Muscateer out for a drive

[riotwarrior]

And now continuing on from where we left off

Ah clearly this came off from about here


and kinda sorta in place


So this appears that a 3 bolt flange was welded to a sleeve that was welded to the alxes' end, this is factory and as far as I'm concerned clearly not strong enough for the punishment I dish out!


So this weld here


Should also be here, along with the plug weld on the end, and maybe even a plug weld in two spots through that sleeve onto axle


Then the whole assembly bolts to these adapters, which when added to big grippy tyres created a tremendous amount of force and well....is it really any wonder why that weeee little weld broke based on the abuse I dolled out?


So now I'll work on getting it all back together and welded up then thoroughly inspect the other 5 axles and weld the sleeves to the axle as well.


yuppers that's a broken weld



I'll likely grind out all that schmeg weld there inside the sleeve after some measurements for location


That would enable me to re-weld that sleeve onto the end and circumferentially around the sleeve




That should be enough to make it strong and safe and hope it wont break again. Once I get going a bit further with repairs I'll for sure post more info

Thanks for looking

[riotwarrior]

Just got off phone with my good friend Steve AKA Amphiman, and he's got some Muscateers and one he be parting out.

Means to me that I can get some tensioners and replacement drive sprockets.

Hope this comes through make my work much simpler. I could take all his drive sprockets including shot ones and refab up some #50 chain cogs and that would allow an upgrade in chains, tensioners are easy to change out sprockets on so this may be cats meow...

Wait n see, may even have some axles and axle housings Hmmm...I can see it now....

[riotwarrior]

On my rear sprocket you can see greater than 180 degree of chain wrap on the sprocket, this eliminates chain skip from my observations


Buried down low you see the MIDDLE wheel drive sprocket and about 120 degrees maybe of chain wrap, that is where I'm getting my chain chatter from what I can tell. You can see the tensioner and I may need to add an idler as well on the underside of lowest chain tightening the wrap on that sprocket.


Ah. chain teeth bent over like shark fins...you bet that's chain chatter


inner axle bearing race


main axle tube which is completely grease filled BTW


Outer axle bearing


looking through axle housing


from inside back face of wheel adapter to tub clearance, no idea what other machines are but this one is what I have


From tub to outter bearing is about 7"



Here I've got RED cable on my jack shaft showing about where disk brakes could go, first RH jack shaft then LH



So I hope this can be made to have more wrap for less chatter and that I have enough clearance for a set of tracks in the future..

Thanks for looking

[riotwarrior]

Thus today I assembled my axle back into my machine however first I swapped the front and middle sprockets locations, and then checked the chain for tension. First I backed off my forward tensioner 100% and then wrapped the chain with 1/2 link short, it appeared it would work with a master link so I removed the chain punched out a link and added a 1/2 link back in. Ah then comes the fight of drawing the chain together and installing master link which I managed without too much of a problem.

After much finaggling I got it to work and tensioned the chain. Wow that sucker is TIGHT NOW! Tighter than a N(*# C@*&

Assembled the chain cover and seat back in place, dropped my tyre pressures from 17 lbs to 1 1/2 lbs pressure and then took it for a run.

Wow what a machine with no chain chatter. Now I've got to see about shortening the LH side forward chain and getting it as tight as the right. I may even add a stationary idler that will load the middle sprocket more.

So while assembling the axle decided shoot some more images

Outer axle bearing with O ring inside for seal against water entering


dust/dirt seal and spring on axle ready to install


dust seal keeps most dirt out away from bearing seal



Here you can see how far out the axle rides from the bearing...NOT FAR


inside with sprocket in place on axle which is splined to shaft but not bolted yet


Locked down


Here screw driver is pointing to inner bearing, which is again right near sprocket, and that tube between ends is fully enclosed and filled with grease


looks funny like this but I can drive it like this


Anyway, I've a winch to finnish wiring up and that's it inside, so should get back at it.

I'll report back on how/if I can shorten the LH chain and keep chatter down. I'm quite excited to have this running kick ass.

Thanks for looking

[riotwarrior]

Out for a drive over to my buddy Brian's place to top up fuel tank and snapped a master link in RH front/md chain..DOH!

So removed the chain and drove home on RH rear and LH full side. Awkward but ya I made it.

Got the winch all wired up and working, I'm quite pleased that I'm only running the two wires out to winch from control as opposed to previous four wire setup.

I can now DUPLICATE that setup with some new solenoids for my rear winch setup. Excellent in deed as now I won't need to purchase a control box I can build one. Looks like some heavy duty solenoids from my stock of FORD solenoids will suffice just fine. I'll do some scrounging around and see what I can come up with.

Machine seems to be doing ok and sure hope I can locate some wheels soon and try out the run a muks as the bear claws are just way to grippy and don't slide well for steering in damp soil. I would think in thick mud they would be ideal but around the farm they seem way to grippy. Perhaps increasing tyre pressure from 1 1/2 lbs may offer a bit more crown..but no ride

Well that's bout it. I'm waiting on a friend to head out with his quad before I go far or out alone in bush and see how machine runs.

Thanks for reading

[riotwarrior]

Ahh...here is the lil stowage/glove box and winch controller box on top. The damn wires in controller box make it set crooked...oh well. I'll device something nicer for future but for now it works and that's what counts


Power lead is red and runs directly to battery. I had the two black cables and just rigged it up as you see here where I'm pointing to the ends bolted to cross bar. I've got to insulate the battery + and - yet, however I"m cautious right now while I work out kinks.


It's working quite well for me and I'm very pleased overall how winch now is setup compared to the box previously set attop the winch it's self.

