Well, I've officially caught the bug. I just picked up my second Power Wheels. A Craigslist score for $20, including 2 aftermarket 6V batteries, Charger and otherwise complete. It does however appear to have the recalled style connectors still attached though. I haven't decided what color this one is going to be yet, but it will definitely be getting an 18V upgrade, probably by way of a turbo button.
I've actually gotten 2 of these for free in the last couple of months, the first one supplied my final set of 19t #7s for my argo. Still trying to figure out what to do with the other one. Love these fat wide tires, just wish they weren't PINK!!
"where's muh tools..." 92.05 KB
metal frame sahara @ 18V metal frame safari @ 18V maroon firebird metal frame wrangler @ 12V (2 pedal) Baby Baja beetle @12V Peg Perego Quad w/Gaucho motors and tires @12V Custom 6WD ARGO/ROVER/TANK Pink Harley Black Harley Drag Trike Extreme Machine - 21Ts 12V
I know exacly what you mean about those wheels. I think we've decided that this one will be a nice yellow and black paint scheme. Now I just need to find some black wheels to go with it.
I was going to test out the jeep before I tore it down, and I discovered why the battery connector was broken. The connectors on these Power Sonic batteries don't really mesh well with the Power Wheels H Connectors. So if anyone is still using those H connectors, I would recommend against these batteries. When I plugged the good connector in, it went in tight, and when I pulled it out, the plastic cover snapped off in the H connector. So I decided to just cut off those connectors and put on some spade terminals I had on hand.
I also decided on the color, going to go with Navy Blue. My wife didn't seem to keen on yellow, even though I love the way those Yello Gaucho's look. She said blue would look nice, and the happier I can keep her while I work on these, the better
This one is going on hold for a little while. After discovering a bad motor & gearcase, I'm now searching for another #7 19T, but that's another thread. In the meantime, I'm starting work on a Blue Thunder Monster Truck for my nephew's Christmas present. I should have pictures up soon.
Time to start work on this one again. I have the lift kit set to be added now, and some 14" wheels are on the way, so it should be a pretty tough looking Jeep when I'm done with it. Call me wishy-washy, but I've decided to back with the Yellow paint scheme. Then I'll have the whole warm color spectrum covered with my Jeeps. The color also seems to fit the Sun Jammer name this one came with. Still debating on whether or not to try and do 4wd on this one, or just try it on the metal frame jeep. Guess we'll see how this one comes along.
Finally got back to working on this one today. Starting going through my parts and cleaning them up. I'm still having troble deciding whether or not to go 4WD on this one or the Metal Frame Jeep. My gut is telling me to leave this one at 2wd. I'm going to be using 19T gearboxes with the 14" lifted jeep wheels, so I'll see how that setup runs around my hilly yard. I should also be getting a set of 21T gearboxes, but that may be too much. I'll probably keep this one on 12V for now, and step up to 18V down the line. Next up, convincing my wife to let me use the bathtub to clean up the remaining parts that are too big to wash in my buckets
I found that if you don't have a power washer and/or don't want to mess with the one you have - load it up and take it to the local do it yourself carwash and spray it down real good.
Thanks, Bonner
NOTICE: I am not on MPW as much as I used to be!! PM me if you have questions about any of my threads!!! I especially would love a PM from you if you did a project of your own similar to one of mine!!!
Good idea on the car wash. I have my fathers power washer right now, but it's below freezing outside and snow is on the ground, so I'm trying to stay indoors at the moment.
I actually got the OK to wash in the tub. She said as long as it wasn't her kitchen sink (man the look I got the first time I did that was enough for me), and that I scrubbed it down/disinfected it well afterwards, so I obliged.
Everything is all cleaned up now, and I'm going to start mock assembly soon.
Which Jeep to do 4wd is a bit of a toss up. Finding gearboxes for the Metal frame Jeep could be an issue, #7's for the uni-body would be easier to find. But the final result of the metal frame would be MUCH better.
The steering geometry/leverage of the uni-body jeeps suck. The plastic steering blocks are too flexible, especially with the 4wd twisting extra hard on them. I had this problem with the Dora Quad I converted to 4wd, the alignment varied a LOT depending on which way the gearboxes were pulling. The plastic blocks add even more offset to the front tires. And the "L" shaped axles will likely be too short too.
