Goetz Everything: PowerWheels Arctic Cat Modification

Sunday, January 20, 2013

PowerWheels Arctic Cat Modification - Dump Bed

For those of you who aren't aware, there are lots of modifications you can make to any PowerWheels ride on toy. Check out this online community dedicated to modifying them. ModifiedPowerWheels

This post gives an overview of my modification of a PowerWheels Arctic Cat. My son was constantly filling the bed of his Arctic Cat with rocks, dirt or whatever he could find. I figured he would like it if this bed would dump. I checked out ModifiedPowerWheels for some examples of this modification and didn't find anything (here is a link to my forum post). So, here is how I did it.

Starting Look

Step 1: I first started by taking off the existing bed, there must have been 16 screws. Which turned out to be one of the major obstacles. The dump bed actually holds most of the rear of the Arctic Cat together including roll bar fenders, and top of seats. The bed normally integrates right into the seats which cannot occur if the bed is made to dump.

Step 2: I needed to shift the bed back about 2 inches to gain the clearance needed from the seats.

Step 3: Add supports for the seats and roll bar. The roll bar was totally held in by the dump bed, so I decided to attach it to the seats. For the seat and roll bar, I used some scrap angle iron I had around. I welded ends onto the angle iron in order to give me a way to attach the support to the roll bar.

Step 4: Add supports for the fenders. I created some custom L brackets to fit the fenders and give spacing for the dump bed (you could also use off the shelf L brackets, but the lengths needed are a little odd).

Step 5: Add hinges to dump bed. I used 2 L brackets with holes in them to create the hinges. I mounted them to the back of the Arctic Cat frame, and on the bottom of the dump bed.

Step 6: I created a cover to hide the motors and inner parts which are exposed when the dump bed is in action. I used some flexible material I had around.