MTD off-road romper build.

Pics from this weeked. had a good time.










Video!

still loooks like jenk.

(psssst: not really, kinda jeli)

i want to see that thing buried and winched out. put that sucker to the test

willis923 wrote:

still loooks like jenk.

(psssst: not really, kinda jeli)

i want to see that thing buried and winched out. put that sucker to the test

See what I'm doing when it's winching? Yea, standing back as far as I can. That rope really stretched out, so I'm going to have to get some stainless cable for it. A far as I see, it works really good, has such a gear reduction it's hard to break much.

Yeah- I noticed the stretch when I watched the video. Winch started, rope taken up, aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnddddddddd...
....
....
...
...We're moving. LOL

Yeah- might be an idea to upgrade the rope. Looks like you had a good time though! I love doin' that!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Yeah- I noticed the stretch when I watched the video. Winch started, rope taken up, aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnddddddddd...
....
....
...
...We're moving. LOL

Yeah- might be an idea to upgrade the rope. Looks like you had a good time though! I love doin' that!

Yup! More room for improvement.

The belt needs to be replaced, but a belly pan is in order, the pulley system doesn't like anything over 2nd gear totally submerged. Just slips. Did good though, nice to drive the nuts off it and have it take it in stride.

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

That rope really stretched out, so I'm going to have to get some stainless cable for it.

remember when i offered up an ATV winch cable and red flag for your yellow light? yeah, bet youre kicking youself for not taking it.

MTD... 'Murican Trail Demon

willis923 wrote:

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

That rope really stretched out, so I'm going to have to get some stainless cable for it.

remember when i offered up an ATV winch cable and red flag for your yellow light? yeah, im dumb and son of a cigrit.

Pffffft. 35 feet of jenk. Stainless will look good spooled.

Welp, i found my front axle. wanted to skip the 3/4 spindle junk, and was looking at 1" john deere spindle, but the hubs was a problem. These golf ball picker upers things solved my problem.

Beam looks to be just the right length, no cutting. Steering ram is cool, but the hydro steering would be big $ to set up. so that will go.


Adjustable tie rod, and adjustable steering stops. Look how thick the tie rod plate that is welded to the spindle is.



Big 1" or 1-1/16" spindles.


4 lug with tapered roller bearings (i think) with castle nut and cotter pin, as shown.



Saw this today too, should be good for my mono link I plan on, as the main heim. Gonna have to turn some mis-alignment spacers for it.

Nice! With that front end it would never wheelie again on you lol

Thunderdivine wrote:

Nice! With that front end it would never wheelie again on you lol

Good for hill climbing. Big ol oppy keeps it down as it is.

Well looky looky. I went and got it today, and was so easy to pop out. every bolt, cotter pin, nut, slid right out, even that giant pivot pin slid out with no effort, thats what happens when you grease and maintain your stuff. Taking dry rotted tires off in the junkyard on the other hand, not the fastest thing ive ever done.








Bearings roll amazing, tie rods tight, bushings in axle beam (3 1/2" x 2 1/2" - 1/4" ) are tight, nothing cranked, tie rod is just slightly bent from when they picked it up.

Also got these coils and tie rod off a big chinese 4 wheeler, seems like if its on a wheeler it should have the right rate for my big oppy weighing it down. The tie rod is pretty big, should do good for the panhard bar.

If you could send me those coils in the mail, for free of course, that would be pretty cool

jamcco wrote:

If you could send me those coils in the mail, for free of course, that would be pretty cool

I could get some off a old motor cycle, i mean, they are free, you just have to pay shipping and the $500 handling fee.

But really, if you want to buy some i can get some.

it's alright, i was just kidding about that, thanks though

This will be the brakes, artic cat 8 1/4" brakes, cable caliper. love this because its long lasting, hella durable, and all ajustable, even a parking brake, which the mower never had in the first place!





The cable looks to be the right amount for the fearlessfront style handle mount. ill just take the rotor hub off, and weld the 820's disk on it. I purposely broke off the aluminum tab for the caliper mount to use or model after. Ill probably drill holes in the aluminum and bolt it to a mount on the frame using some angle iron. The rotor is stationary and the caliper floats, so i just need to keep the rotor in one spot, witch isnt to hard.

So your gonna go with handle bars now or just hook the lever to the steering wheel?

I think LMM has the fearless style brake setup, its where its mounted on a pole, and then the pole is mounted on the fender. mine has a side shifter, it might go on the shiftier rod itself, not sure. Ill see how much cable I got.

Im interested in seeing how this turn out..keeping an eye on this build.

Ok so picture time. Went to my camp Saturday to get it and drove around the campground. Great rocks, and crawling. only for a little while.





Then went to my buddies house today! Has a sweet ravine and rock "garden" in there. the big rock patch is to much for the mtd, the tires are covored in mud and wont hook on the rocks at all. tried log jumping and that didnt work out either. lol






Mine and the two other kids deeres. Stock, dont go to far offroad.


The jumps he has didnt help me either. hit them full speed and got some serious air. Front smashed back down and bent the spindles. We bent them back with a sledge, and i jumped it again before i left, and bent then even worse. its junk



So the toll of today: Bent spindles, popped tire, fouled spark plugs, broken posi in the rear end, chipped bottom transaxle case, bent steering shaft (numerous times) and  more stipped steering gears.

And some bonus pics, my go pro acted up and i could download the files, finally got it to work, heres some pics of it when i drove at my camp and in the lake, page 42 if i remember right.

Build, Break, Fix, Repeat

Maybe try some of my offical mr.modified reinforced spindles.

Awesome, good you're re-building the front now eh.

I'm not sure I would have ran it that hard if I wasn't rebuilding it. Meh, either way, when you line up on a jump, it's hard not to hit it as fast as possible.

New coil setup will have some good shocks in it for sure.

Next part is steering before i start ripping it apart. Im still figuring out what is the best setup for the small space, really the best setup is hydro steering but thats way to complicated. something that i can run u joints, has no slack, and wont have the wheels move all over when the suspention unloads or flexes.

Good artical in different steering setups.

http://www.offroaders.com/tech/Steering-Systems.htm

If i could have s rack and pinion setup like this, it would be just what i need, i could bolt it to the axle, run u joints and a slipping shaft to it. Ill just have to find a gearbox that is small and same ratio as that.

More stuff! All steering components. Decided i was going to mount a steering "box" on the axle, so this is what i got. Ariens auger box, 10:1 ratio, witch is pretty much perfect. Remember, full pitman arm motion is only about 50-60 degrees, so that about 3-3.5 turns of the shaft to move the pitman arm that much. U joints and keyed slider shaft from a 90's ford.



This is how its gunna mount to the axle, (center) U-joints to the 3/4" shaft and pitman arm on the 1 shaft.


Gearbox is oil filled, and 3/4" imput shaft and 1" output.