Topic: just getting started

[Rooster]

That is going to depend on how long your shifter is, the longer it is the bigger the pattern.
I mark the location of the edges of your plate on the mower, then install shifter and measure to each position by shifting through the gears.

[gtpuller]

That makes sense, thanks for the input!

[gtpuller]

We finished our fixture for drilling the wheel studs in our hubs and started to build a 6 ton press for the shop, since we don't have one. had the bottle jack, bought the steel at the scrap yard for about $10.00
it's gonna be a bit small only about 10" of travel, but making it for the benchtop so it should be sufficient for our needs. We still need to buy some channel iron, angle iron, a couple of springs, and some hardware. The project should come in at about $30.00 I hope. Cheaper than buying one. Probably not cheaper than having them pressed in but will have a press for other projects. Anyway more welding practice!

[gtpuller]

Scored today, went to the junk yard today bought the rest of the steel for the press, but I found a set of fenders identical to the ones I have, also found a gas tank from the same mower, they were both free, now I have a set to experiment with, gonna widen the whole fender thing to better fit the tires.

[gtpuller]

My tires arrived today couldn't wait to put them in place and take a picture!




gonna be some serious sheetmetal work to do on the fenders, got an extra set of fenders so I have two chances at it anyway.



gonna get the recommended gas next week, thanks guys, any sheetmetal welding tips gentlemen. I have to do a lot before i'm there. First the press and the wheel hubs ya know. Anyway stoked on how it's gonna look. I just hope it's gonna pull!

[outlawmower]

We finished our fixture for drilling the wheel studs in our hubs and started to build a 6 ton press for the shop, since we don't have one. had the bottle jack, bought the steel at the scrap yard for about $10.00
it's gonna be a bit small only about 10" of travel, but making it for the benchtop so it should be sufficient for our needs. We still need to buy some channel iron, angle iron, a couple of springs, and some hardware. The project should come in at about $30.00 I hope. Cheaper than buying one. Probably not cheaper than having them pressed in but will have a press for other projects. Anyway more welding practice!

On that first picture are those your hubs with thee allen screw in them? If so, I don't know if those will hold together under a ton of stress.

[gtpuller]

On that first picture are those your hubs with thee allen screw in them? If so, I don't know if those will hold together under a ton of stress.

Still gonna weld those. Not planning to weld the circumference but four solid tacks opposite the bolts. The hex cap screws that we used are harder than grade eight bolts. Still you are right, likely wouldn't be strong enough if the thing actually hooks up and pulls.

Worked a bit on the fenders today, not a lot, but cut them in half and gave some thought to what i'm going to do, photos below.





first gonna add 8" of sheet metal to widen fender assembly
sorry they are sitting on there a little crooked looks a bit odd don't it.



second gonna finish off front part of fender assembly to lower seat into fender assembly to original height.




i'm going to make the new center piece of the fender assembly easily removable to get to the pulley and what not. Can anybody recommend a place to get a compact type seat, looked all over for one not happy with any so far, leaning towards a cart seat but my goodness the ones I found are quite pricey. I've seen one on here that i like but can't remember where.

http://www.jackssmallengines.com/gokartseat.cfm.
 

[gtpuller]

Welded up my press today and got it primered, still don't have the mig down but it's getting better. Paint tomorrow. I'm hopimg to finish the hubs this week, and get the transaxle and tires mounted.




Think I found a seat that will work for me. Thanks  DoNoHo

http://www.cometkartsales.com/store/seats/seats1.htm

I think im gonna go with the sprint layback seat  and not tip it back so much. have to get the tires mounted and see how much room there's actually going to be. Afraid it's gonna be a tight fit. I might have to go on a crash diet, so that I can fit in a smaller seat. I just don't wanna sit on top of the fenders.

