I'm thinking of getting two for my sons. Does anybody have any experience with them. Pros & cons, do's and dont's. Maybe some different brands and model options.This website got me thinking. Modified Power Wheels Information
power wheels
- Thread starter tom j
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You're in luck. It turns out that I'm the world's foremost authority on Power Wheels Modifications.
How old are your kids, what type of driving area do you have (paved, grass, crushed rock, flat, hills, etc.)
What type of cars do your kid's like? jeeps, trucks, cars?
How old are your kids, what type of driving area do you have (paved, grass, crushed rock, flat, hills, etc.)
What type of cars do your kid's like? jeeps, trucks, cars?
For Pavement, any 12 volt vehicle would be fine. Walmart had the new NASCAR Monte Carlo's for $150 last Friday, which are great 1 passenger cars and can be modded to run about 10 mph. With Grass or hills, you have to be a little more conservative on the speeds you are going to achieve.
If you want to go used, the jeep wranglers can take lots of mods and usually can be found at Garage sales or on Craigslist for less than $50.
A 4.5 year old can fit in almost any 12 Volt Power Wheel and some of the super 6 volt ones, but a 6 year old would need one of the larger 12 volt Power Wheels, as some can be a little tight for kids over 5 years old.
Car's like the new mustang are technically 2 seaters, but would be tight for two kids older than 4 yrs old. The New 2 seat F150 would fit a 6yr old and a 4yr old together, however.
Almost all new 12 volt Power Wheels use the #7 gearbox, which are relatively strong and easily accept motor/pinion swaps for more speed for less than $20. Most have room for more batteries, which = more volts, which nets more speed.
I recommend staying away from Non Power Wheels ride-on's. Peg Perego vehicles are usually better built than Power Wheels, but Power Wheels have more interchangeable parts and modding options. Vehicles like the safety 1st/kidtrax corvette are cool, but you have to completely rewire the damn thing with 5 relays if you want to go faster than 5 mph (and what kid doesn't?).
Power Wheels can be a great transition to a gas powered Go kart. My son easily transitioned from a 13 mph Power Wheel to a 45 mph Kid Kart, with no fear he would get himself into trouble at the limits of control. With hard plastic tires, driving sideways and steering with the throttle and brake becomes second nature.
The Dora Quad can get high speed motors, nitrous button, 18 volt conversion, brake pedal mod, keychain remote kill switch, etc.
As long as it isn't the Little Dora quad. We modded a little quad and my son busted his butt on it and told me "this mod is going to hurt a lot of babies" so we left them off the CD.
The KFX can get similar mods, but it has an OEM "turbo circuit" which is like a nitrous button with two 15 amp relays on a small PC board. I have a wiring diagram on the CD to make a turbo circuit out of two 30 amp relays so you can run more volts and amps and not worry about burning up the turbocircuit.
One of my winter projects is to put a detailed KFX build-up on the CD (I think it was last winter's project, too)
Some of the new larger Kaws use a turbo circuit and some don't. If they don't, 18 volts, nitrous, faster motors are all doable. All Power Wheels quads should be able to run 7-8 mph with minimal mods and good reliability and are a great transition to a gas powered quad.
None of the mods are very hard.
Everybody wants them to be 4 wheel drive and run on 24 volts, which by the time you are done fabricating and fixing broken parts, you are better off buying a $450 chinese gas powered quad.
Modding Power Wheels can be done very cheaply.
The material cost for a Power Wheel is about $10 - 20. Full Retail on a pair of high speed (30% faster than stock) motors is $7.00/pr.
Kids out grow them, the switches get corroded and the batteries die, so Cheap/Free Power wheels are plentiful. All 12 volt Power Wheels run 5 mph max, so small tire Power Wheels have fast gearboxes and large tire Power Wheels have slow gearboxes.
Swap a small tired Gearbox into a large tired Power Wheel for more speed.
