Craftsman GT II My first AT Tractor

Parts day!  Well most my parts.  Everything but the 1 order i really want, the new rear shafts so i can build the transaxle.

My 2 new Iron pullies.  One will be the wheel drive, and one will be notched for pull rope in case i need it.  I just dont know which one will be which, they will be easy to change around, before i notch anything, il run both and whichever i like, il notch the other one.


6 of these spherical joints.  1/2in ball id and 1/2in female thread shank.  And im flattening my 24inx52in Felpro gasket material roll for new gaskets all over the place.


and front tires!  21x7x8.  I bought these with the tread sight unseen.  They are new, but the pic was of it on its side.  They are Wanda brand, for a Tao Tao 250cc 4wheeler.  The tread is actually pretty darn cool.


Goes really well with the directional knobbies, the Bearclaws i have in the back.  Im pretty stoked other than the kind of odd pressure ratings.  205lbs @ 5psi...   12psi max to seat beads.  Seems really low, considering the tires are freekin rock hard too.  I weigh 140 and i had all my weight on a tire stood up with no rim, and it held me easily.  They must be relying on the carcass to hold the weight and not the air..  Weird.


So i also noticed the front pivot has its travel limited quite a bit by the frame rails.  I noticed if i lifted the front an inch, as in spacing the axle bracked 1in away from the frame rails, i could gain significantly more articulation.  So i devised a lift kit for the front that when i went in to get the plastics cut, the whole thing cost $4.  Cant beat a $4 1in lift that increases articulation by 100%.

Heres where the axle is limited by the frame.


What i want.


Heres the lift.  3 pieces of 1in thick HDPE that il drill the mounting bracket holes through, and re-attach giving me the lift and far more axle travel.


Mocked up, i have not drilled the holes yet.


I plan on using the same material only in 3/8in for the whole belly skid.  But im not there yet, and the size i needed was out of my budget right now.  So i just got the front stuff and a couple pounds of scrap 1/2in stuff for fun.

Thats where im at right now.  Now its time to drill out the plastic and get the lift on.  I stuck the hood back on since i have front tires now and i can see how much i need to mod the hood to clear the tires and everything.

Looking good, now wheres that pic of the hood and front tires on?  I may be addicted to tractor pics...  

Dang..... man this will be a good rig! Those front tires have more tread and are the same size of my rear tires!   Mines tiny cheers dude cant wait for a roller. When i see a pic of it all together expect it to be on the ATLTF facebook page

Creepycrawler wrote:

Looking good, now wheres that pic of the hood and front tires on?  I may be addicted to tractor pics...  

I am too, theres no shame.

So i tried a little experiment. The slippery gooey junk that was in my left rear turf tire i was having trouble cleaning it out. So i decided to let it all pool at the bottom and dry for some days so i could just break it up and clean it easier. That didnt work. 4 days later and it as gooey and nasty as ever. I think i might just trash these tires, this stuff is no good.


Thanks for the compliments. I took the pic of the front lift installed, well 99% installed. I bought 6 longer bolts for it, and i bought 5x3/8 and one of the same length but 5/16. So bummer. But 5/6 will hold just fine for now. And with the hood and these tires, it is seriously looking monstrous and a little bit nefarious. Like on a whim it might break into your house and pee on your rug.


11-7/8in ground clearance.. woo Im thinking about widening the front axle by 1in either side. Not for sure, still thinking. Tires will clear no problem with some sheet metal cutting.


Sort of an overview, still no rear metals or transaxle built yet. The rear is also sitting about 4in low from where it would actually sit. So should be fairly level, not bad.

Yeahh BOY! That's a pretty stout looking machine. I can't wait to see it's progress. Good luck!   

So i was super super stoked to open my door to find my last box. But my heart sank a little again when i picked it up, way too light. I opened it up to find one glorious new shaft...one. With a note that says the other was drop shipped from a different wharehouse. So i still cant build my transaxle... argh. At least i got what was promised, a brand new perfect shaft, now i just need the other, and for it to be in the same shape, then il be ear to ear.

Check this beauty out. I dont even want to run it, i just want to hang it on my wall.

