Category: Guide

WL Toys 144001 Upgrade: The best motor cooling for less than $2

23/12/2020

The WL Toys 144001 is a very fast little 1/14 scale RC car thanks to it's massive 550 brushless motor that powers it with some rather tall gearing. The downside to this is the heat that it generates. Over time this heat can damage electronics and cause a decrease in performance and indeed motor failure. This is a quick and dirty guide to significantly improve motor cooling for less than $2 which should only take 5-10 minutes to do with simple tools.

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144001/124018/124019 UpgradeS - Every one of my guides here and parts I Would buy

14/9/2020

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I've now built up quite a library of articles for the WL Toys 144001 (and 124019 / 124018) and thought I would use this page to share them. I've separated here into beginner, moderate and advanced ability but hopefully I have enough information in these guides to make them straightforward enough for anyone to try.

Beginner

WL TOYS 144001 SETUP: 3 THINGS YOU MUST DO BEFORE YOU EVEN TURN IT ON
Setup the shocks so the work properly, tie rods so the car runs straight, and grease the diffs so you get more traction and they don't explode. If you do nothing else on your 144001, make sure you do these.

WL TOYS 144001 UPGRADE WHEELS: BEST FOR BASHING?
Stock wheels have poor traction outside of fine smooth dirt and carpet, I've found some wheels that are great for bashing on a lot more varied off-road surfaces.

WL TOYS 144001 UPGRADE: WHEELBASE EXTENSION FOR HIGH SPEED STABILITY
Extend the wheelbase on your 144001 for free with this 5-10 minute mod.

UNDERSTANDING LIPO "C" RATINGS FOR RC CARS (PLUS VOLTAGE AND CAPACITY)
Lipo battery technology can be confusing, I break down what is important and what is not in simple terms with examples for the 144001

A BETTER CHARGER FOR YOUR RC CAR BATTERIES
The charger for the 144001 will at best shorten your battery life and at worst cause a fire. Here a look at the most cost effective hobby-grade chargers that will help you get the most out of you battery.

Moderate

WL TOYS 144001: FREE OR BUDGET UPGRADES (PART 2)
Building on the first article you can make further free/cheap improvements here by fixing the rear toe in, install 'droop' screws in improve dampening in the shocks.

WL TOYS 144001 UPGRADE: METAL PART UPGRADES AND REVIEW
There are many metal parts available for the 144001. Some improve performance, some don't make any difference and some make it a lot worse. Here are my thoughts on these.

WL TOYS 144001 UPGRADE: THE CLEANEST ESC INSTALL AND COOLING IMPROVEMENT
Quick and easy article here on the tidiest way to trim your bodyshell to fit a larger ESC

Advanced

WL TOYS 144001: ULTIMATE BRUSHLESS UPGRADE GUIDE
This mod will allow you to get more top speed, acceleration and better battery life by upgrading to a 2838 sized brushless motors. This covers the install and ALL the parts you will need to complete (including servo, radio etc.

WL TOYS 144001 BRUSHLESS 2838 UPGRADE EASY NO CUT OPTION
As an add on to my ultimate brushless upgrade guide, this unicorn pinion allows you avoid modifying the motor mount.

HOW TO CUSTOMISE YOUR BUDGET ESC SETTINGS FOR <$10
The Racerstar ESC Programming card is a simple but fantastic tool that allows you to customise the settings on the budget Racerstar, Surpass Hobby and similar ESCs (brushed and brushless). In this guide I cover what the settings mean and what might work best for you.

FLYSKY FS-GT5 TRANSMITTER REVIEW AND SETUP
This is the Radio gear I used for my 144001 and couldn't be happier with it. Good build quality, intuitive menu, 20 model memory and fully adjustable gyro. I've also recommended some lower price radios if you're willing to spend $60-80 on this one.

WL TOYS 144001 UPGRADE: BRUSHLESS SPEED RUN BUILD AND SETUP FULL GUIDE
Here it is guys my speed build. My objective here was to retain stock body and chassis with no machining or fabricating so as to keep it simple and inexpensive. Lots of detail on parts used and how to set up for maximum speed and reliability.

DUMBORC TRANSMITTER / RECEIVER REVIEW AND SETUP
This is my favourite radio gear if you are not looking to run multiple models. In this in-depth review I'll look at all the features and de-mystify the differences between the similar - looking models.

