New to me Tri-Cart Project

[racerone3]

After months of constant begging, I finally conceded to take a Tri-Cart project off Hydromike's hands In truth, he probably got sick of me asking for updates on the project finally turned it over to me. I picked it up last weekend at the Porkslap Jamboree, and it has been in pieces tied to the roll cage of my Hustler ever sense due to some travel and medical issues. Yesterday, I got it off the bigfoot and into the shop.

This machine had been badly damaged by (presumably) a broken chain, and Mike had already done a great job of repairing the fiberglass body. My first order of business was to locate and drill the holes for the rear axle bearings. once those were done it was pretty easy to have the machine a roller again.

The seat has been trashed, repaired, and trashed again... "repairs" have been made with every material one could imagine. After grinding all of the repairs away from the backside, I laced the cracks together with stainless wire, and applied the same mix of ABS Goo, and Fiberglass cloth that is holding my 8x8 Attex together. once it dries, I will grind all the fiberglass, sheet metal and bondo from the front side and apply the Glass/ Goo treatment there as well. Hopefully once finished it will look ok and hold up well.

The next hurdle will be the Jack shaft. It is absent from the machine. I need to look at some pics in the gallery to confirm my ideas,but I don't think it will prove too hard to build one. I have a secondary clutch on the way so the only major part to locate is the actual shaft ( local bearing house) and sprocket. (need to find out the tooth count and chain pitch for the jackshaft sprocket) the sprocket for the rear axle is in pretty rough shape so I would like to replace it too.

I have an 11HP Briggs that I had prepped for the build, but it may end up being too tall. This machine will end up far from stock, and certainly won't be a period correct restoration... If the body needs to be trimmed a bit to fit the engine that I have It won't break my heart. The briggs is electric start with a charge circuit. I plan to have the start and kill buttons mounted in the handle bar ends...

Rear tires are both TOASTED. Beads are torn. I am hopeful that I can vulcanize some rubber in place to keep the exposed bands from puncturing tubes. If that works, I plan to drill a second valve stem hole on the inside of the rim and use 2 tubes per tire (due to the tremendous width of these tires)

The handlebar and one of it's clamps were also missing when Mike got the machine. I plan to fabricate them tomorrow so I can see if my ideas for controls will work, or if I need to go back to the drawing board.

I'm already scheming on how to get this machine to Busco in the fall along with the three amphibs that will be on the trailer

[Mike]

Nice! You have to get it done by Busco so you can ride wheelies around hydromike and rub it in.

[racerone3]

The tank Trainer took way too long. I hope to have this one rolling in about 2 weeks. I suspect dry time for fiberglass and abs goo may be the biggest hurdles to that goal. If I can't make the engine fit, I will also have to back up and punt on that one....

[fasteddiesllc]

R13, the seat molding that you have applied goo glass mix to...is that abs plastic or is that a fiberglass mold? I am having a hard time trying to figure out what to do about a broken mold in this gotcha that I recentlt recieved.. I noticed the pic of I believe the goo mix, please advise and correct me if I am wrong..

[racerone3]

The seat for the tri-cart is made from ABS. not sure about the gotcha??? This method seems to be holding up well, although the tank trainer got it's first good test last weekend, and I have yet to pull the floor pan and inspect things

[fasteddiesllc]

sometimes I can post a pic...and sometimes I can't

R13, the seat molding that you have applied goo glass mix to...is that abs plastic or is that a fiberglass mold? I am having a hard time trying to figure out what to do about a broken mold in this gotcha that I recentlt recieved.. I noticed the pic of I believe the goo mix, please advise and correct me if I am wrong..

[fasteddiesllc]

gotcha is abs plastic...busted and missing a large chunk. not sure which direction to go from here.(wouldn't it be nice for a member to just happen to have an unneeded one laying about)

The seat for the tri-cart is made from ABS. not sure about the gotcha??? This method seems to be holding up well, although the tank trainer got it's first good test last weekend, and I have yet to pull the floor pan and inspect things

[hydromike]

gotcha is abs plastic..

I thought Gotchas were all fiberglass....

[wildman]

Racer, Congratulations on entering the Tricart world. I should be able to provide you with any dimensions, photos, sketches or sprocket tooth counts, etc. of any original items that you need. Regarding the seat shell, dkesonset recently had an interesting repair done on his. Maybe he'll chime in here and describe it better than me, but basically he took it to a Line-X bedliner franchise and they repaired it, then applied 1 coat of their material to bottom side and 2 coats to top side. He said it fits and looks great. The concern was that the thickness of the material would affect the fit to the body, but apparently it was a non-issue.

