[Bjorn]

I have a 12v f-150 raptor (2 seater) I got for $100 that only had been ridden a few time. Looks brand new. I got a 6V and a 12 volt both 12 amps from Gruber. Obviously I plan on making this a 18 volt. I have some LED lights and a buck converter to step down the volts and amps. I plan on making the head lights work and maybe illuminating behind the body I heard the the lights kind of glow through the plastic. No tail lights because they are currently just stickers and not easily converted like the head lights. I have a volt/amp display with a shunt I plan on mounting on the dash. I got the 18v drill trigger everyone refers too and I plan on ignoring the orange brake wire and not adding a brake peddle. I am still contemplating wheels. I don't really like the look of cutting up a BMX tire and just adding tread. I saw where someone had taken the plastic rims and mounted a tire and inner tube to it. That way you don't have to modify the drive on the tire. Does anyone see any red flags with this whole plan that I need to be aware of? Are the tires going to be to heavy for stock gearboxes? Is no brakes a huge no-no?

[wired]

Why the buck converter?

[Bjorn]

The LED lights I got are only good to 9W. If I wire them direct they will burn up... I believe

[toycrusher]

The LED lights I got are only good to 9W. If I wire them direct they will burn up... I believe

Many LEDs are capable of running on 12 or 24v, but you would have to check yours to be sure

[Bjorn]

Are you able to run pneumatic tires with only 18 volts? Will the 18 volt drill trigger help do this?

[Hammer-fm]

The originator of the Hurrican pneumatic tire thread had them running at 12V initially; yes, there is more drag, esp if you have any toe-in/out problems, but that's more a motor-heating problem (I'd consider upgrading to a cheap 775-motor to help with that). The biggest concern I'd have is with breaking gearboxes if used with the stock on/off switch, but if you're using the drill trigger maybe it will limit current enough to not be a problem (I don't have any real background on that mod).

I'm not a fan of 'no brakes' even on low-slope areas. If you're on pavement the vehicle will take quite a bit of distance to slow down if it's running 6-7mph (eg. @ 18V). Add a 0.3-0.4ohm resistor inline with the orange wire and you'll eliminate most of the annoyances of the stock setup, but not sure how that will end up interfacing with the drill trigger.

[Bjorn]

I live in the country and have a big flat back yard. The reason I want to do this mod is because standard 12 volts dont really run that well in grass. and we tend to stay out of the front yard. They will never take this on pavement (fenced in).
I did order one of these today (https://www.ebay.com/p/Electric-Drill-D ... 0005.m2219) but I have NO IDEA how to wire the "orange brake wire" into this drill trigger and I dont think it will arrive by Christmas. So for now I am going to try and fry my Ryobi switch that I already have. any advice on how to wire it?

I have read on another forum how someone else wired up the same drill trigger

By Bjenkins86
"White wire to red input; need to run a negative from battery to black input; red wire on switch to output red; orange wire is not used but where orange wire is connected to hi/low switch it shares a terminal with a black wire run that black wire to black output on switch"
I am hoping this is correct. I did read that he had a random creeping forward issue but I'm not sure its related to his wiring.

it seams to agree with this post as well (except he uses the orange wire on the original throttle)
By FluffyCowNYI
Here's what I did to wire the ryobi drill switch in.
I ran a new wire for ground from battery. On the 3 pin block at the original pedal, I connected white to red, and new added wire for ground to black. On the output of the switch, I connected black to ORANGE, and red to red. This allows the switch to run both forward and reverse, and variable speed DOES work. The only issue I have is sometimes, if my little one isn't very gradual, or on a flat surface such as the driveway or dirt, the motors will stop. I don't know if they have a thermal cutout or not.

Saltydog explains the wiring like this
"The electric hook-up is simple - power in from battery to bottom wires on switch and out the top to the motors. Be careful to maintain polarity"

I guess I am kind of answering my own question huh..

[Hammer-fm]

Yeah, it seems like integrating braking functionality in with the variable-speed drill switches will require a bit more work (you need a relay to switch between 'braking' and go, and the relay would need to be turned on whenever you depressed the drill switch, which requires getting to the internals).

Fluffy's post sounds right: Original White is battery +, so it should connect to the INPUT red of the drill switch. Add a new wire for the INPUT black of the drill switch (going back to the factory black line coming from the battery). The output side connection is correct, as long as you haven't added a resistor to the orange wire previously (to soften the brakes).

