RED STAG 69 Raider 12 The Best Rusty Copy

My front bump stops also got destroyed during the LCQ so I've ground the casting flat like CreepyCrawler's Rusty so the axle isn't digging into the rubbing and the rubber has a nice smooth spot to sit on.  I'm also going to try giving them more preload with heavy duty zip ties and see what happens.  I might weld on more support in the future or try a stiffer exhaust hanger from NAPA

So I've made a couple of easy bolt-on changes.  I added some "C" series seat springs for some added comfort and with the center of gravity change and since I have a habit of getting this thing sideways lol, I also added some 1" wheel spacers to take the track width from 38" to 40".

As a runner of spacers in the past.  Since you do not have through bolts with nuts.  Make sure you have locktite on those.  Somehow they always seem to walk out.  Nice updates!

@Crazy_Carl I did not cheap out on hardware this time and I used red Loctite.

 

Well it's been one year so time for an update lol

So who's this forum moderator and what are the doing on a hill climb on my tractor at my farm?!...We may never know the truth


I like the feel of my new steering wheel with no finger holes and but it has finger grooves. Also the added track width and the added seat springs have been welcomed additions.



This summer at an undisclosed location (too big of a sticker contest hint) I went into a mud bog and swamped the filter sock and air filter.  The engine did come back to life after a minute and ran great the rest of the day.  I cleaned a little bit of sediment out of the 135 degree elbow but thankfully nothing made it into the carb.

Reg Stag is out of the storage shed and back in the shop to get the much needed hydraulic brake upgrade this winter.  I have acquired from ebay a Kawasaki Ninja EX250 rear master cylinder and brake caliper.



Okay big problem.  No brake disc in stock...yet.  So I'm going to use @Brianator 's idea and buy a taper lock hub to go on the 1" keyed brake shaft.  Intead of turning down a sprocket, I think I'm going to use one of my available machine tool resources to have a custom 4" diameter brake disc made.  This way it can be hardened and machined to the precise thickness of an OEM brake disc for an 08-2012 Ninja EX250.

What are opinions on drilling holes in a brake disc that sees low speed but a lot of water and mud sediment?

Does anyone know a good online source to find taper lock hubs and sprockets?  I do have a local vendor whom I perform crane work for that I could reach out to.

Sure is nice seeing an update!  I will be following on that brake upgrade.  Should my WH end up turning out well, I will need to take it to the next level like Red Stag here.  Super nice tractor.  You have done such an awesome job with it.  And yes....  it has been some inspiration for the WH I am building now.

Taper lock hub? I've only seen bushings for the cast iron pulleys so I'll assume you either mean a weld-on style hub or you're cooking up something extra special?! Lol. Now that I think about it I see no reason a taper lock bushing couldn't be welded at the slits and have set screws added, heck it already has a 4 bolt pattern that only needs minor modification! Add it to the list of possibilities I suppose!

I see no issues cross drilling the rotor, it actually helps dissipate heat and gases, should give water a place to go too (but might hold onto mud) so have it I think it's a good idea! I'd be smart about it though, don't swiss cheese it and keep the holes small, like 5/32" maybe?

**edit** I just realized we have similar named tractors, somehow I missed your Mud Rat build when I made it my mission over 2 winters to try and read every build here, I'll have to catch up on that soon!

@MightyRaze Red stag is a Rusty Copy.  However the floorboard bolt mod where you drill and tap the 3/4" round stock for a 5/16-18 bolt for the front floorboard support is my idea and my trans brace is unique because it ties the frame of the tractor directly to the lower transaxle mounting holes.  However thank you for the compliment because I pride myself on excellent build execution, clean wiring and reliability.

With some basic layout skills you can perform this mod to lose the one hole strap that's a pain to install when you're constantly taking floorboards on and off for maintenance.  Plus obstacles can push the floorboard up and bend the factory 1 hole strap.  This is a stronger connection.

@Brianator After poking around on ebay I realized to use a taper lock hub I'd have to get super fancy which is overkill for a 18hp tractor that tops out at 15mph lol

Still going to take inspiration from you and use a 1 piece hub and sprocket, but grind the teeth off and use the thick material that's left to drill and tap a hole pattern that allows me to bolt a custom brake disc to it.  I'd rather not weld it because it will warp and cause a headache I don't need.

Glad I could provide some inspiration for a guru such as yourself, I've always been an idea man! Lol. I look forward to seeing it I bet it'll be minty!

@Brianator Don't worry about your tractor name either. Ol' Red and Mud Rat were sold a long time ago.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Well it's been one year so time for an update lol

So who's this forum moderator and what are the doing on a hill climb on my tractor at my farm?!...We may never know the truth

What a goof! What a funny hat. I will say, this thing is a pleasure to ride! Just sitting on it you can tell how well thought out and precisely executed it is. My favorite wheel horse to ride so far.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Does anyone know a good online source to find taper lock hubs and sprockets?  I do have a local vendor whom I perform crane work for that I could reach out to.

