[22 BO] TechnoChicken's UTV

I went and had a peek on kijji there, I found a SuperJack 2X H8 linear actuator, he wants 50 bucks for it and it has a rated cap of 2250lbs, the one problem is it's quite far, all the way in stoney creek, I think it would be worth it for a 2250lbs actuator, would save me a few bucks too

EDIT: I looked on the EvilBay, didn't really find anything cheaper then amazon though

Hard to find "people" selling stuff on evilbay.  It's getting mostly filled with retailers.   

@TechnoChicken
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-12V-12-Electric-Stroke-Linear-Actuator-6000N-1320lbs-Max-Industry-Lift-Motor-/233170209028?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0
these are new. i've bought a lot of stuff on ebay over the last 5 years or so and rarely have any problems.

Thanks diddie, however, I'm in canada and it claims that the shipping is 130 bucks, I don't think that will work, but thanks anyway

@TechnoChicken Never took that into consideration ! but wow that's crazy free for me but 130 to go across the border.

The border is weird when it comes to export/import.

Yep, the main reason why I don't shop on evilbay, amazon has quite a few canadian warehouses and vendors

so I crunched some numbers in terms of how much this rig will cost, I will post the exact breakdown of my calculations tonight, but this project will end up costing me about $700 in total. 
Now I will note that I have money, and I have tractors to sell, and I'll probably have a job this summer, but any money that I make, in those quantities will need to be saved for when I get out of school, I thinking of starting while I'm ahead any grabbing a cheap skid steer, I might be able to trade the WH for a triple axle trailer, and then I could hopefully make a couple bucks doing work with that. 

Back to the funding, basically my plan is to put the WH up for sale, if I end up trading it or can't get enough for it to cover the dump truck rig then it will unfortunately be either delayed or completely scrapped, I'm pretty excited about this rig, I think it's going to be pretty cool, however if I can't make it happen, I can't make it happen. As we always say around here, "You win some, you lose some." (that and "good enough is perfect") if the hand dump trailers have to be good enough, I might just have to live with that.

Well fellers, I really don't know about this project, it was picking up speed for a while there, but now I'm honestly beginning to think this might be a waste of money, I also might be able to get ahold of a dump trailer for free so that would make this project rather useless 

And I'll be honest with you, I had no problem with throwing cash at this a week ago for some reason but now I'm thinking that might not be such a great idea, if I grab this dump trailer, swap for that float, then all I'll need is a skid steer, small tractor or backhoe, and I know I'm going to have to shell out a ton of cash for one of those, I just really don't know, we might have to just play it by ear right now, ride this out, see what happens, I just don't think I can afford this rig anymore

I might get shot for triple posting but I think this post is unrelated to the rest?


PRICING EST.

- Motor rebuild, no clue what this costs? $75
- Dump actuator $50-$200
- Belts $30 
- Pulleys $50 
- Winch $150
- tires $75-$150 (Low est.)
- Battery $75
- Metal for bed, just need rods and tubes for hinge $50
- lighting $50 
- Doc locker $75
- Brakes $50
Total: $730-$950

At your low estimate that's about $100/month until the build off is over. You could shave a few bucks by finding a used winch on Kijiji for $50-60, go with the "locker block" if possible or just weld your gears solid. I found a rolling ATV frame a couple years ago for $100 that had good tires and front drum brakes. I don't know what your end goal for the contest is but I think you're UTV with a dump bed is a cool idea! I personally would be happy to place in the top 3 but if I don't it wouldn't even bother me because I'm still building myself a cool a$$ machine that I'm going to have a ton of fun with!

What's up with the motor that it needs a rebuild?

You do what good for you but it seems a little early in the game to be sounding like you're throwing in the towel, especially when just a few days ago you were all hyped up about it!

I will note that the biggest prize in the BO is your own tractor, I'm honestly not spending 900 bucks so I can win some gift cards and tools, I spending it so I can have a cool a$$ rig, like you said, again the BO is a super cool competition, and it's really cool to be a part of it, but honestly, it's not about the gift cards and the tools, it's about having a good time, building some sweet stuff, and at the end of the day, I'm okay with having to drop out of the BO, again I ain't making any rash decisions yet, but I don't like our chances of being able to foot a $900 bill, I'm still toying with the idea of dropping the fancy stuff and just building a basic rig, stretch and dumper but no tires, brakes, locker, lighting, smaller engine or any of that stuff.
Good enough is perfect and I might just have to live with turf tires and engine braking down hills.

Don’t write the tractor off as too much just yet. What I’m doing with mine for budget reasons is tackling things in phases. Right now I’m going through the motor and redoing the carb. After that it’s going to be the front axle, then tires, then the transmission, then the wiring, lastly bodywork.

I’d do what you said and just start with the simple things right now. Are you certain the motor needs a rebuild?

Consider making things rather than buying them outright also. A doc locker can be done without a keyed shaft. You can cut your own keys with a dremel and some patience, and most fab shops are willing to sell steel if you ask nicely. Or for the linear actuator, maybe consider using an old hydraulic jack. Brakes, maybe see about some used discs from an offshore ATV. Ingenuity can be your friend with this.

Best of luck to you and have some fun!

