Prancstaman's X1 Scorpion

A tank, nah. I might go smaller though. I was thinking of making one of those "Magic Carpets" if you know what that is. But the bigger plan with this project is to start another one or build off this one and make it stronger. I'm thinking one of those Harley Super 88 engines with a different driveline to match.

Hay People,

Look what's on the project table.........




Yes time to restart this project......
Keep watching to see how I got this thing on the table while still all in one piece, LOL.

Hay People,

Just fooling around with the camera, figured something different. Shows how I got it on the table. One vid is me pulling it to the table from the yard. The other vid is how I put it on the table. My wife thought I was going to pick it up to get it on the table, LOL. I told her "No way, it's a tank" LOL.

Hay People,

Time for a little tear down. Got to rip the old crap out to put the new crap in.

Alrighty them....
Before anything, got to take the tracks off. I dump the air in the shocks, compress the A-frames and hook a link to hold the A-frames up. This loosens the tracks so I can take the master links off. That was the easy part. Thought I had it all layed out......


So I squeeze the 2 tracks together and remove the master links, let go of one of the tracks, OOPS!!! While holding the other side of the track, the one end fell to the ground as expected. What I didn't expect was the side still held by my thumb, all the weight jerked and slid my thumb into the dragger. I managed to get my thumb out before all the weight hit it, but ouch!! It got me. My point being, no matter how routine you think something is, treat it like it's the first time doing it. No matter how experienced you think you are in doing something, always expect to get hurt and take the necessary precautions.

OK, moving on.....

All the prep work payed off when I put the drive line together last year.I smoothed the axles, key ways, pulley bores, axle keys, made spacers for both the axles so I didn't have to use set screws on the pulleys and brakes for the sprocket axles, then greased up everything on assemble. I had this thing outside since the end of the build off last year, well since I started building this thing. In the rain, sleet, snow, sun, and just covered with plastic. Everything came apart with ease. Both sides. even the pulleys on the gearbox came right off with no problem and I used the set screws on those.



I try to do a little mock up. If you notice the 2 red arrows, one arrow pointing to a bolt that held on the tensioner for the belt, and the other is part of the controls for the tensioner. Both have to be removed to get the new, bigger pulleys on.


I start with the bolt. It's welded on the outside. Here's where being a good welder SUCKS. I need to grind the weld off the head of the bolt to pound it through the side. Took me an hour to do both bolts.

One done.

After an hour of working on this, the second is out. I grind both sides smooth and leave the hole for now.


Next, I got one finger on the control rod and another finger on the tubing that holds the control rod in place. I will cut the control rod out and leave the tubing in place. The tubing is hard to get to so I will leave it in place, plus it's helping to support the brake brackets on top. I'll take off the rod on top there that goes forward to the swing arm. I probably have to redo the linkage going to the brakes later on because I can't see building off of what I have up to the side of the battery part.


A single cut on the control rod just outside of the tubing. Disconnected the swing arm linkage and pull out half the control rod and disconnect it from the other side of the linkage. A little bending and the other half is out also. That's the cut out control linkage sitting on top the framing.


That's it for now. another post tomorrow. Got 7 more pics to go and it's past my bed time. Later......

Lol, I second the welding bolts and having to remove them.

MatthewD wrote:

Lol, I second the welding bolts and having to remove them.

LOL, I hear yah.

Hay People,

Part 2 of this post. Got 7 more pics left.......

After, what I call "digging a hole" I now am able to fit the new 6 inch pulleys in place on the sprocket axles.


On this pic, the red circle, I have the 2, 4 inch pulleys on the transaxle shaft. The belts will have a clear path to the sprocket pulleys without hitting the frame. If all goes well with this setup, I will be changing the 2, 4 inch pulleys on the transaxle shaft to 2, 6 inch pulleys and the framing where the red circle is will have to be notched. Just thinking ahead a little here. Boy, those pulleys just fit in there, LOL.


Top view of the right side. The 4 inch pulleys have a groove for a 3/8 to a 1/2 belt. And the 6 inch pulleys have a groove for only a 1/2 inch belt. Will only be able to run utility belts.


With the pulleys butted up against each other as they are, the spacing seems to be right on.


So, most of the mock up is done for the pulleys. I place the transaxle pulleys in place and use the set screws to hold them in place. Since all the prep work payed off last year, I'll keep doing it. Before I put the pulleys in place, I coat the axle with antisieze grease, place a single key in place that will lock both pulleys on the shaft, and slide the inside pulley on, then tighten the set screw.


Then the outside pulley is in place and tighten the set screw. The key fits perfect, just long enough, LOL.


It's the end of the day just before the sun goes down, I snap this pic. I got an idea for the hood. More on that when it's time, LOL. Here's a hint- Think Scorpion. LOL.

Hay People,

I got home from work today and needed to mount one of those bouncy things that hang in the doorway for the grand baby. Yah Hooooo!!!! LOL.

After that, I had some free time. I got my box of belts I have, that I keep from everything I tear apart. Trying to find the right size belt. I got lucky. I found a utility belt that was the right size. Way better then taking a bigger belt, cutting it in half, then cut it to size and tape it together, to figure out the right size belt.