I'm curious how long these switches will hold up -- the 16A rating is pretty low compared to the possible current draw of two motors, and there's no room for a 'lot' of electronics inside the module itself.

[Bjorn]

Yeah, I am worried they will burn up quick too. I know there are larger volt drill triggers out there but I can't find any other triggers that can carry a larger amp.
I think I got my tires figured out without much modification. I took the two rim halves off a harbor freight tire and used that as the inside rim on a 13X5.00 X 6 tires I got from rural king. I used the plastic rim off the power wheel as the outside rim. bolted the drive off the power wheel to the harbor freight rim and used a tube to fill it with air. Its needs some slight modifications to the plastic rim and a little trimming on the tire itself but it is looking like it will work out nice. Since I am using all the original parts from original wheel except the plastic tire the shaft fits without finding any odd sized bushings to make it work. Its annoying that its going to cost over $100 to do all of the wheels but i wanted it to look nice so that is the price I have to pay.

[Bjorn]

OK got it figured out. The very important step that confused me is when you run the new negative wire you have to cut the stock negative wire coming from the battery. This wire runs directly to a splice (at the high low switch) with the orange wire that is in the throttle plug where you plug your black output wire. In other words a really obvious short if I had taken the time to actually look at what I was doing. For other people trying to do this I will spell it out how I did it.

The drill trigger has 2 input wires and 2 output (2 black and 2 red)
the input side is the side with the odd battery connector piece on it. the output is the wires that have nothing on them

Cut black wire coming from powerwheels battery. From the powerwheels battery plug it runs to the high low switch in your shifter so I cut mine at a length that would allow me room to plug it into the trigger when mounted on the floor board. in other words I cut mine close to the shifter. Cap the shifter side of the black wire you cut.

Connect your inputs to the trigger by connecting the black wire you cut (battery side) to the black input wire on the trigger and connect your red input from the trigger to the white wire in the throttle plug. If you notice this white wire runs directly to the battery. Now you have + and - directly from the battery on the inputs of the drill switch.

Now connect your outputs of the trigger by connecting the black output wire on the trigger to the orange wire in the throttle plug. now connect the red output wire from the trigger to the red wire in the throttle plug.

Your high/low/reverse should all this work.

As to the question will the trigger last long we shall find out. I have wired a volt/amp display into the dash so I will get an idea of how many amps it is pulling. If the cheap crap display thing is accurate at all that is.

[Bjorn]

Finished...For now that is.

I think I like the pneumatic tires best. Make sure your drill switch is in the forward position...

18 Volt
Pneumatic tires
volt/amp display
lights
variable speed pedal (drill trigger)

[Hammer-fm]

The tire mod sounds like an interesting setup and looks nice on the vehicle. Can the kids still turn the steering wheel at a stop, or only while moving?

I got this volt/amp/energy meter and have been really happy with it so far. I am a bit curious to see how well it works in direct sunlight during the summer: https://www.amazon.com/MICTUNING-6-5-100V-Digital-Voltmeter-Multimeter/dp/B01JOUZELG/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1513871123&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=mictuning+voltmeter&psc=1

[Bjorn]

Its a Christmas present so I don't know yet. I fear when its racked all the way and turned all the way it might touch. If it does it will only be a little so I might have to do a little trimming. I read on another post someone who had a f-150 with the same size tires touched. I believe he had his fully inflated though. If you fully inflate the ones I did they bend the plastic rims really bad so there is really low psi on the tires. I am hoping this will make the difference. I like that display. I purchased the shunt separably so combined its more expensive that yours and yet mine looks like its lower quality than your... Let me know if you can read it in the sun. I have another mod to do and will go with that one if it works out.

[Hammer-fm]

No problems reading it in sunlight -- I was/am worried about whether it will go black if it gets too hot in direct sun (this is what happens to the LCD panels on my voltmeter). I also have two LED voltmeters, similar to yours -- they are not nearly as visible in sunlight as this LCD-based one is. The LCD one is also backlit so it is fine at night. I think Art (one of the guys that had penumatic swaps onto a Hurricane rim) said his worked ok up to about 8-10psi -- I think he had the same issue with the plastic rim strength. I may have to try this, as foam+mountain bike tread only provides so much cushion and longevity on the plastic tires.