2006 Argo Avenger with T20

[LarryW]

Neat build Mike! Your doing a great job. Its going to be one cool Argo when your done!

[Mike]

So, three months later and I am finally back at this project again. I started working on a template for a split shifter and today I started plastic welding the HDPE I had previously cut for the fresh air intake. The cheap welder that I purchased is working better than I could have expected. Here are two pictures. The first one shows the plastic welder and the high-speed tip that helps to feed the welding rod. The second one is a photo of the first of several beads I did today.



The welding itself is very easy once you have the right heat setting dialed in. The difficult part was keeping the plastic straight. I had to use a ton of c-clamps and measure multiple times to set up each weld. Even after a lot of careful measuring / planning, the plastic still moves and warps with the heat. I spent a couple of hours today on it and only got three sides welded together. The good news though is that the welds are very strong and on two scrap pieces that I practiced on, I couldn't break the weld.

[Moosetalker]

Heres hoping you get the time Mike.

[Mike]

Over Phoenix? Hope you're waving hello, Mike. How 'bout having them shove you out with a parachute over our house for a few hours? We'll have coffee.

Bridget

I was looking down for a dust cloud behind a springer

[Model Citizen]

[Mike]

You and me both. Unfortunately there are no updates. I haven't even seen the Avenger since the last time I posted in this thread. How sad is that? I've been out of town a lot and am actually typing this on the plane over Phoenix right now as I head home. Hopefully I will get some time to work on it next month.

[thebuggyman1]

Progress update Mike??? We are all waiting to see how this thing performs

[Mike]

Today I worked on the fresh air intake some. As I'm swapping the liquid cooled motor with an air cooled one, I wanted to build some ducting to allow the motor to get the coolest air possible. I debated using metal vs plastic. I think metal would be the easiest, using prefabbed duct work, but I decided to try my hand at some plastic welding and I went with HDPE. I purchased a full sheet of HDPE to use for this as well as, eventually, a firewall. I had previously measured and modeled the duct work. Today I cut out the pieces. I've got a couple of adjustments to make and then I will start welding.

I debated over which plastic welder to choose and ended up with a cheapish one from ebay. The main reason I purchased it was for the "high speed" tip. This allows you to feed the plastic rod down into the welder instead of having to work the material by hand. In the photo you can see the green welder, most of the pieces I cut for the fresh air intake as well as the plastic welding rod on the left hand side in the long bag.

[Tomo]

hi mike ,
Great build
I will mention some points of note that apply to the BANDO engine installed in a max or similar
The bando installs are my SSfox and aussie max springer
The over all gear [T20and axle ] ratio affects engine and 6x6 performance
The clutch selection and tuning is also a critical
The bandolero series of racing has rolling starts using a high percentage of throttle
The carby is not a high quality carb
The bando engine produces moderate [34 ft lbsfrom memory] torque which is not high at all by comparison
In a heavier unit such as a ssf the 770 seconday ["lower first gear" was very beneficial]
The top speed was not an issue
The original was a 41 or 45 degree helix 770 secondary and a axle 28/15t20 gear ratio did not handle steep sandy hills and loaded up in semi soft beach sand.Top speed was VERY fast running pace quicker than argo .TO QUICK

Changed to 28 degree helix 770 secondary 32/15 ratio way way better
The top speed was jogging pace faster than a friends 6x6 argo in high

To get a low trail speed with good throttle control do not gear to high or have a high clutch engagement rpm
High gearing with high clutch engagement promotes lots of belt wear due to not being fully engaged properly at very low speed

Remember ., to low a clutch engagement may cause engine pinging /detonation .
Bando engines love a high octane fuel reduces pinging /detonation
Poor fuel metering by the 2 barrel carb is very common within Australia on mini loaders also

The 780 drive is rated to 5500 rpm therefore not to much reason to change weight setups
Recommended to run the heavy weights for better clamping force on belt to try and better cope with the higher hp and torque that is being aggressively applied
The primary role is the for the clutch is engagement rpm
Much more hp/ torque and or rpm a high capacity clutch setup is needed

to remove the most heat from the engine bay use a 2into 1 exhaust manifold [some argos use this ] and an INLINE muffler . The idea is to not block the air flow coming from the cylinder heads . The secondary benefit is the air flow will cool the muffler . The duct work may want to be extended so it matches up to cylinder head area as close as possible . All this made a big difference to a friends argo .

hope this info helps tomo

[amphibious drew]

I'm loving this build Mike. I hope you can get it done before October so we can all see you tear Busco up in this beast your building.

[Mike]

Today I finally got the transmission mount shaved down enough to remove a half link from the chain between the T20 and the jackshaft. This let's me keep the T20 where I initially wanted it. I also finalized the return springs for the laterals.

This is a photo of the underside of the T20 mount. You can see how I mounted the springs to the control rods and the transmission mount so that the pressure is adjustable similar to a Max IV.


Here is the T20 mocked up yet again in the Argo, this time withe the lateral springs connected and tightened down. It's amazing just how everything ended up fitting with very minimal tolerances yet it all appears that it is going to work fine. I don't want to assume that just yet though.

[Mike]

I wasn't trying to make it lighter as you can tell from the addition of the 8 Vampire ASX tires. I installed/removed the transmission mount so much yesterday that I knew it was much heavier than the stock mount. Just for kicks I weighed the mounts and decided to weigh everything else while I was at it just to document the weight.

[fmints]

Yeah Mike, I agree with Jim, less weight is better no matter the amount. 25 pounds lighter in the nose will definetely be noticeable. But then again,,,,,, I guess another question will be,,,, will it be beneficial? I would like to think that ARGO, put a lot of R&D in their machines. I know that you won't be working with your machine much if any, so your lighter machine won't be needing the weight for traction for pulling or transporting anything! You will be able to turn those beefy tires a little quicker and the machine will surely ride higher in the water because of it being lighter.

Were you aiming to make it lighter initially, to make the machine more balanced or it just ended up that way? It was a great idea to weight the old and the new for the comparison!! I like it Mike, I like it!! Your creating a beast over there!!!

[ARGOJIM]

Mike, 5 pounds less on the front axle could make quite the difference in the slop and down-hills, maybe even swimming. Can't wait to see it perform.

[Mike]

No real updates to post today. I installed and removed the transmission mount probably 8 times today as I carefully shave a little metal off the bottom. If I can get the transmission to sit just a hair lower, I can use one less link in the #60 chain. The main reason for this post, while I had the engine and transmission out today I weighed all of the parts just to get an idea of how different the weight would be compared to the stock Avenger. This is what I got:

Old
Stock Argo Avenger transmission/motor mount: 10.3 lbs
Stock Argo Avenger transmission with brakes installed: 68 lbs
Stock Argo Avenger Kohler with radiator, muffler & clutch: 147 lbs
Total: 225.3 lbs

New
Custom T20 transmission mount: 18.8 lbs
Custom Bandolero motor mount: 16.5 lbs
Bandolero motor with muffler & clutch: 96 lbs
T20: 69 lbs
Total: 200.3 lbs


At the end of the day, there really isn't going to be much difference in weight but while I had everything out I thought I would document it.