So after sulking for a little while about cutting up my axle, i decided to remedy the situation.  I cut it more.



Holy cow its narrow now.


Big ass drill bit i bought for this project.  I had to buy 4 bits in total so i could effectively step up to the 1in.  My largest was 1/2in.  I know from previous drilling, it chatters like a mofo if you try to take too much with one press unless you have a big beasty drill press.  Mine is a beast, but a desktop cast iron sized beast.  At least it has the 1/2in chuck to take the bits.


Heres my new front axle "core", replacing the craftsman one.  I got this piece of 2x3 i think it is, 1/8in wall single seam welded box tubing.  Way beefier than the stamped and stitch welded every 6in like the stock unit.  I just dont have the 1in ID tube that runs through the center to hold the bushing better.  But im not concerned, the bushing is tight between the mounts and the axle floats with the stock setup, and its located rotationally by the channel it sits in.  This, new axle being taller will decrease articulation a little, but should provide much more strength expecially when a tire is fully extended and hits a rock to climb.  Also since its wider in general, more force.

Its 10in wider than stock.  31in top of spindle to top of spindle instead of 21in.  Much less metal cutting to clear the tires, and it should look badass with the wheel spacers im putting on the back.  Im growing this tractor larger in all directions.  


I also picked up 2 14in long 1x1/5in solid rectangle stock, since i dont have a welder, i decided to make another bolt on affair, like with my front lift.  The solid, once persuaded with force into the end spindles, il get it flush and level and drill probably 3 holes through the whole axle and bolt it with 3 gr8 bolts.  Then on the axle side, probably 3 or 4.  Stronger tubing "sleeved"
internally with 1x1.5 solid should be heavy, but pretty dang strong.  Il need to fab up some spindle braces too to have my friend weld up for me, i dont think i could make those bolt on.



Heres how it will look, but the solid on top will obviously be inside the axle tube.


Will extend all the way to the spindle bushing on the inside for the best strength.


Im really glad i decided to do this.  The narrow front trac was bugging the crap out of me, and i was thinking of ways to get an inch here or there, so to hell with the stock narrowness, i need wider!  So heres my new front axle.  All i have to do is drill it up and bolt it together but unfortunately its too late to run the drill press anymore in here, and today the running gear in my '81 Toyota pickup catastrophically failed.

I wish it was here, id take a couple pics for you guys.  It got towed to my moms since it was free to her house with her AAA, or cash to tow to my place.  She lives just a few min from me so it was a no brainer.  But basically i guess someone thought it would be funny to lock in my front hubs while i was parked at home depot out in oregon city.  I have a Loc-rite in the front and 5.29s in the axles.  Open rear since its my daily, and i hate lockers on the street.  Ive owned most available, and the autos (detroit, loc-rite, tru-trac) those are all total bs on the street in a light mini truck.  

If anyone is not familiar with auto lockers, they drive one tire, whichever is the hardest to drive until it slips, then some cams and junk engage to lock the 2 wheels together, then when you regain traction or let off throttle, they "unlock", sometimes with loud pops and ka-pows that sound like you blew the rear end out.  But its all part of it.  

So anyways, someone locked in my hubs, and i didnt check before i got in to drive home, i mean who would?  I pull out and i notice some ticking (ratcheting when 1 tire turns faster than the other but not under load) but my tires rub the mudflaps a little so i didnt think about it.  I go to get on the freeway, accelerate up the ramp and i get pulled a little into a rut and go to compensate, and the front lockrite locks together pulling me hard into the rut, then lets go with such a violent shock, it twisted the front pinion shaft off which locked my front axle dead bound and i go into a front wheel skid at about 40 with no control.  Luckily heading to the side of the road.  Meantime i dont notice that while im bouncing and skidding, im still in 4th with my foot bouncing off and on the go pedal and all of a sudden crunch and the revs go to the moon.  And about 5 secconds later im skidded to a stop mostly off the road.  Front driveline with the crush sleeve and most of a bearing are hanging 3in out and down from where they should go into the 3rd member.  4 studs were pulled out of the housing on the bottom and a 2 finger sized hole was cracked out the bottom of the front 3rd member.  My rear driveline was laying on the ground with a busted axle side u-joint and was leaking oil out the pinion shaft... thats new.  I grab the shaft and wiggle it, and the whole thing comes out in 1 piece and the rear pinion is missing 3.5 teeth.  3rd member carrier was cracked, bearings done, ring gear done.