Parts I would buy

Now that I've had experience with quite a few upgrades and replacements, here are the parts I can actually recommend:

Wltoys 144001 1/14 Metal RC Car Whole Screw Set
I strongly recommend these on hand because - even if they are soft you don't want to run out

Remo 6973 wheels and tyres
Best, grippiest offroad wheels I have come across for the 144001 as written about above

7.4V 2600 MAH Lipo Battery T Plug For Wltoys 1/14 144001
This is the largest 2s battery that will fit - more peak current and nearly twice the run time

Diatone M3 locknuts
These are the ones that are used to hold the wheels on. You WILL eventually lose yours and these ones are less than $2 for 20 of them

ISDT 608AC AC 60W DC 200W 8A BattGo Smart Battery Charger
The USB charger included with the 144001 is a piece of crap. This ISDT charger represents the best bang for buck at present. Full review here.

Spare Diff (front and rear)
Probably the easiest way to replace a damaged diff. Don't forget to grease them!

Metal Steering Cranks. These actually help reduce slop in the steering system - one of the few metal parts I recommend.

Top deck. This part actually increases chassis stiffness.

Brushless 2838 motor / 35A esc combo 4500kv I like this size and KV rating. It offers the balance of power, efficiency and weight savings that I think are ideal. Very underrated

0.7m 15t pinion gear. Closest you can get to a cut-free brushless installation although this will need opening up with a 3.2mm drill bit

Flysky FS-GT5. Such a great system for the money, see my review above

PDI-1181MG digital metal gear servo. No nonsense direct 3-wire upgrade for stock - fits in perfectly with no mods

WL Toys 144001 spare motor mount. Please trust me and buy this part rather than trying to reuse the one in your car. They are impossible to remove without damaging something

And of course the WL Toys 144001 Car itself:

Wltoys 144001 1/14 2.4G 4WD High Speed Racing RC Car Vehicle Models 60km/h

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. Links are affiliated and help me buy the bits 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

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WL ToyS 144001 / 124018 / 124019 Upgrade: Metal Part Upgrades And REview

3/7/2020

8 Comments

With the boom in popularity of the WL Toys 144001 1/14 scale RC buggy, there are a lot of aftermarket parts available now, all of which are currently available at here. For this article I'll be looking at why I chose the metal upgrade parts I did, how to install and my thoughts on the parts I did install. These upgrades are also applicable to the extended wheelbase 124019 which is identical other than the length

Don't forget to check out the other guides and reviews I've already written for the 144001:

The first thing you probably think of with metal parts is that they will be stronger than the plastic parts they replace. Although this is true, strictly speaking, the stock plastic pieces do have advantages in some situations, specifically -

They are more flexible
Have a better bite with screws
Can sacrifice a cheaper more easily replaceable part rather than transfer force to a more complex, more expensive or more difficult to replace part

Because of this some parts are well suited to be replaced with metal and some are not. I've chosen the below components to be replaced with metal parts to improve the durability of the car. All parts are available in several colours: Blue, Red, Pink, Gold, Silver, Black.

Just a quick note that Banggood have started their "summer prime" sale which runs July 3 - 24. It's usually around halfway through that they share their best discounts on around 100 of their better selling products which usually includes the 144001 RTR buggy - I'd recommend waiting if you are planning on making a purchase. Here is the link to their sale page where there is supposedly $1m worth of discounts 🤷. Sounds like a bit of a line but I've put their here. These sales events are usually pretty good and I'll pick the best coupon codes and be sure to have them up on my coupons and discount page

Recommended parts:

Rear hub carriers. Typically a little more durable than front knuckles and castor blocks but still a common weak point so worth going metal

Front Steering Knuckles. Commonly a weak point on many cars so worth considering here

Front Caster Blocks. These are a weak point on many cars so worth considering

Steering Cranks. May help stiffen steering link. Less critical but worth a go.

Hex drives 12mm. I've installed but do not like at all, more below

I've specifically avoided these parts below because I think they will reduce net durability for reasons explained underneath the images. If you are just going for looks however they do still look great!

Parts I recommend against:

Arms front or rear. Unless you need bling avoid - although stronger they put stress on hinge pins and gearbox mounts. plastic suspension arms are very strong.

Battery seat. Going metal here offers no performance benefit, just weight

Spur and pinion. The spur is definitely more durable but adds a lot of rotational mass and reduces performance. I'd prefer lighter, cheaper stock spurs.

Top deck. Given the design I think it may add weight rather than stiffness

Gearbox. Jury is out on this one for me just because I don't feel the gearbox is prone to damage

Plus other parts available with my comments