My first Hustler!

[john swenson]

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.

[dirtdobber]

Dan on the Hustlers I have seen have a different inner bearing, one that has two set screws for locking purposes, and no concentric collar. Can you exchange yours?

On another note let me share a little tip. On both of my machines I added a layer of protection to make sure the axles don't slip. I place a short piece of tubing over the axle between the outer bearing and the sprocket tube. The axle cant slip inward because of the shoulder on the inner bearing. It can't slip outward because the sprocket tube is against the piece of tubing which is against the outer bearing. You must wait until final assembly to do this. Assemble the axle and sprockets, and take a piece of wire and cut it to approximate length. With needle nose pliers, fit the wire between the sprocket tube and outer bearing race (about 3/4 inch). Cut the wire as needed until you get a tight fit. Then use the wire as a guide to cut the tubing to length. Assemble with the tubing and plan on fine tuning the tubing for a good fit. You need a tiny bit of clearance in the tubing to avoid lateral thrust on your bearings. Chain link fence tubing is the perfect inside diameter.

[Dw89xj]

.

[Dw89xj]

New question guys, on my inner bearings, it looks like I will have barely enough to get the locking collar on the end of the axle if I face the cam lock toward the middle, the Richards axle, however, looks like it has plenty of room to run the collar toward the outside. How do you guys do it? Collars in>< collars out<>?

[Dw89xj]

Sounds like you are making good progress. This is hard to do, but don't take any shortcuts just to hurry up and take that first ride.

The engine is going to slow progress, I can't decide in just rebuilding the opposed twin or go ahead pick up one of these 27 horse kohler's and rebuild it, then I should be able to hang with my wife and the vanguard I just picked up for her. I was on midwest super cubs site and it looks like you can build a monster from a Kohler v twin, I don't need anything crazy but the extra power I think would go good in the Bigfoot. I have done small stuff still coming like grips, a couple more idler sprockets since I found one of the t20 adjuster sprockets is froze, throttle cables and fuel pumps, some parts are doubles I need for my wife's to get her going. I'm praying I don't need to get into her transmission but so far I'm batting 0 for 2 on starting with a good trans.

[dirtdobber]

Sounds like you are making good progress. This is hard to do, but don't take any shortcuts just to hurry up and take that first ride.

[Dw89xj]

Laterals built, welding done, if it's nice tomorrow the transmission is going in the frame and I'm going to start bolting in axles bearings and sprockets and routing chains. I swear though, Everytime I think I'm done buying bolts I need to buy more bolts lol. A couple cuts and drill a few holes for my shift linkage and my split shift will be kind of done. I got cool guy shift knobs for them so that's going to be a surprise for later. Some rust-oleum to seal it all up and I'm almost able to ride.

[Dw89xj]

Split shifter idea simple and easy

[Dw89xj]

Dropped a bunch of coin on the hustler this week. But I'm down to little dumb stuff and all the major stuff is bought. As soon as I get this welding done it should be short work to get this baby rolling on its own. 530 chains and links ordered mfg supply, 1 Richards axle, 7 more motor mounts to complete the set also from Richards. Drums courtesy of WFO. All the bolts for inner and outer bearings. If TSC is open when I get off work tonight I'll buy all new axle and sprocket tube bolts and a couple idlers for my t20 chains, I'm not sure if it's supposed to be sliders or rollers to keep the t20 chains off the frame or what but it's getting rollers on bottom too. Working on redesigning the shifter so it's not jamming in the back of my leg or having my leg rest against it when driving. Just something simple from 1/4" flat bar against the left side, so if anyone is in need of a factory shifter and link I will have it available in the next few weeks. Still undecided on a split shifter setup or just let it single shifter.

[Dw89xj]

Before I spend 350 bucks on chain and links, is there any reason I can't use 530 chain? My sprockets look spaced out enough to me and I no longer have any factory tensioners except for the t20 chains.

[Dw89xj]

Ha. Got the input on the wrong side. At least it's not completely back together.

I had it all together except the case bolts, last night night I looked at it after coming in from doing some hustler stuff and I thought wait something is off here, I looked s little closer and was like aww maaannn, I screwed this one up, the guys on the 6x6 site are gonna love this hahaha. Oh well that's what I get for not paying closer attention. Lol.

Johnboy, that's kind of what I was thinking when adjusted it would float where it's at I guess the skinny spot, these seem like a great solution for in a tight area. I'm going to go ahead and pull the trigger on a set, they will be dear but I think in the end worth it.

[john swenson]

dan 89 ... i have used the floating snap idlers a no. of times and had good performance with them. there needs to be some slack in the chain so when the 2 pieces are pulled together , they will float in that center point . i have also secured them in that position to make sure they did'nt run to a end . just depends on how tight a spot they are placed . hen you use those type , there is not really a slack side . johnboy va.

[dirtdobber]

Ha. Got the input on the wrong side. At least it's not completely back together.

[Dw89xj]

Okay, eagle eyes ,
Well let's hear it �� I funked one up.

[Dw89xj]

After a few hours reading this morning, after not being able to fall back to sleep, I have decided to go with the 530 chain from mfg supply, the tensile strength is 9790, most of the #50 I've been able to find specs for were in the 6-7000# range. I also found a thread where kghills mentioned his pin counts as follows-
86 t20 to pizza pans
118 fronts
112 rears
Sound about right? These are all lengths mfg sells pre cut so that makes life a tad easier.
Still leaning toward snap idle tensioners, the only issue I can see, since removing the factory tensioners is the square cross members may stop them from from moving close to the sprocket when changing direction. Or do the snap idles pretty much stay put when adjusted? Has anyone tried the snap idle concept but instead of the side straps use eye bolts and heavy springs to keep constant tension? In my mind it would be like a cheap redneck centaur tensioner where it would have tension on either side so changing direction wouldn't add stress to the tensioner when the slack side changes. Or the springs would at least allow it to absorb (some of) the shock rather then just busting off the studs or wallering out the bolt holes in the straps.

Edit- rain rain go away, I got some welding todo today....