MightyRaze's The Green Machine

Finally got around to taking this pic.

See the issue?  I do.  Now to figure out how to fix it.



Here, for those that don't see it right away.

Green line would be a straight path.  Red line is left edge of belt.

Video update.

OK!  Another update.  Popped some holes in the sides of the hood.  Seems to help a LOT.  I can set my hand on the hood now after a few minutes riding without burning my hand.  I'll say win!


Here I am marking and about to drill four 1/2 inch pilot holes for a tool I purchased for this job.



Here you can see the pilot holes, the tool and a popped hole with bevel.

Basically you run the 1/2 bolt through the hole, there is a cup on the back side to catch the cutter and top bevel maker.  I just used my impact to squeeze it together.  This metal seems to be on the upper end of thickness the tool works on, but turning the cutter 90 degrees draw it together again finishes the hole. 



Holes cut on one side.  The tool seems to cut nice burr free holes.  I was able to rub my finger around the inner seam without catching or sharp points.



With some touch-up paint, all finished. I think it looks pretty good actually.





As mentioned, it helped reduce the temp under the hood enough that I could not touch the top of the hood where the upper vent is before this mod.  Post mod, I can hold my hand on it.

That looks awesome! Those tools work great I've wanted to get one myself.

It worked pretty well for me. It seemed to come with an extra bolt. That was nice, since after 3 holes the bolt was getting pretty hot. I swapped to the nice cool one for the next three. I think that helped keep me from stripping it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09W9B91X4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Looks great mighty! I have a set of knockout punches like that to pop holes in electrical enclosures for different conduit sizes, but they don’t make nice bevels like that. Awesome job!

Thanks, the more I look at them the more I like them. I am now considering doing 6 more on each side in the upper hood. Something like this poor photoshop mockup.

OK, small review on that tool.  On the 9th hole drilled in the hood, the base stripped out and destroyed the bolt.  I was able to run to the hardware store and bought a grade 5 7/16ths x 4 inch bolt and nut that worked great for the last 9 holes I popped no problem.  Decided on 5 more on the top of each side of the hood.  



If the chain is any indication, yet I am putting it to work right now.  I've been dragging limbs to my burn pile. Dragging them over to trim them down for the burn pile. Some of the limbs were in excess of 25-30 feet. The first couple limbs I pulled with Red, but it's not quite heavy enough. I was spinning the tires pretty bad.

That's awesome, what a great looking way to solve a problem!

Brianator wrote:

That's awesome, what a great looking way to solve a problem!

Thanks, TGM has become pretty reliable now after some "tweaks".  Seems to have resolved the heat issue.  Even in the 90-100 heat! Hood gets hotter sitting in the sun now than the engine.  That is what I was hoping.

It's looking a little rough.  Still can see where I had the paint blemished by the chemical leak.  Maybe I'll take it back to metal since there are so many levels of paint on this beast.  Original silver, Kubota orange, black with flames, blue, and now black and green.  Maybe I'll take it back down primer and paint it sometime in the future.  I do like the green, that will stay for now on.

On the knockout punches I use, I put gray never seize on the threads as a sort of anti galling and high pressure lubricant measure. Might be a good idea here. Definitely don’t want to run a thread with that much use dry.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

On the knockout punches I use, I put gray never seize on the threads as a sort of anti galling and high pressure lubricant measure. Might be a good idea here. Definitely don’t want to run a thread with that much use dry.

Good call! I did spray it with wd40 this time around. It seemed to help. Anti-seize may work better!

WD is better than nothing, grease would be fine, but you know that never seize sure does stick to stuff!

Yeah, that stuff... once it is on your finger, in about 10 minutes you look like the tin man.

Ran TGM for about 30 minutes this evening dragging limbs. Ran great and didn't get hot at all!  I could put my hand on the hood over the exhaust pipes and it was only warm!



Also, the belt stayed on the whole time.  I did notice one of the idlers is starting to get noisy.

Very pleased with the tractor today.

New video update. Yay!

Now I am torn. I gave the Green Machine a workout today and was not happy with the clutching. I have tweaked and tweaked, and it just doesn't feel right or seem to clutch quite right. I am highly considering putting it back the way it was. Yeah, I don't get speeds over 10-12 but that is still pretty good for a utility build. Maybe I can do a half and half. We'll see, I'm pretty sure the double pulley was much better. Just need to resolve the flat idler pulley issue.

New config on the belts.  Back to the smaller pulley on the engine.  Decided the tractor was too fast for it's build.  Death wobble was too bad at higher speeds.   Don't really need the speed at this time.



Double pulley clutch back on.  Yes, that bottom length of belt is pretty close to the clutch pulley, but only touches when the belt flaps.  Seems ok right now.  No unusual wear so far.



Back to nice clutching and full belt stop when pressed in.  



Been using it to pull a lot of limbs lately due to storms.

Trunk reinstalled.  Could not find the old one, plus I cut and re-welded the hitch so it is straight and not slightly pointed down. as it use to be.  



Once I got it installed, guess what I found plain as day on the workbench under the pole saw?  Yep the old trunk. (ammo box)

Lots of work for The Green Machine today. Lots of limb dragging.  This pile stopped at about 10 feet high and about 15ft around.