converting to hydraulic drive in scrambler

[brucemdye]

hi
i just got a 69 scrambler and im thinking about converting to a hydraulic drive system. i wanted to know if any body else has convereted a 6x6 to a hydraulic drive system other then the factor ones. if so what i kneed to know is what size hydraulic motors did you use. i have been looking for them and i dont know how many rpms i need and how much tork it needs. i would like to go about 25 to 30 mph in it with the original 500 pound load limit.
thanks for the help bruce dye

[jerseybigfoot]

Sorry to advise you this but. The best speed the machine will do is 12-15 mph taking in consideration about 20 hp and reasonable priced hydraulics. At the end of day you will have spent thousands on two high torque motors and a tandem variable pump, hydraulic tank, cooler,hoses, filters and oil. This design will also need the existing axles and chains as there is no room in the tub for individual wheel motors without building a supporting steel frame through the hull.
I have a t-20 transplanted in a scrambler racer that works very well and currently working on an argo transmission transplant for another Scrambler.
There are some surplus hydraulic zero turn mower axles that will make a compact less expensive package but the speed will be even less if you gear it for climbing over obstacles.

[kd7alt]

Hi, I am curently working on a catagator 8x8. It will be expensive to convert to hydrosatic drive, unless you can find a surplus place to buy your parts. I have found one place on line>https://www.surpluscenter.com< I have puchased some items from them. But it will take alot of work and framing to ad motors to the unit. My project is a steel body and has frame in it. I have purchased a good running 27hp 2cyl diesel and have a 30gpm 3000psi pump, four 10hp hydrostatic motors and lots of phone calls to hydraulic places for info. Best of luck.

73's de kd7alt

[chris davison]

I dont think you will have enough HP for that pump HP= gpm x psi divided by1714 x pump efficiency or 85% by these calcs it would take 41.2 hp to get 30 gpm at 2000 psi. Directly from paul monroe hyd manual.

[kc5dil1225]

I think you are on the right track. don't know about 30 mph. my ztr runs around 12 mph with a24hp briggs. it has held up for 8 years. I pull cut down trees, 30foot pontoon boat. I bought an old argo bigfoot. the frame is rusted out in several places. all the chains and sprockets are bad, so are the bearings. I'm considering building a new frame and going to a track drive without floation tires, just wheels and raise the body up 6" for more ground clearance. the ztr motors could drive the whole thing mounting them up front and high. Noel

[brushcutter]

Leading Manufacturer of Precision Drive Solutions - Hydro-Gear - ZT-5400 Powertrain®
I seriously considered converting the trackster to these when I discovered the hydros had issues. Probably would have if I had a spare vertical engine in the high 20s laying around. 700 lbs/ft peak is a bunch of torque! I don't think 30 mph is a realistic goal, the expense would be prohibitive and it would be a heavy setup by the time you got enough engine, reservoir, pump, cooling system... but hey, if you manage to figure it out please let us know how, there are several on the site who have shown interest through the years. I have all ideas that the 5400s would be fantastic to use for a ground up build. good luck with whatever you decide, can't wait to see what you come up with!

If I were to do a start to finish build this is the drive it would be built around, no tires, tracks only. A hybrid you could say, something between a trackster and a marsh master but not quite either one.

[allwheeldrive]

The Scrambler also makes a terrible AATV to do such a conversion to. By default the entire machine was designed to be super lightweight, a hydraulic 6x6 / 8x8 is going to be extremely heavy thousands of pounds heavy just look at mudd-oxs. I'd almost say this was borderline impossible, by the time you reinforced the no-chassis scrambler it wouldn't even be a scrambler anymore, would be easier to just build something from scratch than such a conversion on such a machine. Electric conversion is another story have tinkered with the idea.