A Six Wheeled Horse. A Modified Mower IT'S WORKS

[Stigian]

The help work out how much space the cylinders needed I had to work out how much "movement" the cylinder needed..

So a quick bit of brake pluming one side, followed by quite a lot of bleeding the air out of a fluid free system..




"New lesson Danielson"... Brake on..




Brake off ;D




Lot's of time was spent working out the brake steering levers..




And trying to find space behind the dash panel to install it.






But alas the space was too limited


By that point in the day I'd had had enough of trying to work it out, but while I was sitting down drinking the last cuppa in the shack for the day I looked into the back of the dash and had a bit of a brain wave..
I was looking at the back of the switch and the empty switch hole!!




The next day started with a dig though the "might come in handy one day" box and some treasures were unearthed..
A couple of Westwood ride on mower axles and a couple of "cut off" Westwood wheel centers which are a nice fit on the axles but still slide up and down.




Cut one of the wheel centers in half and add a handle (or pen) and Hey-presto one sliding steering brake lever ;D




So, under the drill the dash panel went for lot's of chain drilling.




And after a lot of hole filing both brake slider thingys fitted.




From the front.




Having worked out how to make the slider brake thingys and worked out how to fit them through the dash, I now needed to work out a way of mounting them..
As luck would have it while digging through the "box of bits" looking for the slider bit's, I noticed a length of 3 sided box..




Which was just the right size to hold the sliders with a little clamp action..




Que a bit of welding..




And some tidying work with the grinder




And via the medium of a slightly blurry photo the sliders take shape.




Some plates were cut to strengthen the sliders each side.




Welded on.




To help keep the sliders/dash from moving under the stain of steering some legs were needed.




I struck lucky when it came to mounting the legs, as there are holes in just the right place on the chassis.

Cut a section out of an old mower (Mountfield I think) dash..






Measure, trim and weld on a threaded stud..




Ta-Daa




That's looking a lot stronger now ;D

[Stigian]

And thus the steering brake saga continues..

Although the sliders were built, strengthened and bolted in place firmly, they still did no connect to the baster cylinders..

To fit the sliders in the lathe for hole drilling I had to remove the stoppers..
Here they are..




Slider in the lathe for a tad of hole drilling.




And threaded..




Did I mention that the cylinders will now be mounted under here??




Best work out how to connect the sliders and cylinders up..

Take a flat bit of thick-ish steel..




Measure, mark out and start cutting......
Then remeasure, remark, and make sure to cut along the correct lines this time




Sliced, bent and welded..




Oops!!




One done..




And with lever..




Having cut the slider stoppers off, some new ones were needed..
So, back to the lathe..




Getting there..




Fitted ;D




Throw in another bit of plate about to be cut from an old dash..




Weld on some box.. (Only tacked on in this pic)




Paint blue to keep rust away..




Then bolt it all together including cylinders and push levers ;D

[Stigian]

Right Guy's and Girls, here's the last part of the steering brakes saga..

By now I'm sure you have worked out that although the sliders slide as they should.. They also rotate which is something I don't want them to do...

I had the plan all worked out, only trouble was it meant drilling into the side of the sliders... Bit of a pain as the sliders originally being axles had been hardened!!.... So hard in fact that all I could do was make a small mark instead of a hole!!




Part of the fun and also part of the reason why this build is taking so long is there are always problems like this to solve.
The joys of building a "one off" machine with no plans ;D

As always, ways can be found to get around problems, and the problem was solved when I got thinking about the key ways already cut in the sliders..




Some digging soon produced 2 Wheel Horse front wheel centers (which I could drill and tap) and some key steel..




A quick spin on the lathe to remove the lips.. One done here.




It's easier just to show you the next stage rather than explain..




Weld the bit key steel and the wheel center thingy together.




Weld on a washer..




A view from the inside..




Once bolted onto the slider it won't turn.




Drilled, threaded and one "sideways stopper" on..




Ta-Daa (again).. The sliders can slide but not turn..




Only one thing missing from the steering system now, and that's the bit's your hand will touch... yep, the steering levers..

Starting with four small bit's of bar.




After two longer bits went on for some starnge reason I had created a pair of Mini Moto bars ;D




That's better..




One side tacked on.




A little trim needed on the other side.




Rob going for a "bench" test drive




Fitted..




And to finish off this update, have moody black and white photo..





Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings...

"And remember.. May the 'orse be with you"..

[waveman1500]

Brilliant! Keep up the good work.