A metal frame Jeep with narrowed drivers may sit at the stock stance, since they already have a large space between the tire and the upright part of the steering "L". Might be able to use stock axles. The steel steering arms are much stiffer and provide better leverage, better then 1:1 even.
Thanks, you've pretty much got me settled on leaving the unibody jeep here at 2wd. I'll make the metal frame 4wd. I can either use #7's on the metal frame Jeep (I have enough 19T for that) or hunt down another set of the old gearboxes for it. Since that project probably won't happen until spring, there should be pleny of time for me to try and find some old gearboxes (I hope).
Going to try to get some more work done on the Sun Jammer today, hopefully I can get everything test fitted to see where I meed to make improvements such as with the steering before I tear it down again to paint it.
By the way, great to have you back again swhenrik! I trust everything went well with the surgery.
Back on track here...I managed to make a little progress today. I cut the openings out to fit the gearboxes lower with the rear lift kit and got the front end installed. I have some ideas how to brace up the steering to hopefully make it stronger. I'm going to use some angle rod to make a brace for the steering rod and give it minimal clearance to keep it from moving out of place. I also think I'll drill out the rivets in the steering knuckles and replace them with larger bolts to eliminate the wobble there.
I started wiring up the rear tail lights, and mounted them. I didn't get too far with them yet, but you can get an idea of what they look like here.
I got the front turn signals installed. They aren't going to acutally be functioning turn signals, just driving lights, but they are a definite improvement over the stickers that would normally occupy that space. They just have preliminary wiring done right now, I need to go pick up a terminal block tonight and some resisters to start on the LED headlights next. I probably won't get back to working on this until next week since I'll be wrapping presents in my free time tonight and tomorrow.
I worked on the headlights today. I made this one by taking the LEDs out of the $2.50 9 LED Flashlights from Advance Auto. The flashlights were a pain to take apart, I had to use my dremel to cut out the circuit board from the metal flashlight housing. The first one I tried to cut open I accidentally cut through 3 of the LEDs, so I decided to use the remaining 6 from it to make two 12 LED headlights.
I then wired up the LEDS 2 in a series and then tied the 6 pairs together in parallel. Each series has a 180 Ohm 1/8 watt resistor, which was calculated using the calculator from theledlight.com.
So here's the first one, it took me about 2 1/2 hours to wire up, but the next one I'm hoping will go smoother. After looking at it some more, I think I might add four more LEDS from the other extra falshlight I have to the center to even out the lighting some.
The electric tape is just temporary, I didn't want to short anything out while testing. I plan to use liquid electric tape to cover them up more permanantly.
Even with the lens on I was still able to illuminate my kitchen in the dark with a single light, so they are still pretty bright. I don't even like to look at it straight on with the lens over them. They should do their job well.
I did the second one today, it went a lot smoother snd quicker. I'm hoping to get them mounted soon to see all the lights together.
I agree that the white does look nice now that it's all cleaned up. I had already bought the yellow paint, and I have a yellow steering wheel with sounds from on old fisher price pedel car my daughter no longer rides that I plan to add too, so I still plan to paint it yellow.
I made a lot of progress this weekend. Got all the lights installed and wired up. I'm very happy with the way they turned out. The headlights are pretty bright and illuminate well.
Illuminated switch. Olivia chose the color yellow for it. It has a green, blue or red cover that can go on as well.
With the lights out it lit up the garage pretty well.
Olivia can't wait to drive this one, and keeps asking when it will be yellow.
Next up, working on the steering to fix the sloppiness.
I scored a Sun Jammer (without motor) in the dumpster yesterday. I'll use your build as a guide...but mine will look like my 3 yr old wired it.
Thanks! That's a nice looking Lil Sun Jammer. Kind of reminds me a little of my Lil Jeep when I got it, although mine had a pink body and white wheels, but the same turquoise trim. It looks like your rear axel is bent pretty good though. You should start a thread on the build up to go with your others.
