Wl TOYS 144001 124018 124019 Custom Driveshaft Upgrade Mod

The WL Toys 144001 and 124018 / 124019 are a series of 1/14 and 1/12 scale off RC cars that are not only cheap and cheerful but have proven very popular to modify due to their value and versatility. In this article we look at the upgrade of the driveshaft to a sectional unit that will make it easier to service the car and more durable in crashes.

The beauty with the community of modders for the WLToys 144001/124019/124018 is that there’s so much sharing of ideas happening. I find it refreshing how this little platform has brought people together to think of new hacks and mods that wouldn’t have been done otherwise. Here we present the center driveshaft modification to go from a rigid center driveshaft to a floating driveshaft. The first instance of this modification was shared by Scott Dump from Taiwan on his WLToys 124019. This approach and was further refined by Ron Wilson but used on his 144001 and shared with the QuadifyRC 144001 124018 124019 104001 Modders Group. Scott was also generous enough to share the parts he used, a simple step-by-step with several pictures of his version of this modification for the 124019. Ron was kind enough to provide his own write-up for the parts and a step-by-step walk-through for his modified 144001. 

This modification can be done for either WLToys 1/14 or 1/12 platforms by using either the shorter LC Racing EMB-1 driveshaft or longer EMB-T driveshaft. I want to thank Scott and Ron for contributing their mod with the community and letting us share it on this platform. This mod is considered medium skill level, can be done with or without power tools, but power tools will make it easier and a little quicker.

Option 1: Scott Dump’s Floating Driveshaft Modification

Scott’s floating driveshaft mod was the first instance of this kind shared with the WLToys Facebook community. His 124019 is built to race on a dirt track. The move to a floating driveshaft to avoid bending the driveshaft in case of a crash and allowed him to delete part of the top deck to make room for a bigger battery and ESC upgrade.

Parts Required :

• 1x LC Racing L6037 middle dog bone for EMB-T (for 124018/124019)
• 1x WLToys 12428 outdrive metal diff cup (0081)
• 1x Carten 1/10 T410R RC drive cup set (Taiwanese company)

Scott’s original execution for this modification:

1) Using the outdrive cup from the 12428 to attached directly to the bevel gear, this enables the front section for where the LC Racing L6037 driveshaft can sit.

2) Using a larger 5mm diameter drive cut set (sourced locally from a Taiwanese brand called Carten) to fit over the stock WLToys driveshaft, this enables the rear section to accommodate the LC Racing driveshaft.

3) A hole was drilled a hole through the driveshaft to be able to drop a pin to hold the Carten cup in place. 

4) The assembled unit for the front and rear sections can now be fitted back into the car.

5) The spur gear assembly can now be placed back in the original position and the LC Racing driveshaft sits in between. 

6) With the car fully assembled, this mod enables the chassis to flex a bit in the even of an impact and avoids bending the driveshaft.

7) Ready to race!

Option 2: Ron Wilson’s Floating Driveshaft Mod

This mod needs 3 additional parts and the rest are reused parts on the car. Total cost about $20-25

Parts Required:

• 1x 5X10X15mm cup joint HPI for Savage XS 
• 1x LC Racing L6038 middle dog bone for EMB-1 (for 144001) OR L6037 middle dog bone for EMB-T (for 124018/124019)
• 1x WLToys 12428 outdrive metal diff cup (0081)

Why do we want to do this mod?
The 144001, 124019 and 124018 cars have a rigid drive shaft. When jumping or in the event of a frontal impact, the chassis can flex and jam the shaft and gear into the diffs with enough force to damage the diff gears as well as bending the center shaft. This is a common issue and this mod will allow the front and rear diffs to sort of float on the chassis and allow it to flex a little and still function smoothly. The original LC Racing EMB cars all have floating dog bones for the center driveshaft, which is what makes this modification possible.

How to:

First tear down the car and remove the drive shaft, this involves removing the top deck and both diff cases for the car. With the driveshaft removed you need to remove the front bevel gear off the shaft, which may require heating the screw. You will be reusing the screw so be careful not to damage it during removal. If you are heating it with a heat gun or a torch, be sure to slide the bearings away so they are not damaged from the heat.

​Once you remove the gear off of the center shaft, use Loctite to screw the bevel gear and the 2 bearings to the 12428 cup (0081). This will be the completed front drive cup for driving the front diff.

With the remaining driveshaft, you will need to cut the it to 43mm long. Before cutting the stock drive shaft, I put the L6038 LC racing dog bone in the front cup assembly and then laid the dog bone in position with the HPI cup joint on the shaft and then slide the HPI cup back until it was where I wanted it to be. 

The IMPORTANT part of this mod is the dog bone needs to be loose in the 2 cups, the dog bone needs to slide front to back in the cups 2-3mm, 5mm max as this will give some slack for chassis to flex without tearing up the front and rear diff gears and the bending the center shaft. If there isn’t any slack, things will get damaged as if it were the stock center shaft setup. Too much slack the dog bone will fall out, which is something you don’t want when the car is flying down the road at 40mph. If you cut about 43-45mm you can then adjust it if you need once its in place and allow you to move it back and forth. If the dog bone is in and the pins are all the way to the end of the slots, this is to long and you need to cut or grind a little bit away for more clearance.

For the final steps you can do a few things. You can grind a flat spot in the cut down drive shaft to screw the grub screw or you can drill a little counter sunk hole in the shaft for the grub screw (this was what I did). I used a 1/8" drill bit and just drilled down enough until the grub screw was flush with the outside of the cup. It is important to Loctite the screw in so it does not come loose.

The last step is needed if you are doing this modification on the 144001 and needs to be done before you put the top deck on. It is necessary to clear away a little bit of the top deck, because of the drop-down section on the back corner of the top plate will rub the rear HPI cup. If the top plate were flat like the LC racing top plate or the 124018/124019, it would not rub. You could use a curved file or a drum sanding bit on a Dremel to remove a little bit off the bottom of the plate. If you leave it, there will be a grinding noise, which would get old pretty quickly. You could also use a fingernail file, sandpaper around a pencil or a hobby knife will also work.

And that is job done. Se below for some more of the pics from Ron's completed build:

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