[georgeb]

As ever, a brilliant read! Thanks.

[Stigian]

Thanks Guy's glad you like it

Well, another well overdue update is here, and it's time to get the sexy looking 20hp twin bolted to the chassis..

But to work out the right position for it a pulley is needed.
There was no chance of finding an "off the shelf" pulley the right size that would fit the engines tapered crankshaft, so I had to make my own.

Time to use up some more cutting disc's




Finished off with the hacksaw..




Ta-Daa..




Celebrate with a coffee ;D




Then mark the center of the square before cutting the corners off.




It's lathe time!!








The finished pulley blank.




A quick test fit on the engine..




Then time to get "into the groove" back on the lathe.




It was handy having the right size pulley to take measurements from.
Hydro Wheel Horses have a larger engine pulley than a manual.




Trim a bit of weight off.




The finished "pulley" bit.




Now for the part which will fit on the tapered shaft..

Starting with a length of pillar drill leg.




Trim trim..




Almost there..




That's the outside of this piece done..




It's taper time..

Drill the center out a bit..




Set the "worked out" angle. Macro on the camera came in handy for getting a clear view!




In goes the boring bar.




A small taper.




Checking I had got the angle right.. Close but a little play..




Tweak the angle a tad, take some more material out and check the fit again. Very close now.




Having found the right angle it was time to get serious.




Tapered!




But will it bolt onto the engine?

;D






Due to a slight change in design I had to make the hole in the pulley a bit bigger..




The tapered bit got a good polishing as a bearing will be turning on it, then it went to sit in the freezer for a few hours.




The pulley sat on the wood burner until it was hot enough to boil spit!




Plop!!!! A perfect fit.. Once cooled the two parts had become one ;D




A view from behind, the hole in the pulley is a perfect match for the end of the taper.




Bolted on the engine with PTO clutch plate.




And with the PTO pulleys. It was a lot of lathe work but I did want to fit a Wheel Horse PTO system on this engine ;D





As you have been patient enough to read through loads of lathe work, have a video of the first time the engine was started..

The engine starting happens at the 4 min mark.

Enjoy

[cairyhunt]

Just fantastic.

I toff my cap to you sir.

[Stigian]

From this point on the story is lot's of jumping about doing lot's of the "little" jobs..

Like the belt tensioners that keep the wheel to wheel belts tight.

Take some steel bar and some bearings..




A quick visit to the lathe..




Ta-Daa.




Pulley and bearings fitted.




Slot's cut in the outriggers to tighten the belts.




Tensioner installed.. It's in their somewhere, think it's the black bit in the middle..




Some extra steel had to be added at the rear to hold the seat/fenders on, but as part of the 3 point linkage will be attached I had to make it strong.






Unbolted from the chassis and turned over for seam welding.




Welded and painted.




With help from Rob (he has been known to smile once in a while ;D) the chassis was stripped bare..




And turned over so I could do the last of the chassis seam welding.




That looks better.




I almost forgot to weld in the battery tray mounts while the chassis was the wrong way up!!




Trapped!!!!! well not quite. Pete paused from chassis turning duties to take this snap.




The bare chassis with the rear "aboveframe" and outriggers on.
This was the first time I had seen the complete chassis in it's naked form!




Some captive nuts ready to be welded..




Here, here, here and there. These are just something extra to make sure the trans will stay firmly in the right place.
A Wheel Horse trans is normally just held on to the chassis with four bolts, the mounting plates have been known to crack!




New oil seals went in the trans.




This is what the captive nuts were for!




One rather handy (or footy) part that was missing was the parking brake pedal.
As the pedal has to fit around a bar that is closed off each end, I had to make something that wrapped around the bar.
Here's the basic design scribbled on a slab of steel, and the offending bar it has to fit over.
The idea is.. Trim the block to size, cut it in half, bolt it back together again and bore the center out.




A bit like this ;D




This plate..




Bolts on the block and connects to the brake rod.




A bit of fab work later and we have a pedal




Painted with grip.

[Stigian]

Not much left to tell really, I bought this Kohler KT-17 engine for spares (my Kohler magnum 20 engine was developed from the KT), it's only fit for spares as a con rod snapped and punched two holes in the block






As well as donating the engine mounting plate and smaller filler cap, it's air filter adapter allowed me to bolt a "Raider" style air filter, with added oil breather pipe straight to the carb.




Plenty of space with the bonnet closed ;D




Once the front and middle axles had a hole drilled for a split pin.




