A Rat Rod Wheelbarrow Bucket T Tractor/Kart for my Grandson

That ‘accessible’ work table with the wheel chair wheels is great! I wheeled the thing outside to cut the brake pedal hole with the plasma cutter. Then after I got it back inside, I realized it would be better with the bottom of the frame facing the welding machines. So, I just turned it around. Fantastic tool.



Brake and clutch pedals from the top of the frame. The two red circles are highlighting bolt heads. This part of the floor will be visible, so I filed the hole for the clutch pivot bolt square and used one of the Craftsman carriage bolts there. The other one is a belt guard bolt and it too will get a carriage bolt. 



There’s the clutch and brake shaft with the parts in place. A collet is holding the brake parts up there until I get it welded. I have the brake rod parts ready to weld up and install too. I should cut and weld in the frame brace at the brake end of things while it is on the side like this too. 

I may weld up a bunch of extra holes once this is all working and before I clean the frame for painting. 



The ancient old brake handle that will be shortened and become the shift lever is clamped in place for layout/mockup. I think a shaft, like the clutch/brake shaft, will go across there and have a lever on it to work the rod that goes back to the shift lever on  the transmission. The lever is also circled. 



I’ll make a bell crank similar to the one clamped on there in the pic above to connect the rod from the shift lever in front to the lever on the transmission. I think this will work. The transmission is in neutral there. I turned the lever over and rotated it 90 degrees. One click UP on the pic goes to reverse, then 7 down for neutral through 6th.

I just read through your thread and this is coming along really nicely! Lots of good work you're doing here keep at er!

Thanks! I try to work on the rig some every day. 

Yesterday, I tore down the locked up Kohler engine that was in one of the donor machines. It was interesting to see what was inside and it also added to my spare parts collection. The oil looked like it had never been changed, but I believe the engine could be rebuilt, a surprise there. The rod cap had come off and wedged between the crank and engine block, cracking out a small bit. That could be easily repaired. It appears that one of the rod cap bolts fell out, leaving the other one to go it alone for a short time. It was bent and broken. The other one, undamaged was in the sump. The crank took a little abuse but would polish out. My guess is that it didn’t run long after the bolt fell out. The smeared aluminum on the crank probably came as the rod bolt loosened up. I won’t be rebuilding the engine, I don’t need it or the time it would take to mess with. 

BUT

Today, I cleaned the Kohler sump clean enough to touch. Now I have a crankshaft to use as a jig for making the drive pulley for the Rat. I have been agonizing over how to get a good, straight pulley, and over the alignment of the pulley. This solved the problems. 
And, even though the engine I’m using is a Briggs and the crank came from a Kohler, the outer part of the crank is the same. Also, the oil sump bottom is exactly the same critical dimensions as the Briggs. That made setting up the pulley easy. I bolted the sump to the frame, stuck the crank through it and proceeded to measure and plan the pulley. 

This is the test setup to determine placement of the front pulley. I will be cutting an original pulley tube just below the ‘key’ that is pressed into the tube. Then I’ll turn the big pulley over and weld it to the tube, using the crank as a jig. I’ll be shortening the assembly to be just slightly longer than the crank projection. (Around 3.5” over length after welding for the tube.)



And here is that nasty oil sump, somewhat cleaned up, performing as a fixture to hold the crankshaft. Pretty cool, IMO. 

It has been a while since I posted on this, but I am sloooooly working on it.

The brake and clutch pedals are in place. Both are connected and work. They are free to pivot on the shaft they are mounted on. I’ll probably add grease fittings to each after I am sure it all works.



In that picture you can also see the engine drive pulley I made.
Here is the detail of it. It is made from the top half of a standard drive pulley with another small diameter pulley, from another standard pulley welded to it, then the large pulley from the bottom of the other drive pulley is welded to that. Should work fine. It can even be inverted to use the small pulley instead if desired.



The large pulley is welded to the rim of the smaller pulley and to the drive tube. The small pulley is welded rim to rim to the top pulley and also welded to the drive tube.

Here is a view of the underside of the chassis as it sits now.



The brake rod runs just inside the right frame rail.

Details of the rear of the brake linkage. I made a clevis and modified the original brake arm.



