Crazy_Carl's Wheel Horse Mud Rat [2018 Build-Off Entry]

So today I started getting the chassis mocked up.  I'm looking at things like wheelbase and motor placement.  There's plenty of room for suspension up front.  Steering will be a challenge but I have a couple of ideas.  I have it blocked up pretty close to what ride height will be with the back tires on.  I'm pretty happy how it sits.





Do 196CC predator exhaust ports ordinarily look like this?  This kohler one looks factory ported and a short little cast iron manifold goes between it and the muffler.

You mean shaped like a D?
Yeah. Seems like all the smaller hondas and clone engines exhaust port are that shape.

Wow looks like a nice machine! Needs a 22 go v twin command instead of some little single

Carl thats a sweet looking tractor, i would trade one of my Sears for one of those

@biggasmowers I know the 6 1/2 horse power is kind of small. You need to understand that I’m kind of on a budget for this build because there’s lots of parts to buy. I thought this was a good deal because it was 80 bucks and it’s a Kohler. Kohler is even embossed on the block and I thought since this is a Wheel Horse a Kohler motor would be a good fit. In the future I might spend 300 bucks and get an OHV 16 hp electric start clone motor. That would be easier than the V twin to fit under the hood.

I think the engine you have should be just fine. Doesn't really look like it's gonna be a nightmare to fit it in the tractor either, which is good. Haha.

Well I guess with low treaded tires a small engine will be fine.

How are the tires coming along.

@mightyraze Friday I dropped 6 rims off at my powder coater. 4 of them are for mud rat and the other ones are for the front of my C-125. I picked a really nice silver color for mud rat. He's only charging me $100 to coat all of the rims. This place does an amazing job for the money. They sandblast everything down to bare steel and bake on a really high quality finish. I've had many rims and a couple of go-kart frames done there and I've always been really impressed with the quality ad value. I accidentally cut one of my 19x7-8 tubes when I was cutting the package open so I'll have to look around my shop or buy another one before I can mount all of my tires.

Cool, sounds like you have a really cool place to work with up there.

Tonight I made a motor mounting plate the hard way without a mill.  It's the not prettiest but it's a full 1/4 thick, made to the dimensions I want for my build, and the motor can slide back and forth 1.5".  I definitely prefer the jigsaw and file method to the go though a 1/2 dozen or so dremel cut off discs and not even make it through two slots.

What was this about you not having patience?? Ida poked 4 hols and called it done!
Looks good though!

Looking good. This is a sweet project

I really had a productive night tonight.  I got the new hubs mounted on my little utility trailer that I pull behind my truck, I cleaned up the shop a bit, and I took a cut off wheel to this 56 year old frame.  I notched it out for my motor mounting plate and welded it in from the underside.  I found a couple more little cracks in the transaxle mount that I will have to weld up soon.

Looks super nice and professional. Nice job Carl!

......... a dremel???? Just mentioning quarter inch steel and a dremel in the same post gives me shudders.

Yeah that's what I first tried to make the slots with. The dremel has it's place but that.I was pushing it beyond what it was intended for. The grinder with the cutoff wheel and my jigsaw were my best friends on this part of the build for sure.

Even a jigsaw has trouble in thick metal. I would have put it in the drill press and lined up a fench and just drilled them all out.

I thought about removing most of the material on the drill press like you said, but my Milwaukee M18 cordless Jigsaw has a very aggressive orbital mode that clears the chips really well and equipped with a brand new coarse tooth metal blade it cut through the 1/4 steel like butter.

Nice welds! Very nice indeed! Also nice sig.

Man you're like the best welder I've ever seen. Also, love your signature!

Yeah , but he does have a tig..

I did go to a welding class to learn TIG.  I do a lot of sanitary TIG welding on stainless pipes at work. I’ve also welded a variety of things with TIG over the years including a pintle hook mount for a F-800, various mower deck repairs and a lot of little brackets here and there.

Yesterday I drew up my steering knuckles and sourced the bushings from McMaster Carr.  I'm using the old spindles from my Wheel Horse C-125.  A 1" reamer is stupid money, so I sent the drawing to a buddy that owns a machine shop.  My uncle does have a couple of lathes too, but does anyone know of a cheap boring bar that can cut that 1.000 bore?




EDIT:  I just found that I can order this knuckle to my specs from McMaster Carr for $36!  That's a bargain.  I'll just have to drill and tap the hole for the grease fitting.


EDIT: The minimum order quantity is 5! Is anybody else interested in these custom knuckles and would want to buy some from me to help to help bring my cost down?

Look at DOM tubing. https://www.speedymetals.com/pc-3469-8242-1-12-od-x-250-wall-dom-steel-tube.aspx
Dont knwo what shipping would be, but it should be cheaper than McMaster.

If you got a chop saw, your buddy with a lathe can face em off to your 2.5 length. And you got a drill press to drill and tap em... then you got some left over $$$ for gas money!

That's pretty cheap. Good find Beal. I think I'm going to order a 12" piece. Once I receive it, I will measure the I.D. and see if it really is 1.000.