phunkodelic

First off to to give you all a bit of history I had a pretty tricked out Blackfoot (Tamyia 2 wheel drive basher) back in 1989 and sold it all and got out of the sport. Fast foward twenty years and I am looking to bet back into it. I like some of the capabilites of the Blackfoot buy aways wanted four wheel drive. I also like the somewhat scale look of a lot of the rigs around here. I have a three year old son and figured in a few years he could drive it too so a trail rig/crawler seems like a natural fit.

That being said I am very strongly considering buying a Crawler King. I am looking for something I can drive around my yard, the street, and the woods when I have a bit of free time. I am also panning on taking it to some trails. Looking for a do all truck that is more of a true trail rig then a hard core rock crawler. I figure the Crawler King was the perfect fit but I have a few concerns. If you think there is a better fit please give me your opinion. I am on a budget too so the combo kit with the radio seems like the real deal.

1. Speed - No I am not wanting to drag race it but I figured I could drop in a faster motor with more winds on it to make it faster sort of like the wheely king. I figured it would make the truck more fun on the trails that are not that rocky or difficult.

2. Locked differentials- This is a great idea for off road, but will Inotice a big problem with performance and tire wear when tooling around my dirveway and street with the faster motor? I think most of the driving will be off road but will be hitting the pavement too.

3. Anything I shoudl be concerned about?

I have also looked at th AX10 RTR and it looks pretty good as well but I seem to like HPIbetter for some reason.

Anybody care to share their experience with a newbie?
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FairTax4me

Locked diffs will be a big problem on road. Especially with wheel speed. My crawler is a MOA type,(motor on axle) so there's no torque twist, but it will pick up the inside front wheel if I turn hard on pavement. You can do a locked rear/ open front but it kind of hinders your off road abilities.

If you want a scale truck. RC4wd.com has a new chassis kit that is scale to a T, but it will cost you.
Speed isn't that hard to get with the right battery motor and gearing. There are 2 and 3 speed transmissions available if you look around. Some guys even run brushless, although brushed is the best for smooth throttle response.

RCCrawler.com is a great place to do research on all types of off roading. Tons of friendly and helpful people there too.

krazy-crawler

If your looking for more trail running and SCALE rock crawling I'd go for one of the Tamiya re-released jeep wranglers. I was like you also looking at the AX10 and stuff but the jeep just looks all around better. I'm just about done with mine and cant wait. This video is what sold me on the jeep..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4_axfF5SN8[/youtube]

engineerjoe

The CC01 chassis (Jeep YJ wrangler) is a surprisingly capable rig when setup correctly.  it won't do any crazy lines but it will be a great mix of crawling ability and street bashing fun - puls they are very scale.  You can do a locked rear axle and leave the front open very easily too.  This will give you years of trouble free fun on the street and the trails.

If you want something a little more capable, I would suggest the Traxxas Summit or even and axial ARTR with a nice brushless setup.  The Summit comes ready to go and is a good at both crawling and bashing.  The axial will have locked diffs but will still get around pretty good with the right motor setup.  The Axial SCX-10 is a good more "scale" setup than the ARTR.

phunkodelic

If money were no object I would go withthe Tamiya land cruiser 40. Out of my price range though. I am definitly going though with the Crawler king as I like its stock looks a lot better then the AX10. Nice video.