So my pickup is essentially totalled.  A $800 beater 1st gen Toy with $2000 in running gear destroyed is pretty much a scrap heap minus the brakes, axle shafts and engine+g series 5 speed and new clutch i put in last year.  But suck.  I dont know how motivated im going to be in the coming weeks, since now i dont even have a way to get my traptor out of the city now.  My only other car is a project, wireless '80 Diesel Rabbit, that i could find a tiny utility trailer for and tow the Craftsman, but damnit, i love Toyotas, I love 4x4 Toyotas even more, and i really love '79-83 4x4 Toyotas...  Its been a dream of mine since i was 10 to have one, at least i got a good year and a half out of it... But im going to miss having 3 shifters, the ability to toss it in the ditch in the snow and drive myself out.

I wonder if my warn M8000 would be too much for the tractor?

That ***** sucks about your truck man, is be furious! Someone thinking its funny to screw with it and end up blowing the axles out. Even if you had all the parts that a long time fixing it. Ugh some people. Nice work on the front axle, should help with steering and tire clearances with those big ol 21's.

Go to Home depot asap and ask if they have security cameras for the parking lot. Get the cops involved too. That kind of stuff gets me so mad! I'm mad for you bro! If I were you, I'd be out for blood.

Anyway nice front axle (on the tractor that is) lol. You can cut the bushing out of the old axle and put it in the new one... might buy you some time and less maintenance....

Good luck with both vehicles...   

T-Dub13 wrote:

Go to Home depot asap and ask if they have security cameras for the parking lot.  

That was my first thought, but the Oregon city one has a huge lot and they dont have cameras. I think im going to just have to cut my losses and part the truck until the good bits are gone, then haul it to the scrapper. If that is the case, im robbing every interior trinkit and detail and dash and everything for use in the tractor. Shift knobs, headlights, wiring, e-brake cables.

Il probably take the thirds out and save the ground to bits gears just as a souvineer. R/P gears are cool.

Heres some pics for kicks. Since my rig was parked at my moms, i also have a project 1980 VW Diesel rabbit that i thought id start up and at least have something for short errands. Its a wiring mess, nothing works, so its not street legal. All that works is the starter motor, and the 3 pedals + st wheel. You have to manually light the plugs with a wire from the batt to the plug ground rail, then run inside and crank it up. Also, the fuel shutoff solenoid for engine kill is manual as well. So you pull up somewhere, leave it idling, you can keyoff and take the key out. You have to pop the hood and undo an alligator clip wire i rigged up that when disconnected, kills fuel. Its a silly thing to drive, but damn does it purr and drive / ride like a freeking cadillac compared to my Toy. Just needs a longer truck style shifter.   

Heres my oil burner, oh how id love to drop this motor in a Farmall Cub size tractor.... I love these 1.5d motors.


So heres what i took of my pickup.

Driveline in the bed.


Last i checked, the front pinion shaft isnt supposed to look like this. The more i look at all this inside and broken pieces and gouges and scratches on everything. Im thinking instead of the shock load killing the gears, im thinking they wasted the bearings and then everything just went up in smoke, blender style. My axles did smoke for about 20 min after the incident, and i burned my finger on the front third when i first got a look at it under there.




I think theres also supposed to be a pinion shaft and 4 bolt flange here, must be some new fangled black hole drive. Looks empty.


Oh wait, i think this thing is supposed to go in there.


Whatever failed first, the decoupling here was certainly of a violent nature.


After the shaft in the rear seperated, the pinion im guessing fell down and got jammed downward by the rear carrier. I dont know what else would have busted out the bottom of the 3rd member housing like this.