When I got this Jeep, one of the motors had overheated and melted it self to the gearbox, but the high speed lockout screw was still in place. I'm not sure if they had just put the lockout screw back in, or if it really did overheat only running 6V. In any case, I decided to add in these Heat Sinks for extra protection. The fans are controlled by their own on/off switch so I can control whether or not they are on or off independant of the motors or lights
After being out of commission for a while with pneumonia, I was finally able to do a little work this morning. I added aluminum angle rod bracing around the steering column to help keep the wobble down, and replaced the worn rivets from the steering arms with new post screws and washer. Everything steers nice and tight now with no extra play at all. I hope this improves actual steering since I've heard these can be difficult to steer.
I also added some bracing to the back of the steering mount bracket to straighten and stiffen it since the plastic was a bit warped.
New post screws and washers in the steering arms eliminated all extra play and wobble. 54.89 KB
i am very interested learning how you are going to do your turbo button.
Thanks!
Here's how I plan to wire the turbo button using a relay.
And I'm going to be using a momentary push button from a lil quad I have to activate it. That way the 18V will only be on when the button is pushed. I know kids will tend to just keep pushing the button to go faster, but at least this way there is a little extra control built into it.
are you going to try to mount the momentary switch to the steering wheel?
I've been debating where to mount it. I plan to use this steering wheel and sound boxed I scavenged from my daughters old Fisher-Price pedal car since she always loved pushing the sound buttons on it. There is room to place the button I will be using in one of the upper steering wheel spokes, so I could place it there. My other choice is to place it under the light switch mounted on the dash, which is still withing easy reach, but she would have to remove her hand from the steering wheel to push it, which could lead to loss of control.
I finished up the test wiring today. Using the diagram a couple posts above to wire the relay for the 18V turbo button worked great. I took a video of it in action (on a stand so it wouldn't go anywhere). When I was trying to push the turbo button it took me a couple tries before I could push it and the pedal switch at the same time while holding the camera, so the first few tries are just 12V, but once I finally got the turbo button pressed you can really hear the motors pick up speed. Please excuse my lame narration.
I also took a quick video of the Integy fans I installed on the motors.
I installed the turbo button onto the steering wheel and got everything mounted and installed today. I also completed some of the other assembly so I could get a feel for what the completed jeep would look like and help me decide what colors will look best on which parts.
Here's the turbo button wired into the steering wheel.
And here it is installed on the Jeep.
Here is the mostly assembled Jeep. I didn't bother putting on the KC lights right now since I know how I'm going to have them painted.
Everything is working great, unfortunately I couldn't convince Olivia to give it a try today. She just wanted to ride her Lil Orange Jeep. She's definitely a creature of habit. I'm hoping she'll warm up to it soon so I can get her to test it out and see if I need to make any other changes to it before I tear it back down to paint.
I got my nephew to test it out the Sun Jammer yesterday. Man it's fast when he hits that turbo button. I couldn't keep up with it running behind him. Here's a little video I put together of it, I'm hoping to get Olivia on some longer rides now that she's seen Connor ride it. Steering seemed to work pretty well, so I don't think I'll need to make any more changes to it.
I also decided to add real lights to the KC lights, so I'm working on that right now. Each one will have 36 LEDs. I'll post some pictures up when they are done.
I finished up the first KC light tonight and wanted to see how it looked installed. The left side light board is finished, I'm just waiting for the liquid electric tape to dry before I install it. It looks really cool in person, it gives it a cool looking glow behind the yellow plastic.
I'd eliminate the angles you added along the steering stem through the floor. It could cause binding, especially when the chassis flexes a little. The ones you added down further will still eliminate the drag, and looks like a great mod.
You aren't seriously going to paint that thing? It looks beautiful in the pics, in white. Add a couple stickers to break it up a little, and call it good? Maybe paint the seat and steering wheel and pedal mount only?
You aren't seriously going to paint that thing? It looks beautiful in the pics, in white. Add a couple stickers to break it up a little, and call it good? Maybe paint the seat and steering wheel and pedal mount only?
Yea, the pictures are doing the white plastic a lot more justice than in person. The plastic doesn't look all that great up close with a lot of splotches and stains that I can't seem to get rid of. Plus I really like the way they look with a fresh coat of paint.
Thanks for the tip on the steering, I'll take your advice.
