Prancstaman's X1 Scorpion

My build for the build off is a tracked vehicle. It will have a dual track setup.The drive line is from riding mowers with a tube chasey.















[url=https://i.servimg.com/u/f38/19/13/79/36/f4a11.jpg]

 So far I have the main part of the frame made that houses the 11hp Briggs flattie engine, peerless transaxle, steering linkage, battery, gas tank, and drive sprockets for the tracks. The tracks are about 2/3 to 3/4 made. I also have the wheels which total 20 of them
 
 I have to completly wire it, finish the tracks, design fab and mount entire suspention and idler setup for the tracks. Design and fab the drive sprockes, design and fab dual braking and drive setup from the drive sprockets to the transaxle which is how I will control the tracks. Hood is from a 90's Craftsman riding mower and need to mod it to fit. Mount the headlights. Fab up guards for the tracks, and make a front bumper.

THIS is going to be good. good luck! is the frame completely costume? so, from what i understand, you will use the open diff for your steering?

Hay mudman604,
Yes, the frame is all costume. It's ,made from black pipe, angle iron and square tubing. Pretty much scrap steel laying around the house and got some from my job. Used a homemade pipe bender for the black pipe.
For steering which is controlling each track ( called skid steering) will be handled by the belts from the output shafts of the transaxle to the sprocket shafts that drive the tracks which have not been made yet. The transaxle is locked for posi output. My setup is not dependent on a specific one part for example I don't have to have an open diff in a transaxle which requires a verticle engine, if I wanted to replace the transaxle with someting else I can replace it with just a simple jackshaft with a horizontal shaft engine to match. The possable combos are endless as long as the output going to the sprocket shafts for the tracks is posi. An open diff can be unpredictable even on flat ground.
For steering will be a clutch/brake setup where the drive sprockets will be controlled by a belt and brake in 3 positions which are- drive/neutral/brake.

Oh, this is going to be cool! I give you full points for creativity on the sign, too. Tell me you didn't pee it out. Hahahahaha

Good luck to you, sir!

Yah Buddy, I eat it, drink it, dream it, piss it, crap it, and the wife Yells at me for it. LOL. You ain't seen nothin yet.
Yah the sign was made by burning it in the concrete of my driveway with a torch! LOL.

I really hope you get this done! I have never seen anything like it. Where on earth did you get all those idler wheels? Must have cost a fortune.

Looks pretty neat! Hand making the tracks is what scares me away from something like that. Maybe if done a little at a time it's not so bad.

Of course I'll have to bust on Doc about that tube chassis a little... I think it's legal though, most of the bottom is angle iron, I'd call that the frame. The rest is just holding the steering and everything.

Good luck with it.

mr.modified wrote:

Of course I'll have to bust on Doc about that tube chassis a little...    I think it's legal though, most of the bottom is angle iron, I'd call that the frame. The rest is just holding the steering and everything.

I gave that quite a bit of thought. I kinda drew the same conclusion, plus... A tracked vehicle without expanding on the structure would be improbable at best. Since the entire driveline will be OPE, I will allow it, reserving the right to DQ it for any reason at any point.

802 Customs wrote:

I really hope you get this done! I have never seen anything like it. Where on earth did you get all those idler wheels? Must have cost a fortune.

I got the wheels at home depot. They are actually 16 wheels of a diamater of 7" and 4 wheels of a diamater of 8". The 7" wheels ride on the ground and the 8" wheels are for the tentioners for the tracks which are the front ones. All the wheels are actually plastic push mower wheels. The 7" ones cost around $10 each and the 8" ones about $14 each. They also got a weight limit of 50 lbs each so I have to keep the weight to no more then 800 lbs. total with driver. Any heavier and I'll have to upgrade the wheels to the metal ones.

mr.modified wrote:

Looks pretty neat! Hand making the tracks is what scares me away from something like that. Maybe if done a little at a time it's not so bad.

Of course I'll have to bust on Doc about that tube chassis a little...    I think it's legal though, most of the bottom is angle iron, I'd call that the frame. The rest is just holding the steering and everything.

Good luck with it.

Thanks. 9 months seems like a lot of time but I think I'll need every bit of it. Making the tracks is actually pretty easy just boring, The key is using jigs so each track plate is identical to any other one. I think I been building tracks for 5 months now. That's 148 track plates I'll need. I figure around 130 for the actual tracks with 18 for spares. I also got 2 more identical transaxles for parts and about 2 more whole single cylinder engines as spares. I plan on beating the hell out of it so spare parts is a nessesity. Your right about the chassis, everything is based off the center section which is the part that mounts the transaxle and drive sprockets.