I still need to finish the clevis pin. The red line below shows where I believe one could mount a disk brake, on the original disk. Someday...



This is the pedal end of the brake rod, showing the clevis pin through what was a deck lift arm, and the brake adjustment.

And, I finally figured out the shift linkage. I will be removing the crankshaft/crankcase that held things in place for building the drive pulley. Then, I’ll finish a couple of details under the frame and lay it back flat, right side up. Then, I’ll mount the engine and bring the body in and I can work out the design of the shift linkage. At least I have decided how it will work.



I’ll build a short shaft that runs between two supports (red lines) and sticks out the left side. The antique brake handle that will become the shift handle will go on that. It will of course be shortened. A small (straight) rod will run from a lever on the shaft (between the red lines) to the shifter arm. The crooked rod shown there now was just for me to look at for clearance purposes. It WILL work.

I’ll build a ‘shift box’ with notches for the 6 speeds, neutral and reverse after I get the thing installed and know where to put the notches.

Looking good, nice clean work and clever engineering too!

Goodness, it has been a week since I posted. Yesterday I spent $100 on paint and bolts! Holy cow!
I did buy a box of 1/4” bolts but the rest was parts for the Rat. Sigh.

She is on her belly again, waiting for the engine. I hope to install the engine tomorrow and fiddle with the steering box and body. I need to modify the body a bit so the steering box is independent of it. Right now I can’t take the body off without removing the steering box/console. There is a little flange on the body that fits under the console so I’ll trim that and fix the issue.



I cut a reinforcement plate with the plasma cutter. What a great tool it is! Then I welded it in place to reinforce the frame where I cut it for brake access. I also welded the triangular plate that the factory bolted on. You can see the brake rod connection there too. The brake rod is installed now, works great. The clutch is also complete now. 
 


The clutch pedal and brake pedal arms stick up now. I have to put the steering box/console in place so I can see how much room I have for the actual brake pedal. There is plenty of room for the clutch pedal. Both should have plenty of adjustment to allow proper pedal position when it is all done. 



I installed an anti-rattle spring on the brake pedal too. 



I am seriously considering welding the rear frame plate to the frame and adding gussets down to the transmission mount plates. There should be no reason to remove the rear plate or transmission mounts. 

 

I think I will cut a large ‘window’ in the rear plate and move the hitch up quite a bit. I also plan to reinforce that window and add a 1” square tube or two as cross members for frame stiffness. 



This is the proposed gear shift idea. I have another ancient brake lever that will be easier to modify and it looks like the lockout for the reverse position should be relatively easy to do. I will build a couple of pillow blocks, like the clutch shaft is mounted on and bolt it to the frame, under that pulley on the jackshaft. The shaft will run from just under the pulley, out the side of the body to clear the seat. That’s why I need to get the body on and off while I build the gear shift mechanisms. 








I’ll get a good picture of the shift lever mechanism. It is really neat looking, an old casting, beautiful thing really.
Once the shift mechanism is built, I plan to enclose it in a box on the inside of the body. It will have the 8 positions for 6 forward, neutral and reverse gears, with provision for the lockout to prevent accidental reverse engagement.

Beautiful day here today. One more forecast, then colder. I sure wish the old body would let me work more that a couple of hours. But, it is what it is and I’m thankful for that. 

I decided to get some ideas solidified... so...

The engine, body and steering console are bolted in place. All is well with those. The chrome pretties fit nicely on the front end and a hood is taking shape. I did have to cut two notches in the body. One to clear the brake pedal and one to clear the stationary drive belt tension pulley bolt. Once that was done, the body went on nicely. The pedals will be perfect I think. 



The ‘accessible’ work bench on wheels is nice. I rolled the thing outside easily to take the pics. Also I can turn the thing around in the work space to make access to welders and whatnot easier. 



My wife insisted on a pic with me in it. Watch your eyes! 



So, those FJ Cruiser brush guards are going to be really nice. I plan to trim the heavy mounting plates as shown in red. The hood is an LT1500 hood center section. Bodywork required.



I’ll trim the sides of the hood as shown in red and build a round rod support for it. The nose will need to turn down just a tad, but overall, I think it will be perfect. 



