Next project: Powerwheels Jeep Jr.

For those of you who remember I built a custom wagon for my son last year: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/new-project-custom-radio-flyer-wagon/40209/page1/

I picked this up for free today:

Going to give it a good look over tonight. I'm hoping that my previous experience with hobby-grade R/C cars and building battle bots will help me get this thing running again. It is mostly there, the grill is just not attached right now. I need to grab a 6V battery and test it out. Also need to pull the gearbox and give everything a cleaning I'm sure. Trying to decide whether or not to to pull the decals or try to save them.

This is hopefully the first of several PowerWheels in Ian's collection. I'll be watching Craigslist and FreeCycle like a hawk now.

My daughter and I redid a Barbie Jeep. All stickers were torn off and the entire thing repainted. Our gear boxes were sealed.

We picked it out of the garbage. I did buy a new sealed battery for it. Most all the expense.

Just found some inspiration: http://www.modifiedpowerwheels.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10465

http://www.modifiedpowerwheels.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6870

You meant to say "Grab a 12v marine battery to test it out" right?

Could you do something like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Ah6vuit8U&feature=player_embedded

I had two of those for my kids. Put rubber tires and larger batts in them. The first year they were really too young for them. Then they both were stolen from my backyard!!

If you don't want to go overboard on the batteries, look for UPS SLA (Sealed Lead Acid) batteries instead of the brand names. A little rewiring of the connectors but almost half the price.

I got mine from Gruber Power Services on eBay.

Last night I confirmed that the motor works. I straight wired a 7.2V R/C car battery to the motor and let my son tool around the yard til it was dead. I ordered two replacement switches on Amazon last night, so it should be running fine once those come in. Next it to get it looking better. Gotta bust out the heat gun, strip the decals, and de-haze the body. Apparently the heat gun trick works on these things the same way it does on faded car body plastics.

So I worked on the Jeep a yesterday.

I washed it and put all the trim back on it. I took a heat gun to the body to remove the oxidation. The grill bothers me, so I'm going to look for some black plastic to put behind it to add depth.

As I now know, traction blows with only one wheel drive. I sunk a few sheetmetal screws in the wheel to help, but it still is lousy. My son got stuck a lot in the back yard. I need to find a trashed 6V Power Wheels to grab the gearbox out of and swap into the other rear wheel. Before that though I might throw some Harbor Freight rubber tires on it and see what happens.

When I was a kid I had one that looked like a Wrangler, but I must say it looked a lot better than these newer models. It had a realistic (plastic) roll bar and accurate body details.

I wonder what putting truck bed liner on the tires would do for traction? Scuff them up pretty good first, maybe shoot a coat of adhesion promoter first?

slantvaliant wrote: I wonder what putting truck bed liner on the tires would do for traction? Scuff them up pretty good first, maybe shoot a coat of adhesion promoter first?

I'm swapping out the tires for these:

I order shaft collars from Amazon today to replace the push nuts, and I'm going to get the tires at lunch.Apparently I need a piece of 1/2" pex to adjust the shaft diameter, and a 1" to 1-1/2" rubber pipe reducer to attach the HF wheel to the Power Wheels gearbox with clamps.

So my "free" toy Jeep is going to be an $80 Jeep pretty quickly, but it is cheaper than another car...

So last night Ian and I worked on the Jeep.

Off with the old:

and on with the new:

Much better I'd say. It runs much better and does not get stuck nearly as much.

No lift kit yet?

Be careful of too much traction. The gears in the box are plastic and the slip of those plastic tires drastically extends their lives.

MrJoshua wrote: Be careful of too much traction. The gears in the box are plastic and the slip of those plastic tires drastically extends their lives.

I used a flexible rubber coupler to drive the rear wheel. It has some give to it and should dampen the shock.

So I added some landscape fabric behind the grill to give it depth:

Then I drove to Cartersville to pick this up for $40:

Which Ian immediately put to work:

send him over to my house next weekend, ill put him to work hauling stuff around the yard.

I have a junk power wheels motorcycle at my house that I pulled other parts from. If the gear box/drive whatever is compatible, I'll send it your way for the cost of flat rate shipping.

sachilles wrote: I have a junk power wheels motorcycle at my house that I pulled other parts from. If the gear box/drive whatever is compatible, I'll send it your way for the cost of flat rate shipping.

Cool. You have PM sir.

More updates on the Jeep. I found a parts Jeep in a roadside junk pile Saturday afternoon. I stripped the drivetrain from the parts Jeep and used it to double the horsepower of the first Jeep. Then I put the wheels back on the parts Jeep and made it a freewheeling roller for my 11-month old. The added power to the first Jeep means he can tow little brother around the yard in the parts Jeep:

I need to swing by Home Depot and pick up two more rubber pipe adapters so I can put the rubber tires back on the first Jeep. For now I just slapped the stock plastic wheels back on it.

Next step: doubling the power from 6 volts to 12!

I picked up the exact same John Deer Tractor and wagon for free from a neighbor! All it needs is a battery and some warmer weather.

I'll leave this here: Psycobilly Freakout.

We have the same one. I was just reading up on how to "add more POWAR!"

How is the weight of the rubber wheels compared to the plastic? Do you have a writeup on switching over to those?

And that John Deere is sweet! My kid would go crazy over one of those.

octavious wrote: We have the same one. I was just reading up on how to "add more POWAR!" How is the weight of the rubber wheels compared to the plastic? Do you have a writeup on switching over to those? And that John Deere is sweet! My kid would go crazy over one of those.

The weight difference between the wheels is pretty big. Each rubber tire/metal rim combo weighs probably two pounds, while the plastic wheels weight half a pound max.

Switching wheels is easy on a Power Wheels. Here's how: http://www.modifiedpowerwheels.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7538

My wife wants me to do a rubber tire swap on the tractor next. That one is a Peg Perego and uses different wheel drivers, but I think I can pull it off. The tractor should handle 18 volts no problem. I currently have it running on 6 volts but I think my son can handle it running faster now. I'll probably switch the Jeep and the tractor over to 12 volts in a week or two.