Using my iCharger 3010B to charge up my Optima red top, back when red tops were actually a good product. I had it in my pickup because of the M8000 winch, but i figured a good new home would be cranking over my little oil burner. It works fantastic, surprisingly fantastic as you can see in my video il post below. The day before i charged the Exide that was in there, That Exide was new as of 8 months ago. I lit the plugs and cranked it exactly how i did with the red top, and i cranked and tried literally until the battery completely gave up. No more. I deep cycled mt Optima with my Icharger, 20amp discharge, 27amp charge, just to make sure it was up and ready for the task at hand. I could have cycled it faster, it took about 2.2 hours to drain and 2 hours to charge. I can charge faster (50amps) but my 12v PSU is only a 30amp, so any more than 27 into anything greater than PSU output voltage starts to overload the supply and the voltage drops.
Heres getting close to the end, amperage starts to slowly decrease, down to 23amps.


My medium amperage charging setup. (4-28amps)



Alright, back to work on the tractor, since that will make me happy. Sitting around and brooding over my pickup does noone any good. Turns out i cut the hole 1in off center. So off with an inch of the box tubing. The old fashioned way of course.




Perfect. Now i can start my pattern drilling. I picked up hordes of flanged, shoulder gr8 bolts for all the hardware in the front axle. Same with washers and flanged gr8 nuts. Its some sexy hardware. Makes the regular silver stuff look like zip ties.

Off to drill 16 holes, 3/8in through 1.5in total thickness solid steel. I hope i have enough bits and oil. This material just melts and wastes the point on regular TiNitride coated stuff. Should give the front a very tough look, flat black axle with shining gold flanged grade 8 hardware.

Press time, before it gets too late, maybe i can at least bet my pilots done.

I forgot to post up my video.  My first youtube video.  I did a cold start of my '80 Rabbit, and complained about an Exide battery being a heap of crap.  Sounds like youtube to me.  Here it is.  Its weird hearing and seeing myself.

I'm suprised by the fact you didn't break a half shaft, or a t case, but instead broke a freakin pinion in half. Wow.

Cool little rabbit!  That yoke looks as if it were fatiguing for quite a while before it finally broke.  Maybe that's just because of the dirt on it though...   

I used to be an ARMY Mechanic and worked on a lot of Diesels especially 2-1/2 and 5 ton trucks. The wiring harnesses were simple. I'm betting that you could do your own wiring harness for that Rabbit easy enough to get a safety sticker. Lights etc... Not much more complicated than a LT!    

T-Dub13 wrote:

Cool little rabbit!  That yoke looks as if it were fatiguing for quite a while before it finally broke.  Maybe that's just because of the dirt on it though...   

It certainly could have been fatigued, considering my truck is on 5.29s, locked and on 35in bfgs.  Its been through just about every trail at browns camp less the crusher loops, barrel raced a few times at the fair, pulled the street stock 4x4 class at the fair a few years, and is on its 2nd 5speed, 3rd total trans, and 2nd t-case, plus being daily driven.  It also got hot before it let go, because it came out smoking.  I dropped it in a mud puddle that happened to be close and it sizzled in there for a bit.  Thats why its caked with dried dirt.  But previous fatigue is a real possibility.

Its not like it only sees 29in tires, open diffs and city cruises.

After owning this (below), and being able to just idle everywhere i wanted, wheelin was alot less fun.  So my 1981 truck went most the places my "old" 94 Toy went, just with more fun and tire spin and bouncing.  Made for a more fun experience, rather than just go hey, "lets hit can opener", then i watch everyone full throttling and popping wheelies and bouncing around rocks and gettin on it, and just makin it up to the top.  Then i shift into Lo-Lo-2nd and idle up the hard line without spinning a tire.  It was a fun truck, but too capable to make the local wheelin spots any challenge.  Now Bend, christ on a cracker, that place is insane.  Not many places you can have a 381:1 first gear and let the clutch out at 2k and kill the motor.  Bend is a drivetrain serial killer.
The 1994



The 1981 right after i got it.

T-Dub13 wrote:

Cool little rabbit!    The wiring harnesses were simple.  I'm betting that you could do your own wiring harness for that Rabbit easy enough to get a safety sticker.  Lights etc...  

