My first Hustler!

[Dw89xj]

I really shouldn't have but I bought some bling for my Kohler. And it will match the Bigfoot.

[Dw89xj]

Oh boy I'm getting in deep, just ordered a cam from lakota, wife's gonna wring my neck

[Dw89xj]

Went ahead and ordered billet rods. Now I'm not worried about the bottom end when I'm holding it at 5 grand +/- for long periods. Also got the heavier valve springs. I read the stock cams don't handle high spring pressure for long before flattening out. We will see I bought the zach kerber valve springs for the 5000 and under engines. Either way it should last until I pick out a better cam. I'm trying to get a grind that's good to 4500-5000. I thought I wanted to rev to 6 but I think that's just a bit excessive right now. But I guess as long as I put good stuff in the bottom and gave my clearances right I will have room to grow when I'm ready. The engine is turning out to be the most expensive piece of the puzzle for the Bigfoot. Thankfully my wife's vanguard will be cheaper as long as no machine work us involved

[Dw89xj]

Well after stabbing and pulling and switching and flipping sprockets, I think I have them in the right order and all the chains running straight. The axles did indeed want to be stuck the whole way in and collars toward the center. The Richards axle as I suspected didn't matter because there's over 2 inches of the end machined. I put the brand new Richards axle on the left rear, it seemed to me to be most likely to be a PITA in the future if it were bent or broken, the rest are a mixture of my best axles and Cory's best axles and I should have enough for my wife and a couple spares if someone were in need, but like I said I'm using the best of what I have available on our machines. Got the Kohler tore down all but the governor, midwest super cub crank gear ordered, replacement stock cam, and valve springs that should let me rev to 5000 if I wanted to. I'm going to try and hold off on that until I save up for the second phase of the engine build when it comes back out, but I talked to a gentleman with a stock ch18 says his has over 40 hours of race time at 500p+rpm and it's all stock internals.im not sure if I want to roll those dice or go ahead and drop the 250 couple bucks on billet rods for self assurance. Oh I forgot to mention during teardown, the crank gear is what took out the cam, it was cracked and spun on the crank, valves barely kissed the carbon on the pistons but it was enough to strip teeth off the cam. Waiting in my rebuild kit and upgrade parts and hones and stuff to finish it then tear down the wife's vanguard and hopefully a soft rebuild and rev kit and cam is all she will need that will save a couple bucks.
I found where 530 chain has a clearance issue and it will be getting dealt with as well as building a chain adjusters setup for the rear. The front has plenty of room for snap idles the rear isn't so forgiving. But anyways the bottom front right corner of the transmission mount and bottom of the right side t20 chain adjusters is the only clearance problem I'm finding using 530 chain. All I really need to do is trim the square tube and the bracket off the frame where a slider or something once resided. I have a simple design in mind but I need to gather some more parts. I'm also going to add an extra idler to the t20 chains to get a better wrap on the gears and help get some of the bottom of the chain up away from the rear drive chain to help create more clearance for my rear tensioner idea. I can't decide on a spring loaded design or just use an adjuster bolt. Auto adjusting will be nice but manual gives more reason to check more often and not get lazy about it. So close I can almost feel the 25 mph breeze in my hair while the Kohler screams away at 4500 to 5 grand. My neighbors love me hahaha! After I get comfortable I might switch my pizza pans for Cory's middle sprockets to see how much grunt I lose, if any with the Kohler, and how fast I can go, maybe not I'm not sure yet. I'm used to going about 6mph the last 6 years so 25 will probably scratch my itch for awhile.

[Dw89xj]

I recently acquired some short tub 980 sprockets, the big sprocket isn't alot bigger than the final drive sprockets, if I were to run these instead of the big pizza pans, what kind of performance should I expect? I also picked up a 27 horse Kohler that's in the process of being rebuilt and some upgrades so I won't be low on power. I guess I could switch back and forth too? Maybe with the Kohler it won't matter running the smaller sprockets? I like the low end power but I can't have my wife completely blowing my doors in, or top off in this case, and I know hers should scoot along pretty good with the 18hp vanguard and about 200 bucks thrown into it.

[Dw89xj]

if the locking collar is securing on the axle so the axle is tight on the bearing..then if your thinking the axle could possibly pull out of that bearing , then if you have enough room you could put a 2 piece clamping collar on the axle right up against the inside of the wheel bearing . this would keep the axle from pulling out of that inside bearing . i actually put clamping collars on both sides of my sprockets and up against each bearing locking collar as a extra measure. j.b.

I still have to get some better pictures for you. Today was another long expensive day, but I got to meet some more cool 6x6ers, thanks guys for helping me out today.

[john swenson]

if the locking collar is securing on the axle so the axle is tight on the bearing..then if your thinking the axle could possibly pull out of that bearing , then if you have enough room you could put a 2 piece clamping collar on the axle right up against the inside of the wheel bearing . this would keep the axle from pulling out of that inside bearing . i actually put clamping collars on both sides of my sprockets and up against each bearing locking collar as a extra measure. j.b.

[john swenson]

another thought..looking at the picture with the locking collar on..instead of drilling and tapping a hole in the end of the axle , what about tack welding a bolt the right length to the end of the axle ( the head of the bolt tacked to the axle ) then use a washer and lock nut . one question .. is the allen screw in the collar tightening down on the axle good ? just fun throwing out a few more ideas . johnboy va.

