Craftsman GT6K

Coilovers are always a good option, but not real short ones if you're looking for lots of articulation. In that sense I can see how the motorcycle forks would do good.

The only thing I wonder is would the sprung mass of this rig be too much for the shocks? I don't really know much about motorcycle shocks, but I assume if you get them from a bigger bike they'd have a higher spring rate. Do they usually have some adjustability to then?

A 1-link setup would be good and easy to fab up, but that setup has been dome a lot of times already. I think I'd be really neat to see something like a triangulated 4-link setup! Sure that requires some geometery work, but that's no big deal. Plus a triangulated setup would eliminate the need for a track bar.
I suppose the simplicity of the one link is hard to beat though..

One thing I really love about my Y-link setup is that it doesn't get in the way of anything under the tractor. Some multi-link setups like a 1-link, 3-link, etc. would make it a bit more difficult to mess with some stuff at the front of the tractor. Might not be a huge deal, but still a pain sometimes.

The strength issue shouldn't be as hard as you're thinking, just be sure to heavy enough steel and gusset every link mount so it'll stay solid and not break off or bend when you really get working the front axle. I've slammed or bumped the front wheels on my MTD forwards and backwards over countless objects, and surprisingly I have had zero issues with the link mounts or links themselves.

The only thing I can see not working out so great for you is the cast front axle, I'm thinking that might limit you to some degree.

I might just avoid suspension on this rig.

Playing around with the axle and Mutt's front tires.

l o n g b o i


Anteater


I'm gonna have to go a bit different this time around on hubs as the bolt pattern on these new atv wheels is a lot smaller. I'm not opposed to just welding a pair of 6" rims on. That was my original plan with Mutt.

Alright folks take a guess as to what I'm doing this time.

looks nice!
hmmm. maybe thats some front axle mount that allows U to move the front axle to every position U want?

Yep. And it'll be at an angle to help with caster and leveling

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Yep. And it'll be at an angle to help with caster and leveling

nice!
Just wondering how U will solve the steering, since when U change the front axles location its messing up the steering alignment & when U hit stuff with the front axle it might gets moved as well!
But I'll see how U will solve all that!

It shouldn't hurt the alignment much. I'm making a new drag link so I'm not worried about steering. I don't think it'll move if i tighten all the bolts plenty. I mean there's 4 bolts on each side. It's the same as your GT axle.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

It shouldn't hurt the alignment much. I'm making a new drag link so I'm not worried about steering. I don't think it'll move if i tighten all the bolts plenty. I mean there's 4 bolts on each side. It's the same as your GT axle.

my front axle is kinda bent cuz it sits at an angle downfaced

Gonna have to fix that!

"l o n g b o i" looks to have a nice stance to it.

Mine was bent too. Part of why I'm adding the caster.

Those were kinda jokes mighty lol, the new front axle location will be maybe 4" forward of stock

This is about where she'll sit. I'm gonna use four ½" bolts to hold it for now, if those become an issue I'll just weld it.

Clamped


Drilled and bolted. Axle isn't all the way back in the slots but is all the way back against the frame as far as i cut. I think the bolts will hold it fine anyways.


Cut the excess frame to match the axle mounts

General idea for turning radius whatchamacallit.




Came out to about 5° caster, lot easier to work with than whatever ridiculous amount i did on mutt. Making a new drag link shouldn't be too hard.

Also I'm replacing the plastic axle bushing with steel if the lathe cuts 820 axle shaft alright. Only other 1" stock i have is stainless. Not drilling that stuff. Even on a lathe.

Cut off a piece of axle on the bandsaw. This was the 820 axle that had the ends torched off in the scrapyard. Glad it's going to good use.

So here's the setup on the lathe. Don't have a Z axis readout on the lathe, so i set one up with the dial indicator. Not an uncommon setup, although usually it's on the other side of the carriage.


Face both sides, then measure and cut from there. .160" takes a while to take off at .020" a pass. A half thou over is well within my tolerances.


Center drill and my 2nd pilot drill, went from ¼" to ½" to ⅝". Naturally my only ⅝" bit was bent and dull so that took a bit of fixing.


Not bad! Good project for a 92 year old lathe.


A good interference fit with the axle, went in nicely with a hammer. Bolt fits snugly in there too.



Just my observation- the front axle is a interesting casting. You can see flashing cut off on top of the axle over the kingpin, as well as at both ends outside the spindles. There's a line indicating a two piece mold(that wasn't very well aligned) all around. I imagine iron flowed in over the kingpin and excess flowed out into vents at each end of the mold. When iron appeared at the top of these vents, they stopped pouring. This may have all been automated though, I'm not sure. You can see a lot of engineering in a cast piece. A lot goes into good moldmaking. That's an entire profession of it's own, really. Whether you're making steel molds to form sand molds (moldception eh), or machining tiny molds for casting a dental implant.

Whoops, tangent. At least it's not a 3 page one.

So how about it?

I think it looks great Rich!  Great job on the fabrication of parts!

lookin neat!

Nice deal. A bit off topic, but what kind of lathe do you have?

1927 South Bend 9" swing x 3-½' bed. I absolutely love it.

Replaced the steering sector gear with one I pulled out of my friends mower(i did up another steering system like i did with this one and swapped it in his). This is actually a hardened gear, crazy it wore that much. I figured out it was hardened when i went to drill the drag link hole out to ½". Dang thing chipped my 7/16” bit.


Cut up the last of the linkage arms i found with my ½" heims to make a drag link. I hate stick welding small stuff like this.


Drilled a ½" hole in a ⅝" Murray steering shaft and parted it off in ¼" sections to work as spacers for the heims. Modelled after the ones mutt has.


Just gotta deburr the spacers and put it together now. HSS parting tools are really finicky but I made them work. At least I'm not replacing an expensive insert if i break this, just grind a new end on it.

Wow! That thing did wear out.

Nice idea with the homemade spacers! I have too many questions about the shaft and machinery you're using to flood your topic with so I'll keep quite lol!

Lol feel free to ask if you want. I'm really only one or two machines short of being a machine shop. I'll get a milling machine someday.

Put the drag link on yesterday. It works. The steering crossmember could use some reinforcement as it will twist some when i turn the wheel. Not a hard fix.

I sold a smaller south bend lathe not too long ago. They look to be nice rugged machines. Good for stuff like that making up custom spacers ect. I got one of those tiny chinese ones to play with. Not great for big stuff but smaller things it works ok. Just gotta be easy on it.

Carb kit got here yesterday, put the O rings for it in and I'm working on finishing the exhaust now.

Here's the finished exhaust for now. Dunno what it sounds like yet lol.

Oh yeah that looks great!

This thing won't run worth a damn. It's surging now. At least it's not so fat.