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Topics - BuiltTough

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1
Chassis / Stock mtd front axle
« on: April 22, 2018, 09:38:02 pm »
So since E.C. doesn’t ship to Canada anymore (thanks to all the complaints about shipping costs) and my budget doesn’t really have room right now anyway, I’d like to know what I can do with the stock mtd axle. I have some ideas of what I need to do but I’d like to hear the thoughts from the masters before I go too crazy.

It seems like the castor should be ok as is, not sure about the toe or camber on the stock axle though.

I would definatly fab up some new spindles, I don’t think the factory ones are “up to snuff”, and of course a direct steering setup.

So, your turn, what do I need to do to use the stock axle?

2
Briggs OHV & Vanguard / 44S977 wiring - help please
« on: April 22, 2018, 03:35:58 am »
im not "up" on modern engines.

does anyone know what im supposed to run to this harness? ive searched the forum, and cant seem to find anything. and ive searched google with mixed results, nothing really certain unless im missing something.

3
Chassis / Bigger engine, chassis mods
« on: April 21, 2018, 03:26:12 am »
Good day folks. I’m working off a mastercraft/mtd frame. Stock engine was a single cylinder 12hp B&S, I’m putting in a brand new 24Hp vtwin.

Looking for ideas as to how to make the new engine fit. Has anyone done similar? I was thinking about stretching the frame a few inches but not sure if this is the best option. Any input would be happily welcomed.

4
Chassis / Automotive brake calliper
« on: April 16, 2018, 08:21:19 pm »
Has anyone used a brake calliper off a small car on their mower? I was in our local Motorsports shop today and their price on dirt bike, scooter, atv, etc brake setups was ASTRONOMICAL compared to the price on automotive stuff. And kart stuff is about the same price before shipping as the automotive stuff.

If you have, what kind of car did it come from? Obviously the smaller the car the more reasonable sized the calliper is going to be I would think.




5
Racing Mower Builds / BuiltTough Mastercraft/MTD build
« on: April 15, 2018, 03:16:08 am »
Im just getting started on this build, its my first "real" build that will be more than simple pully swaps. There will be a delay in updates until i can dig the chassis out of the ice and snow holding on to it right now.

Until then ive been working on toughening up a new/factory refurbished Foote 4360-7 transaxle i got for free to replace the basic FNR on the original chassis. (I know alot of you dont feel the foote transaxles are good for racing, but it was free, and unless i get some sponsorship, im building with what i can get for free or cheap)

So far Ive inspected everything in the trans and found a few "weaknesses" such as excess lateral movement on the shafts actually allowing opposing gears to bump into each other, poorly cast axle slot edges contacting the axle and causing drag, etc. those were easy fixes.

I also noticed bottom housing was cast with bearing slots, and the top housing was not. I decided I wanted to make use of them and since im doing things on the cheap, i wasn't about to pay the local machine shop to cut the matching slots, so i pulled out my dremel and callipers and machined them out by hand. For using a dremel and my hands as a CNC, i think they turned out good. i think the bearings will help with alignment, and keep the axle rigid/stable within the housing while also reducing drag. You can see pics of that project in the driveline forum (adding bearings to foote 4360-7 transaxle thread)

I've given it a one piece axle, and locked it using a variation of the doc locker method (i dunno if doc sprocket is on this forum, but if he is, THANKS!)

I locked my axle in place with snap rings and machine washers, i dont know if its the normal practice, but i like to use machine washers in pairs whenever possible so they ride each other instead of riding on a wearable surface.

Thats about it for now, i still have a few things to do to the trans before final clean, fill, and reassembly.
Looking forward to the day i can move the chassis inside and start tearing it apart.


6
Driveline / Adding bearings to axle on Foote 4360-7
« on: April 13, 2018, 02:24:10 am »
Well, you can call me incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. Either way I’m having a bit of fun.

I’ve got this Foote 4360-7 transaxle I got as a freebie. It was a factory refurb trans that my local small engine guy has had sitting around his shop for years. So off I went.

When I was cleaning out all the grease on thing I noticed was that the bottom half of the housing is machined to accept a bearing on the axle. The top half however, is not, despite having the casting for it. Why it’s built this way is beyond me, but anyway, I digress.

After watching a doc sprocket vid he had mentioned adding bearings to a certain peerless that had the machining but no bearings installed stock. And it got me thinking about adding bearings to my 4360.

So, the crazy me pulled out my calipers, and my dremel and got to work.

After measuring a dozen times at a dozen points I carefully marked out where the new slot needed to be to line up with the bottom half. Then I started with my 3/8” cutter on its side using the dremel collar as a guide on the trans. This got me started without cutting too deep so I could see how “feasible” it was going to be.  I then moved on to a 1” cutting disc and cut straight down into the housing just inside my slot side marks. This would give me a little bit of room to work within the lines without cutting into the outermost edges.

