Dan67's Hustler 950 Rebuild

[fasteddiesllc]

that's what I'm talkin' about Dan, great pics of the shifter set up....gives me a few more ideas about this cabled cr@p that is stock in this buggy...since I recently blew the 440 that was in it, it is a great time for some new mods...if only this heat wave would cooperate

[Dan67]

I'm hoping to pick it up from the fabricators tomorrow after work. Got half the body band done before the guy working on mine got pulled off to a higher priority job..

[Dan67]

I got it home today, it is over budget so I had to stop off short. The rear bumper and tires will have to wait a bit longer, maybe after Christmas. I really like the way they did the body band. Cut and bent flat stock for the corner sides and cut out the top from plate steel and welded it as 1 piece, then welded to the long 1.5" angle steel. The front bumper is really beefy, mounts to the body band and to the front band supports, Allot like the stock bumper but mounted to steel on the inside and not just to the body. I'll post some pictures tomorrow after work. Tomorrow will be the second disassemble before repainting all the metal. Thinking of seeing if I can get a hunter green.

[lewis]

Sounds like a government job Dan...but don't be down, all builds wind up that way. We always like to figure on the low side....it's a justification thing. Keep plugging, your doing well.

[Dan67]

Paint Time

I picked up some primer and paint the other day and I wanted to start Saturday afternoon, but mother nature had plans for rain instead. I started with cleaning the front bumper then painting it primer white. I'll get it finished first and then proceed next to the body band followed by the frame last.

[Stonewall]

I know your money frustrations...my $500 engine swap is looking more like $1500-2000, which is why there has been null progress... Looking great so far!

[Dan67]

Spent some quality daddy-daughter time painting the front bumper "Hunter Green" this evening. I know she was getting bored but she stuck it out. I enjoyed her company very much.

[Dan67]

Another evening of painting completed. Body band is now primed. Even late at night its still dang hot.

[Dan67]

I finished painting the body band and decided to take an evening to relax. Started back this evening and got the body apart, then noticed a problem. The guy who was going to cut out the lower body for me screwed up big time. I told him how I wanted him to cut the lower lip and he failed me. He cut way too much off the lower tub lip. I told him several times and he replied he completely understood how I wanted it cut.. he cut the lower lip down to 3/4", its too short now and none of the body bolts are right. Only way I can think to fix it is to go and plastic weld a 5/16" strip back onto the lip to what it should be. Any advice guys? I can never win a battle, maybe I'll be able to win the war. But the way things look now, it might be next April before I can have fun in it.

Dan

[jerseybigfoot]

I'd just use a wider piece of steel on the body as a lower body band and clamp the body between steel. Maybe run some blind rivets through the lower body band to hold the lower tub

[lewis]

Pictures will help. There is nothing that can not be worked through.

[Dan67]

Agreed Lewis, there is nothing that cannot be worked through. Thanks for the idea Jersey. Just gonna take a few days off to figure some things out. I think I will get some 5/16" round stock and weld it to the edge of the lower body band. And sand that down to fit the top lip. While I'm at it I will refill in all the holes and redo them. I will get two 8' sections of 1" flat steel and make a lower band for the sides. I used the only bolts I had at the time, 5/16" think I will get some 1/4" instead. I might patch the 1.5" angle top holes another time. I still need to redo the front body band support as they did a hack job when they tried to fix it earlier. I'll cut it off with a grinder and get a different shop to make the front bracket and some 3/16" shims for the front and rear supports. I'll have to trim some of the lip off the front of the upper tub to get enough steel between the tubs to mount the winch and bumper.

With me having to work 7 days a week, it is really slowing me down on what I can get accomplished. And being short on funds hurts too. Any idea where I can get a good plastic welder for a reasonable amount?

[Dan67]

I have not done anything in the past couple weeks. It has been really busy at work and I'm pretty well burned out too. Funds are starting to build slowly. Still not sure if the fall Busco is realistic or not at this point. I started to clean some more parts in my mini washer, only to discover it started leaking as soon as I started refilling the tub. Now I need a new parts washer. Think I'll just buy a larger metal one this time. So tonight I'll order my plastic welder and a bunch of stuff from McMaster-Carr. My list of stuff I need to get is slowly getting smaller. I'm hoping to actually get a 3 day weekend for labor day. I hope the stuff gets here soon.

[Dan67]

Had a good weekend of doing nothing important. Just waiting on parts and tools to arrive. FedEx came today with my Urethane Supply Model 6 Airless Plastic Welder. And UPS with parts from McMaster-Carr. Still waiting on HDPE welding rod from US Plastics Corp. Still waiting on a muffler and electric fan I got from eBay.

[Dan67]

Got my muffler in today, but I never got the mounting hardware. Just more things going wrong.. Anyway I decided to get back to doing some last minute cleaning and I started to take the old inner bearings apart so I can go ahead and replace the bearings in the flanges and have them ready to just bolt on. I was able to get only 2 of the bearings out. I was having a helluva time trying to get the others out. So I stopped and cleaned up the 2 I did get out and found some numbers stamped on them and thought I'd just order some replacements. What I found is the manufacture LUTCO and the US Patent Number 4207659. Best I can figure is that the bearings are pressed into the flange at the factory and not designed to be removed, but replaced as a whole. There is not a grease zerg on these or any release to pull the bearing out of the flange. Guess I'll head by tractor supply to see if they have any stamped steel flanges I can use.