A little too late for a true working blog, I'd finished about half of it before I found this place. But I've been digging through my camera's pictures, and I found a few shots of the in-betweens.
I picked up this maroon Escalade on Craigslist back in early May. $90 and a 45 minute drive, but I was looking for a car that would seat two kids for a parade float.
The first day, JD started ripping off the stickers. I helped him a bit.
The second thing to go was the stupid plastic "windows" in the doors. JD and Mikey like the open windows a bit more.
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Talking with my wife, we decided we wanted a remote control. My first search found Wil's Power Wheels CD, so I bought it.
Over the next few weeks, I added the key switch, the seperate brake pedel, and what JD calls the "Red-light button" - he doesn't like it when I stop him, and he figured out that if he turns the key off, then back on, he's good to go again!
It didn't take long for JD to discover the limitations of the stock plastic wheels. He'd drive onto the grass, dirt, or mulch in the park, get stuck, and yell for Daddy to push him.
Daddy got real sick of this fast - so we dug in, and added the Harbor Freight wheels. Again, Wil's CD was mostly accurate, the minor differences between the Jeep and the Escalade were nothing I couldn't fabricate around.
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Which brings us to the naming of the jeep.
I got the front wheels on one night, just before dark, and let JD drive around with rubber tires up front - to check the handling. I was pleasantly surprised at how much better it steered!
When he brought it back to the garage, he picked up one of the old fat tires and put it against the back of the trunk, and said "This tire goes here, like a Jeep!"
So what else could I do?
An extra long 7/16" bolt, some washers and nuts, and... 73.81 KB
Of course, I'd bought LED's for the headlights....
I made a mistake that I'm not going to repeat.
I had seen the LED calculator, and I remember sodering and resisters from school, and I should have just done the work.
But when I saw the 12V LED's - they already had the resister attached to be plug-and-play, I got lazy and bought them.
They work great, the wiring was simple - but the LED calculator says I could have gotten three LED's plus a resister for the same power drain as each one of them.
Back LED's, pressed in from behind the tail light covers (the area under the covers was painted silver first): 35.58 KB
Front, the LED's in holders. Three yellow on the outside, two yellow inside, and three super-bright white 10mm in the center of each headlight area. 87.63 KB
And, turned on before dusk: (I'd turned off the flash, so there's a little blur)
As you probably noticed, it's been painted green in the last couple shots.
I took a day off from work, sent JD to preschool, and stripped it down fast.
We'd already washed it, so after a quick wipe with Goo-Gone, I blasted it with Rustoleum's plastic "Spruce Green".
I used up most of 3 cans that day.
I had to skip painting the underside, but I got it back together before JD got home, and he was amazed that it was green. But now he calls it his Jeep, not his Truck.
Finally, the moment I'd been waiting for. The reason I bought the toy in the first place, before I discovered how much fun modding them could be....
The Aptos, CA 4th of July parade.
I was up rather late the night before, designing and mounting the brackets for this, without leaving any visible holes when JD drives it to the park...
A Klingon Car-of-prey. 73.71 KB
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That's me standing on the left, with the remote kill in my hand.
JD drove it the entire distance, he didn't quite hit anyone, and I only had to hit the stop button four times.
How do you like the rubber tire upgrade from what you have seen?
It seems a little slower on pavement than with the original tires - the tires are about 1/4" to 1/2" smaller diameter.
But it REALLY goes better in grass, dirt, and the bark mulch that covers half of the park we ride in.
It also has a bit of bounce to it - he drives off the curb at full throttle, and it climbs a 3' dirt hill.
It's funny, when I looked at the instructions, I didn't realize that Wil had done the mod on an Lil Jeep. I wondered where he got wheels for only $8, I had to pay $10 each, plus shipping.
I also paid too much for the bushings, but I know better now ;-)
I was PM'ed a few questions the rubber tires. Since I prefer to share:
quote:Originally pm'ed
My son has the same Escalade and the plastic tire are useless in the GA hills.
I just got tires from HF. Did you cut the inner hub on the front wheels as on Will's video? Where did you get the bushings?
No, I didn't cut the inner hub - I thought about it, but I couldn't afford to pay someone to do it. I'm glad I didn't, as the wheels are a bit inside the body already. I really wish they were wider.
Great job! I have the Escalade in Blk for our daughter & will try to do the same mod's! Love the lights, & tires & will see who can help me with the remote kill switch! God bless ...
Great job! I have the Escalade in Blk for our daughter & will try to do the same mod's! Love the lights, & tires & will see who can help me with the remote kill switch! God bless ...
The wiring for the Ignition switch and kill switch is shown in more detail under my KFX.
The rubber tire mod was from Will's CD - it's worth the $13, in my opinion, although most of the info is available here, too
Half a year later, this one sits a lot as the boys prefer racing their Super6 Jeeps around...
JD tried to take it for a ride, complained that it was slow and got stuck! Slow didn't surprise me, but the one thing the rubber tires were good at was not getting stuck!
I watch as he hits the pedal, I hear the motors spin, but the wheels don't move. The clamps had gotten loose AGAIN!
That does it!
Fortis had suggested using hardwood - There's a plastics company near my house with a scrap pile. This was a cutting board made of 3/4" HDPE, that was a little too narrow, so it cost me $5. (I should be able to get at least two more disks out of it)
I used the 5" hole saw first, then the 2-1/2" in the same centering hole, to make a donut
Drilled four 7/16" holes, then force-threaded 1/2" bolts through the HDPE
There's the driver adapter 39.62 KB
The HF wheels already had M8 bolts in them. I put in 2" long 5/16" bolts in, and snugged the rim back together.
I spent way too much time trying to get the 5 bolt pattern and the 4 bolt pattern to coexist, but I just couldn't do it. I probably should have used just two bolts to connect to the driver...
But after drilling the holes (and using one original M8)
(You can't see them clearly, but there are nuts on the 5/16" bolts preventing the adapter from going too far down into the wheel)
Wheel installed:
Result - it's still slow (Time to put in 19T gearboxes and 18v)
But if it's stuck, the tires are moving, and probably chewing up the mud.
Project Escalade jeep
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Posted - 07/06/2009 : 16:49:38
- so we dug in, and added the Harbor Freight wheels. Again, Wil's CD was mostly accurate, the minor differences between the Jeep and the Escalade were nothing I couldn't fabricate around.
