How 'bout them Cowboys, lifted Jeep 24v ESC 94

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:39 am

Finally put my first Jeep lift under my belt. Been meaning to get to it for the longest time, so I finally gave in to my procrastination urges and dropped what I should have been doing to spend some time with a sawzall and some power wheels :twisted:

I followed Taz's instructions, turned out much easier than I feared and I made a (hopefully) helpful discovery in the process.

The subject

The Victim :twisted:

The teardown (also the spark of a horrible idea that I will hopefully someday get around to ;) )

Cut out the floor of the stock tub for a battery as per Taz's brilliant idea

Braced the front lift module. Also, had no real plan for the steering shaft. As usual, I figured I'd tackle it when I got there :roll: Turns out, the steering shaft from a Mustang works great! It has a bigger bend on the axle side so I had to notch into the lift module, but it seems to give a sharper turning radius because of it, more throw side-to-side. The length was perfect from axle to wheel, I just had to trim about an inch of excess length where it extended through the wheel. I chose to drill a hole for the pin instead of using a push nut, but either works. I'll try to edit later with a photo.

Now for the finish. I've always loved the "Cali lean" so I decided not to lift the rear. I like the way it looks and it seems to drive just fine.

I'm very happy with the street speed at 18v with the 19t boxes and Silverado wheels (thanks to bruces_eviltwin). Unfortunately it's a dog in the grass now. I may finally have an excuse for some banebots! :D

I stole the dash and doors from the donor jeep so it clearly needs a paint job now. I've got full lighting ordered along with another strobe module but unfortunately it will be another month before it all shows up from China :x We'll have to see where this one ends up :D

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:34 am

"also the spark of a horrible idea that I will hopefully someday get around to"

Funny how that works :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Mustang shaft eh? Great discovery! I'll put a link in my topic to this thread :D ;)

Remember on those BaneBots...way more torque, but you will loose about 4000 RPM. May want to go to 21ts with them. You can also go 7R and use a 22t pinion.

I think you should add some primer spots to it and leave it as a rat rod 8-)

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:29 am

taz11 wrote: I think you should add some primer spots to it and leave it as a rat rod 8-)

That's an idea. The copper color is nearly rust already :)

Question, why did it seem that I read a lot in different areas about needing longer axles for the 14" wheels? Is that only for the lifted Jeep wheels? The Silverado wheels fit perfectly.

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:51 am

You need longer axles if you have the newer 6 spoke style that they use today. The older jeeps were all the same.

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:48 am

Good to know. I had both Jeeps but decided to go with the older one because I liked it more. I was planning to swap the wheels and 5-spoke hubcaps to the newer jeep since they have a much tougher look, but now maybe I better think twice!

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 9:04 am

Another potential Discovery! :D :?

I was looking at relocating the front bumper but was feeling a bit too lazy to use Taz's method. I used the long screws to reattach the bumper to the grille and realized the bumper now sat just about a 1/2" above the steering module bumper mount. It looked like I could run a screw from the bottom up into the lower bumper tube. I turned the jeep upside down and there they were, two screw bosses molded into the underside of the bumper support, perfect location! :D I ran a couple screws through the bosses and into the bumper tube. I used a pair of 1/2" nuts I had laying around for spacers. Now it's quite strong, perhaps stronger than stock :) When I get around to painting it the underside will be black so it shouldn't stand out as much as it does right now.

With that done I moved on to lighting. I put a couple eagle eyes in the headlights, though I will probably change them for light discs once the boat from China finally arrives :roll:

Of course, since we mainly only use these rides at night, the lights wouldn't be much use pointing straight in the air so I mounted some fog lights down low on the bumper. Lousy range on them but they do have a wide beam.

I clearly still have to do some work on the front end sag. I had bought everything I needed but my boy conveniently lost it all while he was "helping me". I may try the cable idea someone put here instead.

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 9:51 am

Great job on the bumper! It looks good too.

If you go with the primer idea, you need a hood that is a third color.....oh, and side pipes 8-) :D :D

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 10:08 am

Let's see, I've got a dark blue hood. Guess I need a donor aftershock for the side pipes... Chrome them or rust patina?...

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 11:05 am

Rust....

I have a set ;)

You need a hood that doesn't match the doors....paint it if you have to! :lol:

If you find that after shock.....bolt the motor to the inner fenders and loose the hood completely! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)

I love living through someone else's builds ...so much easier :P :lol: :lol: :lol:

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 3:53 pm

So if your no longer attached to your set of side pipes, shoot me a price and I'll see how much $$ I can hide from the wife :?

