The Gaganator Project

[Beeman]

Soo... this will be a long winded post but will be a nice start to explain what this machine is all about..

In the beginning, I bought my first AATV and quickly decided that it didn't have enough speed to keep up with the Quads I went riding with. After a little modification, I had enough speed to keep up, but ran into a slight issue with the steering of it at high speeds (http://www.6x6world.com/forums/gener...eo-time-4.html).

So, there must be some way of creating a machine that could do what quads could do, and float at the same time. Which made me start designing stuff..








The idea is an 8x8, with 8 wheel opposed steering, powered by a 3 cylinder suzuki motor. A couple neat features I want to incorporate are a cut-brake steering system also (to allow for skid steering), an override lockout for the back 4 tires steering straight at high speeds and a propellor system built out of the 4 back tire rims. The body is to be mounted between two frames, one for the drive on the outside and one to hold the motor, tranny and other stuff on the inside.

a few pics of the build:

[Mike]

This is one awesome project Beeman! How long has this been in the works and when do you plan on finishing it up?

Also, do you already have the wheels designed/made that will act as propellors and what are you making the body out of?

Keep us updated on the progress!

[Beeman]

This is one awesome project Beeman! How long has this been in the works and when do you plan on finishing it up?

Also, do you already have the wheels designed/made that will act as propellors and what are you making the body out of?

Keep us updated on the progress!

The project started last year around january and go put on hold until I can build my garage (I recently bought some land and built a house). I plan on starting once again when the garage is finished, and will continue to post updates once I get up and running again.

As for the rims/propellors, I don't have anything built since this idea came to me after I stopped working on it. I will probably do a test run first with one modified rim in a pool or something to see what the thrust is like (plus the maximum angles have to be worked out too). The body I plan on making out of fiberglass, since it's relativly cheap and easy to work with.

[Don]

That is quite a project, and has real possibilities. It looks to be quite a long machine; do you know what the turn radius will be? Good luck with it, and keep us posted on the progress.

[jpswift1]

That thing is really cool! It sure looks like you put a heck of a lot of time into the design and building of it. Keep us updated for sure. This has the potential to be one of the most uniuqe AATV's ever built!

[Beeman]

Thanks guys,

I don't know what the turning radius will be yet. I did a quite search on the geo-metros that I grabbed the strut towers off of and found they have a turning radius of 32.2ft. With rear steering I think that will either be cut in half, or possibly more...

I will definitely post more pictures when I start building again. I've been itching to get going again, but the garage has got to come first (november maybe?).

Cheers,

Beeman

[Mike]

Beeman,

I was looking back over your machine and was wondering if you were going to lock the axles.

[Beeman]

Beeman,

I was looking back over your machine and was wondering if you were going to lock the axles.

This has been quite the debate with me (internal battle).

One side of me says that I will always have 4 wheels driven and that it would be highly unlikely that all the other 4 would not have traction at any given point in time.

That being said, the other side says that if this does happen, I would feel stupid and should do something about it.

If I were to implement some sort of locking mechanism, I would probably use some sort of traction control instead of lockers. There are no aftermarket kits for my diffs (that I know of) that will allow me to put on a locker. The traction control I was thinking of building if I were to do it, would be

A. Install solenoid actuators (on/off) on each brake that would override the foot pedals, and pulse them (PWM) based on a difference between each associated axle speed (the one that's rotating faster gets the brake) to try maintain an equal rotation between the two.

B. Install modulating actuators and control in the same fashion as above, but by varying the pressure on the brake instead of on/off control.

Another reason I was thinking of not locking up the diffs though is that I have a system of two brakes, one that brakes the right side and one that brakes the left side. Under normal operation, you can brake both and have it operate like a car, but in tight situations you can brake either side making it like a skid steer... which would help in stuck situations..

But yeah.. still trying to weigh the options..

[Mike]

One side of me says that I will always have 4 wheels driven and that it would be highly unlikely that all the other 4 would not have traction at any given point in time.

That's why I was asking right there. At first I was thinking that you would never need them but at the same time, what if all four right side tires were stuck in a slippery mud hole and the left side was on drier ground.

However, if you have separate brake controls then you could just apply brakes to the slipping side to act like your own locker.

You really have a lot of options thought out though...I'm just glad that I don't have to decide which one to go with. I would probably just run it and see what happened.

[Beeman]

I brought the Gaganator down to my place today. It looks like I'll be able to start working on it right away since I now have aquired some badly needed shop space.

Woohoo!!