Long travel chain drive swing arms, like a sand rail on a smaller scale

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Thread: Long travel chain drive swing arms, like a sand rail on a smaller scale

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Newville, PA 17241
    Posts
    568

    Long travel chain drive swing arms, like a sand rail on a smaller scale

    Like the title says I'd like as much info on building this setup as possible, I'm trying to do a scaled down sand rail woods buggy and want to run the chain drive/reduction long travel rear swingarms so it's a hill climbing rock hopping monster. We had to give up 6x6s but wer not giving up offroad, we ain't dead yet. I'm starting with my Yamaha g9 and pretty much just using the main frame and front steering components for now. It may or may not be converted to single seater and trying to stay under 60 inches total. Planning on cutting down the stock transaxle and modifying hubs to accept CV or u joints. Not sure I need CV axles with the minimal arc in movement. Any ideas tips or tricks would be appreciated. I'm thinking I can do this for a couple hundred bucks using max bearings and axles. Not sure how much reduction to run if I want to go with 28-30" rear tires. Thank you guys for any pictures tips tricks or advice on building.
    DanW

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Newville, PA 17241
    Posts
    568
    I do have a rough plan in my head how to accomplish this and take up minimal space so I still have the clearance down the middle.
    DanW

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    shenendoah valley,va.
    Posts
    2,631
    sounds cool dan....looking forward to seeing some pics as the build progresses . i always thought sand rails were cool , so this machine should be fun . jboy va.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Newville, PA 17241
    Posts
    568
    My uncle had some very basic black pipe vw rail buggies that were a ton of fun but nothing like these setups I saw on YouTube, I stumbled on accidentally watching golf cart videos, after seeing the stuff these things could do I thought to myself that my knohler isn't too far off from a VW beetle power wide, I have everything to just ride except a belt, but if I could make it more capable by doing one of my favorite things, fab work and problem solving, then it's still a win. I can't work a clutch peddle but a cvt clutch, I can work a throttle and brake lever just fine and could probably rig up a throttle on each cut brake so I can have all the benefits of a big buggy but on smaller scale, and my friends will be drooling if I can go where their 4x4 quads can't go, well except deep mud I don't think deep mud is going to be a strong point but hills stumps and rocks like these Appalachian mountains are full of it should do well, except the big high horsepower stuff, either way it should way outdo your average v twin swapped golf cart
    DanW

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    Newville, PA 17241
    Posts
    568
    These are the best pics I could find to show what I'm talking about. I'm likely going to do something similar to the blue rail buggy but using #50. This Seems to be simplest and strongest looking and least likely to get damaged.
    Attached Images
    Last edited by Dw89xj; 02-23-2022 at 03:11 AM.
    DanW

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    2,161
    Nothing like some good old fashioned home engineering to create a buggy and go have some fun.
    The general set up reminds me alot of the Chinese atvs that have hit the market. Chain drive to each side actually goes back over 100+ years.

    One suggestion to keep the chains clean and operational. Make a mostly enclosed chain trough with a lid on the top so that you can service the chains, too bad that setup wouldn't work with an oil bath system. I've never had an oil bath chain system that ever had to have anything done (maybe changing the oil after a few years?).
    I have an oil bath on one of my amphibs, and it works perfectly.
    I like what you are doing with this project. It just proves you don't have to spend thousands of dollars to go have fun.

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