[toddshotrods]

Now sand drags are a little closer to my alley! This is looking so sweet! Is the rear going to be solid (welded directly to the rear end) or will it have suspenders?

[Jimdear2]

Originally Posted by toddshotrods

Now sand drags are a little closer to my alley! This is looking so sweet! Is the rear going to be solid (welded directly to the rear end) or will it have suspenders?

It will be solid. We are bolting the frame to the rear axle using 4 1/2x13 grade 8 allen bolts on each side. The frame bolts to two 1/2 inch thick plates that were bored and slid over the axle tube and then welded into place equadistant with the pinion center line. This was done during tha axle narrowing process.

There will also be a roll cage tied to the front end and the axle.

The beauty of this stacked motor over diff design is all of the torque reaction is concentrated into the rear axle assembly which is a very sturdy piece. This allows a very light frame. 1350 lbs. with driver is a hard target.

Pulling with a rear suspension is a real No No. and I looked at some converted asphalt dragster sand rails they also do not use rear suspension.

I'm hoping this will be classed with other quad type sand racers (that's why the quad front end). A quad with a 180 HP Hayabusa is a pretty awsome machine so we will have our problems geting a win here.

[toddshotrods]

Cool.

Originally Posted by Jimdear2

...The beauty of this stacked motor over diff design is all of the torque reaction is concentrated into the rear axle assembly which is a very sturdy piece. This allows a very light frame. 1350 lbs. with driver is a hard target...

I don't remember whether it was ever mentioned to you, but I was planning a future street rod with the same philosophy. It wasn't for racing and was going to use a small 6.7" motor and really lightweight custom rear end setup, driven by a 3" belt. I killed the project though, and sold the motor. It's a really neat idea, and the ease of changing gear ratios is like having an expensive quick-change rear end.

Originally Posted by Jimdear2

...I'm hoping this will be classed with other quad type sand racers (that's why the quad front end). A quad with a 180 HP Hayabusa is a pretty awsome machine so we will have our problems geting a win here.

I can only imagine. I have ripped through a few gears on a mildly modded 'busa - pulls nice.

[Woodsmith]

Excellent photos, Jim, I need to be careful that I don't stray from my trike project.

I see what you are saying about the motor position keeping the drive torque in one place. I may have to think about that for the trike to allow me to reduce weight in the chassis. It would take a lot of chassis to support the weight and the torque form the 12" motor.

It's great seeing how things are working in your workshop. I like building on the bench but I don't have the room to have the floor as well.

I'm looking forward to the rolling chassis photos, I even have popcorn at the ready in case you shoot video.

[Jimdear2]

A breif update on the build, got some work done yeaterday.

No pictures, just a big rush to get to a pull today. Beautiful weather (for a change) nothing broke on any of the three tractors and my partner tried his 60 volt to 120 volt overdrive. WOW it came on so sudden and so hard he lost the throttle pedal. Going to be hard to beat him when it's refined.

Anyway, the front and back end are now attached and the steering is half done. The hood mounting is dimensioned and the dash and steering column support has been bent up and will be welded in when the hood hinge is completed. The rear portion of the hood will rest on the dash panel.

The motor is a bit of a hold up right now. The end bells are done and look great, the barrel though weighs between 75 and 100 lbs and my buddy will need help geting it in the powder coat oven. I just can't help him, so we wait.

I got the two reman clutch master cylinders I ordered from ebay. At $5.00 each complete with adjustable push rod and attached reservoir. What a deal.

Started laying out the pedal and cylinder mount.

Back at it tomorrow , I'll post a few photos of the progress.

See ya later.

[Jimdear2]

I am a little behind today so i'm moving some description text from an eMail I sent to someone else. Since I retired I seem to have less time to get things done then when I was still working, go figure.

We mounted the hitch box a little differently then most do so we can experiment with down pressure. The way we did it allows a lot of different adjustments to control down pressure on the rear tires that is caused by the downward angle of the chain to the sled. More holes will be drilled so we will be able to adjust from a 6 inch to a 10 inch distance from the center line of the axle and up and down 10 inches to 16 inches. This should really allow fine tuning. We welded the mounting plates for the hitch box directly to the cast steel pig as well as to the tubes so theree should be plenty of strengththere.

Took some better photos of the disc brake set up, those are 9 inch steel discs from a dual disc set that is used on the hydrostatic drive Cub Cadet. The discs use the same pattern as Ford and Chrysler so all I had to do was drill the discs from the 7/16 studs to 1/2 inch then prepare the back side of the axle flange to be true and flat. Then I knocked out the studs and then pulled them back in with the disc in place. Since these brakes are seldom used, the steel discs should be OK.

The calipers as I said before are from the Yamaha quad front end They are currently bolted to the flange that the original drum brake backing plate mounted to. Later we will also be spot welding them to prevent movement.

There are some shots of the rear attach points for the new frame to the 3 x 6 inch bolt pattern drilled in the mounting plates welded to the rear axle tube. The existing mounting points were very close and only needed a bit of mill work to match them up.

