Power Wheels Hacks

We inherited this Power Wheels ATV from a dear family that moved out of state. It needed some “fixing” before we could have some fun with it. These are the things I’ve done to it since we got it.

New Battery

The original battery had long since died, and my 18 V cordless drill batteries were the only ones I had that were remotely powerful enough to make it move. Sure, the voltage is a bit higher than the 12 V ATV is designed to run on, but now it goes faster! Also, I’ve been running it on 18 V for three years now, and it still runs great. As you can see in the photos, I used a standard RC battery plug. Then I created a battery adapter with spade wire terminals. I used bits of wood to maintain the right spacing between the terminals for battery connection and removal.

An 18V power tool battery zip-tied into the ATV's battery bay, with a wood block spacer and bullet connectors on the wiring A yellow bullet-style connector plugged into the wiring above the drill battery in the ATV's battery bay

Bike Trailer Hitch

The problem with having siblings is that you need to share. So I thought they could all have fun together if they could pull each other around, and I came up with this trailer hitch. Get a 3/4-inch, 45-degree PVC elbow and drill a hole clear through one side for the trailer cotter pin. Then place a piece of scrap 2x4 on the inside of the battery bay and put at least three screws through the PVC elbow and the body into the 2x4.

A blue PVC elbow fitting screwed to the underside of the ATV body, with a hole drilled through it for a hitch pin A hitch pin fastened through the PVC elbow with a nylon strap looped through it, mounted above the ATV's rear axle

A child riding the ATV outdoors while towing a teal and grey kids' bike trailer behind it

Painted it Metallic Blue

Two children beside the blue ATV with its seat open, exposing the wiring and electronics in the compartment below

RGB Undercarriage Lights

I simply added some 12 V RGB LED strips to the undercarriage of the Power Wheels, along with the controller that came with them. The LEDs were able to operate just fine at 18 V using their IR controller. They also add visibility at night.

Note

Unfortunately, the LED strips eventually fell off even after I glued them down.

Battery Level Indicator

A digital battery capacity gauge mounted on the ATV's dash reading 56 percent charge

New Treads

Now that the kids are getting bigger, I noticed that the wheels tend to spin out longer and that the ATV won’t stop as quickly as it used to. This was especially apparent when they tried to pull a heavier wagon. So I found a hack online showing how to take a bike tire, not an inner tube, and apply it to the hard plastic wheels to give them more traction.

A knobby black bike tire stretched over one of the ATV's purple plastic wheels Rear view of both back wheels fitted with knobby bike tire treads, with the PVC trailer hitch visible above

Pull a Parade Float

Okay, this one isn’t really a hack, but it was made possible by some of the hacks. It is also a neat thing I was able to do with my kids. We had a lot of fun, and they were able to help promote Mommy’s business (pebblebaysoaps.com). We also won third place for best float!

A child sits on the ATV in front of a balloon-covered parade float labelled Pebble Bay Soaps with two kids inside, parked among parade vehicles A child rides the ATV pulling the balloon-decorated float carrying two kids, with mounted riders passing on the street behind An adult watches as a child on the ATV tows the balloon-covered float with two kids, near a playground fence