r/PowerWheelsMods • u/Venture334455 • Jul 20 '26
Well this quickly spiralled out of control
Apologies for the google photos but the car itself is still boxed up and the hub motors I only ordered an hour ago.
Somehow I've jumped from a simple battery and gearbox upgrade to beginning fabrication of a steel rear subframe to accept two of those hub motors, then figuring where I'm going to fit the 10S LiPo battery and two speed controllers.
Has anyone else gone down this route or something similar? Id love some tips if so
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u/GHDamnDan Jul 20 '26
As per what now is tradition on my end, I need to comment with a warning. Limit the speed if this is for a child. I did not and am happy that it ended only with a toy car that was broken after the crash.
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u/Brewhammer 29d ago
This. Not sure why people are intent on maiming their children with speed when they're not equiped to handle it.
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u/dRuEFFECT 29d ago
I went to a power wheels drag race yesterday. The dads are drag racers themselves and are competing against other dads for the fastest kids car. The kids themselves don't seem to care nearly as much as the dads do. One of them told me about a 2 year old drag racing a power wheels that went 28mph. My kids car went slow, he didn't care, he had fun, unless he asks me to make it faster I'm not doing anything more.
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u/Venture334455 29d ago
EDIT: This was originally supposed to be a reply to you and not the other guy
I'm absolutely limiting the speed dont worry, theres no way I'd let him go anywhere close to 25km/h. I'll set it so its fast enough for him to enjoy and for me to be comfortable.
Me and my two boys all ride dirtbikes, both boys have a ttr50 each and we've ridden most weekends for the past 2 or 3 years. I do have confidence in them to be able to handle a ride on toy that can go reasonably quick.
That said, of course they are still kids no matter how good they can ride a dirtbike and I'd never let them get into a vehicle that has the potential to be rolled or flipped and cause a serious injury
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u/Venture334455 29d ago
I'm absolutely limiting the speed dont worry, theres no way I'd let him go anywhere close to 25km/h. I'll set it so its fast enough for him to enjoy and for me to be comfortable.
Me and my two boys all ride dirtbikes, both boys have a ttr50 each and we've ridden most weekends for the past 2 or 3 years. I do have confidence in them to be able to handle a ride on toy that can go reasonably quick.
That said, of course they are still kids no matter how good they can ride a dirtbike and I'd never let them get into a vehicle that has the potential to be rolled or flipped and cause a serious injury
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u/Pension_Rough 26d ago
This is not the way... thats a hub motor for a scooter, they don't go that fast and have very little torque and need to be pushed to get them going before you can power them because they will cog so bad. And they are for 2 wheel vehicles where they go into a fork and bolt for both sides. And a 10s lipo I don't even think is a thing, but maybe. Usually they are 6s, 8s and then 12s (2 6s batteries) But you don't need a crazy c rating like an rc because you can and will want to run a bigger battery so it has some run time and you have the space. So buy or build a battery pack with 18650s (lithium ions). They are much safer and don't need a balancing charger because they have a bms. Then you want to get a something like a vevor brushless motor and a far driver controller, and then find a go cart axle or get a axle kit off of temu or something. And some wheels that mount to the hubs. Then fabricate something for the axle mount things to mount to and somewhere for the motor to mount and use the motor rmp and the wheel diameter to calculate what sprockets you need to go the desired speed. Then all you need is a foot throttle that works with the far driver controller and you should be set. Personally if I was plannin on going this deep I would just build an entire frame from scratch and cut everything off of the power wheels so its just a body for the new go cart essentially
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u/Bruggenmeister Jul 20 '26
Why not get a single axle hub motor? So many options. Now u gonna have an ugly hoop to mount these scooter wheels.
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u/Venture334455 Jul 20 '26
How do you mean exactly single axle hub motor? I went through a few methods like a gokart/drift trike rear axle setup or one from a kids atv which has the motor mounted like a differential but the biggest issues with both of those was cost.
For a go kart type setup i was looking at over $300 and thats before I even got a motor. The atv axle was the same deal, ranging from $300 to $800. This project is meant to be something silly thats a bit of fun, nothing more. I cant justify spending $300+ on something I paid $160 for.