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:19 pm

The faded "paintable" set is $4 plus shipping.

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 6:03 pm

Sounds like I can just skip a couple breakfast tacos... :lol:

Shipping to 78578. Thanks

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:18 pm

$11 shipped. They are green, want a pic?

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:24 pm

Sure, why not. :-)

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:59 am

Got some of the lighting finished. It doesn't exactly turn night into day, but it lets us see where we're going and should keep us from getting run over at night :o

Had one of those "Doh! Why am I barely thinking of this?" moments. It's hard to keep a bundle of cables looking even semi-neat. I detest electrical tape and tie straps are a bit of a pain, the little stubs sticking out after you trim the excess length always seem to find a way of cutting you when your working around them later. :x I cut short pieces of heat shrink and ran the cable bundles through them, then just shrunk the pieces at intervals along the way. Now no more sharp tie straps and no messy glue from electrical tape if I need to mess with it later. : :geek: :)

: I desperately need a new radio. This thing is roasted...

Next step will be lights for roll bar, under dash, and under glow :D

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Fri Nov 15, 2013 9:26 am

Pipes...

The dark spot in the closeup is a slightly chalky area.

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 8:55 am

Got my light discs in. Not too bad on time actually. I guess the wind and currents are pushing the boats from China here quicker? :roll: I've got my wires soldered on the whole batch, some going on the RZR and a couple other rides. Once I get the pipes in from Taz I'll put this Jeep back under the knife and do some more wiring :D

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 9:26 am

I'm making slow progress but it's going. Put the lights in the roll bar. I would love to find a clear lens instead of the yellow, but it probably doesn't matter since it's shining straight into the back of my kids heads :roll:

I'm beginning to love hot glue by the way... :)

Fishing my cable through the nut inside the end of the pipe was a MAJOR pain! I wasted more time fighting that than the whole rest of the mini project :x :x

I still have plenty more work to do. One piece at a time...

hkayssi · Post by **hkayssi** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:10 am

Someone bore holes in the covers and installed Jeep Uni body headlight lenses and grids in there. That should allow for a better light output.

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:39 am

Someone bore holes in the covers and installed Jeep Uni body headlight lenses and grids in there.

Is there a smiley face for a "face-palm slap to the forehead"? That's a brilliant idea!

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Dec 02, 2013 1:44 pm

Finally got around to tackling the sagging front end issue. I used a C-Clamp to compress the rivets and went the adjustable route here for the center bar.

I notched into the steering module for bolt head clearance. It seemed ok until I realized while fixing the camber issue, it unfortunately also gave me a serious toe-in condition. I slacked up my adjustment a little but the toe-in is still there.

Does anybody have a suggestion for this other than making my tie bar adjustable?

I also dove head first into the next phase of this project. Let's just say Taz wasn't the only one sniffing toxic fumes this weekend... :twisted: Here's a preview:

taz11 · Post by **taz11** » Mon Dec 02, 2013 3:47 pm

Just back off the adjustment a bit. You don't need to pull it in that far. You have way too much camber in that IMO.

The toe is the most important angle. The camber will fall in real close.

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Dec 02, 2013 4:49 pm

taz11 wrote:Just back off the adjustment a bit. You don't need to pull it in that far. You have way too much camber in that IMO.

The toe is the most important angle. The camber will fall in real close.

That pic was before I readjusted it but once I get it put back together with the kids in it I may keep tweaking it. I'm trying to salvage what's left of the tires best I can... :x :lol:

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:03 am

Just a couple more shots. I've become a hot glue addict :oops: I'm also really liking those plastic terminal blocks ;)

Hopefully I'll be ready for a full reveal soon :D

drew510 · Post by **drew510** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:20 pm

taz11 wrote:If you find that after shock.....bolt the motor to the inner fenders and loose the hood completely! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)

You are about three years late or you could have used one of these:

from this thread - http://www.modifiedpowerwheels.com/foru ... C_ID=21610

I bought two. One for my son and one for me. His is now missing a bunch of parts and he keeps asking for mine. NO!! LOL.

taz11 wrote:I love living through someone else's builds ...so much easier :P :lol: :lol: :lol:

Me, too! :lol:

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:51 pm

That little motor is sick! What was it actually supposed to be?

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:53 pm

Never mind, I read the box in the background. Still awesome!

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Thu Dec 05, 2013 8:24 am

Some people are good at working diligently on a project and waiting till it's done to show off their work. Obviously i'm not one of them... :lol:

It's apparent it's no longer a Copper Jeep, so here are a couple more mods as I work my way through the project. First up, stole somebody's idea for mirrors, used auto parts store cut-to-fit mirror replacement.

