[DNF] [22 BO] FatMikes Craftsman INDY "E.P.O.C."

Just a quick picture, I got some parts in last Wednesday but with work  getting the way I just haven't taken the time to work on it and at my age I seem to need a day just to recoup anyway on to it.


So as you can see the gearbox fits well and lines up nicely with the original spindles/axles, I'll just have to nip those attachment brackets off but my main concern is will I be able to get a U-joint on the gearbox and the wheel ends, If not it will be time to make an axle that will fit it all but I think I found u-joints that will fit as is.

It looks pretty good so far as lining up, the wheel end U-joint will need to aligned to the king pin that the new spindles will pivot on and I really plan on using the wheel hubs to support the whole front end on bearings so the weight is as close to the wheel as possible, no wheel spacers for me.

The U-joint and axle shaft at the wheel end will be welded together and set to pinch the wheel hub with just enough room for the bearings which will be in a tube that will not allow the bearings past the inner lip. The wheel hubs will be turned down slightly to fit bearings and to make a stop so the hub and u-joint doesn't grind into the axle tube.

Those old tires are 15" but I plan to up the size to 18" or 20".
With the gearbox I lose an additional two inches over the attachment points but with slightly larger tires and 4WD it is a non issue.

Making this front axle is the hardest part of this project and a close second will be my idea of a trans.

I will be ordering some u-joints, two 1" step down to 3/4" hubs (four lug-golf cart), one 1" stepped down to 3/4" axle with hardware and then some steel to make the new spindles out of, thinking of making four spindles just to have some spares or......for the second more advanced WILD version if this stuff works as hoped.

Oh yeah the 12 volt clutch in the bottom of the picture is one of three going into the trans.

Murraymountain wrote:

TechnoChicken wrote:

Where has that been done? can you throw up a link of some sort?

Jason Kahler’s 2019 BO Entry ‘Hondax4’

MurrayMadness 4x4 build! (atltf.com)

there is another.  I know @redzz02 was building one in the first build-off in the past.  Mentioned several times.

site:atltf.com 4x4 - Google Search

Mine is hardly to first, others have already done it, I'm trying to do albeit a bit differently.

My front axle sounds like "mission impossible" but it's really only mind numbingly difficult.

I will still have the front axle pivot like stock and I'm trying to hide the 4WD as much as possible, just kind of a sleeper 4WD tractor. It will end up with a rock guard attached under the gearbox to protect it and that should pretty much hide it. Actually there will be a smooth rock guard the length of the tractor

It will be obvious it's 4WD when I get it into some mud and start flinging mud with the front tires, yep already thinking front sissy mud fenders.

The only 4wd I've seen so far have been built from existing parts, I love the fact your fabbing it up from basically scratch! Considering the fact you'll need to fab up hub holders/steering knuckles you may not even need inner u-joints as long as you can get the axles in line with the hub centers? Either way I'm looking forward to seeing this take shape!

FatMike wrote:

Mine is hardly to first, others have already done it, I'm trying to do albeit a bit differently.

My front axle sounds like "mission impossible" but it's really only mind numbingly difficult.

I will still have the front axle pivot like stock and I'm trying to hide the 4WD as much as possible, just kind of a sleeper 4WD tractor. It will end up with a rock guard attached under the gearbox to protect it and that should pretty much hide it. Actually there will be a smooth rock guard the length of the tractor

It will be obvious it's 4WD when I get it into some mud and start flinging mud with the front tires, yep already thinking front sissy mud fenders.

I'm diggin it.

Thanks for the comments.

I know its going slow but I have other things in my way and now we owe uncle SAM a WAD of cash (AKA:. S-end A-ll M-oney) but little by little I will get the parts and piece this together.

More parts will be ordered, 8" golf cart rims, hubs for golf cart rims with the longest center, the 1" shaft, and maybe u-joints so I can figure out what size bearings and steel tube I'll need.

Yeah, financials are one of the biggest problems around here, It seems no one with actual money ever tries to build on of these things, probably because by the time you throw 1-2k at a machine you might as well just buy a quad...

