Introduction: Greaseable Steering Joint for 24v Grave Digger Power Wheels

By www.instagram.com/poppafixit/
About: I love working on and modifying toys for kids both big and small. Follow me on here to see my latest completed projects or follow me on instagram to see sneak peaks of what's brewing in the workshop!

If you've been following along, I've been building this ridiculous Power Wheels monster truck for my son with a variety of modifications to make it even more awesome. The next set of mods will culminate in a new drivetrain with real rubber tires, basically making it into an electric go kart. This article will cover a minor steering modification.


A few people have reported binding in the steering and difficulty turning the wheel. I've found that the bushing on the steering spindles can have a lot of friction and get bound up. I took ours apart and lubed it, problem solved. To make lubing it an easy task, I decided to add a grease zerk to each steering spindle.

Step 1: Determine Size and Thread Pattern of Grease Zerk

I had a handful of new and used grease zerks in my shop parts bin, so I decided to use them for this project. I measured them with my thread gauge and determined that they were 1/4 x 28 threaded fittings. I busted out my handy tap and die set and found the proper tap for the job.

Step 2: Drill a Hole

Since the zerk will use a 1/4 x 28 tap, I needed to drill a 3/16 hole in each spindle housing. These frames are made from steel and this part in particular is fairly hard to drill. I started with 1/16, then worked my way up in 1/16th increments until I had the proper sized hole.

Step 3: Run the Tap

After you have the hole drilled, apply a small bit of cutting oil to your tap, then carefully start threading it into the hole. Once it goes in straight, it's a fairly simple task.

Step 4: Screw in Zerk and Grease It Up!

Now that there is a nice, clean, threaded hole in our spindle housing, we can screw in a grease zerk. Then we can re-install the spindle and apply grease with a standard grease gun. This might only be necessary every few months with a lightly used ride, but with our extreme mods, I wanted to make service as easy as possible.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you with your kid's 24v Grave Digger Ride on toy! Follow me on Instagram to see my newest projects in real time.