The beast could be bolted back together.
Pete bolting one of the front axles on.




Wheels and outrigger on one side.




Hood and fender pan..




Yippie.. It's back on all 6 wheels again ;D




A newly made wiring loom, I hate wiring so I'm quite glad it's a simple loom.




Wiring in. Temporary fuel tank/can in..




Best fire up the engine and see if it produces a charge.....
It does ;D




A big pile of drive belts turned up in the post.. Don't you just love the smell of fresh rubber in the morning ;D




Bit of a shame I had to reorder the belts again, I just can't get the knack for measuring one off belts!


Once the belts were installed the beast was put on axles stands for testing if the drive system and steering brakes work..




Which you can see here..




Only one thing left to do... Get the beast off the bench and go for a test drive.
Ok, it didn't all go according to plan, but where would be the fun in something working first time





That that Lady's and Gent's is this build thread finally up to date..


The next part of the build is to get it working as it should, install the 3 point and hydraulics at the back, and get it ready to go to the Ardingly show in July..


Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings

[waveman1500]

That is sensational! I love it. Great to see real results from having fun in the shed! ;D

[grizz]

Awesome stuff Ian.

I wish people knew what odds you are up to most of the time in your builds.

Well done !!!

[PHUQ]

That is brilliantly daft. Nicely done.

[georgeb]

Consistantly one of the best builds on here. Brilliant. Keep at it, you'll get there!

[customsinc]

Epic, if only I had a garden big enough I would be trying to convince SWMBO that we'd need a similar mower/tractor!

[Stigian]

That is sensational! I love it. Great to see real results from having fun in the shed

Thanks Waveman, yep a lot of fun has been had during this build.
Long may the fun continue ;D

Awesome stuff Ian.

I wish people knew what odds you are up to most of the time in your builds.

Well done !!!

Ta Muchly Rian, it's almost awesome, maybe when I can get it to turn corners it will be ;D

I guess the only way for people to know about the "odds I'm up against" is to show them!

That is brilliantly daft. Nicely done.

Thanking you kindly Sir, Yep we do do daft quite well here ;D

Consistantly one of the best builds on here. Brilliant. Keep at it, you'll get there!

I'm not sure about one of the best builds on here as there are some truly stunning builds here, but thanks anyway.

Epic, if only I had a garden big enough I would be trying to convince SWMBO that we'd need a similar mower/tractor!

Lol, it feels like an epic the time it has taken to build.

If you have a lawn in your garden then it's big enough to need a ride-on


Well, it's been a few weeks since test drive day, and so far the beast has only managed to turn a little bit despite lot's of playing with the steering brakes.

Part of the problem was a lot of air hiding in the brake lines.
We only found out it was there when we tried bleeding the brakes pumping directly on the master cylinder and not by pulling on the steering levers!

Longer levers directly on the cylinders helped a bit.
The cylinders were pulled out from their hiding place behind the dash to make testing easier.




The main problem has been the master cylinders, I think that in the end 1 cylinder of 1/2" bore was just not enough to pressurize 2 calipers!




Time to hit Fleabay again, this time for a pair of Honda Fireblade rear brake cylinders with a whooping 5/8" bore.
Still waiting on one of them, but one turned up Friday




Woo-Hoo, we have brake pressure without the cylinder bottoming out..




I also had a close look at the calipers. Two of the four had er.. rotting piston tops




I guess it's some kind of sound deadening stuff in "pad" form??

As replacing the pistons would of cost a few £££'s and the sound pad stuff is not really needed for my application, it got trimmed off.




And replaced with an ally disc.




And that good people is this thread up to date again.

Fingers crossed the other Fireblade rear master cylinder will turn up Tuesday or Wednesday so I can test drive it again...

Speaking of test drives, I noticed that my MooTube viewing figure went up quite a bit when I posted the vid's on here, So I guess someone is watching them.. Thanks Guys

Here's the next episode of this projects build.. Enjoy.

[georgeb]

Perhaps "Original" would be a better word!

[Stigian]

Thanks GeorgeB, yep she's certainly a "one of a kind" sort of machine.


Morning Guy's and Girl's, well the "getting the beast to turn" saga continues!!

The Fireblade master cylinders turned up in the post, and despite me having high hopes that one cylinder would be enough to get the steering brakes to grip and turn the machine... They didn't!!

I did manage to get enough steering to be able to drive the beast out the gate, belt slippage and a lack of real working steering didn't help..