[FlatheadPuller]

My only suggestion GT from my years of pulling. You might want to rethink your sitting down between the fenders in a seat like you stated. You need to be able to move side to side to steer the tractor when the front end is up or light. You have to shift your weight side to side when pulling. As the ground speed increases the faster you need to move. You never know when is going to get out of hand and you need to slide your rear all the way to one side to get the tractor to straighten out. You never want the front end to stay down planted and expect to steer with the front axle. If you get it weighted correctly your steering wont respond like you think. If the tractor is going to the left you need to shift you weight to the left. If its going to the right shift your weight to the right. Look at alot of tractor pictures before you mount the seat down low. Most seats are level with or just above the fenders. I had a normal gt seat on my cub but there was many time I was almost completly off of it to one side.

Dennis

[Hitch]

Tractor Supply has some good tractor seats.

[gtpuller]

Thanks guys I was getting more into how its gonna look than how its gonna work still wanna get the seat down a bit into the fenders, not too far now, top of seat same height as fenders maybe, and will use a regular garden tractor seat. Had one chosen from Tractor supply before my detour into cart seats, i'm going to check it out tomorrow. Saves some money too, better spent on something else. Thanks again guys for all of your input and suggestions I appreciate it.

[gtpuller]

Finished drilling out holes in wheel hubs for the wheel studs. Used my pattern started with #19 bit then 3/16" progressively larger by 1/16" all the way to 1/2" pressed wheel studs into hub and any closer it would fit the rim. Very close but no cigar. double check the pattern tomorrow i guess. Drill pattern in a thick plate to use to make sure studs press in square dunno! One of those things! holes in rims not oversized whatsoever if i drilled 1/64" over pretty sure hub would fit but not gonna do that. I wonder if the rims are made to use 1/2" studs, are they metric? If I used 12mm studs I would have about .027 tolerance in each hole is that too much? at any rate probably gonna have to remake the hub discs. The perils of do it yourself I guess! BTW found a good seat at tractor supply, thanks gents.

Finished  hubs minus wheel studs

(pattern in foreground)



Finished press

[gtpuller]

Well checked my work on the drill pattern and what I found is that it is spot on as is the other hub that I drilled. The problem seems to be that studs didn't press in straight, part of the problem was that I only drilled 1/2" holes. For the wheel studs that I am using the manufacturers recommended hole size for the knurl of the wheel stud is 33/64" So the holes were 1/64" too small. Now I am going to drill the bolt pattern in a 1" steel plate, line up the wheel hub on top of the plate, and use it to keep the studs straight. Hope this works. Very little room for error.

hub with studs fits the rim perfect,






This is really a new post, but anyway here goes  Although the bolt pattern is good and the 1/2" studs line up still no tolerance. Found out why. I spoke to a gentleman at douglas tech support. all douglas rims drilled to work with 10mm studs,don't know what prompted me to assume they should be 1/2". Thankfully I hadn't drilled 1" plate yet. get all the facts first before ya start stressin, my lesson for the day. Live and learn! And now I have some more information. Spoke to Mike Byers at Byers tractor barn, and was told that most guys he knows do one of two things, they use 1/2" studs and drill the rim or they use 7/16" studs which are approximately 11.1125mm. I believe that I will have plenty of tolerance using the 7/16 studs,so thats what i'm a gonna do. Thats my plan and at this point i'm sticking to it.   

[outlawmower]

Well, It's all in a learning process I Guess....Don't worry I have some plans as well. You gave me some ideas and now I am going to be fabricating a whole new mower just like yours in the next year.

Here are my plans as follows-

K241 Kohler
4 Speed wheel Horse tranny
26x12x12 Rims/Tires

More to come on that but a ton of work to get done in order to make everything git correctly. Like custom fenders  and chopping the back half of the mower off and re-building it.

I will post some plans/ Drawings up later.

[gtpuller]

Finally got back to it, finished plate pattern and redid both hub plates, drilled for 7/16" studs and pressed them in, came out great only have to drill holes in the other hub plate but pattern that i have allows for repeatable success finally happy with the results, local machine shop is gonna cut the keyways.