Video via Altice’s YouTube page (CodeMakesItGo)
A lack of affordable, ride-on fire truck toys for his daughter this past Christmas led Jason Altice to take matters into his own hands.
After searching near and far for such a toy, the YouTuber (CodeMakesItGo) was fortuitously sent an OfferUp post for a free Grave Digger Power Wheel that he was able to modify.
After picking up “the apparatus”—which didn’t work and was actually in pieces—he got started. Some testing turned up a bad switch and an inoperable sound board, but the motors still worked, he says.
He was running against the clock, as Christmas was three weeks away at that point. Though after some elbow grease and a desire to make his daughter happy, he delivered as if he were Santa.
Altice says the only major parts he bought were the horn and lights. Here’s the rest of the list, straight from the horse’s mouth:
- Paint: To freshen up the body and other parts, a nice coat of fresh paint will go a long way to making your vision complete.
- Horn: What is a fire truck without a horn?
- Lights: I think this is a basic requirement for all emergency toy vehicles.
- White LEDs: I added these to the head lights for visual effect.
- 10W resistor: The horn was super loud, so I used this to make is tolerable for a 4-year-old to use.
- Stickers: I bought vinyl stickers online. They were perfect for this build. Alternative is you can print and cut them out yourself.
- Reflective tape: Some cool accents for the vehicle.
The finished product. Photo via instructables.com.