Good luck with your build too.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

mr.modified wrote:

Of course I'll have to bust on Doc about that tube chassis a little...    I think it's legal though, most of the bottom is angle iron, I'd call that the frame. The rest is just holding the steering and everything.

I gave that quite a bit of thought. I kinda drew the same conclusion, plus... A tracked vehicle without expanding on the structure would be improbable at best. Since the entire driveline will be OPE, I will allow it, reserving the right to DQ it for any reason at any point.

i'll keep that in mind. You got any advise on what not to do to keep from getting DQ. I kind off figured I was on the ragged edge when I entered the build off.

prancstaman wrote:

Doc Sprocket wrote:

mr.modified wrote:

Of course I'll have to bust on Doc about that tube chassis a little...    I think it's legal though, most of the bottom is angle iron, I'd call that the frame. The rest is just holding the steering and everything.

I gave that quite a bit of thought. I kinda drew the same conclusion, plus... A tracked vehicle without expanding on the structure would be improbable at best. Since the entire driveline will be OPE, I will allow it, reserving the right to DQ it for any reason at any point.

i'll keep that in mind. You got any advise on what not to do to keep from getting DQ. I kind off figured I was on the ragged edge when I entered the build off.

I have reviewed the video and pics carefully, and conclude the following: It is entirely homebuilt, and ladder-based. I had someone suggest to me (no names are necessary here) that it may be a repurposed, factory-built ATV frame. Clearly, it is not.

You're good. Build on.

I'm just messing with you guys, I don't care. Looks like a lot of welding involved already just to get to this point.

mr.modified wrote:

I'm just messing with you guys, I don't care. Looks like a lot of welding involved already just to get to this point.

Yes sir, at least 10lbs of mig wire so far. I still have to weld the main parts of the track plates together, probable burn through another 5 lbs at least doin that plus the rest of it.

hope this one gets finished good luck!

Since it's like 5 and snowing, I'm confined to the house so I decided to square away the engine. The engine is an 11hp Briggs flattie. Just a regular engine. I built this engine block up a couple of years ago to put on my ridding mower but in the middle of overhaulin it my mower needed a running motor and the only running motor was the one for my Scorpion which was a 12.5 I/C so I had to use it. Which leaves me with this 11hp for my Scorpion. I origanally built this motor for low end torque which works out. I ported the intake and exhaust back when I had it apart. I finish off the engine block here with gasket matching the head gasket and the cylinder head to head gasket.
Pic 1 showes the cleaned up case with rotating assemble and cam done.
Pic 2 showes the head gasket half done with a comparison on the intake side ground off to the exhaust side that showes the part laying inside the chamber next to the valve which is blocking the flow alittle. You can see the imprint of the engine block on the gasket. A high speed dremmel with light pressure is a must to grinde on this gasket!!
Pic 3 is the gasket completed and laying on the engine block. Suddle difference here.
Pic 4 showes why This will make a big difference in performance. Laying the completed head gasket on the head showes how much the valves are shrouded on the back side and the sides of the valves. At this point I scribed a line with a screwdriver so I know where to grinde. Then check the head to see that there is enough metal to remove and have strength. Then grinde away.
Pic 5 is the completed head which is a big difference. I ground the head area in question on an angle since it is a low to mid range RPM engine. A high RPM engine would be ground different. And yes this drops the compression of the engine which is favorable for the setup. A low and mid range RPM engine makes more torque then a high compression engine at low RPM does because the piston is not fighting the compression as much at low RPM and also runs smoother.
Pic 6 showes the completed engine block and a happy owner

My plans for the day fell through so I finaly had a chance to work on the tracks some. I finished one of the steps for making the track plates (what I call the plates that ride on the ground). The tracks I am making from scratch from 1 inch wide 1/8 flat stock, 1/4 inch round bar, 2 inch wide 1/8 flat stock, 1 inch wide 3/16 flat stock, #2/0 chain, and 5/16 hardware. My track design will be completly servicable so any damage can be fixed and they are all steel, no plastic or rubber on them at all. When I designed them I pretty much walked into Home Depot and said all my supplies must come from here so it would be extremely easy to get the material and not have to worry about any substitutes when something breakes. Plus I found a steel supplier that has the same materials but at a way lower cost too when bought in bulk.
In the first photo, I completed the step I been working on little by little over the winter which is clearancing the track plates for the chain. This is where the drilled hole is, where the chain bolts to, on the outsides of this drilled hole is where the reliefs were ground out for the link that is on its side to prevent binding.