TechnoChicken wrote:

Yeah, financials are one of the biggest problems around here, It seems no one with actual money ever tries to build on of these things, probably because by the time you throw 1-2k at a machine you might as well just buy a quad...

I agree, I've already done the atv/quad route still got my wifes 2006 raptor 350 and a blaster that needs help among other toys, almost got killed on my 2013 kingQuad 400 sold that and we bought a P500 but the challenge in making something is fun.

This is looking like a purge year where I get rid of some things I know we'll never want to ride again.
2006 raptor 350
blaster
BW80
KLR250
2000 crewcab 3500
old RC cars
maybe some tractor stuff
the wife if she doesn't get off her hiney and do some stuff.


If I could find a decent paying job up north I'd move there in a second and be in really good shape after selling the down state house.

Well finding U-joints is easy, finding u-joints that are actually in stock is the trick.

TechnoChicken wrote:

Yeah, financials are one of the biggest problems around here, It seems no one with actual money ever tries to build on of these things, probably because by the time you throw 1-2k at a machine you might as well just buy a quad...

Never heard of a 1k quad that was actually in decent shape. People around here think beat to stuff is still worth the new msrp….

My wifes old 2006 raptor 350.
I guess I'll drain the fuel, clean the carb, check the chain and sprockets and replace or service as needed then install the new battery that has been on a battery minder and run it around this summer.

Oooooo, lots of good tractor parts there!

So with the TAX MAN setback on parts ordering  I at least took a look at some tires and I may have found a set I like for this project.

Nothing special just some SUNF A051 POWER 2 tires size 19x7-8 for the fronts and 26x11-12 for the rears. That should come out to a 1.3 ratio which will be an easy correction with a couple of sprockets.

These tires are nothing special as I've said but i like that they look to be a rounded tread rather than a flat/square tread and they have a large enough spread in sizes to suit me so this project still looks like a tractor.

Maybe not the most aggressive tire but with all four tires driven at all times I could probably run on turf tires and be fine for the most part   .

Where do you find tires like that? I need a good source.

FatMike wrote:

So with the TAX MAN setback on parts ordering  I at least took a look at some tires and I may have found a set I like for this project.

Nothing special just some SUNF A051 POWER 2 tires size 19x7-8 for the fronts and 26x11-12 for the rears. That should come out to a 1.3 ratio which will be an easy correction with a couple of sprockets.

These tires are nothing special as I've said but i like that they look to be a rounded tread rather than a flat/square tread and they have a large enough spread in sizes to suit me so this project still looks like a tractor.

Maybe not the most aggressive tire but with all four tires driven at all times I could probably run on turf tires and be fine for the most part   .

Same place the engineers who invented the vari-drive bought their crack & cocaine...
I think you can buy them legally here: https://www.sunf.com/products/a051
EDIT: DANG!!! just looked at the price of those, that is really cheap for decent tires, I need to check that site

yeah I thought the price was good on those even from the SUNF site but what got me to them was the tread pattern and various sizes of the same tire which is what I'm looking for on my project.
I want all four tires to be the same tread pattern but I also want to have a distinctly noticeable size difference between front and back.

Did you guys see about 80 bucks for a tire?

Nevadablue wrote:

Did you guys see about 80 bucks for a tire?

It showed 40 a tire for the ones in the link, the ones that I needed were about 60

The larger they are the more expensive they get, my set would cost $307 which is fine by me just to get the sizes and matching tread that looks fairly decent.

I'm thinking a future project for me needs to be a "zero budget" build, a build that I can only use what I have laying around or can trade/barter for, absolutely no money spent on it for anything just to see what I can do.


EDIT: So in looking around I have found two golf cart front rims -offset-, two hubs 4x4 1" to 3/4" step down with lug nuts, 1" x 42" axle shaft step down to 3/4" with hardware and lastly 4 U-joint sets for a total of $326. This would pretty much get the front axle done except the steering which may be another "wildidea" experiment but that will be dealt with later.


