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

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!

Take your time how do you think the greatest builds are the greatest? My tractor is taking just as long to get finished

The greatest tractors still are not finished!  They are all works in progress!  

Even when you get your Rat Rod tractor done for the grandson, you'll see an improvement here and there always.  Like  @Brianator said above

Brianator wrote:

"Hey take your time and enjoy it, no pressure here!"

Building is fun.

Thanks guys. I played (and had fun) for a while today. The shifter support is built and welded together. The old handle has been shortened. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get it mounted. Some cutting and welding left to do. 
The good thing is that the 10 pound spool of wire I put on the welder WORKS! I hadn’t run it since I put that on. Now the gas tank is nearly empty. It is a tall one, so when I do get a full tank I should have enough for this lifetime.

Been a while. I did LOOK at the rat rod today. And, my neighbor brought over the steering wheel he cut out for me.



The plan is to drill holes where the circles are and trim the outer edges as shown and set those into bent pipe sections to make the ends round. The plate above the wheel is a piece from the donor machine’s clutch/brake shaft. I plan to weld the center metal from the original steering wheel to the center of that plate and bolt it to the wheel. Lots of smoothing and grinding and sit down fun.

hows the build going? any updates?

No, it has just been too cold to work in my shop. Soon, I hope.

No real progress other than collecting parts and planning. I did touch the rig a few times lately. I decided to make a check list of things I need to get done so I can test drive it. The list got long pretty quickly.

Rat Rod To-Do

- [ ] Remove chrome front end parts for now
- [ ] Remove hub from other rear wheel
- [ ] Fit hubs to rear axle
- [ ] Install set screws in rear hubs
- [ ] Install rear tires
- [ ] Check lube in transaxle (clean and change later)
- [ ] Install bushings in front hubs
- [ ] Finish shifter mechanism
- [ ] Install belt guards
- [ ] Drain oil, tag engine, so I can turn rig on it’s side to install belt guards
- [ ] Fab steering shaft support
- [ ] Fit steering wheel to steering shaft
- [ ] Make and install brake and clutch pedal pads
- [ ] Fab and install and connect throttle pedal
- [ ] Wiring, install harness
- [ ] Install headlights, tail lights, brake and turn lights
- [ ] Install new oil filter, oil and air cleaner
- [ ] Make seat padding
- [ ] fab aluminum dash panel and engine turn it before mounting parts
- [ ] install gas tank and make access panel

I’m sure there will be some more items added, but I want to concentrate on getting it drivable so i can work out any bugs.

You're doing better than me, if I made a list like that it would be a whole page and then some i have to break mine down into smaller assemblies.

Living in michigan means having a heater in the garage is almost necessary if you want to work in there unless your young and more tolerant of the cold which I am not, but even so with heat i still don't get as much time in the garage as I need to.

The cold is a killer for me now. I’ll be 75 in March and I just can’t take the cold for long. I decided to wait till it warms up some before I fire up the welder again. That list is just the things I can think of to get it moving under it’s own power. Then comes the fun part, finishing and driving.
I have a propane radiant heater in the shop but it only warms what it is pointed at. The building is big and doesn’t heat well. I can wait.

FatMike wrote:

You're doing better than me, if I made a list like that it would be a whole page and then some i have to break mine down into smaller assemblies.

Living in michigan means having a heater in the garage is almost necessary if you want to work in there unless your young and more tolerant of the cold which I am not, but even so with heat  i still don't get as much time in the garage as I need to.

Down here it's easy to put on 10 coats, it's your hands that are always the problem in -10 degree weather

I am so glad i dont have to read pages of updates, i was really into this and intrigued but i had troubles getting on the site then was grounded, luckily i can resume checking for updates as it starts to get warmer

I will be working on it soon I hope. Still some garden/yard work to do then I can resume the slow progress.