If not mcmaster, then you might check surpluscenter or zoro. I know mcmaster sprockets are pretty pricey for kinda sub par quality, at least the ones I've seen.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

When I binge watched all your vids the other night I saw this bumper. I like the design and plan on doing something similar.

@BairleaFarm Thanks, I didn't really design it. It's more of a CreepyCrawler/Redzz02 concept. I get a lot of compliments on it though. It's even been ran into and bent back with a 24" crescent lol

Beware it offers zero rear fender or seat protection. You can tell my fender has been "adjusted" lol

Big issue with my sub par brakes not working in reverse on hills is why I've backed into some trees so I'm looking forward to fixing that.

Well during teardown today I learned that the puller is in my Dad's Jeep so I had to go with plan B.


I discovered this small pebble wedged between the brake band the transaxle housing I wonder if this was causing the brake to hang making the tractor difficult to push around and affecting shifting on the fly performance hmmm


HEY! What's going on here?! Somebody drilled some holes in this priceless irreplacable aluminum dash and mounted a Tiny Tach.  And whoever done it neatly spiral wrapped the pickup wire to the choke cable!

HAHA....

Man, that pebble looks like it was wedged in there pretty good.  Looks like it was starting to make a groove in the drum.

With design help from the amazingly talented toolmaker @RichieRichOverdrive I've designed up a make it yourself brake disc.

4 tapped holes for 10-32SHCS.  My Dad has this hub just laying around.  Quailty seems good for china and is has the typical 2 set screw arrangement.

I'm also going to mate the disc to the hub with a few TIG weld tacks so it can go anywhere, but I can also cut the tacks if I need to replace the disc.

Toolmaking it soooo satisfying.  Anyway I'm stuck at home with COVID for another 3 days and I've got precision ground mild steel to make the actually disc coming tomorrow.

Very nice!  Glad you seem to be dealing with the rona well.  I'm curious of the mounting of the caliper.  I've toyed with an idea of just a simple mechanical.  Your hydraulic will be awesome!

@MightyRaze I'm still curious about mounting the caliper lol, ran out of energy for today, but I made big progress.  The caliper mount I think will be pretty simple.  I got the air bled out of the master cylinder and the brake hose and caliper. I made a spacer to mount the master cylinder inside the tunnel.  It's builds great clamping force and even the parking brake still works!  The hub and disc are taking a ton of time to make by hand but it's been a fun rewarding project.  The disc is almost done.  Then onto the caliper mount, reservoir mount, re-locate the bracket for clutch spring, then body assembly, and test drive      

That location looks like it will work well! I love it.

Flawless braking performance has been achieved🥳 Note: Thunderstruck by AC/DC is the best test drive song to have on repeat in your Beats. It's so nice having a well engineered and executed brake system that works just as well stopping you in reverse as it does going forward. The pedal feel is perfect and very similar to a hydraulic rear disc brake on a Polaris Trailblazer that I had. Also it's weird running hot laps around your house when it's pitch black out. Great test of the tach too as it is handy to have. Also this engine really likes cold 32 degree air and no drag from the jenky
brake band. This thing goes from 0-15mph in a hurry starting in 2nd and shifting into 3rd on the fly








Here's a sneak peak of what is coming next:

That is really awesome. Also your fabbing it up made it look pretty easy! Thanks for the great pictures showing it all assembled. I may have to rip that off ya too sometime in the future. I can already say I am not happy with the band brake. My sears works backwards well enough, but the WH...yikes!

Nice work man that looks amazing!

Here is a deep dive video explaining every little nitty-gritty detail about this modification. Enjoy!

Well today I made some huge progress on my winch installation.  I made the mount out of 1/4 x 2 barstock.  I cut the front tow hook off my bumper and welded it on.  I even got a good chunk of the electrical work completed as well.

I had to re-locate one on the mounting holes due to an accessibly issue with the tube of the front bumper directly underneath it.

I hand engraved "Red Stag" onto the fairlead and colored it with a red Inkzall

It's perfectly centered on the tractor.

I bought my first ever right angle drill today to drill and tap the holes for the contact block.  It worked like a charm.  Although it was convenient that I already had a #21 stub drill (drill for #10-32 tap) in stock so I didn't have to make one from a jobber's length drill.  I just ran the tap in with the drill and it worked like a charm.  I did use a center drill as well to keep the hole location from wandering around.


This style spiral wire loom is really great and I get it for free. I just don't like the color but I can wrap it with black electrical tape where it's visible.

@Crazy_Carl might be because it's late and I'm tired but that intro was funnier than it needed to be lol. Also that engraving looks mint