MTD off-road romper build.

What welder did you use for that thick metal? Looks good. - and show us a plan of this secret suspension thingy, kinda looks like what i would build if i had the room for a mudder.

Thunderdivine wrote:

What welder did you use for that thick metal? Looks good. - and show us a plan of this secret suspension thingy, kinda looks like what i would build if i had the room for a mudder.

My Hobart handler 140 set up for MIG. It welds like absolute butter, 1/4" melts right in.

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Thunderdivine wrote:

What welder did you use for that thick metal? Looks good. - and show us a plan of this secret suspension thingy, kinda looks like what i would build if i had the room for a mudder.

My Hobart handler 140 set up for MIG. It welds like absolute butter,  1/4" melts right in.

Then it's a good mowchine. None of my cheap ones could penetrate the 1/4" or thicker steel.

Thunderdivine wrote:

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Thunderdivine wrote:

What welder did you use for that thick metal? Looks good. - and show us a plan of this secret suspension thingy, kinda looks like what i would build if i had the room for a mudder.

My Hobart handler 140 set up for MIG. It welds like absolute butter,  1/4" melts right in.

Then it's a good mowchine. None of my cheap ones could penetrate the 1/4" or thicker steel.

Yea people say the harbor freight 90 amps can weld 1/4, and I had a 90 amp, not Hf, but still didn't penetrate for crap. I literally broke the leaf spring mounts that were 1/4" welded onto the frame off with a big cresant wrench in the tear down video.

Thunderdivine wrote:

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Thunderdivine wrote:

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Thunderdivine wrote:

What welder did you use for that thick metal? Looks good. - and show us a plan of this secret suspension thingy, kinda looks like what i would build if i had the room for a mudder.

My Hobart handler 140 set up for MIG. It welds like absolute butter,  1/4" melts right in.

Then it's a good mowchine. None of my cheap ones could penetrate the 1/4" or thicker steel.

Yea people say the harbor freight 90 amps can weld 1/4, and I had a 90 amp, not Hf, but still didn't penetrate for crap. I literally broke the leaf spring mounts that were 1/4" welded onto the frame off with a big cresant wrench in the tear down video.

Did you chamfer the edges before you lay the beads down? And maybe a pre-heat will help the harbour freight people.

Yea, on the 1/4" stuff grinding the endge down helps a good amount.

Lots of stuff from this weekend and yesterday. Make the link mount to the uniball, 1/4" tabs and angle iron, spacers to decrease walking. Roughly 30 degrees of pivot.




In the meantime, i took the rear tires off, cut and grinded the old hubs out. Gurk, what a fiasco. Cut the sides off the new axle rims and welded the center disk on. 4x4" hubs.





With the tires now on, I centered the axle, determined ride height and cut out some links. Put 5 degrees of caster on the front axle, i hear it helps out with turning with a posi rear end.



Beef trac-bar.


Taking advantage of that old hydro steering ram mount.


And frame mount.



Now what people have waited for. About 17" of max flex on each side. Obviously not going to have that much, but is cool to look at. Might have to move the trac-bar mount for a little more clearance for when i move the tie rod up.





Also did a second tube support for more......support. notching tube with a grinder really doesnt work to well, but eh, i got within 1/8" gap. Good enough.



All of this looks about 100x easier then it actually was lol. this is about 2 1/2 days of working.

HOLY FLEX!!!

Carshowkid wrote:

HOLY FLEX!!!

Thanks, some limit straps are in order or else the coils will fall out.

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Carshowkid wrote:

HOLY FLEX!!!

Thanks, some limit straps are in order or else the coils will fall out.

yeah limit straps are first thing on the list

awesome man!

That looks sweet!! I hope to be able to have that much flex by cutting eyebrows on the axle and a small bit of frame on my craftsman! So, how did you add the caster?

Thanks guys.

ZSmachines, caster is just tilting the axle backwards. so, before i welded the links up, i angled the axle back about 5-4 degrees. you can do this with yours if the axle plate that sandwiches the axle beam is bolt on, you can just bend it out and brace it.

Ok thanks! Now IN theory the axle itself could be heated and bent?

ZSmachines wrote:

Ok thanks! Now IN theory the axle itself could be heated and bent?

The axle beam has to be tilted, and no, tilt the brackets that hold the axle to the frame and weld or re bolt them

Oh I just reread my comment and when I said bent, I ment twist. So essentially you are doing the same thing as bending the mounts, but you still have a true up and down motion as it did stock.

LAWN MOWER MUDDER wrote:

Will she be ready for haspin next year?

Im on track to be ready in under a month i figure. not sure, i might have to wait till Christmas so i can get the disk brake on. (gift im thinking of)

Haspin? Its a long shot. i think my graduation is the 24th or 26th, something like that. so tests and junk are that weekend. ill see, but as i said, not very good chances like usual.

Looks good, I like the mono link...suspension is probably my favorite thing to mess with so far

jamcco wrote:

Looks good, I like the mono link...suspension is probably my favorite thing to mess with so far

Suspension is #1 most favorite, and exhaust is a close second. Paint third? LOL

Your frontend is looking really good, Red. Nice work!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Your front end is looking really good, Red. Nice work!

Thanks! Hopefully it doesnt break, or bend for that matter.

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Your front end is looking really good, Red. Nice work!

Thanks! Hopefully it doesnt break, or bend for that matter.

if it breaks... Just means you didn't build it strong enough... Or romped it too hard

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

LAWN MOWER MUDDER wrote:

Will she be ready for haspin next year?

Im on track to be ready in under a month i figure. not sure, i might have to wait till Christmas so i can get the disk brake on. (gift im thinking of)

Haspin? Its a long shot. i think my graduation is the 24th or 26rd, something like that. so tests and junk are that weekend. ill see, but as i said, not very good chances like usual.

if I may ask what's haspin?

Awesome mod Red!

And it's like you have your own waterjet allready, with all that metal and available parts.

So won't the steering link limit the flex some too?

Carshowkid wrote:

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

LAWN MOWER MUDDER wrote:

Will she be ready for haspin next year?

Im on track to be ready in under a month i figure. not sure, i might have to wait till Christmas so i can get the disk brake on. (gift im thinking of)

Haspin? Its a long shot. i think my graduation is the 24th or 26rd, something like that. so tests and junk are that weekend. ill see, but as i said, not very good chances like usual.

if I may ask what's haspin?

Only the best offroad lawn tractor rally ever .
I just posted the event for this year in the community networking > events area.

Suspension is looking incredible red. Those gusset tubes down to the front spindles are sweet it should be plenty strong. You will love this set up.