The aim of the 42126 Ford Raptor was to motorize the set with as few additional pieces as possible while preserving all the functionality and looks.  For motorization I used a single BuWizz 3.0 Pro brick, two BuWizz Motors and a PU Large motor.

Steering system

For the steering system a single PU Large motor is used. It’s positioned behind the front axle and under the fake V8 engine and between the front seats. The steering system was also modified to reduce the slack. The steering knob on the roof (HOG) was removed since it was no longer necessary.

2. Redesigning and motorizing the rear axle

The rear wheel drive went through several designs before I reached a solution that is simple, yet robust enough to cope with the power of two BuWizz Motors.

The first design used the original differential and universal joints but it had the following issues:

• Differential would break the 12 tooth bevel gears.
• Axles kept constantly slipping out of the differential.
• Universal joint kept falling apart under the load.
• The model kept tilting when accelerating.
• Drive motors had to be placed inside the model under the rear seats which had to be moved higher.

After several additional attempts I decided to remove the rear differential altogether and attach the drive motors directly to the rear axle.

This setup offers the following advantages:

• Lack of the rear differential improved the off-road performance.
• Having the motors and the axles in the same plane allowed me to use spur gears (in parallel) which made the driveline much stronger than using bevel gears.
• The gear ratio could be optimized to give the model a good balance of torque and speed.
• Position of the interior could remain as original.
• I was able to connect the motors to the original ball joint in order to drive the fake V8 engine.
• Only 3 additional gears are needed to motorize the whole model.

3. Finishing up the modification

With the steering and rear wheel drive motorized all that remained was to assemble everything together and to find a suitable place to install the BuWizz 3.0 brick. After trying different positions, I decided to install the BuWizz 3.0 Pro brick in the rear right under the tailgate.

This position offers the following advantages:

• Easy access for charging
• Better weight distribution (more weight over the drive wheels)
• BuWizz brick’s LEDs can be configured to act as rear lights
• This way the original exterior looks, functionality and interior are preserved

Conclusion

With this modification we succeeded in motorizing the set with only 3 additional parts while keeping the original looks, both exterior and interior. The model is now capable of driving  quickly and reliably over rough terrain.

For those interested in modifying their own 42126 set we prepared PDF instructions for motorization and the control profile which you can find here: