Power Wheels Pneumatic Hub Adapter

thingiverse

Update: I made a 2nd Gen hub adapter that is much simpler, prints a lot faster and seems to have held up to all the abuse we have put it through over the past week. The plastic wheels/tires on my sons power wheels didn't have enough grip even when stock. Once we upgraded the battery, we definitely needed some more traction to take advantage of the new power. Pneumatic tires offer the increased grip we were looking for. They would also improve ride quality due to their shock absorbing abilities compared to the hard plastic. Additionally, they quiet down the ride considerably. I designed a hub adapter from the power wheels motor/gearbox hub to a set of Harbor Freight pneumatic tire and hub assembly. I chose this set because of the low cost of $7.99. They are standard 4.10/3.5-4 tires, so you could keep the wheels and swap out the tires to something more aggressive if interested. Here's a link to the $7 harbor freight tires we used: https://www.harborfreight.com/10-inch-x-3-1-2-half-inch-pneumatic-tire-67465.html The hub adapter will reuse the nuts from the wheel/tires set, but you will need a slightly longer M8 bolts. The harbor freight hub bearings have an inside diameter of 5/8", but my axle shaft is 10mm. I used bronze flanged bushings that fill in the gap as well as offer lubrication. You will need 2 bushings per hub. The bronze bushings need to be drilled out a tiny bit from 3/8" ID to 10MM and even more if you have a larger diameter axle. I’ve seen other axles that are 12MM and these bushings should still work. For added traction in the snow, I added a set of 4.10/3.5-4 tires chains. I chose the cheapest set at the time and they work great! https://www.ebay.com/itm/OakTen-Set-of-Two-Snow-Tire-Chain-4-10-3-50x4-3-40-3-00x5-/264551352757?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0 It took some optimization to get the tolerances and wheel offsets correct for my setup. I’m assuming it will need the same attention for others as well. From my limited experience with these power wheels hubs is that while they have similar shapes/sizes they may not be exactly the same dimensions. I have adjusted the design of my adapter to work on both versions of hubs, but can't confirm they will be an exact fit for yours. I’d be willing to help out designing and building your kit for a fee if that’s of interest.