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Bang for buck RC Car reviews and budget upgrades can be found here. The focus is on maximising fun and minimising cost

WL Toys 144001 / 124018 / 124019: free or Budget Upgrades (Part 2)

5/6/2020

26 Comments

 
This is the second part of my free and budget upgrade walkthrough for the WL Toys 144001. The first part can be found here. These are also completely relevant for the 124019 and 124018 as well
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The first series of upgrades I made to the WL toys 144001 was to improve longevity and handling by getting the shock absorber fluid level right, the diffs lubed properly and camber and toe in set correctly. This articles expands on that by further improving the handling through minor tweaks the are either free or cost very little. It is really important you get the handling right to make the car more predictable, especially if you plan on power upgrades further down the line. The upgrades I'll detail in this article are:
  1. Decrease the REAR toe in
  2. Set the droop on front and rear arms
  3. Improve the dampening in the rear shocks 

1. Decreasing the rear toe in
The WL toys 144001 comes set with a LOT of rear toe in (which is the amount the rear wheels point in towards the car when looking from above). Rear toe in does help with cornering stability by decreasing useful steering when powering on in the corner but comes at the cost of straight line speed, especially in high grip situations. In simple terms rear toe in does help make the car feel more stable through corners however I feel the 144001 has much too much and this is easily remedied for free as below:
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Remove the 2 screws that fix the arm bracket to the diff housing as above
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This is what it looks like removed - try not to disassemble other parts
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You can see the plastic inserts have the holes towards the outside causing the heavy toe in
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Remove each of the inserts
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Flip them over so both are closer to the centre
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Reinstall
After completing this mod we've gone from a LOT of rear toe in to just a little which is ideal and a really good improvement for most drivers. Sorry I cannot quantify but see below for the pictures of before and after. This change takes 5 minutes to do, costs nothing and is easy to reverse if you really want to
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A lot of toe in before the start - this would cause a lot of tyre scrub which makes the tyres wear out fast and limit top speed
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The smallest amount of toe in after the change. I'd guess around 1° combined - perfect!

2 Setting the droop on the suspension arms.
Firstly the term "droop" refers to the amount of angle the suspension lower arms sag down (droop) when there is no weight on the wheels like when you are holding the car up off the ground. The reason you want to reduce the droop over stock is because when fully extended the suspension arms droop down past their working limit meaning drive shaft and steering components can foul and rub and can become damaged. Reducing this droop is simple and cheap - all you need is 4 x m3 grubs screws. You can buy a grub screw pack like this one but I'd actually recommend the WL toys specific kit here: This has only 5 grub screws but the other screws will obviously be a lot more useful as spares.
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If you want to use regular M3 screws I'd recommend 7-8mm long but would recommend grub screws for better adjustibility
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This 144001 screw kit includes 5 x m3 grub screws and every other screw for the 144001 - a very useful set of fasteners and tools to have available
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Circlead ares shows where the screws are to be wound in. They will tap the arms as you go
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This picture shows where the screw goes into the arm as cirecly
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This picture shows the result of winding in the screw on arm extension. I wound it back about halfway from here
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Arrow points where to do the same in the back
So that was pretty easy. I'd suggest that once you first set your droop you should need to adjust again - it has no impact on suspension performance or ride height, it simply stops your drive shafts and steering getting damaged when your wheels are turning with no weight on them (e.g. jumping or being held off the ground). Adjust the droop so that arms are not quite extended to the maximum but no more. Please note the metal arms do not have these holes in them -  if you want to set droop you will need to use the stock arms.

3. Improve the dampening in the rear shocks
The dampening in the rear shocks in this car is too light. This is because they are modelled after the LC racing EMB-1 which has a smaller 2838 motor making it much lighter in the rear than the brushed 550-equipped 144001. As a result the 144001 needs more bound and rebound (dampening) to stop it from bottoming out over jumps and obstacles. This can easily be done but you will need to by a heavier shock oil - I recommend 60wt oil as below. See pictures and captions for full walkthough
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I chose 60wt which seemed about right. This is team associated oil which my local store stocked but any brand is fine
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Shocks removed from the car. If you need more instructions how to do this see this article
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Remove the black plastic lower collar first, then the spring and then wind off the spring tensioner. Make sure you wipe ANY dirt off before going further as this will contaminate the oil and increase wear
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Keep the shock upright and unscrew the top cap. Then, empty out the oil in the shock.
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Here is a picture of the piston now that the oil is out. See that is has four open holes meaning the 60wt oil is justified
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Refill the shock with the new oil to the top and pump SLOWLYto get any air out. The oil should be level with the top of the shock Screw the top back on. If it doesn't fully compress as above, follow these instructions to let some of the oil out.
60 Wt oil feels about right, my guess is the stock oil was somewhere in the 30-40 range. Now when you drop the car the front and rear shocks compress about the same amount which is the goal and can be seen in the video below. This will make for a lot more consistent performance over jumps and bumps in general and will go some way to making up for the heavy weight of the massive 550 motor towards the rear of the car. It's worth noting that the suspension would also likely benefit from some stiffer springs in the rear for the same reason but for not I'm ok with the stock springs being would right down.