[Dw89xj]

Just a couple of thoughts - As far as turning the bearing around so the lock collar faces the outboard side, make sure this doesn't throw the chain alignment off (center axle to the T20). If it doesn't I would not be concerned about the axle running in only 2/3rds of the bearing race.

If you have to modify the axle, have your welder buddy just drill and tap the end. Use a bolt and washer and you won't need a lock collar on the inner bearing. This would be cheaper than extending the axles.

I was worried about this myself, that's another of the reasons I'm doing a preassembly before final assembly. I'm glad you mentioned drilling and tapping the ends of the axles because that had crossed my mind also. He could Chuck it up and make all the holes perfect then as I break or bend axles I can have him make them to match Richards style or just buy Richards. I think I can get my buddy Merv to make them from something stronger for the same price, he builds alot of attachments for equipment and fabs undercarriage parts for dozers and stuff. I'm gonna swing by and talk to Merv this afternoon and see what he's going charge me. Hopefully it all works out I can get this thing preassembled in the next couple days and figure my chain tensioners for the rear and any other obstacles. Then I can pull it all back apart and have the joy of working in the tub lol. If my drill press was about a foot taller I could drill them and tap them myself but I know if I handrill it's not going to be perfect and I'm trying to stay off of hack status.

[dirtdobber]

Just a couple of thoughts - As far as turning the bearing around so the lock collar faces the outboard side, make sure this doesn't throw the chain alignment off (center axle to the T20). If it doesn't I would not be concerned about the axle running in only 2/3rds of the bearing race.

If you have to modify the axle, have your welder buddy just drill and tap the end. Use a bolt and washer and you won't need a lock collar on the inner bearing. This would be cheaper than extending the axles.

[Dw89xj]

yea..lot's of bending over working on these machines . is that bearing on the axle not the wheel side , but the other end ? i guess i'm not too familiar with hustlers ..so i'm not sure why you can't flip the bearing over in the flange so the collar is not on that short side of the bearing , but on the long part of the axle. maybe it's not that type of flange . maybe i'll understand after some more pics . j.b.

It's the inner end toward the center of the frame, hustlers axles are longer than max I think. There's enough extra sticking past if I put the collars toward the middle it would lock on about an eight inch of axle, I can get a full lock on the axle if I run the center collars facing out buuuuttt, then the axle is riding fully in the bearing only about half to two thirds of the end of the axle is in the bearing if that makes sense, it's a little confusing to try to explain too lol. Im going to get in touch with buffalo and if they can't help me I'm going to see if my welder friend can duplicate the Richards axle, the end of it is machined enough I could almost double up bearings on the inner so the collar could go toward the center or towards the wheel.

[john swenson]

yea..lot's of bending over working on these machines . is that bearing on the axle not the wheel side , but the other end ? i guess i'm not too familiar with hustlers ..so i'm not sure why you can't flip the bearing over in the flange so the collar is not on that short side of the bearing , but on the long part of the axle. maybe it's not that type of flange . maybe i'll understand after some more pics . j.b.

[Dw89xj]

I will get more pictures tomorrow, I'm taking it easy today, I'm having alot of nerve pain and spasms in my back.

[Dw89xj]

dan .. can you turn the bearing the other way on the axle so the cam lock collar is on the '' inside of the axle '' ? is that what you were thinking ? if you have the room i'm not sure why it won't work . i have some that way on my max 2 highboy . works just as good . j.b.

I was wondering about this but the collar doesn't get a full bite, it's probably about an 1/8" maybe 3/16" that the collar grabs the end of the axle. But if I try to run them facing out the end of the axle isn't fully supported. Not sure if it would be good enough? May be fine but I'd rather take you guys with much more experience advice.

[Dw89xj]

These are the new inner bearings that Martin sent with it, I can't remember if it was the innets or outers he said were kind of a pain to find. But on the plus side I suppose I could call up buffalo bearing and give them this part number and see if they have something with a set screw. I like your idea of for putting tube over the axles.
I was working on pre assembly outside of the tub to make sure I route the chains right and locate the sprockets right and also work on chain adjusters, I have two snap idles but the rear chains doesn't seem like much room to run snap idles style, so I'm going to try to make something with an adjustment/ locking bolt and set of idler sprockets I ordered to come up with rear tensioners. Since I decided to go with the Kohler command v twin I'm going to be picking at the Bigfoot longer than originally expected, but I might still be done in time for archery season. If not at least I know it's going to be a good solid machine and I didn't cut any corners and did it right.
My split shifters seem to work pretty well, I need to cut the levers shorter after it's in the tub and the seat is made so I can see how short I can go. I will have to get in and out the right side because of how I made my shifters but it beats fighting the metal in my back to reach down to the floor almost to shift from forward or to put it in forward. I doubt up ever need to use counter rotate but man does the split shift make it easier. I just spin the clutch and keep pressure on either lever and it seems to go in gear fine. The factory easy shift style setup seems to help alot too to keep from jamming in gear. It works good on the sawhorses bench testing but we will see what happens.
I wish the axles were cheaper , I'm too tight to replace them all right now but the Richards axle definitely has enough room to run the lock collars. Either way il be on the horn with buffalo to see if they can help me out.
Thanks for the tips and helping me out. Another road trip on Saturday and hopefully I'm done running for parts for these two machines, but we know it never works that way lol I will probably find another good deal on something 7 hours away in another month hahaha.