Next I moved back to the 3/8” high speed cutter bit. I kind of found a rhythmic motion of back and forthing cutting a little at a time with each pass. I was basically trying to mimic what a CNC would do.

Once I started to get some depth, I rechecked all my points against the factory slots to make sure I wasn’t over cutting.

I stopped 1/2mm shy of my final measurements on all points to allow me to adjust once I pick up bearings tomorrow. I didn’t want to end up needing to shift left or right and then end up with slop in the bearing. Otherwise what’s the point?

Now that I was at my depth, I pulled out the 1” sanding wheel from my kit and ran that in the slot to smooth everything out.

It surprisingly turned out quite nice. Still need to shave the last little bit out but that will be once the bearings can be test fitted.

I have pics, but despite resizing, converting to png etc, I still can’t seem to upload and post them.

7
Driveline / SEaling axle shafts for oil
« on: April 12, 2018, 02:20:15 am »
Is there anything special to be done with the axle shaft seals in order to run oil instead of grease? Or do they just naturally seal up?

8
Driveline / Foote rapid drive gear wear explaination?
« on: April 11, 2018, 04:29:51 am »
wack job theory guy here.

Got a freebie Foote 4360-7 today. Factory reconditioned never put into service.

Pulled it apart to inspect everything and clean the grease out in prep for gear oil and welding the axle. (And just wanted to check it over) everything in it is flawless, except for one thing.

The main shaft has about 1mm play in it. As in, all the gears etc are able to slide over on the shaft 1mm. This 1mm slide allows the largest cog to come into contact with the back of the bevel gear.

Got me thinking. The complaints I hear about the Foote transaxles is that it chews up the drive gear. And I think this is why.

At normal speeds the shaft contents may stay in position just fine, but at high speeds, the shaft would surely walk and a high rpm contact between opposing gears would definatly cause at minimum an interruption in rotation and some wear.

Compound that over thousands of rpm and a few laps, and there wouldn’t be much left of that bevel gear or drive gear.

Solution? Installing a 1mm washer at the opposite end of the shaft locks everything in place nice and tight just like everything else is in the gearbox.

Now, I’m not saying this is for sure the problem in all Foote transaxles, not am I saying that it isn’t just an oops, maybe the factory tech that did the refurb forgot a washer. Who knows, but it’s most certainly a possible explanation. Maybe?

I’d upload pics or video but apparently iPhone doesn’t play nice with the forum.

9
Newcomers / How do I attach uploaded pics?
« on: April 11, 2018, 02:36:12 am »
Can someone help me out?

10
Driveline / Possibly stupid question. Sprockets/jacksgaft/etc
« on: April 10, 2018, 02:10:43 am »
Ok, this is probably a stupid question for those in the know, but, I, am not in the know.

I’ve looked at so many builds now my eyes are starting to bleed. Some builds use a transaxle, some builds use a relocated transaxle and a live axle, and some use a RAGB  and a live axlet.

On the builds that use a live axle, they have them chain driven, with small sprocket on the transaxle/gearbox and a large sprocket on the live axle.

Doesn’t this somehow counter the ratio being established by having a big pulley on the engine and small pulley on the trans/GB? Or is there something else gained that I’m missing with the sprocket ratio?

Again I’m sorry if this is obvious to some. Right now I’m in planning mode, and want to have a good idea of what direction I’m going in once I get to have a solid look at my donor chassis.

11
Driveline / Question about varidrive
« on: April 08, 2018, 02:08:31 pm »
Hey guys, I’m just getting started on a build for our local mower race, and I know a lot of guys don’t recommend the varidrive but I still have some questions that I can’t seem to find the answer to.

1: I notice in a lot of rulesets centrifugal clutches and torque converters are prohibited. Why is that?

2: is a varidrive pulley considered a torque converter?

3: what I’d like to do, is utilize a varidrive pulley in my drivetrain, What I’m thinking is fix the varidrive pulley at a fixed location between my motor and my transaxle. I would use a spring loaded idler to take up the slack in the varidrive to trans belt when disengaged, and have my clutch provide the tension/take up the slack on the motor to varidrive belt when engaging the drive.

My thought is that this would give me control of my acceleration (provide the fast takeoff) with the clutch half released, and allow me to have the good top speed with the clutch fully released.  Would this theoretically work?

A little detail on the specs of the  build to help answer any questions. I will be running a 24HP b&s pro series vertical shaft, with ether a 7” or 8” pulley powering a 5speed transaxle (welded diff, and high performance gear oil) with a 2.5”-3” pulley on the trans.

The varidrive is a 6”x2.5” pulley I believe so in theory it would give me about a total 1:1.33 ratio starting and up to a 1:7 ratio fully engaged. (Not including transaxle gearing)

I will be custom building the front end and installing at minimum a rear disc brake. This is the towns first race ever so I really want to show them what’s possible “within their rules” to get the other gear heads motivated.

My last build was years ago and was a simple stock mower with a pulley swap (7”-3”) and 25” tires off my big old Honda big red. I want this one to be a little more bad



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