower. I installed a more powerful motor, a more powerful battery pack, and adjusted the gear ratio. I used a Multiplex 600 motor, which is an 18-turn motor, a Robinson Racing SuperLite 24-tooth pinion gear, a 90t Robinson Racing Stealth Pro spur gear, and an SMC ib4200 SHV stick pack. The Wheely King is an inexpensive truck so I wanted to see if I could get it a decent level of performance with inexpensive parts. The Mulitplex motors are only $9, and the Robison spur and pinion gear set was $11. The SMC ib4200 stick pack is $38.
The Robinson spur is machined (instead of molded) for extra strength and concentricity, and allegedly 1/2 the weight of a standard spur gear. This is my first time using one of these spur gears but I swear by the SuperLite pinion gears. They are machined from aluminum (instead of steel alloy), have a cool purple anodized finish, and are noticeably lighter in your hand than a standard pinion gear. When I've used them previously in touring cars and a Stampede, I could see a difference in acceleration. I figured since I like their pinion gears so much I would give their spur gears a try too. I also changed the plugs on the Jolt ESC to a Deans Ultra Plug on the battery connection and I removed the connectors entirely from the ESC/motor connection and soldered the wires directly to the motor. I do this with all my R/C cars. Mainly because it gives a cleaner look and cuts down on clutter, but it does also reduce resistance in the circuit. The ib4200 SHV (Super High Voltage) batteries are a lot heavier than the HPI battery and is all but guaranteed to have a ton more punch. The extra weight over the rear axle and added punch should add up to easier wheelies even without the more powerful motor or lighter gears.
So I've changed a few things, nothing terribly expensive, and WOW what a difference in performance over stock! The combination of all the changes I made had a synergistic effect. The gearing wouldn't have made a big difference by itself, and neither would the motor, but when you combine everything 1+1 doesn't equal 2--it equals 3! Compared to stock, the truck is almost twice as fast, and has way more punch/power. Rolling wheelies are NO PROBLEM now. And the best part--the ESC and motor were barely above ambient temperature!!! I was so psyched to see that after running for over 20 minutes straight, the ESC was no hotter than it got with the stock motor. Remember the Jolt ESC is rated for motors with no fewer than 20 turns and this Multiplex is 18t. I was a little worried about this at first, but I figured that since the Jolt has overheat protection and a replaceable fuse, the worst that would happen would be the fuse breaks, and I'd have to get a new one and not use this motor. People with Emaxx trucks run these motors too, and while they are technically below the safe limit for the stock Emaxx ESC, guys say the ESC runs cooler than it does with the stock motors. I asked fellow RCMT.net member TXTmaniac how that could be and he said it's all a matter of efficiency. The Multiplex motors are more efficient, draw less current, and put out more power. Gotta love that.
Now that I have some more speed, I had my first problem. During one of my crashes, I blew off one of the rear shock caps and all the oil leaked out as I drove it back to where I was standing :( Not a big deal, I just screwed the cap back on and ran it withuot oil the rest of the time. I smashed a curb pretty hard the time the shock came apart. Are the shocks a weak link? I don't think so... It didn't pop back off again after that.
In the pics you can see how much larger the Multiplex 600 is. Also look at how flexible the stock spur gear is. What is this thing made of rubber or what? LOL I can't imagine the stock spur would hold up to much more power than the stock motor puts out.
Video with hop-ups installed:
"Hail to the King"
For $173 shipped (from Tower Hobbies), the Wheely King is a great value. It's not fast, but it does do what it claims--WHEELIES! Being slow, it has tons of run-time and would be good for kids or for people running in a small area. Upgrading for more speed is as easy as bolting up a new motor and adjusting the gear ratio as needed. Cheap and easy. Installing my new gears and motor took maybe 10 minutes. The Wheely King is also much nicer than I expected it to be. HPI quality shines through even though this is an entry level truck.
The Wheely King is one of the funnest R/C vehicles I've owned for sure. Bang for the buck it's unmatched. You can run this thing stock (or relatively stock like mine) and have a BLAST.
