Tater's "OH Deere 116 dragster" [2017 Build-Off Entry]

Hey Tater,

How is your back doing? Done anything with the dragster lately?

Take care man.

Im getting a little bit done when I get the chance. I decided the shop needed cleaned up last weekend. spent 3 hours friday night and 4 hours on it saturday. the stupid step tracker said I walked 4.5 miles and never left the shop. Finally felt like my back was good enough to pick the engine up and get it back on the frame. Now I can figure out where the drag link needs to be and can finish up the steering. looks like we will have 10 days around 80. That is better than the last month of close to 100. this is taking longer than expected, but everything is well thought out and built to higher standards than what I normally turn out on a rushed junkyard jalopy. I hope to get a video of the engine running and possibly driving by the end of August.

Got to do a little fab work today and it ended up turning into more re-engineering. The motor is mounted with slots to adjust the tension on the front belt. The haul ass lever is in place, which moved where I was going to put the pitman arm, which moved the drag link, which means I will have to redo all the steering arms and linkages for the front axle.

I worked on the front axle issues. Flipped the spindles and worked out some small geometry issues in the process. The tie rods will now go under the axle brace and lowered the front a few inches in the process. Working on the hi/lo shifter and planning the vari-drive pedal. The main focus is on the LT/GT build to comply with the theme of the competition, but have more WTF in the works to push this one over the top for the build off

Scrapped the front axle since I didnt trust it being spliced so many times. I needed to drop the tie rods more anyway. New axle raises the front end 2" (just alittle higher than before the spindle flip). It still looks good and I gain ground clearance in the front. That may come in handy if I decide to do mud drags.

That sounds fun!

The new axle is on and the draglink is made. Tie rods are next. I scaled the front end and both sides are within 5oz of each other, so I got the axle on right!

Looking sweet! Where's the steering arm for the drag link gonna be? Like right under the right (from the drivers seat) axle beam?

it will be on top of the axle with the pivot in the center so the tie rods will be the same length.

well crap, I just realized I set up the steering sector for direct steer.If I hooked it up to a pivot in the center it will steer backwards. If I flip it, it will have to run beside the starter and I dont have room for that.

I know the feeling. Steering is a real pain sometime.

WOW this build has my attention, very impressive.

I know how you feel man, setting up my worm box was a rage inducing headache

I can make it work. Instead of the pivot being on the axle, I will have to bring a bracket back about 6 inches and reverse the lever

Lookin forward to a vid of you boiling the tires in that thing

Not sure about the "boiling the tires" thing. Weight distribution on this is more suited for pulling and maximum launch for racing. I wouldnt be surprised if this thing will pull the front wheels at 20 mph though. the front end scales around 120 pounds without the driver right now. that will increase after the front end sheet metal is added and fuel tank filled, then offset that with 60+% of my 270#s hanging off of the rear axle, makes for a pretty light front end. I have some 26x12x12 super lugs I can bolt on for pulling or mud slinging. i was shooting for around 600# loaded weight, but it looks like i overshot that by over 175#. I just weighed it at 480+270+ maybe another 30# for the body, headers misc = 780-800 with 600 of that being on the back axle. No boiling tires here.

Oh just drill a bunch of lightening holes though the frame!

Im excited to see this with the body finished.

We are all excited to see this thing finished!

Going around in circles on the steering, but close to getting it hammered out. It was binding up in a few places, but I have a good feel for where everything needs to be. I tried to make it too complicated and the simpler I make it, the better it works. I put U-joints on the steering column thinking I need a tilt wheel. I found out the straight shot worked out better. I still have some additive slop in the tie rods and will fix that with JB Weld shims. I still have some frame welds to finish up and the hi/lo shifter to work out. The frame is pretty much done and will get painted this weekend. The only thing left to figure out is the clutch/ brake/ CV pedal. Still thinking about a line brake/ chicken brake thing. I have another vacation in early October and plan to spend more time on the build and not so much on doing equipment repairs and lawn work. I still plan to do a working mower deck and think I can knock that out in one weekend after I get this thing moving under its own power. The rest is cosmetic.

The steering is completed and should work good. Working on the rest of the sheet metal in the cockpit and planning foot throttle layout. I will have to tear it all down soon and flip it over to work on the drive train. Not looking forward to lifting all this heavy sh*t again. The frame will get painted while it is disassembled so I dont have to lift this stuff more than I have to.

The tail piece is gonna be a PITA. Lots of trickass bends and stretching on those.

One piece at a time...

had to do some bigfoot modifications on the left side for the anticipated clutch travel. My boot was hitting the lower part of the dash.  It all looks ugly now, but it will clean up good.

It is easier to think outside the box if you dont jump in the box from the beginning.

tater195 wrote:

It is easier to think outside the box if you dont jump in the box from the beginning.

Yes.

tater195 wrote:

One piece at a time...[/url]

Like the old Johnny Cash song. Looking good!