My 1970's argo 6x6 custom rebuild

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Thread: My 1970's argo 6x6 custom rebuild

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    rochester, ny
    Posts
    65

    My 1970's argo 6x6 custom rebuild

    Heres my first argo that i purchased a little over a year ago. It's a 70's model 6x6 i picked up for $1000 delivered to my door. Body was solid, no leaks. motor started right up and ran good, transmission seemed good. needed new tires so that was the 1st thing i got.

    Soon after getting tires on i started replacing other little things here and there and learning about the machine. I've had it stripped apart a few times now and put back together





    Shortly after putting it back together each time something else would break. Axles were bending, bearings were shot, My frame broke on one side, i took it all apart and welded it, put it all back together then it broke on the other side. I contemlated buying a newer machine, which i may still do, but i decided to completely rebuild everything in this one from scratch, upgrading it to make it more dependable. A whole new stronger frame, better bearings, bigger stronger axles, New motor, new everything. So i've jumped into the project with 2 feet. At this time i completely dissasembled the whole thing






    About a month ago i bought about $1000 in materials and parts to get me started. The diference with this rebuild is that i'm not buying any of the parts to put this thing back together i'm making the whole thing from scratch.
    Heres where i'm at so far. I will be updating with new pics as i go along.
    The steel thats soon to be my new frame:

    New axles and hubs:




    luckily i have access to all the machines and welding equiptment i could ever need
    Last edited by sieg; 10-06-2010 at 11:00 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Peterborough, Ontario Canada
    Posts
    93
    I have died and gone to heaven........Looking forward to seeing this project unfold. Nicely done.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Effingham,IL
    Posts
    43
    Wow! I wish I was you! I too will be keeping a close eye on this build. Please post often. Nice pics also!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Rockwell, N.C.
    Posts
    2,627
    Nice work! I enjoy watching these projects. Keep up the great work!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    British Columbia
    Posts
    26

    Resto

    Your machine shop is a bit cramped looking... What did you use to paint the body? I have the same original orange colour and think it's funky, but have not found any paint that will stick to HDPE.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    rochester, ny
    Posts
    65
    Thanks for the comments everyone. I'll be sure to keep you all updated as i go along.
    And 8ftfloatgoat, there's no paint that sticks to the body. I've tried it all. My biggest mistake was using the spray on rubber coating which you see in the pic where the machine was all black. Took me alot of hours to strip it all off. There really is no permanant way to paint it. It's gunna come off when you scratch it. If you decide to paint it it will require constant touching up. Some paints do stick way better than others though. I used a good plastic primer. Can't remember the brand name at the moment, but anyways i laid it on 5 coats thick and it was pretty tough to scrape off, then i just used regular old camo spray paint on top. For the most part it stays on good, but if you catch a branch or something driving it will scratch it off, but with a quick camo pattern it's really easy to touch up small areas.
    I also use my machine as a tank at paintball games, so having a red tank was not an option. I had to camo it up.
    Heres a couple pics of my 6x6 as a paintball tank.

    And a pic of a friend of mines 6x6 paintball tank:


  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    New Brunswick Canada
    Posts
    320
    Paintball looks like a pretty serious sport in your neck of the woods.Great looking job on the tank mods.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    rochester, ny
    Posts
    65
    Quote Originally Posted by mike bar View Post
    Paintball looks like a pretty serious sport in your neck of the woods.Great looking job on the tank mods.
    Yea we get a little crazy with the paintball tanks

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    rochester, ny
    Posts
    65
    Heres the newest update. I got the work finished on the wheels and hubs last night. The machine had the old style 3 bolt rims. I didnt want to spend the money on new rims as this project is already been quite costly, so i added 3 more holes so i have a 6 lug pattern. I made up a quick template to transfer the new holes into the old rims using a drill press.




    I also finished up welding my new hubs. I screwed them in place with the lugs and fitted the back plate in, tack welded it in place, unscrewed everything and finish welded them all around.





    Hopefully i can get on to the frame work next. That should be quite the project itself. I'll keep ya updated.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Peterborough, Ontario Canada
    Posts
    93
    Nicely done.

    You better hope the boss doesn't find this sight lol

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