All-Terrain Tractor "Muskrat"

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Wow. That's one of the shortest stortened axle I've seen

Haha, it's the shortest it could go.  When I finished it, I had to resist the urge to put it on a garden tractor.

Creepycrawler-  The shafts were just ground to a point and welded with multiple passes.  Good 'nuff for my purposes.  I just wish there was a group like you guys around my college town that romps tractors for fun.

Awesome work man!

Good lord, you're not just fooling around with that pumpkin, are you?!?! And I thought I overengineered stuff! What does that thing weigh? Don't get me wrong, you've done a hell of a good job, but surely something much smaller and lighter would have tolerated the abuse?

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Good lord, you're not just fooling around with that pumpkin, are you?!?! And I thought I overengineered stuff! What does that thing weigh? Don't get me wrong, you've done a hell of a good job, but surely something much smaller and lighter would have tolerated the abuse?

Maybe that's what he had on hand(?) lol talk about beef

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Good lord, you're not just fooling around with that pumpkin, are you?!?! And I thought I overengineered stuff! What does that thing weigh? Don't get me wrong, you've done a hell of a good job, but surely something much smaller and lighter would have tolerated the abuse?

Pretty much what red said.  I say it weighs around 120-150 lbs. It does hinder the suspension travel on the front shocks to only 2" of travel, but the unit was free and fully working so I can't complain.  On a tracked vehicle the less things to worry about breaking the better!

So far this labour day weekend has been productive.  You can see the basic premises of the front end and how it is coupled to the half shafts.  Just need to finish tinning the front tub (had to cut it up to make room for the massive ham of an axle) and then I can work on mounting the sprockets.

Need to secure this bad boy and alleviate any flexing on the tub.

Connection point between halfshafts and wheel flange.  Consists of an 1/8" plate with four stud connections with the splined gear welded.  There is external C-ring beneath the plate (within wheel flange) that allows easy half shaft removal.Will replace the lug nuts with regular 1/2" NF nuts for easier access and clearances.


Half shaft tube consists of two bearings and will have a bearing housing flange that bolts to the tube to keep the bearings in.  The drive hub will be welded onto the half shaft, so I will not be using the splined area.


Further tinning is needed  .

Looking pretty good!

Whew the heat wave is over so started on track duty and mounted sprockets, tracks are a mundane job but its gotta get done.  


Track pad is 1 1/2"x3/4" rectangular tubing.


Put both ends into the press.  Lubed every fifth one to allow easier die removal from the work piece.


Crimped ends will hopefully allow easier skid turning and a stronger mating surface to the conveyor belt.


This is only half of them  .


Kinda what a track segment will look like except there will be flat bar instead of washers and 4 bolts per pad.








Hub and bearing flange area.  I just hope I don't lose my mind making track .  Until next time, stay safe tractor rompers!

Woah.......dude, this is beyond cool. Coming together very nicely. Basically everything is custom. Hats off!!

That's some serious fab work. What is going to keep the track on the tires? I like the open track design.

Yup- A tip of the headgear to you. Not only for the fab work, but insane patience! I bet you can't wait to get the tracks done, just to have all that repetitive work over with. Then, you'll nearly be ready for the zombie apocalypse...

wow great fab work

Track construction continues .

Bender

Track Guide

Filling in my production quota for the politburo (210 of these things  )

Welding station, its nice to sit and become entranced by arcing electricity

Jig close up

Got some done until I ran of wire.  

Also to the mod it may concern, I was thinking a retitle to this thread: All-Terrain Tractor "Muskrat" .Thanks!

This is going to be awsome to romp with!!

frostypaws wrote:

Also to the mod it may concern, I was thinking a retitle to this thread: All-Terrain Tractor "Muskrat" .Thanks!

DONE!

Also- You've got a level of patience deserving of some sort of award. This is coming along nicely, but the repetetive small-parts fabrication must be mind-numbingly boring.

Awesome build, well built

This is just too cool, you obviously have more patience than me. The fab work is great

Well its been awhile, finished both tracks and mounted them for a test fit.  I also started on bending the guides on one track, but I think I'll go back over them for a larger bend angle.  Its annoying how many "small" things that need to be done on the chassis for romp readiness and the fact how much time they do take up  .  Hopefully the drivetrain is all down hill (famous last words).  Apologies for the lack of lighting, the fluorescent lights burned out .  


Bending


Right track.  Rolling resistance on both tracks (tensioned & on concrete) is about 100-140 lbf, not too bad for a tracked machine  .


As you can see my patience wore thin, so in the end I did use washers instead of flat bar.  In my opinion, the washers have almost the same area as the flat bar so I'm not really worried about tear-out. I also want to redo the tensioner because right now it is a PITA to access with the track on so hopefully I can finish that next weekend.

That thing is sweet looking

Awesome awesome awesome! Its going to be cool seeing the tracks conform over things like logs and rocks

From this weekend.  

That looks awesome. Very nice job on the tracks.

I cant remember if you already mentioned it but... How is it going to turn? Lol will it be like a normal tracked vehicle where one turns a lower speed and it turns that way or what I dont see how you can do that with car diffs. I'm just really cyrious now haha.

independent breaks LOL

GenevaCustoms wrote:

I cant remember if you already mentioned it but... How is it going to turn? Lol will it be like a normal tracked vehicle where one turns a lower speed and it turns that way or what I dont see how you can do that with car diffs. I'm just really cyrious now haha.

You are absolutely correct on the concept of turning a tracked vehicle by varying thrust (or speed in this case) from one track!  As Ariens has pointed out, there will be a master cylinder for each slave cylinder in the brake drums.  Just think of this as artificially induced differential action.  Problem is, brake differential is the least efficient means of steering because if you want to have large turning radii its necessary to slip the brakes causing a loss of would-be drive power to heat.  But these brakes are pretty damn big for this application so I wont be cooking breakfast on the brake drums anytime soon (maybe the exhaust guard though, eggs and burned hydrocarbons mmmmmm  )  

Also, I've been contemplating on using a foot throttle for the Briggs.  Reason being, I want get the most life out of my 820 (4 shiftkeys) tranny and I'm worried with a hand throttle with constant rpms and quite a big load, when I declutch and shift while moving I might break the keys.  Does anyone have previous knowledge if a foot throttle will reduce loading on the transmission during shifting or will I be okay with just a paddle hand throttle?  Also, either way I will be keeping the governor.  Thanks!

Ahh, makes sense problem the easiest way to make it turn. Lol. And I would think it has a decrease on shifting because when you push the clutch sometimes the belt will spin shortly after and if that's a high rpm "after spin" then it could make the trsnny jump into gear and when u have a foot you let off the gas so the rims are lower so the belt "after spin" isn't as high of rpm as if it was set at like 3/4 throttle. I don't know if that's correct info but it sounds right doesn't it? Lol