homemade mini dozer

sorry hers pictures

well ifigured it out. and it runs... like brand new! its charging the battery aswell so i did something right! hopefully i can post a video of it driving tomorrow...

Good job! I'll be looking for the video! Such a neat machine.

Did you end up using the a1 and a2 wires?  I think those might be AC leads for lights.

the A1 is for charging battery, A2 is for lighting system... no clue what the green goes to. anyways i drove it today, need to make a few changes to the rear rim setup. im 99 percent sure the rear rim on left side is crocked by like a 1/16.. you can just barely see that its not 100 percent straight. so my idea is to make the rears the same as front... so i can adjust the rear tracking. If i watch the tracks while its on stands, when i go forward with both tracks, the left side slowly walks to the inside, the right side seems to be good but still going to make it adjustable. in the pictures you can see what i mean. if however i put it in reverse, it walks to the outside,,, making me think the rear left rim is not straight. i think its turned to the outside just a hair... no big deal, i can fix it. trying to find how to upload videos.

https://youtu.be/rbr6eCvVX1c walk around
https://youtu.be/ipI5GNk0OwI driving video

heres my idea to make tracks stay in line. whats everyones idea on this?

Should work as long as you keep tension on the track and the wheels are the same diameter as the sprocket without the teeth(which your pic looks like it). Being on the ground, the teeth will ware down some but should be enough tooth engagement for them to work good.

Cool videos.

took it out again today after replacing bearing in rims, drove it around for a good half hr over all sorts of terrain and it did great. im having a little bit of problems with tracks sliding on rims, i knew i would. so i may have to make the setup like i show above. other than that its a head turner! 3 cars stopped infront of my house as i was driving across my lawn with it. everyone loves it! next to do, the blade... i want to make a small ripper/back drag blade so i can till and level my driveway...

yeah a rear ripper/grader blade would be put to good use on this thing.  It's exciting to see it move.  I like your design a lot that has bogie wheels on either side of an idler cog for tracking.

my fiances grandmothers boyfriend gave me his snow plow from his jd riding mower. seems to be the perfect width, only issue is the mounting setup which bolts onto existing holes in craftsman frame.
Because i have my tracks on it, it sits about 4 inches higher than a stock craftsman which puts the blade at an extreme angle. So to fix it for now i used some extra 1 1/4 square tubing and made drop mounts. i hate the lever that raise and lowers the blade, lots of slop in it so my idea is to use an electric atv plow up and down actuator. anyways heres pictures as of now.

Sweet! the paint even matches.

Can it go any higher or float higher?

unfortunately no it can go higher with the lever. however it will "float higher than what its at now" the lever is pretty trashed which i dont understand because this plow was used once... i plan on making a different setup for it.

So are you basically running an open diff and a brake on each axle to turn? I should have asked this earlier. Looks good with the plow. I want to make a skid too some time.

well after many many times using the dozer... as you guys said, the tracks slide off the rims. i was thinking about putting it away till i could think of something else and just put over tire tracks on my zero turn and use that for plowing. but after heavy thinking i dont thing it would hold up.. ive built that style before using snowmobile tracks and U brackets to alighn tracks.. but that failed because i had no money and the spacing of the U brackets were to far apart and it would walk out of the tracks.
So today after dozering my driveway.... and getting disappointed in my dozer tracks failing... i came up with an idea... make over the tire tracks using 1/8 flat stock and 1/4 x 3/4 but not for tires, instead make them the same exact way my rubber tracks are but by having the bent 90* side edges on each grouser ride against the rims.. there should be no way in the world the "slide" off. ive drawn something up. and instead of using chain to connect each grouser, use more (smaller) like 3/4 x 1/8 flat stock to link them all together.. i think i can use the same drive sprockets.

I think those guides should help a lot.  Easy and cheap to make.  I've seen those type of thing on other dozers.

well after thinking about it even more. and doing a bunch of math, it turns out that idea i had will not work due to the pivoting point of each guide and the drive cogs themselfs. theres 2 ways i can think to do it. order 300 nuts and bolts and put a 1/4 bolt 1/2 from out side of track and let rims run on the insides of those (which would probably rip out) or take flat stock bent into guides and weld them to the metal supports in each hole of the track... this idea would work, but it would be a very rough ride.
So in the mean time i think im going to build a quick hitch style under carriage with 2 axles and build OTT for my toro zero turn. the deck is about gone, found out landlord doesnt want me mowing after 2 years of doing it for free... so, next best thing. i will try and get pics of that build as well. if anyone has any ideas as far as tracks on my MD11 let me know!
heres a video of the OTT idea on a craftsman...https://youtu.be/z3Jeyi_Eqs8

Maybe if you trim the tracks a little more on the sides so the tracks ride inside of the rims. That way the beads on the rims hold the track on. Or widen the rims so the track can fit inside the beads. Instant track guides. Then have 2 sets of the little wheels just a little lower so the rims on the ends are not touching the ground. This will make the contact patch smaller and easier to turn on hard surfaces.

ok guys, i really need some input on keeping tracks aligned. im still pondering the iidea of cogs front and rear of track with bogie wheels on each side of cog. not sure what else to do. i thought about little roller guides on the outside of tracks. but when i cut the track down the middle with my skill saw it wasnt perfect so the rollers wont work. snow is coming in like 5-8 weeks. its gonna be hard cuz i broke my right hand and im right handed. but seriously, pass this build around to anyone you want. i need some solid advise. it goes awesome with the rims, but on slopes and turning sharp the tracks walk off.

How much are you off when you cut the tracks? Roller guards are used on rubber tracked tractors to prevent the track belts from coming off towards the inside of the vehicle. Their track side to side slop is around 5/8". CAT D9s have sliding guards on the bogies. I think you could get by with rollers or a 2x6 track guard system on the front and rear idler. Just givem enough clearance to account for the track width differences. Like you said, you only need it during side slopes and sharp skid steering. Just my .02

Camdg2010 wrote:

heres my idea to make tracks stay in line. whats everyones idea on this?

Your pic above, I think this would be the best way to fix the tracks wanting to ride off. Buying the sprockets is a big advantage as long as they don't cost alot. It would be working with what you already have built. I would make 1 more suggestion on the ground wheels. Would be best to change the diameter of 2 sets of them to shorten the contact patch for easier turning on hard surfaces. The pic below shows the red wheels just 1 inch bigger for a smaller contact patch which will lift the whole thing up 1/2 inch, and will be balancing on the red wheels also. When driving through a soft surface like snow, the contact patch will change to a bigger one with the whole span of the track. These 2 things will help alot for keeping the tracks on and maneuvering with minimal stress on the tracks.

well i thought about putting it up on jack stands and holing the levers forward and use my razor blade to cut it even... idk if that will work. it verys about 1/2 inch or so. i honestly want metal tracks from a struck mini dozer but that is expensive. if i had 9 grand i would own a magnatrac and wouldnt have to build my own. i priced conveyor belt chain which is what stuck dozers use but cant find large diameter sprockets. maybe if i can trim tracks straight, i can use both. i may try roller guides first tho

Getting large diameter sprockets made for that conveyor chain would cost a lot less than 9000 but it wouldn't be low buck either.


Maybe you need cogged idlers and bogey wheels.