Rear axle articulation

I'm in the process of building something that fits this thread pretty well. Its a bolens with a 5hp Briggs,shaft drive and lots of articulation front and rear! Check out my YouTube channel rarbaugh07.

rarbaugh07 wrote:

I'm in the process of building something that fits this thread pretty well. Its a bolens with a 5hp Briggs,shaft drive and lots of articulation front and rear! Check out my YouTube channel rarbaugh07.

Dudeeeeeeee that thing is extremely sick! Just freakin cool. You should start up a thread, people would flock to it like stink on doo doo. How did you make the driveshaft?

1/2" impact socket u-joints and some square tubing that fits perfectly so it slips in and out. Just will have to spray some lube on the joints every other outing or so

rarbaugh07 wrote:

1/2" impact socket u-joints and some square tubing that fits perfectly so it slips in and out. Just will have to spray some lube on the joints every other outing or so

Test run f it yet? That probally the first concept and product of that setup ever. Extremely cool! That might become my next year project.

Ya short test run works great slight vibration at high rpm (governor removed). Used to small PTO ujoints but there so heavy for just the weight and power of a mower chassis

And harbor freight has those socket joints dirt cheap

Dang. Id love to see more of it.

I used to work at a Chevy Dealership for a little while and the Pontiac G4's and G5's have a steering shaft recall. These steering shafts would prematurely wear out. Not all of them changed were worn yet but it was one of many GM recalls that was changed anyways. I thought Id grab one that looked perfect had no play and was being thrown out just because I dreamt up ideas.

These shafts have two small but strong U-Joints on both ends and the shaft could actualy slide in and out increasing and decreasing the length, probably so if it was in a crash the wheel wouldn't be pushed into the drivers face. If I had two of these I could probably rig up an articulating front wheel drive on a tractor. I wish I grabbed every one I seen! 

Exactly my friend worked at a Toyota dealership and has similar steering shafts in his tool box. Great option. Or even out of a junkyard maybe

rarbaugh07 wrote:

1/2" impact socket u-joints and some square tubing that fits perfectly so it slips in and out. Just will have to spray some lube on the joints every other outing or so

Hah finally someone's trying my "never used, everybody has them idea, socket u-joint". Keep us updated  

My plan was to use one of those in my JD210 steering.

Thunderdivine wrote:

rarbaugh07 wrote:

1/2" impact socket u-joints and some square tubing that fits perfectly so it slips in and out. Just will have to spray some lube on the joints every other outing or so

Hah finally someone's trying my "never used, everybody has them idea, socket u-joint". Keep us updated  

My plan was to use one of those in my JD210 steering.

I used them on my wagon build (years ago) for the steering, but I cant give a good opinion on them because I had all the geometry wrong in the wheel area. That's were I learned that caster camber and all the other angles are important in a steering system.

Then when I started messing around with the Allis steering I bought some from TSC, but they had two much play in them.  I went to every store locally that sold tools and checked theirs out and found out that they all had play in them.

The play in them is in a twisting motion, as in hold one end of the u-joint and rotate the other end in a clockwise and counter clockwise direction.  I prefer a super tight steering so I didn't use them there either.

I was thinking, but what about AWS knuckles sideways?

Using the knuckle for a swing arm and drive shaft or for independent suspension? Just curious sounds good either way

Why not just do independant suspension? Use a t box some home made drive shafts, a arms and hubs? Also you could savage a independ suspension from a polaris 500.. they have irs.

On mobile so I cant edit.. but to add to what I said. This way keeps your vertical Input and would work best running a horizontal belted to a ragb chained to the T box.. that would also provide the best ride woth the right shocks

Thunderdivine wrote:

Doc Sprocket wrote:

MowBandit wrote:

red you should do a 4wd setup and get that peerless 700 with the dual outputs

Umm.... ALL Peerless 700's have a dual output...

They have the possibility to, but some are delivered with the righthand sideshaft cut off.

My peerless 700 has only one shaft.  The mower that it came on had a brake disk with mechanical brakes that attached to the axle.

