Mightyraze's "Sasquatch II" [2017 Build-Off Entry] [Finalist]

Yeah that looks pretty wicked mighty!

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Heyy thats pretty good!

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Yeah that looks pretty wicked mighty!

Thanks guys. Dealing with some hurdles but I think I am getting there. Top section where the headlights go keeps coming out "flat" looking. I'm letting it cure up a few days and hit it again with my black. So I'll keep the lights out for now.

+Side, Pipes poke out nicely though!

Nice good rain shower today.  Not much done.

Still waiting for some lights to come in for the build.  In the meantime I did finish up the rewiring headlights with the LED's.  They are SUPER bright!





External paint is done.  Had lots of issues with the top of the hood.  I think it was due to the moisture we had last week.  The paint didn't cure up well and stick.  Had to re-hit the hood again and it didn't come out as clean as I would like.

The picture makes it look worse than it does in person.



Also got my huge pulley mounted on the engine.


Now to put my belt on it and see where I am.  Do I need a bigger, smaller some kind of adjustment?  We will see.  I am a little concerned about clearance with the steering with this bigger pulley.  I do not think I will need the idler pulley with this setup.

Well as expected the new pulley did prove to make the old belt way too small even removing the idler. Looks like I do have plenty of clearance around the steering, but will need to preposition the idler to the back somewhere as the angle now coming off the rear pulley is much more defined than it was.

Plus note, looks like making belt keepers for the big pulley will be pretty easy.

Those headlights sure are bright! What kinda speeds are you hoping to get with that big pulley?

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Those headlights sure are bright! What kinda speeds are you hoping to get with that big pulley?

Honestly, I do not know.  I was getting about 6.5 mph with a 4".   It's close to a 1.125:1 ratio. The engine is just a little bigger than the trans-axle.  I'm kind of throwing a Hail Mary at it and see what happens.  If I get 15 I would be happy.  Even though I am running high speed trailer tires and have 4-wheeler front hubs,  Anything faster with the stock front axle moved forward may prove to be safety issue since the axle is not "fixed".  On a plus note, the engine runs better than it has since I got it.  Funny how fixing 2 blown head gaskets can change an engine's performance.

Some progress.

My final lights came in yesterday. I hope to get those hooked up Monday and maybe use my $10 off coupon to tractor supply (before it expires next week) and get a belt for this thing! I will have to install my idler on the build, but in the back similar to an old Murray off the trans-axle pulley.

May has a full schedule for me. I could get this wrapped up next month, but it may be hard to get those final touches in. I should have this "finished" as per rules next month, but that gives me LOTS of time to go back and possibly "tweak" some things to make it better.

Foot throttle looks good mighty. She sounds pretty good as well!

Thank you! I am still tweaking on the for throttle.

All this rain changed up some schedules and I was able to do some work on the Sasquatch. Wiring is now 100% complete.  No more wiring unless I think of something else down the road.  I also got the pulley installed to direct the belt off the transaxle to the bigger pulley on the engine.

The pulley installed.  The positioning is darn near perfect.  Also measured what the belt side would be.  Looks like 88.5 inches is the length needed.



Front lights.  Left signal is more defined when parking lights are on than what the video shows.  I think it was the angle of the camera in the lense.



Rear Lights



How many can say they have 14inch H70's and fully functioning Harley replica tail lights and markers on their garden tractor? Oh, I can!

Installed a belt, turned out to be 91 inches. Didn't get done till late so I didn't get a chance to test it out. Looks like that big pulley on the engine is going to have a lot of bite. Clutching/braking will be interesting.

Clutch/Brake actually worked fine today. I got it out and ran it around the yard a few minutes breaking in the belt. First gear was about the speed of 3rd originally, maybe just a little faster. I was unable to get a sense of top speed as my gas pedal needs reworked. Where I have it, it is hard to get to with the lever. I need to rework that. Front brakes worked well, but they could not hold the tractor still to attempt a burnout. The massive rear tires just wanted to dig in and move this beast. I did throw the belt right off the bat which was a little confusing. I put it back on and it didn't fall back off the rest of the testing.