Final words
Well that's it for round 2 of upgrades to the WL Toys 144001 where I have aimed to improve handling at a minimum of cost, I congratulate you for getting this far and I hope you've enjoyed it. Again, if you haven't already seen my first upgrade guide, please make sure you check it out here and make these changes before you even start running this car. For my next article I'll start spending money and recommending which parts from the ever-increasing catalogue of parts for the 144001 I'd recommend, for what purpose and why. Later in down the track I'll start looking a the big overhaul - ESCs, receivers, servos and brushless power.
​​​​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 cars, quads or parts check out my coupons and discounts page which I keep updated with only the parts and quads I like at a proper discount

Useful parts and upgrades - click image to Banggood product page

Thanks for checking out my article and please let me know on my facebook page or in the 144001 group if it worked out for you. I've created a reference page below for all of the 144001 articles I've published here:
144001 UPGRADES - EVERY ONE OF MY GUIDES HERE.
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7.4V 2600 MAH Lipo Battery T Plug For Wltoys 1/14 144001
This is the largest 2s battery that will fit
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Wltoys 144001 Upgrade Metal Front/Rear Tower
Stronger shock tower upgrade to replace the bendy stock ones. 4 colours available
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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
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Second Floor For Wltoys 144001
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Aluminium upper deck to add stiffness to the chassis
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RC Car Wheel For Wltoys 144001 1/14 4WD
These are cheap enough and good enough to run on or offroad.
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Front+Rear Suspension Arms For Wltoys 144001
At this stage I recommend the stock plastic ones over the aluminium one as you are better breaking an arm in a crash rather than a diff housing

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2838 Sensorless Waterproof Motor 3600/4500KV 35A ESC
Cheap brushless combo for balanced power, I'll be installing this and writing up soon.
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Surpass Hobby Waterproof 3650 3900KV Brushless RC Car Motor With 60A ESC
Good cheap combo for speed runs. I've reviewed here
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Aluminum Alloy Motor Mount Seat For Wltoys 144001
If you install a new motor you'll need one of these, the old motor screws are super-glued in
26 Comments
Nico8D
19/6/2020 10:27:21 pm

You say : "Please note the metal arms do not have these holes in them " This is a false statement as the front ones have a hole in them to adjust the droop just like the original ones. What I have seen is that the rear metal ones don't have the hole in them.

Reply
Quadify RC
19/6/2020 10:57:52 pm

False statement? Not from where I'm sitting. I have both sitting on my bench at present and neither have holes. Must be a few variants around. Are yours tapped?

Reply
RC-fanboy
15/1/2021 08:47:38 am

Yeah, would be nice to know. Also would like to know the partnumber/brand if available.

(Then again, I agree it's better breaking a plastic arm then the diff)

Sydney
15/8/2020 10:06:15 am

The dog bones keep coming dislodged in my 144001. Have you had that problem? If so, any solid fixes?

Reply
Quadify RC
19/8/2020 08:55:44 am

Hi Sydney. If you are having issues with the dog bones I'd recommend getting some CVDs for the rear as well: https://bit.ly/3fqjrgu

Reply
Mistermax80
19/8/2020 07:13:21 am

thanks very good article!
I think the first upgrade or maintenance to do is put a lot of grease in the differentials, stock assembly it is very to do bad... I used siliconic grease.

Reply
Quadify RC
19/8/2020 08:56:40 am

Thanks Max, yes the diffs definitely need the grease to prolong life and improve grip

Reply
Trihet
29/8/2020 03:46:27 am

Hey, thanks for the article

I followed your advice and used 60 wt oil on the rear but still found that when I drop the car the rear of the chassis hits the ground. I don't understand, what have I done wrong?

Reply
Quadify RC
29/8/2020 08:09:24 pm

Hey no problem. Very difficult for me to tell without seeing it. Assuming that nothing is broken the first place I'd look is to make sure they are filled to the correct level

Reply
Trihet
29/8/2020 08:14:47 pm

Thanks. Appreciate really you need to see it.

So I checked one of the rear shocks yesterday, topped it up so much that it wouldn't close completely (also waited until all bubbles had gone) I then let sa little leak out and when I last squeezed it, there was enough so that when I let go it pushed back without the spring in place. I have also wound down the springs so that they are as compressed as possible

Quadify RC
29/8/2020 09:40:54 pm

Hmm sounds like you are going exactly how I would. 60WT oil should be a bid improvement so if you're not happy with that you'd really need to look at some stiffer springs - the LC racing EMB has springs available in varying stiffness - that's where I'd look if you want harder.