TroyBilt Pony wrote:

On mobile so I cant edit.. but to add to what I said. This way keeps your vertical Input and would work best running a horizontal belted to a ragb chained to the T box.. that would also provide the best ride woth the right shocks

Indipendent suspension isn't dominate in offroad tho, it's only good on KOH Buggys that do 130mph across the desert and the ifs/irs helps. But in the twisty turny trails, sold axle rules

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

TroyBilt Pony wrote:

On mobile so I cant edit.. but to add to what I said. This way keeps your vertical Input and would work best running a horizontal belted to a ragb chained to the T box.. that would also provide the best ride woth the right shocks

Indipendent suspension isn't dominate in offroad tho, it's only good on KOH Buggys that do 130mph across the desert and the ifs/irs helps. But in the twisty turny trails, sold axle rules

Very true in full size rigs, but in this scale, why would they make most fourwheelers with it Especially IFS.

Independent front or rear suspension will give you better ground clearance in the center of the machine.

Solid axles on trucks can take more abuse. If independent suspension was as rugged, everyone would use it.

B440 wrote:

Independent front or rear suspension will give you better ground clearance in the center of the machine.

Solid axles on trucks can take more abuse. If independent suspension was as rugged, everyone would use it.

Exactly.. Being these tractors don't get as much abuse as a truck, i'd think it would be fine.

It's a simple mass vs velocity issue. The big trucks have a LOT of mas slamming down on the front suspension parts in a jump. The spindles and drivetrain are smaller in a stock IFS, therefore they don't hold up to the abuse. solid axle is the way to go on a basically stock truck.

Vehicles specifically designed for the abuse (baha buggies and such) almost always use long travel IFS


With our mowers, the limited weight, and the limited power, prevent enormous jumps, and therefore make IFS a reasonable option for our scale of build. (I E mowers, carts, and ATV's)

I would like to bring this back to life. I have a 4 link panhard style suspintion an my murray widebody LT. I have plans for my rear using a peerless 820. Links, shifter, belts, and clutch all worked out in this messed up head of mine. My whole front suspintion is all bolt on accept front axel. I can take it all off and put it back to stock and you would never know it. This is a great place to get ideas but iv read this whole thread and all of the options talked about regarding 4 LINK iv Already thought of. I will use a jack shaft and wide angle pulleys. The belt to rear would be as long as possible with a tentioner at jackshaft and gueds at transaxel. Link bars and shifter should be the same linth withe hiemjoints on each end. Shifter should have 2 links in it one from shifter to a lever or pivit point then one to shifter on trans axel. I cant wait to start my setup just dont have the funds. Here is a link to a great place to get hiem joints and link at a reasonable price. This is where i get mine. www.racingrodends.com

CornShuck4CE wrote:

I would like to bring this back to life. I have a 4 link panhard style suspintion an my murray widebody LT. I have plans for my rear using a peerless 820. Links, shifter, belts, and clutch all worked out in this messed up head of mine. My whole front suspintion is all bolt on accept front axel. I can take it all off and put it back to stock and you would never know it. This is a great place to get ideas but iv read this whole thread and all of the options talked about regarding 4 LINK iv Already thought of. I will use a jack shaft and wide angle pulleys. The belt to rear would be as long as possible with a tentioner at jackshaft and gueds at transaxel. Link bars and shifter should be the same linth withe hiemjoints on each end. Shifter should have 2 links in it one from shifter to a lever or pivit point then one to shifter on trans axel. I cant wait to start my setup just dont have the funds. Here is a link to a great place to get hiem joints and link at a reasonable price.  This is where i get mine. www.racingrodends.com

By all means, give it a shot. When you do, start a thread, and give us the full tour!

I will but cant figure out the pix stuff i tried last night cant get them to load.

Yea sir read it tried to post pix. No luck went back read it again. For some reason it wont let me paste to the url. Maybe its becouse im on a iphone. I dont have internet right now so maybe ill try again when i get it back. This is an interesting thread since i wont to do the same thing keep it going.