I can see this project quickly going over $1500.......ahh who am I  kidding closer to $2500 I'm glad  I have other plans for it other than just riding it,.....it will be put to work.

3/14-EDIT: I have a few parts coming.............I can't hardly wait.
Not everything I need for the front axle but enough to get going on the front spindles with the shaft, hub, u-joints and a rim I should be able to get the steel tube and bearings to make the axle carrier pieces on the lathe and then assemble the left/right spindles.
Gotta have those hubs first so I can figure out the steel tubing and bearing size and the rim is important to have on hand to figure clearance, it looks to be a tight fit.

This is probably the most difficult part of this build just getting the front spindles made and it really is a simple assembly, I can't wait to get them built and post up pictures and get the rest of the parts needed to complete the front axle.

I had a crazy idea of just building a whole ladder type subframe that would slide up in between the original tractor chassis but that will have to wait until I get the tractor inside and torn down a bit.

Just a small update.

Here is a picture of the hub, rim, shaft and U-joint yoke and I just ordered some pieces of steel (3.5" DIA. x 2.5" long) to make the part of the spindle that will hold the bearings I just ordered.


So the plan is still to have an inner and outer bearing slide right over the hub.


The 3.5" round steel will be turned to fit the bearings into and I'll build off of that to finish the rest of the spindle.

I have 4 pieces of the 3.5" round steel coming to hopefully make 4 spindles total but if I frag one in the making  I'll have a spare.

I want to get this front axle assembly built because I see it as the most difficult part of the build.
I'm still kicking around the idea of making a complete subframe that will hold the front axle, rear axle, brakes and allow the rest of the stripped down tractor to be lowered onto and bolted to it along with the engine and the plain L-H-N-R trans I'll be making. The subframe is needed to strengthen it up a bit.

The steering will be on the wild side I think because I want to try it, unconventional to say the least and may not work.....like I might be able to have the steering wheel tilt up with the hood kind of crazy stuff but I doubt it will go that far but it could.


I'll be getting my P500 out of the garage very soon which will open up a lot of space in the garage for this project.

EDIT: bearings came in today, they are to small to slide over the hub which is PERFECT I'll need to turn the hubs down just a little to to get them to fit which will also allow me to set the stop to keep the bearing and spindle away slightly from the back of the hubs. There will be pictures as this unfolds.

EDIT: got my 4 pieces of round stock in so soon I can start on making the spindles(2 sets).
Thinking the next picture posted will be of the finished axle followed by the various stages to make it pictures, sort of a POOF here it is then the how it was done.
The steering is gonna be wild I think.

I got home from work today and grabbed one of the 4 pieces of 3.5" round stock I got to make the spindles out of and turned the face on the lathe just to see what I'm working with, how machinable it is and it should be OK but will take a lot of lathe work to make.

I'm mostly just to tired after work but hopefully once we just start mowing I'll be able to come home and work on this for a couple hours a day.

I'll be home this weekend as well doing some work out in the garage on another project to make more room in there. for the build off project.

@FatMike If you can do a zero budget build you'd have one on me, that's what my current build was supposed to be but that went out the window fast LOL !

diddie wrote:

@FatMike If you can do a zero budget build you'd have one on me, that's what my current build was supposed to be but that went out the window fast LOL !

I don't think I could do a zero budget build but I have thought about it just build the best I can with what is laying around the houses, maybe when I have more time.

This build is a challenge for me with the 4WD, making a simple H-L-N-R trans with CVT and then the completely unsure steering using PUSH-PULL controls.

I'm planning to get some real work done on this this weekend.

Still pushing this project but have had some setbacks unrelated directly to the project but non the less effecting the project.

I have changed jobs just recently which has sidetracked me a bit as I get back to work at a former employer but the good news is it pays significantly more than my previous job but I have yet to get a paycheck from them, hit it at the 3 week wait UGH started at the beginning of the pay period.

The other thing is I have been focused on our van we use to go up north in since I haven't been going up north to our house because of the new job but soon all will be back to normal with a little more cash and time to work on this project.