Craftsman GT 6000 Build

ConfederaSears wrote:

Loving the new tires! Lookin good Allis!

Thanks man! I'm definitely happy with them, haha.

So I took a stab at the suspension on the ol' GT today.



I said I was planning on doing a 1/4 elliptic leaf setup, but with the room i'm working with there's no way that was gonna happen. So I'm just gonna run a conventional setup with mono-leaf springs.

Axle wasn't too bad to remove, I took the whole plate off because I'm not using the bell crank steering setup with the leaves.



Made the rear mount for the eyes.



Shackle mounts up front.



All bolted up and everything's looking good so far!



Made some mounting tabs for the axle. Probably gonna add a clamp on the back side too just for good measure.



And here it is now!



Works great so far! Bounces really good and there's a decent amount of articulation. Now I just gotta make up a drag link and steering arm, trim the bumper some to clear the tires better, and maybe add a few gussets here and there. Also someday I'm gonna make a tube bumper setup that comes offa the front of the current one, just so the shackles don't get rammed into anything. I'm really happy with it so far though. Let me know what ya think!

Looks like it'd work awesome.  Anything suspension-wise is possible with you!

Looks really good, seems like a simpler way of doing suspension and not having to work with shocks and pan hard bars etc.

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

Looks like it'd work awesome.  Anything suspension-wise is possible with you!

Well thanks W! Haha, I try.

MatthewD wrote:

Looks really good, seems like a simpler way of doing suspension and not having to work with shocks and pan hard bars etc.

Thanks Matt! Yeah there's definitely not as much thinking involved compared to a multi-link setup. Pretty much just gotta get proper shackle angles and stuff.

Very Nice AK!

Nice job AK, now a video on it

MightyRaze wrote:

Very Nice AK!

Thanks Mighty!

Buck Mault wrote:

Nice job AK, now a video on it

Haha thanks Buck. Yeah I'm gonna have to make a video with this thing sometime soon.

Epic suspension update!  Looks like this build is going to get to 30 pages lol.  That's awfully nice weather you had there to do this work outside.

Thanks Carl! Haha, yeah the sun was nice but there was an awful cold wind all day, so it wasn't too nice. Better than snow though, hahaha.

Anyway, I have some more pictures:

Made a tie rod and put 'er up on the ramp.







Not too bad at all. Nothing bent or broke so it seems alright. I did have a minor breakage with one of my axle tabs (bad welding job) but I got that all fixed up.

Then I got my steering all set up and my bumper trimmed:





And test drive!!







Works great! Super soft and flexy. I was worried it was gonna be too stiff, but it works fantastic. Hopefully it holds up, haha. Let me know what ya think!

So you drilled a hole through the spring? Rather than just clamp the axle on? Kinda seems like a spot for failure...

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

So you drilled a hole through the spring? Rather than just clamp the axle on? Kinda seems like a spot for failure...

Hahaha, no. If I had tried to drill through those springs by hand I would still be there right now trying to drill though. I used the holes for the bolts that hold all the leaves together. I think it'll be fine, but as i said I'm probably gonna add a clamp on each side just because.

Kinda like mine?  Kind of a rivot? that holds 2 together.



Yeah, Mine was a bit stiff with both springs on each side.  When I redo the tractor maybe next year, I may move them to the rear.  

The black dog there looks a lot like my Snoopy but with white paws.

Yeah pretty much, there's a hole in the middle of all four leaves. I think that's how most all trailer leaves are. Also rear suspension on the Sasquatch would be RAD!!

That's good that the ride is good. Maybe some protection/extended bumper for the shackles on the front to keep them being damaged.

Yeah haha, like I mentioned before I'd like to add a tube bumper type deal of the front of the current one that sticks out just past the shackles. Hopefully I can make it look right though.

I think it needs a pointed bumper!

Haha, I'm not gonna go copying MUTT now. I have a look in mind for it.

Can't wait to see it!

Haha, we'll see what happens. Hopefully I can make it look right. Sorta worried it's gonna stick out too far and look silly.

I didn't realize till I seen it in your video. I totally missed you moved the hi/lo shifter back in page 6. Thought it was pretty cool looking.

Oh, haha. Thanks Mighty! Yeah it's much more comfortable to use than the factory one as well.

I addes some clamps to the back of my axle today like I had planned, I figured the more support the better. Haha.

Just a small chunk of thick wall tubing and then cut it in half.



Welded to the axle. Still trying to figure out the settings on the new flux core machine, so these welds didn't turn out fantastic looking.



All clamped down!



Did the same thing on the other side than put 'er up on the ramp to check things out.





Still seems to work fine.



Should hold up good now!

Nice, liking the added support. It looks to be pretty close to the tie rod?

Thanks Mighty! No I don't think the U-bolt will hit the tie-rod at any point.

Looks nice, should work great.