The suburban Hustler

[SeanD]

They're Vision wheels' "buckshot"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-New-12X8-4...1ZsAop&vxp=mtr

I fought the belt alignment a while back and I think I just gave up. I'll have to check it again, it's been so long.

[SeanD]

What a day! Today was the first day that I was able to pull the Hustler out of the shop, ride it until I was done, and put it away still together. I've been working the bugs out of this thing for months. The Predator wouldn't start hardly at all, and then it would just stall out if you let off the throttle. It wouldn't idle. If the idle was high enough to keep it alive, it was spinning the trans wide open. In the gremlin-chasing I replaced the HF carburetor with a carb meant for a Honda GX670. Then I monkeyed with the mixture screws and the idle. Then I completely bypassed the HF vacuum fuel pump's vac lines and replaced the electric fuel pump and all the filters that I had already put on there. I also changed its location from the side of the tub near the switches to right under the tank. This kept my prime that I was losing. So, now it fires up pretty quickly. The charging system is still not strong enough to compensate for the lights and winch, so I added a solar panel into the frame of the engine cover, which still needs finishing. I will say, though, that the few times I have had it out have been great! Wide open it runs about 30-35 mph...? It feels just like the 6x6 on youtube with the predator 670 on the frozen lake St Clair. It's too fast for my yard for sure. The little bumps in the lawn will give it a death bounce sort of action, which is EXTRA disconcerting when you have your 7 year old riding shotgun with no seatbelts, handles, or helmets. It will run right in and out of the creek, which is cool too.
ALSO- I have -over the course of a couple months- broken the welds on all three axles that I had to cut in half when I first started the build. They were rusted to the sprockets, so I cut them, pressed the sprockets off, and welded the axles back up. Well, one by one they have snapped. This time I took them to a fabricator friend of mine who knows what he's doing!
Today it snowed really hard (well, hard for Atlanta before February), and my friend just welded up the last of the three broken axles this morning. I slammed it back together, charged the battery, and went at it. The carb still needs bigger jets, but this thing is so much fun when the tires can slip! 6 wheel drifts are incredibly fun. I'm dreading a little what my yard is going to look like tomorrow when the snow is gone! Right now I'm just glad that nothing else broke!! For that fun the whole build has been worth it.

[ARGOJIM]

Glad to hear you finally had to fun with it.

Try letting some air out of the tires for rides sake, down to about 2 psi.

[Noel Woods]

Looks like a powerful machine. I have a Hustler 950 with a 21hp motor and it always impresses me, and you have a little more power.

[SeanD]

Well... Front left axle broke again today in the snow. Much less violent this time. It just sort of... rolled away. lol. The first time it got caught under the Hustler and I drove over it, popping the whole left side of the machine up in the air. So, I'm going to just bite the bullet and get a couple new axles from the interwebs.

I haven't checked in a while, but I think I was running about 5 psi. I'll try to air down even more and hope for better cushion. Thanks.

[Noel Woods]

Hey that snow in the ATL reminds me of when I was at Fort Benning. It was frigid when I was there, and then immediately hot and humid afterwards.

[SeanD]

I've been "Hustling" to get the last things done on the 6x6 before it's ready to sell. I don't know why but I often seem to cope with the unfinished bits right until it's time to sell, then everything gets done at once for the next guy.

The gas tank bolts needed some reinforcing, and my two year old needed something to hold. I went about building a grab bar for the front.


I was very excited to finally use the pipe bender with success.



Then there was the engine cover. I started it months ago but abandoned it when it didn't go my way. In the meantime I came up with much better ideas. I added solar to keep the battery topped up, and I found a very cool 14 gauge perforated metal at HD. Way better than the expanded metal I thought I was going to have to use.



The floors were my last problem. I had done most of the cutting and mounting earlier to keep childrens' shoelaces out of chains and sprockets, but again- never finished them. I found a garage floor diamond plate looking rubber mat at Auto Zone that won me over.



And there she is, up on the Atlanta Craigslist for eleventeen gazillion dollars!

[Noel Woods]

Beautiful! Couldn't be better.

[tbone9]

Wow. Very nice work. Looks awesome!!!

[john swenson]

beautiful build...it should be on display at a custom '' street rod show '' . johnboy va.