Thanks.

I could definitely wire up something that works, its just i kind of want to save up and put in a new factory harness. This rabbit doesnt look like much cosmetically, rust and whatnot (though its all only surface rust), its actually a neat little gem in the rough. Interior is all complete and good except for a few dash cracks.

The kicker is only 83k original miles, and im the 2nd owner. It has not been on the road or registered since 1991, and the rear tires are still the factory originals. Also being a Rabbit C, 1980 4 door, Mountain Green was only offered on this exact car in 1980. So its a rare color too. If i got it painted factory color and got in a factory harness, this car could be worth some decent bucks.

Anyways, back to tractor stuff.  I have many holes to drill.

I love your old yoter, always wanted a first gen. have you thought of just scoring some open 4;10 junkyard diffs to get ya back on the road?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ i agree withh him, find some ford 4.10's to put on it.

ford? ewww lol Jk no I mean factory toyota 4;10 third members, easy peasy just toss them in the existing housings

crafsmankiller wrote:

find some ford 4.10's to put on it.

Ford stuff wouldnt work.  Spicer axles put the diff carrier and pinion in through the rear cover in 2 pieces, Toyotas use a standalone 3rd member that plops into the housing.  The only Ford product with a nodular 3rd was the 9in.

I have a feeling this truck has seen its end times, at least with me behind the wheel.  I dont really have the money to fix it back up unless i go the cheap route with a 4.10 third, if it even will go in the rear housing.  It looks like the studs on the bottom and the mating surface moved and warped.  The rear housing might just be trash.  Plus, man alive does it suck on 35s with stock gearing.  It basically takes my nice G56 5spd and turns it back into the crapass 4sd again.  5th is useless, and you can go like 35 in 2nd.  Its dumb.

I wouldnt want to risk that housing being tweaked, so if i put new gear under there, il find an IFS truck (>1985) rear housing to swap in.  3in wider, thicker axle tubes and bigger brakes.  

I think im done wheelin 4x4s though.  Ive been on all the trails with a variety of rigs, ive had so many 4x4s its stupid.  This 81 is my 5th Toyota, ive had 3 samurais, 2 subarus and a couple VWs.  Im kind of tired of always screwing with my daily driver.  I think i just want a decent little pickup to carry my tractor, and il be happy.  The whole reason i built the tractor is because ive done all the 4x4 trails and the quad trails look fun, and theres more quad trails than 4x4 trails.

Alright, i need to take pics.  Im about 2 holes from being done completely with my new front axle.  I need to just get on it.  Switching focus from dead 4x4s to up and coming tractors

Woohoo, front axle is done and looks super badass. With all the solid material and the new tougher box tube center, im not really worried about bending the front axle anymore. Pushing into rocks to climb and bobbling along feilds of bowling balls and crossing deep ruts would have probably eventually bent the crap out of the front housing. Plus it adds decent weight down low and in the front. Better COG. The new front axle probably weighs a good 50lbs with the spindles on.

Outers with internal mounts prepped for drilling and mounting to the new center.


Got the stock axle pivot bushing mounted. It was a perfect light interference fit with my 1in hole.


One side done.


Axle done and ready to mount. 9in wider overall, 4.5 per side.


Makes a big difference! Now i can leave all the cool tractor sheet metal, and clear the tall tires, and feel more confident when i get crazy off camber.



Now, if only my 2nd axle shaft would come. Today was the end of the delivery window given by the company, and i still only have 1 with an invoice that says 1 was shipped from somewhere else but on the same day. I really want the rear to be sitting on its tires, no longer on a milk crate.

Well im stuck sitting here twiddling my thumbs.  My other shaft has still has not shown up.  The shipping window i recieved was 1-16 through 1-22 by 8pm.  I got one on the 16th.  I sat here waiting and waiting, nothing else has shown up by the 26th.  I bought them on Amazon from a parts dealer.  The shipping info from Amazon was UPS with no tracking, shipping from the company that was sending them confirmed my order, gave me the same shipping window only said it was by fed-ex with no tracking.

