jhammel85
Guest
So I found this little thing on the side of the road, destined for the trashman about a month ago. Christmas is coming up and it's a super tight year for us so I figured it was worth checking out. My plan is to restore it completely and bring it back to life for my 2 yr old son's Christmas. His Birthday is on Dec 30th so we may even hold till then.
Here it is after I picked it up. A Total piece of crap but I think I can save it:
In the garage....Nothing worked. At all. The wires had been chewed on by mice, Motors didn't turn by hand, Trash and junk in every crevice. This was after a little clean up.
More cleaning. Got access to the motors and broke them loose with good old elbow grease (and pliers on the output shafts). I also found the lines that would normally go to the battery. So, I got out my car battery charger, applied twelve volts, turned the key and viola! It was "running". Everything but the speaker worked. A little bit of tinkering and that worked too! Has motor sounds, all fwd and reverse gears work, has a siren, lights (well not yet) and a PA Speaker so he can yell at the dogs when he's driving it around!
Right now, It's torn down about as far as I plan to go. All electronics are working, Battery is hooked up and new parts were ordered directly from the factory. I needed new hubcaps, mirrors, head and tail lights, lightbar and a sticker set. All for about 60 bucks shipped!
I had a simple plan for the battery. I put in a 12 volt battery out of a deer stand camera. It's the same type of battery that comes with the car and will be completely safe. Won't spill or any of that stuff. Only thing is that I need to charge it with my trickle charger. Not a big deal though. You'll see what I did with that below.
Anyway, Here's how it's sitting now:
Battery needs to be held down but I still have to do a lot of cleaning here:
Here it is after I picked it up. A Total piece of crap but I think I can save it:
In the garage....Nothing worked. At all. The wires had been chewed on by mice, Motors didn't turn by hand, Trash and junk in every crevice. This was after a little clean up.
More cleaning. Got access to the motors and broke them loose with good old elbow grease (and pliers on the output shafts). I also found the lines that would normally go to the battery. So, I got out my car battery charger, applied twelve volts, turned the key and viola! It was "running". Everything but the speaker worked. A little bit of tinkering and that worked too! Has motor sounds, all fwd and reverse gears work, has a siren, lights (well not yet) and a PA Speaker so he can yell at the dogs when he's driving it around!
Right now, It's torn down about as far as I plan to go. All electronics are working, Battery is hooked up and new parts were ordered directly from the factory. I needed new hubcaps, mirrors, head and tail lights, lightbar and a sticker set. All for about 60 bucks shipped!
I had a simple plan for the battery. I put in a 12 volt battery out of a deer stand camera. It's the same type of battery that comes with the car and will be completely safe. Won't spill or any of that stuff. Only thing is that I need to charge it with my trickle charger. Not a big deal though. You'll see what I did with that below.
Anyway, Here's how it's sitting now:
Battery needs to be held down but I still have to do a lot of cleaning here:
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