With conventional motors/factory gearboxes, the speed limit on a Power Wheel is about 13 - 15 mph with sketchy reliability.
7-10 mph and your kids could outgrow them before they break.
Dreamcar86
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Go for it!! Last December it was too cold for me to do anything with the GN so I started modifying the Power wheels Jeep. My son is hooked on the idea of being a Police officer so as you can see we made it into a Police Jeep.
I used LED's for headlights and running lights. You will also see the LED's on the windshield as well as a rotating red light on the roll bar. As for performance I purchased three six volt batteries from a ups power supply and wired them in a series changing it from a 12v system to a 18v power supply. The power is noticeable and my son loves it. and yes it does have a siren under the hood.
Attachments
Dreamcar86
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- Apr 13, 2006
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This is what we picked for 2 boys,
Yamaha Raptor ATV Ride-On for Children - Power Wheels and Kids' Rides (kidsdrives.com) - Large Woven Storage Basket, Black and White
Yamaha Raptor ATV Ride-On for Children - Power Wheels and Kids' Rides (kidsdrives.com) - Large Woven Storage Basket, Black and White
Fisher-Price Lightning McQueen
Can anything be done with this one,bought it last yr and my son will be 3 this june,,will be his birthday gift...:smile:
Can anything be done with this one,bought it last yr and my son will be 3 this june,,will be his birthday gift...:smile:
Little6pack
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- Jun 2, 2002
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- 11,676
Buy Extra Batteries
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UHARdWnNkw[/YOUTUBE]
Lightning Mcqueen and the new NASCAR Monte Carlos use the 19T #7 gearboxes. Swap in the DCM-231 from All Electronics with 19T Traxxas 32P pinions for about 7 mph.
To make the vehicle 18 volts, the Pocket in behind the battery will fit 2 5 AH six volt batteries wired in Parrallel with each other, or with slight trimming, a 6 volt, 12 AH battery will fit. 18 volts will give the vehicle about 7 mph with the stock motors and 9-10 mph in conjuction with the DCM-231 motors.
Any of the other mods that work with typical 12 volt vehicles, like keychain remote kill switch will work, also.
BlackMetal
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- Sep 29, 2005
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I think I want one for myself haha.
I just bought my son (just turned 3yr old) one of the Power Wheels Jeeps for Christmas. He loves it. A friend of ours kids has one and they have also had good service from it.
My yard is very hilly and he doesn't weigh much so one the slow speed it had a tendency to spin the right rear tire (his weight on the left side). However on the high speed setting it goes great. Even up a large hill on our concrete street. Once I set it on high, he wants nothing to do with the slow speed now.
I found it at Big Lots (bargain store) for $199 and bought it. Two weeks later they disounted them to $150 and after inquiring, they gave me the $49 difference back.
Really nice of them I thought.
My yard is very hilly and he doesn't weigh much so one the slow speed it had a tendency to spin the right rear tire (his weight on the left side). However on the high speed setting it goes great. Even up a large hill on our concrete street. Once I set it on high, he wants nothing to do with the slow speed now.
I found it at Big Lots (bargain store) for $199 and bought it. Two weeks later they disounted them to $150 and after inquiring, they gave me the $49 difference back.
Really nice of them I thought.
In slow speed and reverse, most modern Power Wheels run the two motors in series, so they share 12 volts. If one motor spins, it gets all the voltage and the vehicle can get stuck.
In High speed, the motors are switched to receive 12 volts in parrallel so if one motor is spinning, the other is still getting the full 12 volts.
As kids get more experience, even high speed 12 volts becomes boring. That is the danger with going to 24 volts. The kids don't want to go slower and 24 volts breaks too many parts, so you really don't want your kids to experience 24 volts, because the next thing you know you will be buying them a go kart.
I got the pw cd and did the nitrous button and key mod, it flies now. I also have the traction bands, but the rule is never hit the button until its going full speed already, been lucky so far I guess. It takes off quick, I have to jog to keep up
