Update,
Would love to just restore this thing but its too much fun to let it sit on a shelf somewhere.
So I plan on make it run and hopefully better then it ever has.
Spending time with my son we got the thing pulled apart, cleaned up, and put back together again. Put on the replacement truck wheels I got, installed the old Novak 610RV speed control that used to be in it and charged the 20 year old batteries. To my clearly unimpressed son, it ran for about 30 sec, lol.
After a trip to the HobbytownUSA which is down the street from my place we had a new 3000mah Nimh battery pack that I had to dissessemble and reassble since they don't carry split packs there. Not a big deal to me, I solder all the time at work. Anyhow after throwing them in the car, without battery holders, cause the orginals are no where to be found, and my anxious son wanting to see this thing move, I cut the cardboard box the batteries came in and held them down with that. Not the smartest thing to do but the truck powered on and was ready to roll.
Got it outside and got about a min into it and the motor was literly smoking. Not hot but smoking but the speedcontrol was super hot. My first though was the new batteries were too strong. But after taking the motor out and cleaning it apparently the timing was off and it was just arcing and not moving, which is where the smoke was coming from. Found the bearings where ceased to the armature.
The motor, which I am not sure the turns, is a black can Reedy modified motor. I managed to get the bearings off with a small craftsman gear puller and cleaned them up which seemed to do the trick. I cleaned up the rest of the motor and put it back in the car for another try. Now the speedcontol no longer has reverse. Guess I burned it out, but it goes foward like a bat out of hell. So I wonder what a new brushless would do.
It does however make this awful grind like sound on take offs and I disscovered the rear belt is on its last leg but still working for the time being. We took it for a spin and this thing really zips, forgot how fast it was with the modified motor... BUT after a few jumps over the speedbumps and a lack of steering because the servo tape wasn't holding, the tires gripped just right and it did a litteral cart wheel down the parking lot. Nothing broken but the batteries all but flew out since they were held in with card board, like i said not a smart idea.
So I came up with a fix for that, I made a couple of bars out of sheet metal that I had and also made a bracket for my servo since I always had trouble with the servo tape holding for any length of time. I attached pictures of those.
Now the thing ready to roll again. Took it out and ran it for about 10 min jumping over and over again on the speed bump, just wasn't getting old, and after the run found that the 2 of the truck wheels cracked on the bead portion of the rim. A little epoxy fixed that however.
This thing is a blast.
I would like to get CVDs for this thing but I am considering doing the Koshos I seen in another thread here. Specially since the Mips are so hard to find. Just saw some on ebay go for $130 last weekend. Only question then is what kind of rim would be close to the JG truck rims. Not a for sure thing yet though. More important is getting the rear belt and then a new speedcontrol and maybe go brushless. So many things to do...
