The Backyard – King Haulin’
Happy Friday everyone, welcome to The Backyard!
This is the first week since late January where a major r/c release hasn’t been announced, so it’s a good time to talk about what’s on my bench!
After finishing my Vanquish H10 Optic build a few weeks ago, I decided it was time to try my hand at building another Tamiya semi truck. I really enjoyed my Globeliner build from a few years ago, but wound up selling it because it didn’t really do what I wanted, which was to be an off-road log truck. Once I found out about the burly Cross RC HC-6, I figured that was more suited to the job so I sold the Globeliner. And hey, it was definitely the right choice at the time -the HC-6 is probably my favorite R/C that I currently own. However, years later I really regret having sold that Globeliner.
I knew I wanted to try my hand at another Tamiya semi. I learned a lot while building the Globeliner, and I’ve learned even more about the 1/14 rigs over the past few years things to various YouTubers and Facebook groups. I felt it was time to try my hand at another Tamiya off-highway hauler.
Enter my new King Hauler. This truck is being built to be a runner. I’m not intending to ford streams and do hardcore off-roading or anything, but I want it to be able to do some hauling on trails and in the muck, similar to how a truck would handle up in the backwoods of the pacific northwest or something.
As such, I have a plan. I’m locking the diffs with JB weld. I tried putty and heavy oil in the Globeliner, neither worked great. I’m not using a lights/sound module, I’m going to use a standard brushless sensored crawling ESC that can handle some grunt. I’m going to lock the 3 speed transmission into 2nd gear, and not even mess with having a shift servo. I plan to use off-road tires. I will be using CVD’s for all driveshafts so they don’t pop out (the stock dogbones can fall out when the rear is under heavy articulation). And finally, I’m getting rid of the stock rear suspension that consists of leaf springs and shocks for heavy duty RCP’s Scale Model and Accessories machined walking beams. This will remove all sag from the rear end, but still allow the rear axles to articulate over bumps.
I’m already a good deal of the way through building the chassis and drivetrain.
The RCP walking beams, which are powder coated in chrome, are freakin’ awesome pieces of kit.
I’m keeping my plans for the body a bit ambiguous at the moment. I may modify the King Hauler body into a day cab, or I may not. I may even just have a totally new cab 3D printed. I figure I’ll get the chassis into a driveable state and make sure I’m happy with it, and then I’ll get to working on the body.
I’ll give another project update when the body is on it, but I’m having a blast so far! Time to start building the guts of the transmission.
That’ll do it for me this week, until next time, keep it on all 4’s!