I finally emailed amazon and the company on the 26th asking when il get my 2nd shaft. IMO they should have never been split into 2 boxes in the first place since they were listed as in stock, and still listed in stock with more than 5 available.

I got a reply yesterday that said they werent shipping the 2nd shaft until 1-31.  I never got any notice or anything saying the other would be so freeking late.  All i got was a notice that the 2nd was coming from a different wharehouse, but since i got the first on the 16th, i assumed i was going to get the 2nd by the 22nd.

So im stuck here, it will not even ship for 2 more days, and who knows where its coming from.

I mean, thats some crappy shipping and handling.  If i didnt inquire 2 days late, i would have never even known the 2nd one would be 2-3 weeks late.  This is seriously annoying, i have not touched my tractor in a week because i need to fit the belt to get to any of my next steps.  And wont see the shaft for probably a week or more considering its shipping on a friday...

Shipping was freeking $77....
              

I feel your pain. Been waiting for some big parts for my mtd (ordered 2 weeks ago) and they say the package hasnt even been processed yet. Fortunately i need to order more parts before i can use these but its seriously annoying.

Ugh. Bout to start yellin'

Try 4 MONTHS!!!

Thunderdivine wrote:

Try 4 MONTHS!!!

Hah, i was thinking about you when i was typing that up...



But at least you are setting up a container or something to be shipped over right?

I just hate it when they give you an ETA, and then dont bother to inform you that half your order will be almost a month late, after paying $30 extra for faster shipping.

But that being said, at least my stuff is all going over land, nothing has to take the slow boat across the ocean.

So apparently my efforts were not in vain. I gave the seller of the shafts ive been waiting for some crap on the 28th (the day they told me my 2nd shaft was not shipping until 1-31) and never got a reply. I left them lackluster feedback, nothing terrible, just C- for communication, but part(s) received were in excellent condition.

Today i had a long day of public transport, running errands and such, but i came home to a box. Looked like the box my first shaft came in, but the origin was totally different. I opened it up to find, go figure, my 2nd shaft. I looked at the invoice, and i guess they didnt like what i said about them breaking my order and not telling me, so they just got on it and got my stuff out the door with the fastest possible shipping i think. It originated from Missouri, shipped the 28th (friday) and got to me, NW Oregon on the following Monday (2-3, today). I bet that was expensive! Kudos to them getting on it when i got on them, but still, meh overall satisfaction since i had to intervene anyways. But at least i can almost build my trans now.


Oooo, now i have 2 shinies. The precioussesss... 2 Brand new for the axle build, 1 good spare to carry, and a borked (still in the trans) to do something with. Maybe a brake lever pivot, or something.


Just need to sort out a locker still. Ive had a lot of time to think and i still cant decide. I am having trouble finding the best way to fasten the side gears to the side plates of the diff. The side gears are essentially OD 2 1/8in x ID 1in x 1/2in thick. Thats the Major Dia of the 11 spline on the ID measured to the Minor Dia of the 18t gear OD. My engineering, metalurgy and stress knowledge is lacking to calc. the best number of bolts to use in the pattern, along with choosing the right bolt diameters and materials to not weaken the gear too much by drilling, but not have too small a bolt for the shear strength needed. I mean i can guess, and probably make something strong, but i want to be as strong as possible.

Im guessing 6 grade 12.9 shoulders @ 8mm diameter is somewhere in the ballpark. Toyotas use 6 studs in the hub face with cone washers and grade 12.9 nuts in the front drive flanges and hubs. Those stock studs can effectively drive a 37in tire without being the weakest link.

Another idea i had was to enlarge the OD of the pattern for strength, but instead of drill 6 holes through the gear face, grind out every other tooth and drill 9 holes through the side plate. Bolt the gear with 9 1/4in or 3/8in grade 8 or 12mm grade 12.9, and use a washer to spread the load a little. The forces would then be trying to bend the 9 bolt heads outwards, rather than 6 in purely shear load. I could also find something to match the OD of all the bolts to wrap them and help them from bending outwards.

Along the same lines as above, i could do the same with 18 5mm grade 12.9s and just set them tight between the gear teeth.

