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Half Pint - Jeep Fire Rescue

DieselSlug

DieselSlug

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Location
Fabius, NY
This project is going to be a tad different than the norm here. With my oldest about to turn 3 in August I decided to get him a power wheels, with intentions to modify it after he gets the hang of it. I set my eyes on a used unit as It will be tough to hack up a new $400 unit. I never had these myself when I was younger and he loves anything trucks or equipment.

Pictures of it dragged home. Current plans are to just get it running as stock as possible so the boy gets his feet wet on turtle. The current battery is toast with a voltage of 12.8 after a 14 hour charge and a resting voltage of 11.5 a day later. Picked up a 12v 18ah SLA battery with a new smart charger with 2amp and 4 amp settings. This should net me near double run time. Will fox the side saddle pump tank, add a keyed ignition, lights, CB whip and the like. Future mods are an 18v conversion with variable throttle.

Not bad for $30!
 

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When my kids had them and the ridiculous priced battery died, I choped the plastic and fit a $20 motorcycle sized battery in its place. Also wired in a 12v trickle charger connection at same time. They could drive them all day long without issue.

A lot of folks do expensive setups for more power, just keep everything 12v except before power goes to motors use constant duty solenoids and have 24v hit the motors. There is room for 2 motorcycle batteries in most of them. Just a warning, you might think of a remote control for power cut off.
 
When I was a kid, ours were made out of steel, you could sit inside them, had a real steering wheei, often times a squeeze bulb horn and/or a pull cord bell on it and they were powered by us pedaling on a crank-pushrod-crank/rear axle direct drive system. We also had pedal tractors, too. No, it was only uphill one way in the snow walking to school.
 
Husker6.5 said:
When I was a kid, ours were made out of steel, you could sit inside them, had a real steering wheei, often times a squeeze bulb horn and/or a pull cord bell on it and they were powered by us pedaling on a crank-pushrod-crank/rear axle direct drive system. We also had pedal tractors, too. No, it was only uphill one way in the snow walking to school.
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YUP, and Mine looked like a 48 Hudson Hornet and it had a water tight dump box on the back. I would stop at the slough on the way home frum school and gather pollywogs, get home and fill the box with water and dump them pollywogs in there. they thought it was great fun cruising the yard until I stopped the car to go in for supper, then them stinking black birds ate all My pollywogs. LOLOLOL
 
Yes this is definitely modern age plastic! From what I researched it was manufactured between 2003 and 2008. That is a good idea on the remote shut off. For now we are staying on turtle speed (2.5 MPH) and in the open field haha.

Along with the battery I ordered 5 point harnesses. Not that it will help much in a situation it is more to keep his 1 year old sister firmly planted.
 
Last night was the first spin for my boy and his new ride. Didn't get any pictures except this one (don't condone dismantling a SLA battery) as it was last minute before our Gun Club meeting.
gQaMwTV.jpg

I hacked off the old connector from the POS Power Wheels battery as to not hack the truck side wiring. Temporarily rigged it in to confirm the rest of the truck was viable.

He jumped in and took right off! All speeds and reverse working perfectly. I did notice that the camber and toe were messed up on it due to garbage engineering (CHEAP). Plan is to dive into the front end and make some braces for the knuckles. Also took off and cleaned up the side pump apparatus. It does pump and I can hear suction however nothing sprays form the nozzle. Will have to take it further apart to diagnose, assuming plugged line somewhere as the reservoir was full of debris.
 
DieselSlug said:
Last night was the first spin for my boy and his new ride. Didn't get any pictures except this one (don't condone dismantling a SLA battery) as it was last minute before our Gun Club meeting.
gQaMwTV.jpg

I hacked off the old connector from the POS Power Wheels battery as to not hack the truck side wiring. Temporarily rigged it in to confirm the rest of the truck was viable.

He jumped in and took right off! All speeds and reverse working perfectly. I did notice that the camber and toe were messed up on it due to garbage engineering (CHEAP). Plan is to dive into the front end and make some braces for the knuckles. Also took off and cleaned up the side pump apparatus. It does pump and I can hear suction however nothing sprays form the nozzle. Will have to take it further apart to diagnose, assuming plugged line somewhere as the reservoir was full of debris.
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Very nice indeed.

You guys still have a few Gun Clubs up there, good deal? More power to you, I hope you have shooting ranges that you can go to also....🙂
 
BIGR said:
Very nice indeed.

You guys still have a few Gun Clubs up there, good deal? More power to you, I hope you have shooting ranges that you can go to also....🙂
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Luckily we are far enough away from NYC there are quite a few clubs in my area. What sets us apart form the others is that we try to facilitate all types of sportsmen/women. Lots of clubs here are focused on an element say gun range, trap or archery. We have them all. I don't do much at the range because we have a monster dirt mound at work with a target setup and bench-rest, no waiting for others to clear the line!

Heading down tonight for the CNY Trap League. Ended up missing 2 out of 25 last week however my wife showed me up with a 25 after a 1.5 year baby hiatus!
 
Excellent, good for you all. Glad to see your area involved in those activities, plus the archery and other activities give the kids something to do if club rules allow them at a certain age.

Wow, impressive trap shooting for the wife and you. 👌

I have never done any trap shooting, but have shot some skeet a few times. Never been a member of a gun club, but as far as places to shoot I have several, some where I can stretch a rifle out to 500 yards.
 
Well the little jeep is still going after a full camping season, a parade and 2 roll overs (more accurately endo's from wheelies up hill). The steering has gotten way worse as in bad camber! Some due to age and more due to larger kids enjoying. Its getting to the point where the steering is squirrely and its starting to take away from its speed.

Let's beef up the plastics with some metal. Note this metal I used is actually used shims from one of our hydraulic excavator shears!

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The plates fit nicely and tighten up the camber immensely. Moving on to some tie rod issues next.
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Continued disassembly of the steering rod to knuckles which were merely pop rivets I drilled out. Lots of slop within. Plan is to drill out to a 1/4 bolt. Might have to get creative and grind the head of the bolt down as far as I can to clear underneath the the makeshift a-arm and not rub.
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What is the best lube to use in these joints? previously it was dry however I am trying to make the plastics last as long as possible! Spray white lithium? Or just pack it with conventional grease for now?
 
DieselSlug said:
Continued disassembly of the steering rod to knuckles which were merely pop rivets I drilled out. Lots of slop within. Plan is to drill out to a 1/4 bolt. Might have to get creative and grind the head of the bolt down as far as I can to clear underneath the the makeshift a-arm and not rub.
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What is the best lube to use in these joints? previously it was dry however I am trying to make the plastics last as long as possible! Spray white lithium? Or just pack it with conventional grease for now?
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I believe a synthetic type of lube would be best.
Something with minerals in it might sort of dissolve the plastics over time.
 
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