Look whats back. Jayden's jeep visit #2

It has not been long since Jaydens Sarge Jeep has been in my garage. The 4 wheel drive conversion worked great except for a few flaws.
- The hot glue spacers did not work
- No forward/reverse
- Steering seemed to be dysfunctional

Time to fix the first issue; No forward/reverse. Instead of the regular on/off switch type pedal I will be installing a pulse width modulator (motor controller) and potentiometer pedal. I will also be running it at 36v and wiring the motors in series/parallel so that each motor is over-volted to 18v

 Here is the potentiometer pedal that will replace the stock on/off pedal

 Here is the 36v PWM

 

I have laid out the 3 batteries with the controller and charger

I plan to build a camo canvas canopy to cover the rear batteries.

 

I will be running 14 gage wire from each motor up to a connection bar under the hood that will then be wired to the 36v controller in two parallel 36v sets (Right and left). I will be using 12 gage for each motor set and 8 gage for the power cables. For the forward / reverse switch I will be using 4 automotive relays. 2 for forward and two for reverse. They will be placed after the PWM so they should not short like in the original version.

 

That's all for day #1 of visit #2 for Jaydens 4x4 power wheels Sarge Jeep.

Paint and the finishing touches of The Sarge.

Been awhile since I posted. Christmas break threw me all off. Anyhow I am back and here is what became of THE SARGE!

 

After hours of playing with star shaped paper and cutting tape I managed to tape off the star on the hood and the eyes and spray them.

 

The purple seat gets a new coat of black (hope it sticks well!)

 

For the front grill I took off the headlights and marker lights and sprayed it making sure to tape off some white behind the headlights so they don't look green.

 

After assembling all the painted body parts it was time to finally put on ALL 4 MOTORS! yea baby! Four wheel drive for the win.

I used hot glue as a spacer to keep the motors from flopping around.

 

Fried 2 sets of relays trying to get the wiring to work but it looks as if I am going to have to skip the forward/reverse for now. just the regular foot pedal and a solenoid to help save the foot pedal from overcurrent. I will later be building a 24v wiring harness and using a series/parallel circuit, but that's for later. for now the kid needs his jeep.

 

With all the wiring in place it was time for a test. And here is what I discovered

It turns out that the bigger tires rub just a bit on the frame.

 

To solve this I hooked 2 cheap ($2) ratchet straps around either end of the rear axle and the rear part of the frame and ratcheted until the rear lifted just enough.

 

Now with everything tested and working it is time for a test drive and delivery to its home.

 

The Sarge works awesome in the snow, even with 150lb me.

I gotta say it looks even cooler than I thought it would.

 

And here it is on a bike trailer, behind my mobility scooter. Being towed to Racerocks Auto for Marty to pick up.

 Jayden is going to love it!