Sooo.. Let's see how two cylinders and two calipers work..
A test rig was soon under construction.. Can you spot the slight mistake here?




Ta-Daa The Stig double pumper..




Pushing both cylinders in at the same rate at the same time.




Installed one side.




It did manage to turn a little better but as ever belt slippage was a problem!

So on went a pair of "ratchet tracks" to try and help things.
No more belt slippage and slightly improved turning, but it would still be nice to be able to do a 3 point turn instead of a 30 point turn!




I did toy with the idea of fitting brakes to the other wheels as well..

Tight but just about "fit-able" inside one of the wheels..




But no chance of fitting the calipers with the chassis rails in the way



So after loads of work and time spent on brake steering it looks like that idea will never work.. I just can't get the brakes to grip enough to get the diff to "do it's thing" and put the power out the side of the trans that's not being braked!

Bumhats!!!


The time had come to think anout another way of getting the beast to steer..

Here's Pete and his coffee contemplating the meaning of life, the universe and fitting a second hydro trans upfront.

[Stigian]

Yep, you did read that right.. a second trans up front..

I have to admit that this was not my idea, but on chewing it over and a quick measure it looks like a go-er...

The thinking is a hydro has a forward and back control. Easy..
So if I use one hydro for the wheels one side, and another for the other side then in theory the wheels each side can be turned independently of each other but more important they can be turned in opposite directions at the same time..

That should solve the turning issues once and for all ;D

So can a second trans be made to fit up front?
It looks a little tight but the tripe measure says "yes"..




With the engine unbolted and slide back out the way the trans was balanced on the chassis to see how far forward it would stick out.
Not too bad but I get the feeling the bonnet will need extending again.




At this point I had nothing to lose and maybe everything to gain..
And in a break from the norm the wheel hubs came off the trans without putting up too much of a fight.. I took this as a good omen..




It was a great pleasure to take off all the braking system and put it in a box ;D




The strip down continues.




Thank you to Mr P for lending a hand to not only get the trans in place but to cut the front of the chassis off..




Chopped!!




The best way to get the trans lined up right was to borrow the rear hub extension thingys, bolt them on the trans and bolt the whole lot to the outriggers..






That's the side to side position taken care of, not to get the trans lined up with the top of the chassis..

Lot's of cutting of angle iron later..



You can never have too many G-clamps.




Welded, painted and bolted on.




Best think about getting chassis built to hold the trans up..

The bit of the chassis that was slice off the front got chopped up even more to make a couple of rails.




A smaller bit of box was fitted inside to help add strength at the joint.




It was at this point that my ARC welder decided to give up the ghost
So out came the very old SIP MIG welder..
A strong weld but the gass-less wire does like to splatter a lot!




Vaguely balanced in place.




A nice hefty plate is needed to bolt to the front of the trans..
Not having any this off cut was sliced up..




Welded and ground back..




Er... Ah.. Is that a crack in the weld?




Turning it over the other side has cracked right along!!
I guess my little MIG can't produce enough heat in the surrounding steel to stop the welds cracking when they cool down!




That's put an end to any welding work until my new ARC get delivered, but here's where the plate will sit with a little trimming to clear the parking brake on the trans.




I had a visit from Mark Wednesday evening, he came bearing gifts in the form of a set of custom made stickers for this project..
Thanks Mark they look great








Still without a welder I decided to have a look at fitting one of the front axles to the back.. I knew a little bit of work was needed to make it fit.




Not a problem, the bearing block needs to be moved 1/4" towards the wheel hub bit.




And 1/2" trimmed from this side.




A little while later it's almost in...




I just need to cut the end of the thread off and maybe remove a couple of mm's from the back of the castle nut for good measure.




That's it for now folks, my new ARC welder turned up late yesterday afternoon so once again sparks will soon be flying ;D


If you click on my YouTube link below you can catch up on the build with updates 28 and 29.. 30 is being edited at the mo.

Thanks for reading my ramblings..

[samwell]

you can add another impressed reader to your list. Just discovered this, this evening and it makes compelling reading. Great skill and dedication, makes me wonder what I've been doing!

Keep up the good work,

Sam

[Stigian]

Sorry for the lack of updates of late, been very busy with this project..

A BIG update coming soon..


Just a quick post to say if anyone is at the Ardingly Vintage & Classic Vehicle Show this weekend you will be able to see this project there..

www.ardinglyvcvshow.org.uk/

I just hope the rain stays away!!