I removed all the flashy blinky lights today and wiring and once I get a rear cover for engine and some kind of rack for front I'll rig up some flashy lights again. I'm hoping to have a cover in next few months, once I get rear winch mounted up first of course!

Well nuff for now..

Thanks for looking

[riotwarrior]

Decided to phone around and found some 1/8" hardboard for 9 bucks a sheet 1/4' IS 19 bucks a sheet.

Not entirely sure if I'll use either but I'm working on patterns for the gearbox engine covers and might be onto something to keep out noise and so forth.

I'll duplicate the pattern from the mesh that was in there under the seats prior to the diesel swap.

One thing that's sorely lacking is stowage so I may be onto an idea and a hinged lid for the engine cover. Then I can have my cake and eat it to. The cover will have short sides 1-2 inches that allow me to have about 20"x44" of flat space to load gear or what not onto. Then I can carry a pack or food water etc what ever I need. I may integrate a chain saw holder onto the right side as well.

Also plan on some form of lightweight rack /brushguard for the front.

Well once I get some of this sorted out I'll snap some pics, if you folks have any ideas let me know.

Thanks for looking

[riotwarrior]

wow took the machine out for a dig in the snow.....goes but sure can use tracks.

I was able to make pathes and then load 160 lbs of wood pellets on it and drive to house with them.

we have bout foot n half of snow powdry fluffy stuff.

I can see that tracks would make it unstoppable.

After a run around here I drove it to store and back it worked well even on unplowed roads and so forth.

couldnt imagine a more versatile machine what so ever...once there is some cargo capability I can sure see this being a great tool

ifn had a plow I would be plowing away today for sure lol.

well nuff for now might go do a few more runs after lunch. seems to be way ro much fun in the deep stuff

[john swenson]

good for you riot, send us some snow over here. may get 1'' tonite. big deal !! have fun. johnboy va.

[riotwarrior]

As I'm always on the hunt to upgrade and or modify, this is something I came across today...Hmm..

HI/LOW range box...hmm...

1995 Polaris Xplorer 400 4x4 Complete Transmission High and Low Gear Case Good | eBay

Now that connected to my Hagen and I'm set for hi speed and low speed...Hmm...

Can keep up with quads on fire roads and then cruise a trail as needed in low...

[riotwarrior]

Had a great run yesterday as far as we could before running into snow that was deep and a log rather large in size blocking further progress up to Barcelo Falls.

Thus here are a few pictures and I'll get vids up ASAP

This washout section is difficult and my friend Darrell on his quad figured I'd not make it...lil did he know what 6x6 can do!



and one of the five creek crossings, this one was super easy, a few others up higher are more difficult and especially in spring run off





My buddy Darrell and I at a break


I really like this shot




Darrell and the quad, a 400 or 450 IIRC


While on the break I looked up at sky for weather rolling in...none,however we had half expected a change for light snow, anyway I say this was spectacular and the photo does not do justice to seeing a rainbow overhead in the sky...ice crystals in the air I suspect


We rode about 2 hours up and back, my machine makes it slower on the fast sections of road...UGH, must work on two speed and higher road gearing!

It was a fantastic day, and outside of a constant issue with boiling over the rad, the Muscateer performed flawlessly in travel. I am very impressed overall with how it did.

That washout was a blast mind you it was also tricky as the rocks are super sharp and can cut a tyre like nothing, thankfully my tyres are 6ply and tough!

Monday I'm inquiring on some gaskets and will look at removing and cleaning radiator and installing it and a temp gauge too...

Thanks to Darrell we had a great time, as it's not a trip I'd want to do myself alone.

Tracks would have got me much further too....as I likely could have if not for tree gone all the way!

Vids coming soon

Thanks for looking

[Outlaw1]

In a word; "KOOWAL"

[riotwarrior]

In a word; "KOOWAL"

Thank you....vids are still coming...huge to upload..

Got my buddy John Deere Brian to bring over the rad/cap tester...

Theres the start of yer issue right there ya dumbass...

One cap barely holds 6-7 lbs...the other cap...pffft pfft pfft with each pump of tester needle goes up and then immediately right back down to 0. Hmmm....wonder if not holding coolant in long enough to cool it with fan has .. A N Y T H I N G....to do with over heating hmmm????

So as of this morning I ordered a rad to block gasket and when it gets here I'll pull the engine, remove the rad, flush block with CLR flush rad with CLR and take it to a rad shop to fix the stupid section where it was dented years ago...sure hope we don't need to ahem...replace rad that would suck. I'll look at getting some plugs to fit a coolant temp sensor in too for a guage.

While it's out I'll modify the exhaust to accept an adapter for a PYRO too...WTH eh?

So Now I wait and use it very little.... just when it's proven itself to be a decent machine!

Well thanks for looking

Al

[riotwarrior]

Did a bit of tin work, or brass work LOL and got rad to seal but not HOLD pressure it will build now and bleed off.

This has proven to be moderately effective at helping cool machine down.

Guess I have to get rad removed and that cap fitting removed and tank sealed so only one rad cap sits on rad if possible...

Gotta get this taken care of as 40+ C temps coming and that won't allow for any shortcomings what so ever!

Oh and damn HD vids are huge so gotta get onto a wireless point instead of my cell phone to upload em....way to big..maybe have a plan hint hint nudge nudge wink wink

Thanks for looking

[riotwarrior]

K LIL over 3 hours to upload one vid a 5 minute one...ugh...the next one will be bout same to upload but around 15 minutes.

So here is the first part of the return trip last saturday out with Darrell a fellow SAR member.

Listen to that whine of my transmission as I run down the trail..

http://youtu.be/xl6wY52hpN0

That's what It's like riding along with me LOL

I'll post the others when they are uploaded.

Thanks for looking