980 hustler nos build

[thebuggyman1]

Excellent work Thomas!

Great work on the split shifter and frame upgrades. That NOS body looks like a FUN project, and the "old" body still looks great, too. I wish I had one of the NOS lowers. I think I'd try to redrill the frame for more wheel spacing. I haven't taken VERY good measurements on mine, but I think it's feasible to fit 28" or 29" tires without creating huge headaches.

I'm looking at the axle holes in the tub Mike.....It sure looks like the frame could be cut and spliced much the same as I did with the MaxII. [IMG][/IMG]

[hydromike]

I'm looking at the axle holes in the tub Mike.....It sure looks like the frame could be cut and spliced much the same as I did with the MaxII.

I know, right? You might have to go with smaller secondary sprockets, but with the 40-tooth primaries, the secondaries really don't care if they're several teeth smaller to clear the front and rear crossmembers of the frame. If you could move the center line of the front and rear sprocket holes by 1.25", that's two 5/8" pitch (#50) chain links. Soooo..... you'll start getting close to the front and rear humps on the lower tub, but you might still be able to run 29s. I'm going to go out to the garage and measure.....

EDIT:: Yeah... I think 29s would work just fine with a 1.25" front and rear stretch, along with a centering of the middle axle.

[thebuggyman1]

Thats exactly what you need Mike.....another half done project. If you didn't own a thousand machines you wouldn't have anything to ride.

[marshgunner]

Will the center sprocket still end up in the hump on the lower tub or will you need to steel a set of sprockets off of a 900 or something like that?

[jpswift1]

While you have the frame out, you might want to fab up a something for a T-20 hold down that bolts into the two top bolt holes on each case half. Trust me, you'll be very happy that you did and save yourself many headaches in the future. The T-20's have quite the tenancy to "walk out" of the stock Hustler transmission mount/cradle. So far, so good......she looks great!

[highrollinmopars]

Will the center sprocket still end up in the hump on the lower tub or will you need to steel a set of sprockets off of a 900 or something like that?

Already looked into it. I can leave the center sprocket where its at and cut the frame in half behind the transmission mount so the center sprocket would stay centered or I can just leave the frame intact and move the rear axle back inside the frame as it is. Trouble is I can at max move the axle back 1" with the factroy rear sprocket and the flange only has about 2" it can go back if you didnt worry about sprocket clearance. . You could fit 28"s easily under it that way without even recentering the middle sprocket. The front I can probably squezze another 1" out of maybe more if I got creative. Ill have to see how much clearance the tub will allow for frame streching when I get to that point. The biggest hangup I had is that I cant find a tire that I liked in a 28" that I knew would swim and turn well with this machine. My first choice would have been vampires but I can only get a 28x10x12 thats the widest they make. Then I thought outlaws but I was told they dont turn well on a skid steer with a t20. I was told the mud-ox can run them due to the abililty to counter steer. I would rather have a 26x13x12 Vampire asx and have 3" of extra width rather than the 1" under the tub you would gain with a 28x10 tire. That was just my theory. I plan on putting tracks on this machine and I dont know of a tire bigger than my 26" goodyear terras a that track will still fit on. I just dont think it would be worth extra work for the minimal gain. What do you guys think?

[highrollinmopars]

While you have the frame out, you might want to fab up a something for a T-20 hold down that bolts into the two top bolt holes on each case half. Trust me, you'll be very happy that you did and save yourself many headaches in the future. The T-20's have quite the tenancy to "walk out" of the stock Hustler transmission mount/cradle. So far, so good......she looks great!

I know its really common but so far I havnt had a problem with the t-20 mount. I am doing as you suggested and beefing it up though. An hour of work here could save me a weekends work some other time.

[highrollinmopars]

Looks great! Two BIGFOOTs (bigfeet) certainly makes for a cool 6x6 fleet. Sorry to hear about your bad luck with Richard Clark ripping you off for a center sprocket that didn't fit for $275. That's so typical of him and that's why I tell everyone to avoid him. Here's a better alternative. Call up the guys at Buffalo Bearing at (716) 874-1720. Tell them you're working on a 6 wheeler and you're going to need some sprockets. They'll order the correct sprockets with any center bore size that you like. Get some DOM tube for the sprocket tube, measure the outside diameter and then order the correct sprockets from Buffalo Bearing. Take them to a machine shop and have them welded on and the holes drilled for the sprocket pin/bolt. Now you'll have brand new ones at a MUCH, MUCH lower price than Richard Clark charges. The quality will be much better as well.

If I would have known that they could get me sprockets in any bore size I would have absoluetly done that from the get go. I could only find sprockets in a 3/4 bore and my bench on my lathe will not provide adequate clearance to turn the bigger sprockets. I may have to give them a call as I still need 6 sprockets and 5 axles for my next build. As well as a t-20. If anybody had some parking brake disc that mounted on the t-20 that would be killer. I have the factory caliper setup with the pads on another frame.

[highrollinmopars]

I am pretty happy with my split shifter setup. It seemed like the simplest way to do it and I though it looked kinda factory made. I even had a matching shifter for the right side.

[hydromike]

The biggest hangup I had is that I cant find a tire that I liked in a 28" that I knew would swim and turn well with this machine. My first choice would have been vampires but I can only get a 28x10x12 thats the widest they make. Then I thought outlaws but I was told they dont turn well on a skid steer with a t20. I was told the mud-ox can run them due to the abililty to counter steer.

If you've built a twin-stick shifter for your T-20, you'll have the ability to "counter-steer".

[highrollinmopars]

If you've built a twin-stick shifter for your T-20, you'll have the ability to "counter-steer".

But from what I was told you would have to counter steer just to turn. I dont want to have to switch from forward to reverse just to make a turn. Ive never run outlaws on aatv but from what Ive heard they dont turn well on a skid steer. The biggest reason I wanted the split shifter was for swimming. I can make alot tighter turns in the water with it. It will also come in handy if get in a bind and need to turn around I guess, but I think it would be very tough on the weak frames these Hustlers already have problems with.

Dont get me wrong im not saying you can modify a Hustler to run 29"+ tires because you can. Im just saying if I where to go through all that I dont want to be stuck with a big monster tire that wont swim or wont perform as well as a smaller 26 like the asx would. If interco would make a 30" Vampire ASX then I would be cutting up my frame right now.

[jpswift1]

Some of the earlier Hustler frames such as the ones in the fiberglass bodies like the 880 were a bit weaker than the newer 945, 950, and 980 models, but these later model frames were pretty well built.

[Stonewall]

Don't go overboard on tire size, BW6 tried to use a T-20 in his custom made amphib, but it couldn't handle the torque required to turn the 30" tires he had. If you want to go that big you need to look into a more robust drive and steering system.

[hydromike]

Don't go overboard on tire size, BW6 tried to use a T-20 in his custom made amphib, but it couldn't handle the torque required to turn the 30" tires he had.

I'd be astonished if the T-20 couldn't turn 30s with 40-tooth primary sprockets on the centers. Is it the T-20 ITSELF that was having problems? Without going back to re-read his posts, did anything break? Band slippage?

[Stonewall]

I'd be astonished if the T-20 couldn't turn 30s with 40-tooth primary sprockets on the centers. Is it the T-20 ITSELF that was having problems? Without going back to re-read his posts, did anything break? Band slippage?

If I remember correctly, the input shaft twisted in two. Even with the reduction in the sprockets, you still have to have alot of torque to turn tires that big.