Success!!!




Next step is to take this belt to the store and get 4 new ones. Might take a while on this because it's the same store I got the pulleys from and I have to order them because the size I need, will probably only have 1 or 2 of them.

Baby steps people, baby steps, LOL.

I know you know what you're talking about and maybe I'm missing something but that belt looks a little big to me

I think thats where his clutch will engage, but I may be wrong

MatthewD wrote:

I know you know what you're talking about and maybe I'm missing something but that belt looks a little big to me

Probably does look a little too big for the belt. The plan is to have a small idler wheel that will push up from the bottom for the clutches between the pulleys. This will be how I control the tracks. The transaxle is locked, so controlling the tracks through the diff won't work.

The idler will push up in between the two pulleys so far that it will give the belts a little extra grip. It will be tight fit though. Here, I need as much grip as I can get to turn. Takes around 3 times more grip from the belts just to turn with tracks as compared to going straightforward.

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

I think thats where his clutch will engage, but I may be wrong

You got the right idea.

Ah right. Would you have enough room for a double pulley clutch? As that would give you the most grip on the belt

MatthewD wrote:

Ah right. Would you have enough room for a double pulley clutch? As that would give you the most grip on the belt

Nope, no room for a double pulley clutch. I'll be lucky if I can get the wheel part of the idler pulley in between the pulleys. I'll probably end up making the idlers out of small bearing without the wheel on them. Just the bearings themselves would be the idlers. I also will try doing a weird linkage setup on this maybe. To try to get reverse to work ok in this thing. There's alot of I don't knows with ideas at this point. Definitely limited room to work with.

There's a lot of ways to make a belt clutch, those double pulley clutch's work OK but there are different ways on doing it that work just as good and uses less effort but that's a different thread, LOL.

Yeah fair enough. Just a thought, would you have enough room for two idler pulleys/bearings? One pushing up and the other pushing down on the belt?

MatthewD wrote:

Yeah fair enough. Just a thought, would you have enough room for two idler pulleys/bearings? One pushing up and the other pushing down on the belt?

Smart thinking. I plan on doing that somehow, maybe. There might be enough room to do a sizzor thing I was thinking of where the sizzor closes with the idlers on the end and the sizzor can pivot up and down freely. So driving forward the sizzor would close onto the belt, and going forward would make the top of the belt straighten up where the bottom would have the slack and the sizzor would push up on the bottom and the top would pull the sizzor up since that's the part with the load and help to tighten up the bottom. Going in reverse would do the opposite since the sizzor pivots freely. There's a couple other ways for the idler pulleys to be on the top and bottom also. The problem would be having enough room for the linkage. That's the plan anyways. Might not have enough room for all that. If not, then a simple pulley on a swing arm going up from the bottom would be good enough.

Ah right yeah, bit tight for space there

Hay People,

Went to Tractor Supply after work today. I got 2, 31 inch Teflon blue belts. They had 3 on the shelf but one was different and left it, got the 2 matching belts. Went to Customer Service to order 2 more Teflon blue belts, 7 to 10 day wait, yah we'll see. Then walked around the store daydreaming and fount the regular belts. I grabbed 2, 31 inch regular utility belts. Probably won't use them except for mockup and backups, and was half the price of the Teflon ones too.

Got home and test fitted them.....





I think the blue Teflon belts fit better on the pulleys then the regular black belts.

I can do some engineering and building now.....

Nice! Blue belts look a little thinner than the regular ones.

Yes, fits nice in the big pulleys but the little pulleys fits a little high in groove but I think will jam in good.

Hay People,

Finally got the last 2 belts. Was wanting to be working on this project all weekend but Thursday I was cutting the grass on my riding mower and blew the crap out of my deck after 2 rounds of my yard. After I got the belts today in the morning, I needed to get that thing going and took the rest of the day rebuilding a different deck for it.. Still have to finish cutting the grass too. So, cut the grass Sunday morning, then I can work on this project, well that's the plan any ways.

Lol I think I've had my share of blowing decks! My grass cutting ride on mower is a Castle garden 12.5/102. It even has a peerless 700 transmission. But the deck is rotten and needs repainted and patched up.

Hay People,

Watch the videos!!

Cool vids man! Can't wait to see more

Thanks,. Maybe today I'll make another on the governor.

Hay People,
Sorry for such a late update on this project. Been busy, my laptop took a crap, then my car took a crap, my dog had puppies and now my house is full of crap. Gee People. Then to top it off, the trans in my Jeep took a crap. Fixed my car, found homes for over half of the puppies, cleaned the house and started potty training the pups to go crap outside, fixed my laptop and fought with the software to get working. As it stands, crap level is waste high now, LOL. Oh, Jeep still broken, good thing I got a spare one just sitting in the back yard to get running, no way am I going to change trans in the winter in my driveway. While all this is going on I still found time, well some time, to work on this project. Saved alot of pics and made videos too, I got one more video to edit but that's for the end of this. Probable take a couple days to put up what I got so far with what little time I got to do this.

So stay tuned............. Uploading as you read this for the first post, that is if the pups don't wake up for me to take them out in the cold to crap!!!