Connor came up for a visit and took the Sun Jammer for some more 18V action. He was doing crazy spins and donuts in the driveway with it. I didn't get the video camera out in time to catch the good action though. I decided it needed a hoodscoop to show off the power it has.
It's done!...well not really, but I did finish up the KC lights tonight. Now I just need to wait for the weather to warm up and tear this bad boy down again for painting.
I used a large PC board from Radio Shack and cut it to fit inside. Each light has 44 LEDS off the $2.50 Advance Auto flashlights. The black coming through the holes is liquid electric tape I used to coat the back of the PCB. I used silicon sealant to seal the PCB into the light housing. The PCB's were cut to fit as snug as possible, so hopefully they'll hold up to the bumps with the sealant. I didn't use a lens, just the yellow plastic KC Light cover, which is why I used so many LEDs. I wanted to make sure enough light would come through. It's not going illuminate anything, but it looks good.
i cant remember exactly where right now, but i found a website that sold leds and accessories and had various sized plastic and glass concave lens for sale that i thought would work well for making the kc housings functional, sealed and looking good for leds.
sweet mods. question: on your fans...are they running off a separate 6v battery or are they running off one of the 6v batts in the 18v-in-series that powers the whole rig?
if the latter, how do wire to get just 6v's (or 12v's for lights) from an 18v-in-series set up? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm still a newbie.
Ella and Ethan's Dad (Newly Addicted)
- Peg Gaucho w/trailer HP252: 18v Mod, Remote Kill Switch, LEDs - Peg 12v Polaris 2x ATV: Stock - Peg John Deere Gaucho - PW Extreme Machine "Rat Rod": 18v Mod, Traxxas Titan Monster 14.4v 550's, #7 21Ts, 12v Fans, Heat Sinks, Soft Brakes, BMX Tires and Paint - Injusa 6v XK Enduro: (awaiting 12v Mod) - PW Super 6 Jeep Wrangler: 12v Mod - PW Kawasaki KX Super Shock: 18v Mod (Ella flipped it on 24v) - PW Get Set Go Cart: 12v Mod - PW 'Lil Quad: 12v Mod - PW 'Lil Sun Jammer
Don't worry about the questions, that's what we're all here for.
I acutally have a 12V battery under the hood that is used for the accessories only. It's powering all the lights and the fans, which is why I ran the fans in series to keep them at 6V each. At first I used a 12AH battery for this, but I just switched to a 7AH battery to reduce a little weight, since the lights and fans aren't drawing too much power. I went with a 12V battery since the lights I used for the marker lights and tail lights are 12V auto lights. The LEDs I used are all 4.5V leds, so I wired them up in 9V pairs in series, and then added a 1/8 Watt 150 Ohm resistor to allow them to run off 12V.
I then have a 12V and 6V battery under the seat that are used for the motors only. This way, I don't have to worry about the lights draining more run time from the motors when they are on.
OK OK, you all convinced me...well actually it was my daughter, but the Jeep will now remain white. I even found a set of stickers for it on ebay that will look really good. So now I'm just going to paint a few items, like the grille and exhaust pipes. I may have to change out the yellow items or paint them now to keep the theme going with the stickers.
I also need to replace or fix the wiring on a couple of the LEDs. I had wondered how my skills would hold up to the offroading it would be enduring. So far I only have 3 pairs of LEDs that went out, so that's not too bad. I should get some time to get this one all finished up by Sunday.
So here is the finished Sun Jammer. The white color is staying and I think it looks pretty good now. With the black seat and new stickers, I'm thinking even the yellow parts look pretty good with it, so I'm not goin to bother painting them. The only painting I did was to the exhaust pipes. Thanks to GI Joe for the black seat, it made a big difference, and to CJB for the black foot board and new gearboxes.
Had the family over for an early Easter today since everyone is working this weekend. The kids had a blast! They loved being able to ride together. One thing that I did come to realize is that only 2 chargers isn't enough to keep all these cars going at 18V all the time, so I'll be heading to walmart tomorrow to pick up one or two more Battery Maintainers.
Turbo Sun Jammer Jeep (lifted)
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Posted - 10/16/2008 : 13:38:00
), and that I scrubbed it down/disinfected it well afterwards, so I obliged. 
just like my boys "sharing" HA HA