Some sort of craftsman... and more!

Ehh, I think it could have worked.

But anywho. Made some tabs to hold the dash.


And thinking about suspension... I have some chunks of leaf spring that might work. The one witht eh eys on the ends is too stiff for this. My 200 some odd pound lead butt cant hardly flex it. The other 2 pieces together I think will be pretty good. Maybe it can be seen, but the one piece has some pretty good pitting in it so it might not last too long I dunno...


I also have these coil springs. About 1 3/4in or 2in across and 6 or 7in long.
My thought for these is to just make a tall spindle bracket and stick em in there with some bushings and whatnot.


Also saved these table legs thinking they would make for some good exhaust bits. Same diameter as the stock pipe coming out the engine.

Neat table legs. I always save those kinda bits of tubing.

Haha yeah, I tend to save things like that...

So Ive read with preheating the spring, I can weld on it. Im going to try it, but I need to get some material first.

Redline used springs like that on his mower, just made buckets for them. You could view his thread to get some ideas.

Well. I got some more toys...

A 70s something or other ST10, and a 69-ish SS12. Obviously the ss12 has some troubles.

Nice! Did you pay much for them?

$200. Came with an assortment of wheels and tires, 2 plows, 2 decks and a few other things.
the st10 is pretty decent so Ill put the deck on it and mow with it.

The guy said the suburban used to be a pulling tractor so I may bring it back to life as one... someday...

So Im curious... If I wanted to enter this thing in a build off, do I quite now? Or can I atleast gather parts in preparation for a buildoff?

You can certainly gather parts for the Build Off. Just make sure you are not over the 50% mark

Looks like it hasn't progressed too far to pass the guideline, so should be ok I'd think.

Gathering parts is fine.

Well, perhaps ill consider it then...

I had hoped to atleast get a rolling(or close to it) unit before winter. We see how that worked.

So, things are still happening... kinda.  

These little (Just over 3in) rotors have a metric bore, just over 3/4in, gona bore out to 7/8in and should still have enough meat in the hub. Ill drill some holes in them for a bigger rotor, or sprocket. Or maybe use them as is for a "parking brake"

The bigger hub is a 1in bore. Have another that has had some extensive machining to get the rusted axle out. Ill machine them both to match.







{EDIT} So... speaking of 1in bore... how far can I get away with an unsupported axle? Say my frame is 16in wide, could I get away with 5-6in unsupported each side?

Wheels and tires whatever the usual rear lawnmower tire size is, and/or front tire size.

I'd say you could get away with 6 inches either side if it's a 1 inch axle. Would be pretty wide though

I over guestimated the frame width, its actually 13in. The axle will be somewhere between 30, and 36in... Ive been known to abuse things, so to be safe Ill slap some more supports in there somewhere...


So Ill need some drive wheels. 3/4 will be fine for the fronts... but I want atleast a 1in axle in the back. Since Im way too stingy just to go buy some...To my hoard of wheels!

I have 2 type of front 6in wheels. Im my mind, the better sets that have a 1 3/8 bore with a bushing. This bushing can be replaced with a bearing. ...and then theres these... wimpy little 3/4in bore with a 5/8ID bushing... Clearly no good to me like this...

We will have to do something about it...



Next the agonizing process of removing wheel from rim... small tires are a pain.
What bugs me is I got some dents in the wheels now. Had I found some good cutters, I would have probably cut them off... Oh well, a blind man running for his life wont notice... but I will...



I got a 5/8OD bushing with a 1/4ID. With a slice or 2 of plastic behind they fit nice and snug.





The bushing helps keep the hole saw center.



I think the ideal method to do this would be on a lathe, or milling machine. You can see where there is a gap from the 2 pieces used to form the wheel... gona build a clamp to pull them together, then weld the seam up.

After that, Ill chuck em up in th lathe and true the holes up as I want to make a little jig to set in there that can be used to drill the bolt pattern.

...and now after looking at them... I think I used too big of a hole saw...  


Next Ill be cutting the center out of these guys... I may try something different.

I should have used some kind of bushing to center the hole saw when I cut the centers out of my front GTR rims. I had it in the drill press but it was pretty rough.

I thought about setting these up in the drill press... but then I decided I didnt want to mess with clamping them down. .. my feet worked just aswell...

I've seen a couple people now using circular hole bit. I've only used them with wood. Is this a special one or just take your time? Also, are you using it in forward or reverse? I've used wood circular saw blades in reverse to cut metal in a pinch.

mightyraze wrote:

I've seen a couple people now using circular hole bit.  I've only used them with wood.  Is this a special one or just take your time?  Also, are you using it in forward or reverse?  I've used wood circular saw blades in reverse to cut metal in a pinch.

The bit I used is Lennox (made in USA too!) probably just for wood, but they do make hole saws for cutting metal.
Somewhere between light and moderate pressure then ease up when it starts to break though.

Inevitably, it would start to break through on one side and grab... this is when Id wobble the drill to cut the rest.


I see they make metal cutting circular, and chop saw blades. Id like to get one for th chop saw... I found a program where you type in your numbers and it calculates the angle, and length of pipe to make a bend. I think this would be slick for making a fancy exhaust.

So, onto the 8in wheels...

Thought about how to chuck them up, found this hunk of 3/4 round with a keyway in it. Yes.



Then, just for giggles I set up the dial indicator. A whopping .130 out of round. 1/8in is .125. It was pretty bad the other way too, about 1/4in.
Thats not really a problem, but by the time Im finished with these they should be a bit closer than that...  



Now that its chucked up. Started to whittle out the center. I didnt have a setup where I could just plunge a bit strait through, so I had to carve out about 1/2in or so to make clearance for the tool...



Whittle some more...




...some time later.....


Still whittling......



Still whi... Oh look! We are through 1 side!







...again, some time later.............




Break though!



Now Im left with this. This could come in handy later... maybe make some 3/4in bore hubs for something else...




...and then, we start the whole process all... over... again...





I should have gotten another bushing. Without the right setup cutting these out on the lathe sucked.

Next Ill need to carve out the inside to the same diameter, and if Im slick, Ill make the the same one the 6in wheels so Ill only have to build 1 jig to mash them together....

Nice! Pretty interesting work man!

Thanks!


Started to carve out the inside.




Made em about 4in.





Might take more out, leaving about 1/4in to weld the plate with the bolt pattern in. Ofcourse, if I would have made these holes considerably smaller then I could have drilled the bolt pattern in the wheel without having to weld in another plate.  


Still need to weld the seams in all the wheels. Didnt bore out the 6in wheels as I cant hold them in the 3 jaw chuck without a different set of jaws.

Do anymore work on the wheels? I want to see how you drill the bolt holes, cuz i need to do the same thing for my gokart project.

Not yet, Id like to get some nicer material that isnt rusted to oblivion.
That, and I need to find my tools for marking out the bolt circle...

Ill try to find em tomorrow, then post some pictures on how Im hoping it will go.

Nice looking forward to an update

Definitely looking for an update. You are doing a bang up job on those wheels.

Thanks.

I didnt have time to stop at the metal shop today. Cant seem to find the tools Im looking for either.

But I did get a free John Deere 116...