Via sacrifice of Gizmo's Gaucho, I have front shocks too now :D Fits perfectly with the lift module!

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Fri Dec 06, 2013 5:18 pm

And the trend continues. Someday it will be actually done for all to see... :roll:

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:01 am

So now my PW jeep has brand identity issues...

hkayssi · Post by **hkayssi** » Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:43 am

Haha, my Gaucho has a similar identity problem; it has black power wheels shoulder seat belts installed. They're basically similar but narrower :lol: :lol: :lol:

I love the color too; 2 thumbs up 8-)

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:03 pm

So much for a big reveal, I had plans to put it all together, show it off at once, and try to get it on craigslist for a ridiculous price while their Superbowl hopes were still alive. Unfortunately it took my decal guy like 2 MONTHS to get me the decals! :evil: :(

So here we are. I've got waay too much invested in paint and lights, but I'm kinda proud of how it turned out. :mrgreen:

My first sports themed build. Learned some important lessons, ALWAYS start with the right color primer, white for light colors and black for dark colors. I used black and brown Fusion for primer since it was what I had and it cost me soo many cans of top coat to cover, about a dozen! And it STILL didn't hide the base completely in some areas! :x

I already documented much of the light wiring, 44 led discs for headlights and roll bar lights, goofy spot lights on the bumper, about a dozen blue LED strips in the wheel wells, a pair of red led strips under the dash, and 20mm red leds for the side pipes. It was all pretty straight forward except string wire up to the roll bar lights, that was a major pain! Trying to fish the wire through the factory nut that is in the pipe was just about impossible. I finally got it but I don't know if I would try it again.

I have a circuit breaker in the battery compartment and it's easily convertible from 12v to 18v to 24v. The gaucho fake shocks fit nicely on the lift module, I attached it with hot glue. I also hot glued on the mirrors. I wasn't fast enough so they didn't lay completely flat :( Oh well :) All I really have left to find and put on are the dash stickers.

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:07 pm

And for more of the same but at night... :twisted:

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:21 pm

Kids can be scary! Got a call from my wife, my 4 year old was driving around with my one year old and decided to try to climb a fairly steep dirt pile I left for him. He hit it at a bit over 7 mph causing it to roll over backwards! :o
My baby girl didn't think it was funny, my boy's first words were, "what mom? " as if it were no big deal what he just did. :x :roll:
He's WAAY too much like me! :twisted:

iDz Bowl · Post by **iDz Bowl** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:26 am

Looks great, you have a boat load of underglows, don't you, lol. Next time you need decals like those, check with Batman2036, he can hook you up way faster. Hot glue is really effective, just don't get carried away, if you ever have to work on something that breaks...hot glue is hard to work around! I know first hand, lol

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Jun 09, 2014 2:10 pm

Just as an update, It's now got quite a few months and probably 20 miles or more running 24v direct with stock motors and 19t boxes. It helps to have kids that only weigh about 65lbs combined! :lol: Plus, flat terrain doesn't stress it too badly.

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Mon Jun 23, 2014 8:53 am

So after bragging about running a long time one 24v direct, I notice all the black soot buildup at the vents on the motors... Sooo it's time to finish it and go ESC :roll: 8-)

I happen to be a huge fan of the 'lil jeep gas pedals. I did some trimming and fit it on the original pedal plate to use for a brake pedal. I opened up the base plate where the original gas pedal went and slid the metal pedal into place. I bent it for slightly easier use.

I decided to swap things around for simplicity so I moved my acc battery to the front and moved my motor batteries to the back compartment. On a side note, the change in weight distribution has significantly affected the Jeeps willingness to turn :o :x To keep all wiring runs as short as possible I put the ESC and brake relay on either sides of the shifter. I kept the fwd reverse on the shifter since it hadn't given me any trouble yet... and it's easier :D

One thing on my to-do list now is modifying the shift handle. It's constantly rubbing on my boy's leg while he's trying to drive. I'm working on a way to make it a "short throw" shifter :)

BedaHouse · Post by **BedaHouse** » Tue Jul 01, 2014 10:54 am

Good gravy, those are some serious upgrades :)

toycrusher · Post by **toycrusher** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 8:47 am

You got to "pay to play" as the saying goes :lol:

This ride now has lots of time running around on 24v ESC with stock 21t motors and gearboxes. No problems to date other than I smoked (read melted down :o )the battery-to-esc connector because of moisture and a bad connection. I also lost the circuit breaker due to corrosion so I ditched it and went with an inline fuse instead.