For set up purposes I have the seat temporally clamped down on some angle iron crossbars so it can be moved to locate it and help with the final location of steering brakes and throttle.

The one shot of the hood down is its final position. I made up some brackets that allowed a lot of adjustment. we fiddled with It until we could get the hood to open and close properly.

As the tractor is now the length is 6 foot wheel base and 71 inches from center line of the rear axle to the most forward part of the tractor (you are allowed 72 inches).

We welded in the steering column and dash panel support tube. It was bent to allow mounting of a dash to the angled portion to match the angle of the closed hood. So the hood when closed rests on the pivot points behind the front bumper and on the dash panel.

The other shots show the front end to frame attachment points. You should also see the original steering column and upper bearing. I cut off the column and relocated the upper bearing and support about 16 inches lower. The cub cadet steering gear we have will be cut to length mounted into the area behind the dash and up through the dash.and shortened as necessary. we will weld a arm to the factory tube and use a drag link to connect the cub's Pittman arm to the welded on arm.

The area just before and just behind the seat will have two trays made up, one to carry six Hawker 16 ah batteries and one to carry 12.. The remaining batteries (depending on how many good ones we still have next year) will be mounted in movable (for weight balance adjustment) outriggers. We will either buddy up 24 batteries and go with 160 static volts and 300 + amps or less depending on weight and good batteries and of course the controller we can come up with. A single string could allow as much as 360 static voltage and 150 to 200 amps.

Once the seat and battery locations are finalized we will build a dual tube 1.5 inch tube roll cage ( not required for this class, but it will look pretty)

We are still looking at an under seat box for the controller and contacter. other suggestions have been made like a tray over the motor and inside either a clear box or a big air scoop

The final pictures are of the two end bells in their near chrome powder coat with the brush rig and other parts, if you look close you will see the brush rig adjustment arm and turn buckle. Also see tha armature I'm sure you have lifted the arm from your 12 inch, poor Darin had to carry it in from his truck <Ouch>.

I thought I would ask the people following the build, since it has a John Deere garden tractor hood we have been thinking about finally nameing the tractor,

Electric Deere

What do you all think?

Back to work.

[Woodsmith]

Nice work there, Jim.

The green and yellow of the JD tractors always reminds me of earthing cable.



I wonder if there is a name in there?

I like the idea of a big air scoop to 'keep the controller cool', especially if it was a nice looking one.

I know the weight of a 12" armature, I have just been carrying my 12" motor, intact, across the floor to change the set up of the trike.
Dad watched but didn't offer to help. Guess I looked like I was managing.

[Jimdear2]

Originally Posted by Woodsmith

Nice work there, Jim.

I like the idea of a big air scoop to 'keep the controller cool', especially if it was a nice looking one.

I know the weight of a 12" armature, I have just been carrying my 12" motor, intact, across the floor to change the set up of the trike.
Dad watched but didn't offer to help. Guess I looked like I was managing.

Woody,

I'm leaning towards the scoop as well, just have to see how the necessary stuff fits in first and check the weight.

As far as moving the motors arround, a hint

http://www.harborfreight.com/movers-dolly-93888.html

They can be found even cheaper at resale and estate sales. Get one and save your back.

As far as you dad not helping you move heavy stuff . . .

Age = wisdom. Tell him I said so.

I had found a nice nesting spot in the front end for ten pound barbell weights so I decided to adapt the OEM hood mount to allow it to tilt forward. I made one set of brackets that positioned the hood properly and installed the rear support console.

Then the fun began . . . this got in the way of that, plus that had to route around something else. Well after four hours of making and remaking I'm within a half inch again (for the fourth time). At that point I gave up and will get back at it today.

I like building on a bench as well (my first tractor was done on a picnic table). Unfortunatly the shop space I am now using is a friends home machine and fab shop. He needs floor space when he gets a hot water stove, or buggy part order so I have to keep things mobile.

My home shop was/is an old dirt floor farm shed that had the roof material fail when my health failed and water leaked over everything, plus ground hogs got under the wood flooring. A real mess the, triple engine puller I had started has pretty much rusted useless.

I'm doing home stuff this morning and will get back to beating (maybe literally) that hood hinge into place arround noon. Maybe I'll have the steering done as well today.

[Jimdear2]

Well another day with minor progress. Lots of fiddle work.

Finally got that hood to open and close without binding and remain centered. Now all I need to do is make two offset arms to weld to the pivot shaft so I can mount the hood springs. Whew glad thats over.

Cut a dash panel out of some 1/8 inch aluminium plate. First time I've cut aluminium with a plasma cutter, smelly. Then I aligned and fixed the support hoop with the dash clamped into place so the hood closes flush to the dash panel. Then I tied the support hoop to the frame with a strut to make it rigid so the dash wont move and make the structure strong enough to support the steering column.

Built the bracketry needed to mount the lower end of the steering gear to the support strut. Then I ran into that old problem. The one thing I need to finish the job isn't here.

Tomorrow is another day. More photos tomorrow.

[JRP3]

Really impressive stuff Jim, looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.