Pimp my Tractor

[Gray Mole]

Hey Steve

Yeah, it's actually only one little mod to make it fast. The power is already there, more than I thought there'd be, so we'll see.

It's got a serious reduction pulley on the mainshaft. Around 8" I think. Get that down to a 3-4" and it would take right off.

Only problem is the suspension. Front's a 'tilt axle' so in a straight line, pretty good. It'll corner ok at 20mph but at 40+ it's a death trap

Good for offroad though. Slides a bit with the full speed turn, but won't flip unless you really try hard.

May just look at welding up a frame for a 'real' go kart and use that other engine. Just need a whole bunch of old bike frames and bed frames.

I guess if it would stop raining for a while, she might be more tempted. Kind of a summer toy really.


Gray

[don_xvi]

Nothing runs like a... Mustang?

Sweet project.

[Gray Mole]

Heh

Considering it's pretty good in a straight line, and terrible in the corners, I guess it is a bit like a Mustang

There's snow on the ground today though, so I'll see if I can get her out there and teach her how to do 'donuts'

It's got the torque to spin the wheels on wet/icy road, and the brake is rear wheel only, so it should do the job. She's had a couple of driving lessons and seems a bit more into it now, and I think a few donuts might really get her into playing around on it.

Would be cool if it's got enough power to spin on the sand too, since there's some dunes pretty close to here, but I haven't tested that yet.

Gray

[Gray Mole]

So the snow did it

Got her out there and showed her the ropes, and she was doing donuts in no time

Her friend was out too (the one with no tractor) and she gave it a try and they had a blast. So it took a bit, but I think she finally likes it.

Now she's telling me it's just not fast enough

So over the next bit, I'll be firming up the steering and try to find some springs for the front that'll limit the travel on the tilt axle.

Once it's a bit more solid, I'll get the smaller pulley welded on. Hopefully the 'clutch' (belt setup, pretty lame really) has the travel for it, but it's a 5" pulley and I have a 3" and a 3.5" here to try out and I think it'll still hold with a couple tweaks.

1-3 gears are mega slow for lawn cutting anyway, so the 4/5 gears should be ideal, and the clutch works enough to shift on the fly, so I'm hoping to see a racecar

30mph is the target, around 20mph is about max now, maybe a touch below that.

Won't be as much torque, but should be a little more fun to drive, as long as the brake will still stop it, and the suspension doesn't wobble at that speed

[STEvil]

couple shock absorbers should do well for the front axle, maybe a make-shift leaf could help too. Just add spacers under it to make the front end tighter or softer to reduce body-roll... er.. tractor-roll, heh

[Gray Mole]

Well it's an old thread by now, but I did get a chance to give it a ride a while ago before I had the last surgery on my hand (cut a tendon)

If you want to see my ugly mug, and risking my life riding this death trap feel free to click the link....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVf9Bv7Pmm8


Gray

[WARDOZER9]

Nice, but where the ground FX?

[Gray Mole]

Nice, but where the ground FX?

That was a consideration. That, and a stereo, were 2 other things that I ran out of time to do.

It was for a Xmas gift and it was a couple days before Xmas that it got done like it was.

She's 15 now, and she'll be 16 (my neice, that this was for) in the summer, so she's moved on to wanting a car. Not sure what'll happen to the tractor but this summer (or late spring if it's nice out) I'm thinking about at least an iPod dock with some speakers.

I do have LED's for the ground lighting but I didn't have green ones left. I might get some for it though.

I did see a mod on another one to take out the steering wheel and put in an ATV handlebar type, as well as bump stops welded to make cornering less scary.

There's also a 'real' set of steering rods with joints you can get, so it doesn't have the 1-2" of steering play.

I'm going to find out if she actually likes it anymore. If not she'll either sell it (and I won't bother with more) or if she say's it's 'for everyone' then it'll get a V2 makeover

[Holy_COW]

More hp !!!! Groar!!1