TechnoChicken wrote:

I will note that the biggest prize in the BO is your own tractor, I'm honestly not spending 900 bucks so I can win some gift cards and tools, I spending it so I can have a cool a$$ rig, like you said, again the BO is a super cool competition, and it's really cool to be a part of it, but honestly, it's not about the gift cards and the tools, it's about having a good time, building some sweet stuff, and at the end of the day, I'm okay with having to drop out of the BO, again I ain't making any rash decisions yet, but I don't like our chances of being able to foot a $900 bill, I'm still toying with the idea of dropping the fancy stuff and just building a basic rig, stretch and dumper but no tires, brakes, locker, lighting, smaller engine or any of that stuff.
Good enough is perfect and I might just have to live with turf tires and engine braking down hills.

This makes a lot more sense.

There is NO hurry to finish this at all. First, the end of the build-off is a LONG way away. And, if you don’t finish, so what? You had fun and so did we. You can ‘finish’ it any time it moves.

So, seriously consider doing what you said above.

Build the rig. It can have tires from anything. The engine can knock and smoke. No winch is just fine. The bed can dump manually at first.

Now for a suggestion. I know it has been made already, but think about it again. Thinking about it doesn’t hurt and may be the start of something neat.

The winch is for what? How often do we use a winch? So, think about making a clever setup to use the winch to dump the bed, AND to use as a retrieval device. It could be done from the front, actually quite easily, or it could be done with a quick connect at the front of the rig and behind your seat. The winch doesn’t care which direction it is ‘pointed’. It could point up when mounted in a receiver behind your seat, with a post and pulley guiding the cable up and over and down to the front of the bed.
In reality, that position will probably be the most useful. Having a receiver in front just adds back in the ‘other’ reason for the winch.

Use your imagination, it is the most valuable tool you have really. Use it, use the ideas presented here, the ideas from the million shaky videos on youtube and just have FUN.

No need to pull out. There is no requirement for anything on the forum in reality. Have you seen my thread updated lately? Nope. No big deal. If it gets updated, great, if not, I’m still having fun with it.

YOU are the most important part of the build. Relax and let things flow. Buy the dump trailer if it works for you. That actually sounds like a good idea for a money making proposition.

I agree with the rest that you could trim the budget and still build a competitive machine. But on the other hand i applaud you on looking to your future and what you can do with the equipment you are looking into buying.

So tried to go pick up that dump trailer yesterday, the guy that was giving it away was a son of an idiot. I'll tell that story later, but we won't be getting any free trailers.

My new and updated pricing list, we will see what the oppy needs, and if that's too pricey we'll be going with a single

PRICING EST.

- Motor rebuild, no clue what this costs? $75
- Dump actuator $50 (BUDGET)
- Belts $30
- Pulleys $50
- Winch $150
- tires $75-$150 (Turf)
- Battery $75
- Metal for bed, just need rods and tubes for hinge $50
- lighting $50 (I have terrible stock lighting)
- Doc locker $75
- Brakes $50 (We'll stick with the trans brake)
Total: $730-$950
Updated Total: $350

This project is back on hold for a week or two until I see what ends up happening with the WH, if I end up trading it then this project will remain on hold, if I end up selling, we will be on our way

What do you plan on doing for lighting? The cheap nilight LEDs work well, and you can get some 1156 led bulbs that go straight into the existing lens, and they are much brighter.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

What do you plan on doing for lighting? The cheap nilight LEDs work well, and you can get some 1156 led bulbs that go straight into the existing lens, and they are much brighter.

I didn't have a plan but I will keep that in mind

Lights are another item that don’t need to cost anything. Most mowers have headlights already. Those sockets can be reused as can the bulbs themselves. Later, they can be replaced (either the bulbs or sockets or both) but the original stuff still does the job.

Hang in there!

Yeah, that was my plan, however, mower headlights are cheap and the bulbs tend to burn out, again, we'll see what happens with the WH, the bottom line is, I can't keep wasting money on toys, I have to be making money from somewhere, and I think investment is going to come before stuff that won't really make me money.

Start a local landscaping business. Then your toys are also your money makers, problem solved!  Lol

Brianator wrote:

Start a local landscaping business. Then your toys are also your money makers, problem solved!  Lol

That's pretty much exactly what I'm doing, just on a larger scale with the skid steer, I live in a very rural area, not very many customers in a radius that I could drive to on a lawn tractor.

Well the day has come fellers, we are selling the WH, didn't end up getting the trailer so she's listed now.
Wheel Horse 210-5 mud/racing mower

I guess I have been MIA from here for a while, just haven't really posted much in the last couple weeks, had some stuff going on, lots of work around the farm to do and other stuff like that.
This rig I should probably just call it quits on, I honestly now have no plans of building it anymore. I have that craftsman that I got for free (6spd peerless, 17 hp kohler) that I was going to build another mud mower with but not really sure, anyway, don't have any money right now but when I do I am thinking of building a mower with a non-dumping bed, not really sure what to do yet.

Keep us informed of you decision.  No hurry.

Don't let it get you down man, sometimes life just gets in the way and there's nothing you can do about it. No sense trying to rush it or throw together something if your heart and mind aren't into it,  maybe it would be best to consider coming up with a solid plan of what you want to accomplish (which btw I love your original plan), and spend the rest of this year collecting and testing parts and ideas for next year's Build Off?! Don't forget in the rules it states that you must be less than 50% done so keep that in mind, this is supposed to fun for all and if you're stressing over it then you're not having fun and then what's the point right?

I'll support you no matter what you decide to do buddy!