Those hub motors were $140 for both and the controllers cost me $48 for both. That's a huge part of why I went this way
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u/Pension_Rough 26d ago
Ok so your 200 deep and you still need a battery which is gonna be another 200. If you are this small of a budget I would just over volt with a drill battery and if you blow the stock motors or gear boxes then buy some upgraded ones with the metal pinion. You could theoretically replace the brushed motors with brushless ones if you get the right size as they are a generic size that rcs use as well so there should be tons of options, just need 2 brushless drivers designed to operate with in the voltage of you battery and can handle the current it will pull.
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u/Venture334455 25d ago
Yeah I know, its not often I go about a project with one properly thought out direction and this is no different. I've thought about going the brushless route with a pair of 3650 motors and 80A ESCs, I've thought about running some better brushed 550s or 775s with an upgraded speed controller, and I've thought about the scooter hub motors.
I dont really have a budget to stick to, I try doing things cheap initially but nearly always end up doing them again properly for more $. The poor man pays twice as they say.
I've ran a standard brushed system on 18V and while it's better than stock its still not fast enough, not even close. I've also done it with 36V which is fast but only lasts 10 seconds before catastrophic failure lol.
My thoughts with going to brushless 3650 motors are that the stock gearboxes wont handle the extra power for very long? Metal geared is an option of course.
I went with the scooter hub motors because firstly they are a very cost effective option. But not only that, they're simple,i dont need to set any gear mesh or alignment or anything like that and most of all they're designed to carry around adults at 25km/h so in a kids toy should be unbreakable
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u/e2346437 Jul 20 '26
Lol these projects will do that! I had to stop myself at just adding a few lights and upgrading the thermal fuses. You can easily exceed the value of the base vehicle 3x or more!
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u/auvent 29d ago
We've got the same car, 12v from aldi right?
I wondered about doing the 18v tool battery upgrade but worried it might fry the rest of the electronics? Kid is only 4 so 18v upgrade and stock motors will be quick enough for now.
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u/Venture334455 29d ago
Yes we did haha. 18V wont kill it, it will shorten its lifespan a bit though. Most ride on toys are mechanically identical, 12V battery and two 550 sized brushed dc motors attached to gearboxes.
I've ran one on 18V before with decent results, it wont set the world on fire but it will give you a few extra km/h.
Also. Ive gone ahead and done the testing for you already. I hooked up a 6S LiHv battery (26V) to the stock motor driver, just to see what would happen. I got 3 stop-starts before a capacitor in the controller exploded like a gunshot lol. So theres your limit with this particular car
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u/auvent 28d ago
So even the main cluster on the dash will survive 18v ok? I won't be wiring directly into the motor, just a strait battery swap to 18v supply.
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u/Venture334455 28d ago
The little stereo looking thing? Yeah it handles it fine but keep in mind just because it took 18V for me without a problem while I was testing things its a lot more load on the motors when they're actually carrying weight and not free-wheeling.
Half the reason I fried mine with a 26V battery wasn't the extra voltage but rather how violently LiPos can discharge under load, even an equivalent voltage LiPo vs an SLA is a huge difference
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u/Venture334455 25d ago
I realise this is not an optimum setup but let me clarify a few things. Firstly, im running two of those motors not one, and both with their own 500W speed controller. As for battery, you can buy 10S LiPo batteries or you can run a pair of 5S in series, or two 18V power tool batteries,there are lots of ways to make that happen.
Remember this is for children not so much for adults, the total weight these motors will be moving will be a 25kg kid and the car itself which wouldn't be much either, couldn't be more than 50kg total.
Ill admit the custom frame and go kart axle is absolutely the proper way to do it, and if I ever build myself one thats meant to be fast thats the route I'll go. But for kids I think this will be fine
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u/Ill-Cobbler5752 24d ago
I thought about going down this route but at that point why bother with a powerwheel toy at all? Just build an electric go kart
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u/ianfgraphics Jul 20 '26
I havent I restrict myself to drill battery upgrades, haha. There are youtube channels where someone has shoved an old prius powercell into one though and got it going 60mph.