Nitro ThunderKing Revamp

[Jim511]

I just purchased this Nitro Thunder King from Miratlhed and I figured since you don’t see too many of these out there anymore I’d go through a thorough tear down and rebuild project. I have an Electric Thunder King and at one point had an NTK, but sold it and regretted it the second I left the box at the post office. So here it is, a bone stock NTK that’s pretty dirty, little rusty, and I’m sure it will need some parts to get back to running state but It will be fun once shes in that stage! I’m not sure which direction I’m going to go with this truck, my ETK is a monster with LST tires and evx and 12 cells, and I was thinking of turning this into a race truck since I found a local track that has a monster class, but Im a farmer so I don’t get much time off in the summer to do so, for now I’m going to rebuild it to basher status. So here we go, here are the initial pictures I took of the truck as soon as she came out of the box, and before teardown.




As with every new project I do, I like to clean an area of my workbench off, get all my tools lined up that I may need, and a bin with that I can put hardware into, etc. My first thing I usually do is take out any running gear, as I may not use them, as is this case, I will take out the servo’s because I’m going to upgrade to better servos. In my ETK since I’m running huge LST tires I’m running dual 645MG’s, and Ive never had a problem with Hitec Servo’s so that will probably be the route I go with this truck. A total of 3 of them, 2 for steering and 1 for throttle/brake duty. So I started taking the truck apart. First thing out was the engine, then the rear end, then the front end. Now I know these trucks like the back of my hand since I’ve torn them down before and rebuilt them but if it’s your first, I suggest taking pictures as reference points, jotting down notes, or if you need it there are scans of the instructions on the internet and I also have them too if someone needs them.

So I had the truck broken down to two sections, the front and rear, and then the bare chassis. Got some dish soap and water and scrubbed the chassis clean. I then tackled the rear end first as it’s a little easier and less time consuming. I lucked out with this truck as everything was in great condition minus the shock shafts, theyre a little worn down but straight so I for now I just cleaned up all the caked on grime and dirt and refilled them with fluid. Checked and relubed the tranny and that’s in great shape, but down the road I will be upgrading it with RC4WD’s steel gears like my ETK has. I set aside the body mount for dyeing, which will come up in this writeup a little later. I lucked out with the rear hinge pins as they were all straight with very minimal surface rust. I threw all of them in my drill, hit them with some 1000 and then 1500 grit wet sandpaper, polished them with some mothers aluminum polish and reinstalled them with new C-clips. I then reinstalled the whole rear end back onto the chassis tranny and all. Onto the next step, the front end.

The front end was pretty much exactly the same as the rear, shock shafts showed wear, and the only problem I really ran into was the front inner hinge pins, extremely bent, and I almost had to literally cut the front bulkhead to remove the arms. Luckily I got them out, but I won’t be reusing the front bulkhead or the inner hinge pins. Now with these trucks since theyre no longer in production, gotta locate parts from other vehicles to fit the bill. In my searches I found hinge pins that are the diameter I need, but a little longer than what I really need for my front end. However, what I’m going to do is use spacers at the back, and in the front custom make an aluminum tie bar. The pins are from the associated SC8. The stock front inners on the TK are 4mmx57mm, the RC8’s are 4mmx65mm, so hopefully it won’t be a big deal and they will still be out of the way of the front bumper. Once again I set aside the front body mounts for dyeing. The front chassis has an upper plate that holds the fuel cell and is fastened to the bottom chassis via 4 chassis standoffs, 2 of which hold the servo savers. I took them and in the same process as the hinge pins I polished them up, seen here


So I have the front and rear bodymounts, spur gear, and wheels set aside. I grabbed my pan, some black RIT dye, and some soap and water. First I scrubbed the parts clean, and then dyed them up. The trucks look so much cleaner when theyre all blacked out. Once it warms up the shocktowers will be sanded down and painted to match.

So that’s where I’m at now. Truck is in roller form, and its in line to receive project money. I’m still trying to locate a motor, Im thinking the motor out of the MGT will be good since the original MGT .21 motor was the same as the kit motor, but it’s no longer available. Servo’s are going to be sourced either used or from ebay, and still undecided on wheels, tires, and body. More than likely going to be the Proline F650, or the Parma 1/8 scale grave digger, as Id love to find a clear unpainted TK body its just not possible but I have time to keep searching. I am working on a solution to 14mm wheel adapters as I write this, and will probably run either LST tires like my ETK or Imex maxx K-rocks. Here’s a shot of the truck as it sits now


Let me know what you think! Hope it wasn’t too much of a novel haha

[william g]

there are many smaller parts available on e-bay from either sheldons or stormer. I had to grab a new transmission case.

If your wheels are good maxx tires fit perfectly I just mounted 2 mashers on a set of wheels tonight. Need to grab another pair now.

[Jim511]

Yea I currently have unglued savage tires on the stock wheels reversed, but like the option of being able to run maxx wheels. Heres the plan. Junfac sells an adapter to run maxx wheels on a 12mm hex for 7 bucks. That and I still have two good aluminum hex's to drill out to accept the bearings for the front! Thanks for the heads up on stormer and sheldons! Sheldons has a few parts on ebay I will be getting including a bearing kit and tranny case for my ETK, and Stormer has the Associated Engine I was looking for for 65 bucks! Did I say this truck was on the backburner? For now it just moved up to front of the line!

[william g]

the sticky in here shows using pipe to insert in a msxx wheel up front

I've been thinking of using stampede/traxxas front carriers and parts instead

[Jim511]

Yea my ETK's setup is a bolt head drilled out to hold the bearing but Ive got the maxx hex's so im going to use them. If you can get them to fit 5x11 front pede knuckles would be great!

[william g]

Next Tower order I'll probably get all the parts and see how it'll work out. Best part is I have a whole front end spare sitting here so I don't have to rip a truck apart just to test fit.

I may even just try a rear carrier in the MRC C hub and see if that works, man that would be the cheapest conversion. I think I can even check that tonight.

[william g]

I tried to dye my white parts and all I ended up with was a dirty white looking part. I even let them sit overnight. So out came the flat black spray can.

Wheels are a nice dark blue, the only item that really took dye.

Now,
Swapping the front out...
Rear traxxas pede-slash axle carriers will work with a little rework.
I had some short stub axles from a tamiya mini cooper for a axle too. Traxxas axles will work, just they're long.

You'll need to open (drill) the inner pivot hole in the carrier. and that's it except making new shorter tie rods.



Edit, done


Really quite simple.
Hardest part will be making custom length tie rods.

Parts needed are stampede-slash rear uprights (stub axle carriers)
1150 bearings
stub axles I happened to have tamiya #9805502 from a mini cooper
850 bushing for axle slop
drive pin
12 or 14mm hex

I drilled the inner pivot hole (closer to bearings) larger to fit the MRC king pin.
The traxxas part fits the C-hub perfectly after drilling.
Then reassemble and make your own tie rods. I haven't done that part yet so I don't have measurements.