There will be a ‘grill’ where the red lines are. I have a section of a heavy screen from an ancient mine. That will be the grill and the Honda H will be mounted in the center of that. 



I cut out the Craftsman logo from the wheelbarrow. It will become the ‘manufacturer’s plate’ and be mounted on the gas filler door. I hope to squeeze the gas tank inside the dash and have a gas door for filling the tank. It will be outside, in the place that the Model T had the filler, in the center of the rig, just behind the engine. I also cut out the opening for the steering wheel support. That will be made from a 1” thick piece of plastic I have, slick stuff. 



I think the battery may fit in front of the clutch pedal. 



And, it appears that the gear shifter lever can be completely inside the body. Some special engineering will be required, but we have some of that available. 
Maybe tomorrow now that I know where it all fits. 
LOTS left to do. There is a lot of stuff that goes into building a rig from scratch. Can’t wait till we can drive it!

Right on I love seeing this take form!

looking good, I think those old brush guards on their look pretty cool!

I got the shifter linkage designed and started today. The rod from the lever is in place and the lever is about 1/3 done. The welder ran out of wire and I ran out of energy. But, the hard part (design) is done. Should work great, all inside the body. Simple.

Looking mighty nice!

this things gonna be a blast when its done!

could you install a motorcycle battery inbetween the dash in that little open spot under the steering box?

you could also use the old hood mount to put a mini model a or t grill in it, heck use it for headlight brackets

I’m leaving the old hood mount horns out there for now. Not enough room for the battery in the console. I have a regular riding mower battery to use, I bought a new one for our mower this year and the old one is still good. I think I have figured out the gas tank and maybe the battery. 
I did manage to get belts today. I was too tired to mess with it when I got home, but maybe tomorrow.

Both of the belts are installed and the tension springs are in place. It looks like they both will be fine and the clutch looks to be loosening the belt properly. I’ll know for sure after I start the engine, maybe in a few days. I really want to finish the shifter and linkage before I start it. 



The rear belt is a B52, I like that. Always did like B52s. 
I’ll trim a small notch in the opening in the body shell for extra shifter clearance and belt tension spring clearance. It works now, but a bit of extra space will be good. 







Everything fits nicely. Once it is proven, I’ll be adding grease fittings to several places and lubricating all the pulley bearings and putting loctite on several bolts.

ah yes the B52: making the modded diesel trucks the kids like look environmentally friendly since 1955.


As always, great work!

I’ve been really lazy. Today I did get the parts roughed out for the shifter. Now I need to bolt down the seat, since the two bolts on the left seat bracket will also hold the shift mechanism.

My neighbor is cutting the steering wheel on a CNC plasma cutter for me. It will be like this:



I intend to wrap the handgrip areas and the gear shift handle with paracord. I’ll make the hand grip areas rounded before wrapping too.

I have that exact wheel, brand new and no use for it anymore (from an abandoned project).

I almost bought one but decided to make it. Then my neighbor offered to cut the blank for me.

I'd be so crazy with a CNC plasma cutter.  They are pretty cool.

I am SO slow. But, today there was a bit of progress. I got the seat bolted down and the shift linkage ready to weld up.





The stack of parts on the plate by the seat bracket will be welded and bolted together, with the black pivot piece being bolted for maintenance. 

Here are both ends of the thing that will be the actual shift handle. 





Note the logo at the red arrow. I had noticed it before, but it turns out this handle is ancient, probably over 100 years old. It is an International Harvester part. 



I originally thought it was a brake handle for something, and when found the logo, I thought ‘truck’. Nope. International Harvester was formed in 1907 and I looked at every truck pic I could find. The brake handle was rounded. It isn’t a tractor part, I’m pretty sure of that. So, it must be from some implement. It will make a fine addition to the Rat. 



I plan to cut it as short as possible and the detent part will become the reverse lockout. I may add a way to have detents for each of the forward gears and neutral too. 



You can see the parts stack under the seat. The control rod is leaning on the side of the body just for the photo. It will be shortened more and will have clearance as shown below. 

Hey take your time and enjoy it, no pressure here! Lol  Don't forget the old adage "slow and steady wins the race!" Love the handle it will fit in beautifully!