Tamiya King Hauler with stretched wheelbase

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The Tamiya King Hauler is a nice truck model ,

but it just doesn't look right with that fairly short wheelbase

in relation to the position of the sleeper behind the cab

plus , the 5th wheel is to far in the back

( which is needed in stock form , otherwise there is not enough room for the stock Tamiya trailers )

there are several builders which either stretch the frame by cutting the frame-rails and inserting extensions ,

or manufacturing completely new frame-rails

for the new-comers to this hobby , that is maybe a little bit to much ,

since not everybody has the options to do these kind of modifications

here now a few fairly simple options to get this " longer wheelbase look "

the first option

is done without even drilling any new holes in the existing frame-rails !

and it can be done to a model which is already build

this first option will give you a 3/4" ( 19mm ) longer wheelbase !

and at the same time the position of the 5th wheel to the rear-axles moves in to a more realistic position

( even thought the 5th wheel stays in it's original location , since just the rear axles are being moved backwards )

this was accomplished by moving the rear-axle carrier 1 hole backwards .

shocks were also relocated in to existing frame holes

and the front fenders are mounted with spacers ( so I didn't had to drill the holes for the small pins )

( by a stock build King Hauler you would have to cut the upper portion of these fenders ,

otherwise your trailer will hang up , since they are positioned in that new location a little higher )

of course you will also need a longer drive shaft ,

but I will cover this separately at the end , since there are also various options for that

and since I never liked the straight cut end of the frame ,

I installed the slanted extension from a Tamiya Aeromax

the rear extensions from the Knight Hauler would work too .

In fact , I gone install the Knight Hauler tail-lights , since I like them better as the square ones from the Aeromax

now to option 2

this will give you a 1+1/4" ( 32mm ) longer wheelbase ,

but it does require drilling a few holes in the existing frame-rails ,

to move the axle-carrier further back

you will gain here an additional 1/2" ( 13mm ) over the option 1

option 3 is based on option 2

but requires a little more modeling skills ,

since here you would make the sleeper a little shorter

drive-shaft options will follow

01-02-2011

Willy

CustomRCmodels