There will be 2 chains per track that the track plates bolt to. The chain has a load weight of over 500 lbs. and there will be 2 chains per track, and each track plate can handle over 250 lbs. of weight. Should be plenty strong. 
The next step I am working on is preping the chain which involves welding a washer on every other link which is where the track plates bolt to. The washer is there to help with spacing so the bolt that holds the track plate to the chain doesn't slide on the chain, if the track plate slides on the chain it will mess with the spacing for the drive sprockets and will cause the track to slip on the drive sprocket.
In the second photo, shows the start of welding the washers onto the chain which is every other link or the link that lays flat. The chain length is 40 ft. In the third photo, which is long enough for one track. I will be welding 150 washers on each chain, since I don't know how long I need the track I am making the tracks longer then what I estimated the lenght to be. I figured about 16 ft of track per side but I am making around 18 to 19 feet of track. per side.


In the fourth photo shows how the track plate bolts to the chain on one side of the track plate. My estimate is 65 track plates per track which is around 16 ft.

This video shows the design of the tracks and how they go together from my YouTube channel.

Should work pretty good. I was always thinking of making a small WW1 british Mk 4 tank that you could ride on top of. Main thing I was worried about was making the tracks. A lot of people that make custom stuff with tracks use rubber snowmobile tracks. I think it's neat to have metal tracks though.

mr.modified wrote:

Should work pretty good. I was always thinking of making a small WW1 british Mk 4 tank that you could ride on top of. Main thing I was worried about was making the tracks. A lot of people that make custom stuff with tracks use rubber snowmobile tracks. I think it's neat to have metal tracks though.

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. I wanted to come up with my own design for the tracks. Something heavy duty and easy to come up with the materials. I searched the web for a couple of months and seen an old ww2 snow personnel carrier with chains on the tracks. I don't think the chains was holding the tracks together but good idea though. I have an even stronger track design but that setup is not servicable, should be able to handle over 100 hp from a Harley V-twin. Plus the snowmobile tracks look to be a rough ride on hard ground because of the how tall the cleets are. My cleets are going to be 1/4 high and give the strengh to the plates with giving a flat surface to ride on with the double pitchfork cleet.
Mk 4 should be pretty easy to build. Tracks look to be just plates with hinges on them. Make a simple jig and you should be good. Maybe make the plates out of 10 guage steel with 3/8 tubing for the hinge joints and 3/8 rod for the hinge pins. And a crap load of caster wheels, LOL.

Yeah the good thing about those early british tanks was all the idlers were mounted solid. So making an accurate replica wouldn't be too bad. Also the idlers were not visible, so you can use pretty much any wheels you want without making it look bad. Is this going to be solid suspension?

Yes, I plan on putting on suspension. I'm going to make narrow a-frames to keep them from bending outward for stability plus I'm going to use automotive air shocks. I got 2 air shocks so far from a junkyard, I need 2 more. That way I don't have to worry about spring rates, just add or take out air. Plus a crap load of travel with them compared to gocart or motorcycle shocks. Don't know how much travel I plan on having yet but it's going to be more then 3 inches. Along with the front idler wheels will be spring loaded so I don't have to worry about loose tracks or adjusting them.

I'm loving your project. It's a bigy! I was wondering if you'd come across this bloke on you tube who has built a 6 x 6 wheelhorse skid steer? Not exactly what you are making, pretty similar engineering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXXtAc-BJrE
It was last year or maybs the year before when he posted them/built it. I seem to remember him having difficulties using one transaxle to work for his skid steering and ended up having to use 2. I can't remember 100% what the problem was tho. Might be worth you checking his vids out so you could (possibly) avoid the same problem he had?
I hope you do well and most of all have fun building your machine.

Sure did, what a monster. He is using hydraulics for his steering and driving. I plan on using clutch/brake steering on mine. Pretty basic and easy to set up. Plus it's proven to a speed up to 80 mph on tracked vehicles. I'll be explaining my drive system shortly.

let me know i need parts. i have one that needs to be fixed let me know

upnorthkid wrote:

let me know i need parts. i have one that needs to be fixed let me know

Whatcha mean "You got one that needs to be fixed"