Maybe a video this weekend, but I need to get the gas petal figured out.

mightyraze wrote:

Clutch/Brake actually worked fine today.

Some people have all the luck...


Haha just kidding, really looking forward to seeing that video!

I could only get about 1/3 throttle out of it today. At that throttle, I was already getting Li'l Red Speeds. I was really worried that huge front pulley was going to catch too much. It didn't. I'm not 100% happy with the directional pulley I added. Right now it works well.

Also, this thing can almost turn on a dime! These tires with negative camber can sure make this thing turn sharp!

Engine ran great! Today was the first time to put some work on it other than spinning itself. 3rd gear was a bit trippy, I couldn't throttle good and of course you can't up shift these transmissions without grinding out your gears so you have to have a stopped belt. I felt like I was trying to drive a stick shift starting off, working the clutch and gas. LOL It was a blast. Only stalled it once.

Yeah those old sliding gear transmissions like to be lined up perfectly to go into gear. Thank goodness for constant mesh transmissions! Hahaha.

That's belt barking not gear grinding. Also, there wasn't any warm up time,

While digging in my dad's box of stuff I found this really old knob made of metal.  I was thinking that would be cool on the light switch.  I threaded it and installed!  Looks good!

That's a cool little touch. Looks good mighty!

Looks really nice! Sounds marvellous too! Gotta get me a twin cylinder Briggs.

Yeah it runs well.  Each time I get it out it runs a little better.  Glad I tore the engine down and changed out those gaskets that it needed.  No more oil leaks, doesn't burn oil now and no carbon monoxide in the crank or blow by like it had.  

Got some done this weekend.  Half the weekend was used up by a 5 hour round trip to help my wife's great aunt and her friend broke down about 2 hours from the house.  

Redid the gas pedal. That one off the center kept bending and was not working well.

Cut and bent out a pedal:



Found me a spring from a mower deck and used it as a return spring.





Got it painted up and added a pedal cover...



I was testing the new gas pedal.  Works SO MUCH BETTER!  Also, I was giving it some speed runs now that I can hit WOT.  I can get about 8 in 1st, about 13 in 2nd and I got 17 in 3rd, but I think I can push an 18 or 19 out of it.  I did not test low gear speeds. My belt fell off when I took my foot off the throttle.   I jumped under the tractor and popped it back on.  Had a minor incident when I did.

I touched the exhaust with my arm.  



I redid the pulley on the return side.  It got late so I was unable to retest to see if it would stay on.

mightyraze wrote:

My belt fell off when I took my foot off the throttle.   I jumped under the tractor and popped it back on.  Had a minor incident when I did.

I touched the exhaust with my arm.  

I once almost ran over my head trying to put the belt back on with the engine running and the tractor in gear Dunno wtf I was thinking. It might explain all the crazy stuff I do and miscalculations I have when it comes to a center of gravity of a tractor and a hill...

Mod Edit Image link.

That's not good.  I will say that I had the engine off and parking brake on.  

I was looking at some old pictures and found this old picture of me back when the Sasquatch was new!  Back when it mowed grass!  LOL

Gas pedal looks great mighty!

Thanks man!  It's a little thin, but I think it will work ok.  May have to reinforce it later or upgrade the part made from the green painted metal.  It's old-school 40's 50's era metal from a lateral file cabinet that weighed a ton.  Much better quality of metal.

A little off topic for a sec.  Had an Idea for the 82 Murray.  Maybe a hybrid rat-rod/rally machine?  Call it a mud-rod.  (maybe a little mad max look) Seeing AllisKidD21's video. I realized if I really wanted to go mudding, I will need a friend.  My friends don't have mud machines.  See where I am going with this?  I also came to the idea, the bigger front and back pulleys like I have on the Sasquatch don't seem to slip at all.  I may think about that as well.  Just a thought, still in the air about it.