I did some rough calcs on what the back tires could posibly see in a first gear total bind @ WOT, and not counting this value is over what it takes to flip the tractor over backwards, the engine could deliver roughly 5000ft/lbs to a rear wheel. Using 5000 as a higher range estimate, always better to overbuild, the shear load if supported by 1 bolt (drilled into the face of the gear) would be neighboring 60,000 lbs. Spread over 6 bolts, 10,000lbs shear is not an unreasonable number to deal with.

*note, i realize, something else would probably be exploded if i actually loaded a rear axle with 5000ft/lbs, im just using it as my safety margin*

That same scenario used on 18 small bolts in a larger pattern would be about 40,000lbs, with about 2500lbs on each, also a very reasonable number to deal with.

I think i like the 18bolt method, i think il dub it the 36bolt locker, by K86.

Im going to go join a machinist forum or something to post up my ideas to see if i can get some more input.

But im still ideaing all over the place with this thing. I like the 36bolt locker because it only involves drilling and buying hardware to vastly simplify and lock up the diff without welding and its completely removeable. Or if you explode all the bolt heads, since im not going to be running any planetaries in there, im going to fasten a wire mesh cage around the center of the diff to catch anything that might break off, and lockwire all the outsides together and to the shaft so if they all broke and came out, they would just dangle like a keyring of bolts.

Please give me your ideas too. Im going to start building the transaxle up without the diff tomorrow, but the gear clusters on the shafts sat for so long in my place, with my cat, even covered since day 1, they are all covered in cat hair. So that will be a fun cleaning job, clean out all the oil residue just so cat hair isnt stuck all over. yay

The diff will be the last part, since im still undecided on exactly what im going to do. That being said, the Local CC didnt want anything to do with my offroad mower, because if i hurt myself, i could hold them liable... ugh. I did my best to try and convince them it was of no concern to them, but i should have just said it was a power transfer box to a pump or something. They glazed over and went to all no's as soon as i mentioned it was an OHV.

But i could always have still have a good welder burn the side gears onto the side plates with 2 or 3 passes making a 45degree fillet all the way around the gear. Thats still the last resort, if i crack a sideplate of the diff, or strip out the splines on a side gear, i have to buy a alot more than if i can just pick a new side gear or something and bolt it back up.

This may come off a little harsh, but I believe you are over thinking this. Just throw another pass on the gears you already have welded and call it a day. It will work just fine. Remember this is just my opinion, but Ive been running sears and wheel horses for about 5 years now with only one diff failure. If you just want to try the bolted side gears for something different then go for it, Its good to try different things, but I would have faith in the welded planetarys . Im just trying to keep ya from spending a bunch of engineering time on the rearend you could put into other cool parts of the mower.   

Creepycrawler wrote:

Just throw another pass on the gears you already have welded and call it a day.  

I dont own a welder, nor do i have a place to weld it.  So 36 bolts is like 1/20 the cost of an hours labor of a good welder.  I have bits and a drill press.

I want to do this with what i have, and for cheap.  If i had a welder to do as i please, it would have been a done deal because my friend would have never touched the gears in the first place.  I dont have faith in the sintered gears after being welded on, then ground up, then welded on again.  Its already screwing with the case hardening.  I took a file to the gears lightly, and some teeth are soft, some are hard.  Its really inconsistent.

I cant trust my entire transaxle, case and gearset to some, in my mind, questionable planet gears.  I am not a fan of sintered gears in the first place, they are widely used in RC applications, and fail in strange ways when they are not totally uniform or something upset the powdered nature of the insides.  My friends mediocre welding, after probing and poking with some files and a microscope, i saw porosity in the actual sintered material where it bonded with the FCAW wire.  The bond surface of the welds completely interrupts the consistency of the case hardening on the sintered planets and i can see them cracking and wreaking havok.  

Yet with the bolt on option, i see (with lockwire) almost no chance of failure of a gear or case rupture if the bolts fail, and with one side broke loose, i can effectively drive with one wheel driven still, not at all an option if the planets crack and or fail.  Bolts seem safer and cheaper, but still im looking for flaws in it.