The WL Toys 124019 is a 1/12 scale RC Car released late 2020 by WL toys and is largely identical to the hugely popular WL Toys 144001. Although the 124019 did however have some notable improvements as covered in my review, a bit of simple setup and tuning can improve this much more. In this guide I will cover how to best setup and tune your 124019 to get the best out of it without spending anything on upgrades other than consumable items like grease. I've already written over a dozen guides on improving the 144001 here which are applicable to this car as well but I wanted to use this guide to be very specific on the exact improvements I made since the manufacturer has fixed some of the issues mentioned in my 144001 guides here and here. Reduce rear toe in to a more neutral setting (free) The 124019 comes from the factory with a lot of rear toe in. This helps stability through cornering (by adding a little understeer) but the effect is small and the counter to this is that straight line speed suffers as a result. The good news is that the rear to in can be easily set to a more neutral setting as below. I strongly recommend doing this because the extended wheelbase of the car is better at improving cornering stability anyway: Adjust front toe and camber in to a more neutral setting (free) Front toe (the angle the wheels point in or out) is poorly adjusted from the factory, just look at the picture below of my car fresh out of the box. However, since this car uses adjustable tie rods it is an easy fix. Adjustable tie rods mean the plastic cups that ultimately bolt to the car have opposite threads - one regular one reverse so that if you twist the shaft with both cup straight the both loosen (get longer) or tighten (get shorter at the same time), the idea being you can lengthen or shorten without moving the cups from the ball joints. Good in theory but poor in execution here - cups are threaded so tightly they pop off the ball mount on the car when you try to rotate the shaft. Regardless here we go...
Camber is adjustable front and rear using the uppermost tierods front and rear left and right. I like a tiny bit of negative camber on the rear (wheels leaning in at top) and none on the front because the caster acts as dynamic camber. These can be adjusted in the same manner as the steering links mentioned above but based on the fixed mount to the shock tower rather than the steering rack. Grease the diffs for better traction (free if you have grease about otherwise about $5) As mentioned in the review I was VERY pleased to see that the diffs have been shimmed in the 124019 (and have now confirmed in the 124018). This means the internal gears have much better meshing and will reduce wear and ultimately failure. Thus greasing diffs is no longer quite as important but still worth doing... not so much for the longevity of the diffs but for traction and performance - a freewheeling diff like this one packed with thick grease will stop stop one wheel spinning so wildly on low traction surfaces thereby increasing grip. Follow the steps below to see how: Once the screws have been retightened, check the diff can be spun with your hand as above, If not, it may not have gone back together correctly. Now, follow these steps in reverse to put the diffs back in their correct orientation, reattach the diff housings, reconnect the steering drag link and reinstall the top plate. It's not a terrible idea getting spare diffs which you can prepare ahead of time. These can be found here:
Correct the shock oil level - mine didn't need doing. The shock fluid level in my 124019 was perfect - a welcome relief after the dangerously overfilled shocks in my 144001 that I remedied in this guide. As you can see from the pictures below I could achieve full compression and not the slightest hint of hydrolock or air bubbles. Well done WL Toys!
One thing you can improve from a battery perspective however is making sure the batteries stay good and there are 3 basic rules for all lipo batteries:
I think that'll about do it for this guide, there is plenty here to keep you busy for now. In return for this work you will get a car that handles better and is more robust against wear and damage. Perhaps more importantly though it will give you a better understanding and knowledge of you car... knowing where to look and how to problem solve if something goes wrong. Good luck and have fun! Coming soon are some new brushless upgrade options but for my current favourite, click here. Please note this guide is relevant to but the 124019 and 124018 cars as below: Thanks for reading, if you found this article useful please feel free to like or share, the facebook links below directly link/like this article. I don't believe in asking for money by patreon nor by paypal but if you do wish to help me, the affiliated links in these articles help me buy the bits and services I need to produce this type of content. If you are looking for RC cars, quads or parts check out my coupons and discounts page which I keep updated with only the RC cars, parts and quads I like at a proper discount
21 Comments
Miguel
4/1/2021 03:51:42 am
Hola, quiero empezar en el hobby, pero no sé si comprar el wltoys 144001 (67€) o wltoys 124019 (83€).¿Que me recomienda? Gracias.
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QuadifyRC
4/1/2021 10:09:43 pm
124019
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Juan Valdez
1/2/2021 01:26:32 pm
Great info, just wanted to show y appreciation for the time it took to make it. Thank you Sir 👍
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QuadifyRC
2/2/2021 09:28:06 am
My pleasure Juan! Have fun :)
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Tom
11/2/2021 05:35:04 am
Hello quadifyrc,
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QuadifyRC
18/2/2021 04:47:55 pm
Hey Tom. Yes, practically everything is interchangeable except top deck, lower chassis, drive shaft and body.
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Tom
18/2/2021 09:08:12 pm
Ok thank you very much👍
Jonathan
18/2/2021 04:28:56 pm
My 144001 had the same shims in the diff. Maybe they have been taking notes from your blog? My A959-B had no shims in it.
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QuadifyRC
18/2/2021 04:46:59 pm
Perhaps not my blog haha! But they certainly seem to have someone listening in. I just received a new 144001 the other day - diffs feel shimmed but still poorly filled shocks and plastic hex adaptors. Maybe the new guy on that part of the production line? 🤷♂️
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Gern Blanston
27/2/2021 11:23:58 am
Thank you for the informative post! I read it a couple of months ago when I first heard about the 124019; now that I have one I used these steps to help correct the exact same list of issues with mine (my shocks were fine as well).
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JC
27/3/2021 01:01:40 pm
Thanks for putting all this information together, i have a 124019 in the mail comming and this helped me understand what i need to do to get it up ready.
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Sam Harkin
11/5/2021 07:52:50 pm
Hey mate is there any spares you recommend to buy with it, common breakages etc?
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QuadifyRC
12/5/2021 09:03:51 am
Hi Sam
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David Fruehwald
23/5/2021 02:06:36 pm
Thanks for this guide. My 124019 arrived today and the front end was every bit as messed up as your picture, one tire way out of alignment when the other was straight. Thanks to your write up I could easily adjust the error out. I have not checked the differentials yet but will once I get a chance to pickup some grease from the Walmart down the street. I didn't disassemble the shocks since they all seem to work OK and seem pretty consistent.
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QuadifyRC
23/5/2021 09:42:39 pm
Nice one, glad to hear it helped
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Gabriel
15/12/2021 02:58:59 pm
Hi,
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Marky
21/7/2022 10:09:00 am
I have just bought a 2600kv 2845 motor and the motor mount & lower gearing from the 124017 V2 for my son's 144002 (which he already destroyed the LED wiring on cos he is 3 and love taking things apart).
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Ian Bradby
10/2/2022 07:15:07 am
Brilliant article and have made the changes to my 124019.
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QuadifyRC
29/7/2022 01:29:05 pm
Here you go, all in here: https://www.quadifyrc.com/rccarreviews/wl-toys-144001-free-or-budget-upgrades-part-2
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Marky
21/7/2022 09:58:46 am
Has anyone managed to upgrade the steering block "hat" bushings to bearings?
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Marky
29/7/2022 01:35:07 pm
Hi Marky
Reply
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