[racerone3]

Thanks for chiming in Wildman. currently I need to know the tooth count (and pitch) of the jackshaft sprocket. Also some measurements on the handlebars would be helpful. Overall height, and width at the widest point.

I think my repairs on the seat shell will work out well. The big hurdle there is keeping my son's butt out of the seat long enough to get any work done on it

Yesterday I got a set of makeshift handlebars built, and installed my mockup homemade jackshaft (broken attex axle) once I source the sprocket and secondary clutch, I will pick up the 1" round stock with keyway that my local bearing house keeps on the shelf.

I built the handlebars from (cheap) 1/2" water pipe. My pipe bender will only do a 90* bend, so I had to weld a 90 and a 45 together to get the required 135* once I'm happy with the dimensions, I will final weld everything and grind the welds down. If they look ok, I'll use them, and if not they will be a good pattern for a set made with tubing.

[wildman]

Racer,
When I get home tonite, I'll measure the handlebars and count sprocket teeth. There are 2 different handlebar styles... one open with gap between the grips and one closed loop. I never figured out how they made the closed one unless they installed the grips, etc first, then finished bending it without damaging the chrome. I'm pretty sure that the drive chain is #35 (3/8" pitch) and big sprocket is 80 teeth. I will confirm tonite. The sprocket in your photos doesn't appear to be the original.

[racerone3]

Thanks for your input, and for looking into things for me. I had noticed a few handlebar types, as well as a couple different cutout shapes in the body above the engine.

This morning I went out and tried several pitches of chain on my existing sprocket. I settled on #40. Went to the bearing store and bought the keyed shaft, hub and jackshaft sprocket (chose a gear ratio based on old notes and memories from my go kart racing days...)

This afternoon I got the new pieces in place along with a plywood imitation of a driven clutch (real one should be here later in the week). The engine I have intended for the build might fit. I trimmed the body and can go a little more. I may have to customize a little of the engine sheet metal as well. The driven clutch I have coming is a good bit larger than the original and will require some glass work to make it fit. I will also have to get rather creative with the engine mount to get it to clear the driven.

Having never really looked one of these machines over before taking possession of mine, I never would have guessed how little room there was to cram a lot of stuff!

Wildman, do I have things laid out roughly where they should be in my pics?

[wildman]

Racer,
Pictures and sketch of handebar below... Also jackshaft.








Let me know if you need other dimensions for the handlebar. The drive chain originally was #35. The small sprocket has 11 teeth.

Yeah... it looks like you have everything pretty much where it should go. There's not a lot of options. It's a tight fit for most stuff in the back of that thing. They pretty much made the body to fit the components.

This is the rear of an original one w/o engine.

[dkesonset]

Tricarts are the Past....and the future?????

Racerone3,

The Tricart ownership group increases by one. Outstanding!!! You have your work cut out for you but when done, guaranteed to turn some heads. You did what I did not have the nerve to do....cut into the body. I was concerned it may weaken the back half of the machine. Hope it holds up well for you. I had a 9HP Electric start Techumseh ready to go on my tricart, but could not fit it without cutting the body. So I purchased a new Workhorse 414CC four stroke. The cylinder is slanted backwards, which answers the tall dimension problem. It hauls the cart very well. Also, I found some gator rims and tires $30 for the pair - brand new. They sit alot higher than the originals, but almost as wide. They also add to the top end speed. I stayed with the #35 roller chain, but I wish I had switched to #40 chain and sprocket. As far as the seat, We'll see if my seat repair stands up to the test of time and wear & tear.

Sounds like Wildman answered most of your concerns. He is absolutely the "go to" guy for the tricart. In case you are interested, here is a link to my restoration video if you haven't seen it yet. Tricart Restoration.MPG - YouTube

Dkesonset

[racerone3]

My dream of having it done in a week or 2 was probably a bit optomistic. I'm trying to spend as much of the next 2 weeks as possible doing "fun stuff" with my son before school starts. Lawn mower business seems to be picking up a little bit again so any shop time I get is going towards that. I did get bearings and fuel tank sealer ordered. I think with a full day or 2 of work It could be a runner. then tear it all down and make it look good.

I'm not too worried about the cutting of the body. If it were to pose a big issue, I could always glass the piece back in. the 440 Tricart is cut out very similarly so I think it will be ok (fingers crossed )