MTD off-road romper build.

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.

Thunderdivine wrote:

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?

the tie rod thing? Yea, I need to love it up to prevent damage because it's low laying. I'll have to move the trac bar frame mount up a hair. I'm trying to make sure everything clears without bump stops in case one rips off or something

Rarbaugh07 wrote:

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.

Thanks man, I give full credit to you. It's pretty simple and cheap, vs a triangulated 4 link. I'm wondering about shocks, like maybe old kinda worn out vehical shocks. Something small, strong, and long length.

Since you already have cool front suspension, mabye you could switch from a transaxle to a peerless 700 and run the rear swing arm from a quad! Now that would be cool!!

Small car shocks will work just getting enough stroke might be tough. If you mount them inboard far enough or even part way up your link bars would give you enough travel with a shorter shock. Best part is you can weld/cut steel until it works just right.

ZSmachines wrote:

Since you already have cool front suspension, mabye you could switch from a transaxle to a peerless 700 and run the rear swing arm from a quad! Now that would be cool!!

To much that can break. A 820 well, doesn't break.

rarbaugh07 wrote:

Small car shocks will work just getting enough stroke might be tough. If you mount them inboard far enough or even part way up your link bars would give you enough travel with a shorter shock. Best part is you can weld/cut steel until it works just right.

I didn't want to use car shocks but I thought the stroke was long enough, I don't really know. I'll find out sooner or later.

Thunderdivine wrote:

I would use whatever shocks you have, and mount em with bellcrank's. That way you can gear it. sounds complicated but it's not. Kinda like a F1 mount. You can hide them if you wanted too, and still have 10 inch of travel

Now this is a good idea. Never thought of doing that.

... And y'all lost way far back in this convo... With bell crank and dirt bikes...

Carshowkid wrote:

... And y'all lost way far back in this convo... With bell crank and dirt bikes...

This is a bell crank. as the suspention travels up, it rocks the rocker and compresses the coil over.


Im looking at more of a simple setup then that though. so im still looking around.

I've thought of that but have shocks on both sides of the bell crank for more travel.

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

Carshowkid wrote:

... And y'all lost way far back in this convo... With bell crank and dirt bikes...

This is a bell crank. as the suspention travels up, it rocks the rocker and compresses the coil over.


Im looking at more of a simple setup then that though. so im still looking around.

thanks red for explaining that to me!

A Better example would be:

Thunderdivine wrote:

A Better example would be:

I saw that but figured he wouldn't know where the push tubes connected to.

Thunder's right... Thanks to te principles of the bellcrank, you can use nearly ANY coilover you can find, and alter effective spring rate to suit.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

Thunder's right... Thanks to te principles of the bellcrank, you can use nearly ANY coilove you can find, and alter effective spring rate to suit.

I think hes talking about just the shocks. sure you could mount some coil overs in there. im not sure how i'd like that deal tho, means id need to have a pivot arm with bearings/bushings, and another thing to maintain. Not shooting it down at all, just not what i was thinking about.

Springs, shocks, whatever. The ability to adjust the leverage applies. No, it may not be practical for you, but a great idea nonetheless.

Biggest problem I see happening is your mower will want to just tip on a side hill until your limit straps pull tight. And then dumps you off the seat. Even mine does this somewhat.

rarbaugh07 wrote:

Biggest problem I see happening is your mower will want to just tip on a side hill until your limit straps pull tight. And then dumps you off the seat. Even mine does this somewhat.

So like a frame twist? or chassis roll, just gravity version. lol, i could see that happening. so maybe a snowmobile sway bar in the mix? not sure how much those twist though.

Not frame twist, chassis roll. A swaybar would be ideal and maybe having levers with multiple holes on the sway bar for different rates and adjustability. Snowmobile one or ATV one should be about perfect.

Not frame twist, chassis roll. A swaybar would be ideal and maybe having levers with multiple holes on the sway bar for different rates and adjustability. Snowmobile one or ATV one should be about perfect.

rarbaugh07 wrote:

Not frame twist, chassis roll. A swaybar would be ideal and maybe having levers with multiple holes on the sway bar for different rates and adjustability. Snowmobile one or ATV one should be about perfect.

Do you get any torque roll at all? And how much travel does the rear get?

Actually no torque roll but only got a built 5hp flatty. Probably 4-5 inches straight up and down and 7-8 articulating at the wheel.

What about making up your own shocks? Assuming you use those coil springs that you already have, you could make some oil filled knee action shocks or friction shocks. No they might not look as cool as finding regular shocks somewhere, but you could make them pretty compact and bolt on. Then you could easily remove them later if you wanted to change it. Could make something with an adjustable dampening. Like a small oil filled box with a paddle inside attached to a lever. Could have an adjustable bypass or something. I don't see how you will be able to get a lot of flex out of it if your trying to have only a few inches of travel. What I mean is, if the frame is going to sit up off the axle normally at about 2" or whatever, is there much advantage to the wheels being able to drop much more than a few inches below where it normally sits? That kind of decides how much stroke and everything you need out of your shocks I guess.

T-bucket style friction shocks are actually pretty cool in my book

I found my old truck shocks that could work. Accept, pushing in it's pretty easy. Pulling out it does it very slowly no matter the force. I was thinking about modding the bypass so it stiffer, but I have no clue how to or is grinding/welding shocks back together is safe...