Reply
Trihet
29/8/2020 09:42:56 pm

Thanks

Reply
John
20/9/2020 06:51:04 am

If you recommend 60wt for the rear, what do you recommend for the front? My shocks came underfilled.

Reply
QuadifyRC
20/9/2020 11:11:56 pm

I just used stock but if you need to up up then probably 30-40wt with the stock motor doe to rear weight bias

Reply
Shawn Cartwright
6/1/2021 03:42:44 pm

Have you run your rear toe-in changes at an off-road RC track? Curious as to your perceived handling changes from the stock configuration.

I’ve changed the shock oils out same as you. Also decreased the droop by adding grub screws. Handles much better. I was getting a little chassis slap and tail kick up, but mostly dialed it out by adding more spring compression in the rear using the spring screw adjusters. It didn’t take much more to get as right as it could be without changing out the stock springs.

I’ve also removed a slight bit of toe-out from the front, as well as a taking out a wee bit of camber - haven’t run it again on the local track since the changes to the front.

Does anyone know if the EMB-1 Arms+spindles will fit the 144001?

Reply
QuadifyRC
6/1/2021 04:28:28 pm

Haven't been to a track for about 25 years I'm afraid? It's mostly bashing with the kids these days. If you are looking at running on a track, you may actually get some benefit from the rear toe in setting.

Arms definitely are a straight sway. EMB runs a larger OD bearing so as long as you swap the bearings you can use the spindles as well.

Reply
Pierre
8/1/2021 11:50:13 pm

Hi,

are there any better diff-outs available?
Mine are worn out a lot and I only run on 2s.
Thanks for your help.

Pierre

Reply
QuadifyRC
11/1/2021 09:09:15 am

Hi Pierre

Is is the internal gears that are worn out? Keeping the stock one well greased greatly reduces wear in these. I have ordered strengthened parts to evaluate but haven't received yet so cannot confirm.

Reply
Pierre
11/1/2021 10:09:51 am

Hi,

the internals are ok so far.
I have the steel upgrade internals as spares but not used yet.
But the outdrives where the dogbones are sitting, have strong wear.
Do you know if there are some stronger ones available from a different manufacturer which will fit the wltoys 144001?

QuadifyRC
11/1/2021 10:22:58 am

Ahh I've not seen any replacements for the outdrives yet I am afraid. The stock diffs are cheap and easier to replace as a unit I find.

Reply
Paul
27/1/2021 09:37:35 am

Hey awesome guide. Great job! Quick question though I bought the 2838 brushless combo and while testing everything before installation I plugged the esc into battery it immediately started sizzling and smoking...any idea why? Thanks

Reply
QuadifyRC
28/1/2021 11:46:35 pm

That doesn't sound good. As you've probably figured out, it shouldn't be doing that. Check fright that the battery polarity was correct (red to red, black to black) but it sounds like a claim I'm afraid.

Reply
batracio
13/2/2021 12:12:36 pm

Once you´ve run this little beauty on 3S you´ll not want to run on 2S again. There is an enormous difference and there is no real need -in my humble opinion- to make any other modificaction nor upgrade apart from greaseing diffs etc.
But there is another part that, regardless the lipo 2 or 3S we run on, we must pay much attention to; suspenssions.
As QUADIFYRC said, shock absorbers seem to be clearly improvable. I´ve tested various densities oils, from 500 to 2500, and i must say that hiher densities are more recommendable, but do not solve the issue. I think the solution might be going to stiffer/harder springs. Any suggestion about this pont?
By the way, I´m not trying to push anyone to use 3S on this car, as I know there´s a real risk to fry the ESC, I´m just explaining my own experience..
Best regards

Reply
QuadifyRC
15/2/2021 11:30:04 pm

You must have one of the lucky ESCs, it seems to be a bit hit and miss. Enjoy it!

As for springs I'd recommend the LC racing ones, they actually come in a range of different spring strengths. These are some of the harder rear ones they sell: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Aa3Cu4

Reply
Jason
15/2/2021 08:18:49 pm

The reae shocks on my son's car bottom out & don't rebound much at all (unless you manually lift the wieght of the car)... I'm assuming the seals have probably blown and all oil leaked... Does this seem likely?

Was going to try replacing with thicker oil, but maybe I should just get new shocks... Do you have a recommendation on replacement shocks?

Reply
QuadifyRC
15/2/2021 11:32:12 pm

Hey Jason

Actually as best as I can tell from your description the shocks are fine but you may need to wind down the spring colars to increase the ground clearance which allows the car to pop up again more easily if you push it down. Try that and let me know, would rather you didn't waste money on parts you may not need!

Reply



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