homemade mini dozer

Hello everyone! its been a long long time since ive been on here. Ive been working on a few projects the last few years. And as many people dont know, I have a thing for tracks!
here is a few pictures of my current build.
Its utilizing 2 zero turn wheel motors,
1 snowmobile track cut down the middle,
1 set of snowmobile drive cogs drilled to fit the factory zeroturn wheel hub (1 on each side)
1 early 2000's craftsman frame
A whole bunch of 1 1/4 square tube
So far only (4) 5" front lawnmower rims
3/4 all thread with a nut welded to the ends as wheel pins/axles (has lock nut on other side)
my 18 hp briggs and stratton opposed twin
Hood and grille off an 80's Montgomery Wards mower painted to replicate CAT
still working on linkages and a few minor odds and ends. it will have small stacks with mufflers and clap caps. And why did i build this??? Because Im obsesed with tracks, using my atv plow on front so i can plow snow! and for fun!!

Also, each front rim setup has adjustable bolts i guess you would call them. on the 3rd picture down you can see them. that allows me to set track tention as well as adjust the tracking of tracks right to left. i havent driven it yet. hopefully i get a chance to this by the end of next week. still lots of work ahead of me!

Welcome back... cool looking rig you are building there. Love to see it progress! Very neat.

Wasn't even aware this build was happening, curious to see how you make it.

I like the hi-drive!

Got a little further on it today! got the frame supports/ dash mount built and welded into place. traded my horizontle shaft briggs for a 25 hp briggs vtwin. hoods mounted, Now before i get any dislikes on the wooden dash, its pressure treated t11, im using the smooth back as the dash face and stained it "dark oak", it dont have an angle grinder or else i would have made a metal dash and welded it on and besides... the old vintage look brings a smile to my face! also doing a wooden floor same way. Robbed 2 running boards off a Craftsman tractor. need to straighten one out and bolt them on. im wicked stoaked for this! Whats peoples oppinion on my tracks popping off due to the tracks not having rubber nubs inside and me using just rims as boogie wheels? 2 people have told me they will pop off. if they do, i plan on taking 4 more drive cogs for each end of the tracks, and use idler wheels on each side of cog but spaced so they are the same width as rims. then it wont be able to roll up on sides bu "should" stay on... i will cross that bridge if it happens... fingers crossed it wont!.

No angle grinder?  Seriously? How on earth are you fabricating?

I actually like the wood dash.  It has a custom touch to it.

You'll have to weld some drive teeth onto the driven rims or else the rims will just spin the the tracks.

I'd add some bogey wheels between the front and rear rims to help spread the weight across the track better and you could build them in such a way that they could also serve the purpose of keeping the tracks on and aligned.

Wait what? I put hours on my angle grinder each day haha.

I had one. For many years, been dropped, kicked...ect then it stopped working. Been using a sawsall then using my bench grinder to make things perfect. I got a little more done today, new mufflers, belt is on, ignition switch, throttle and choke are mounted on dash and dash is installed. And as far as the rims, those don't power the tracks. Not sure if I posted a picture of what I've done. As stated above I'm using stock snowmobile sprockets mounted to the zero turn hubs to power the tracks. The rims are there to act as boogie wheels. I haven't decided yet on if I want to use snowmobile slides and not use boogie wheels in between the 2 rims or if I want to take the wheels off snowmobile suspension and make them work.

Thanks for clearing that up.  Makes sense.

here is a picture of how ive mounted the drive gears

The snowmobile slides should work. I think a simpler guide setup would be extending the horizontal support beams, for the bogies, past the tracks on both ends with rollers on them so when the track moves to the sides, the rollers will roll on the track to prevent wearing on the sides of the track.

Well guys. Not sure how I want to do my levers and linkages. Throwing a few through around on paper. But I really need a name for it. Here's what I've got. (MD11 for Mini D11) (C18 for Cameron 2018) (K11 for kitten 11). Any thoughts? I really like the sounds of MD11.

Yeah I'd have to agree MD11 sounds pretty cool.

Got the levers and linkages done today, painted the levers same yellow as hood just before i went inside! things are coming together great. except the engine... maybe its just my batterys are junk but ive tried 6 different batteries, it will struggle and turn over once maybe twice then just click like batteries are dead. unless i pull spark plugs out. I plan on buying a brand new battery soon. it will crank over great if spark plugs arnt in it. anyways heres the pictures!

I like the straight sticks!  Looks old school. I vote MD11.  Have you checked over your grounds?

yes ive checked all grounds and connections. anytime i build a mower project the first thing i do it go thru the wiring harness and rewire everything. there is no safety switch plugs anymore, just magneto, solenoid, charging wire and ground on the ign switch. engine crangs over great with no spark plugs in it. its the same exact engine as my zero turn seen in the back ground of my pics, i swapped plugs and still nothing. i even hooked it up to my ole ladys car battery. same thing, jump started off my truck while it was running. same thing... what else could it be? it seems like its building WAY to much compression. pull valve covers and look for bent valve/ broken spring??

well i got to looking online. seems these are known for the compression valve to act up. unfortunately that means tearing into engine form what people are saying..

I would take apart the starter first, and clean it out and put it back together. The compression release valve is usually for pull starting the engine. The starter should be strong enough to start the engine with no issues without it.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it.  But before you tear into the engine to check compression release, maybe even before looking at the starter.  Check the valve lash adjustment.  I think I set mine around .004.