My Trackster Build

[brushcutter]

Thanks for the kind words all. Noel, December (typing with fingers crossed) sounds possible, hoping to be duck hinting and flushing snipe with it come November. I joined a hunting lease about a mile from the house, which has a monster beaver pond on it. It must be around 30 acres when full and should be a good place to test this things ability. Coop, I would think the same thing except that I ordered the entire rear frame and it's related parts all new from Craig. And if you think about it, the 7 tooth would have been longer to take up the slack for the smaller diameter sprocket ( I could be wrong about that though), could I have gotten a longer track or something? BTW you wouldn't happen to have a few pics of how the firewall and related sheet metal all fit together that you could post up would you... or send in a pm ... or email or snail mail or... Sure would be a BIG help ya know...

[Coop]

I'll look at the Trackster I have stuffed in the back of the garage, it doesn't have an engine in it, I can't remember if any of the tin work in still in it, I don't think so, if I remember correctly, somebody started a conversion on it and took all the tin out, been awhile since I looked at it. I should be home tomorrow, I'll take some pics for you if there are any to take.

Coop

[brushcutter]

We have been busy with some other projects but we have managed to get the engine cover cut and the alternator cover built and installed. 001.jpg

Since we aren't going back with the original driveshaft and things are moved to different positions, the installation of the sound panel and left and right filler panels 002.jpg will probably not be done, especially since somebody didn't order the firewall when he ordered the rest of the parts. This is where I'm hoping Coop is ready to offer advice... If I understand correctly, the original sheet metal served the purpose of providing ducting which allowed cool air to be drawn through the transmission cooler and to a separate central compartment. Also the parts mentioned earlier formed a similar compartment which allowed the engine to draw cool air in and also exhaust it into the central compartment. But, since I had to cut the engine cover, which creates a cool air intake for the engine and I have the necessary metal parts for the transmission cooler, plus a brand new 1800 cfm fan, My thoughts are that the other parts will only serve to congest the airflow, and are not needed. What do you guys think?

[Coop]

On my Trackster, I don't have any of the firewall tin installed, and I no longer have the fan mounted on the driveshaft either or the tinwork around that area. I simply mounted a fan on top of the cooler, it blows down thru it, into the engine/compartment, and out the side grills of the hood. I have the fan wired to a switch on the dash, I've thought about wiring the fan to the oil temp light switch so it would come on when the oil heats up, but not sure it would come on soon enough, unless I experimented with different value switches. I've never had the trans oil overheat, and I've ran it pretty hard a couple times in some hot weather.

Coop

[brushcutter]

That's great Coop not having all that sheet metal will open up some other possibilities and room. The pics are a HUGE help! I had been wondering about how to deal with the exhaust. It looks like I just need to cut and slightly extend the inlet tubes and that should have the exhaust taken care of. Then if I want I can route a flex line out through one of the original holes in the tub. That will depend on how noisy it is with it under the hood.

I have considered the same thing with the temp switch. My thoughts were to either add a tee where the unit threads into the transmission and add a lower value switch than the original. Or just replace the switch with a lower temp and go with that. Seems like I read somewhere what the value is on these, but danged if I can remember where right now. I'll do some diggin and see if I can find it and let you know. Also I was toying with the idea of adding an engine oil cooler, but there is no port in the 20 that I can find. No problem though, it doesn't seem like it would be all that hard to turn out a ported spacer to thread between the filter and base. Then route a couple of lines. But that will be later ya know, it can be built while I have spare time from riding.

Most important of all THANKS FOR THE PICS!!!!

[brushcutter]

If you have blond hair and blue or green eyes and a light complexion READ THIS!

I haven't posted anything on the build in a while, but that doesn't mean we have given up or even stopped working on it. I would post this in chit chat, but since it had a definite effect on my build, I thought it should go into this record.

There are some things in life you just NEVER want to have to do and August was pretty much a wash because I had the task of doing some of those things. It comes down to this: I had a mole on the back of my right arm, when the weather got warm and I started wearing short sleeves people would see it and ask "what did you do to your arm?" or " what is that on your arm" and prompt me to "have that looked at". I at first blew it off, but gave in and in June, went to see my Dr, who looked at it and said "there is no way I can do that here". On Aug 2 it was removed, by a surgeon, along with a good bit of surrounding tissue. The area immediately around the incision became red and itchy so I called the surgeon and was told it might be a reaction to the cleanser they used or the stitches. They were to come out on the 12th, but I received a call on the 8th, and was asked to come in for a "follow-up" that he wanted to see about the reaction I was dealing with. Turns out I am allergic to silk stitches. Then the worst news, cancer, a very aggressive, extremely unpredictable form, my stitches were removed, but the cut was only taped up because, instead of having that done as scheduled on the 12th, I was to have MAJOR surgery to remove about half the tissue on the back of the arm, and a signal node scan performed. Which means they inject a radioactive solution into the area nearest the site of the mole, then scan and remove the lymph nodes where the stuff shows up. I had to sit the triplets down and tell them God, that was HARD to do. Did that on Saturday Aug 10, knew they would need a day to adjust before school on Monday. The tissue tested negative, although there was a site where the crap had attached to a blood vessel. So we had to do a PET scan, which is one badassed scan, finds ALL cancer down to the size of a pin head. That also came back negative. Trouble is... remember the extremely unpredictable part... it's like Arnold... it'll be back, sooner or later, somewhere, it almost ALWAYS comes back. So If you meet the following criteria Light complexion, Blond hair, Blue or green eyes, history of cancer in the family, a lot of time in the sun, between 50 and 60 y/o and have moles... you might want to have that looked at. And FYI... the REALLY SCARY part... that mole never itched, burned, tingled, stung, bled, blistered or did anything else that would cause alarm. And would have killed me, might do that yet...

So now that you have read all that, let's get back to the build part. We managed to get the brush guard built, the skid plate and winch are installed, along with the back hitch. We built and installed an offset for the intake to allow clearance for the steering control rods, which was ok since the air box didn't have it's top when the machine was delivered anyway. We started getting the heat exchanger mounted, and found the seals on the hydrostat control rods are leaking, they didn't 18 months ago so I'll have to get those and install them, another delay, but things could be worse. Here are a few pics:

[Noel Woods]

Wow, that's quite a series of events. It had to be a shocker to go through all that turmoil. I'm glad things worked out, but man that had to be a tough talk to the family to get them up to speed. A story like this makes you appreciate life and to relook at all the stuff we take issue with in our daily affairs.

Brushcutter, that machine is looking really sharp. I'm glad its coming together so well, I can't wait to see the thing in action. This winter it should be complete right?

[brushcutter]

Indeed! August was a heckuva month, nothing would have surprised me more especially since as I said, the thing never once gave me a reason to suspect that I was going in for anything other than a simple slice and dice. That is one conversation I NEVER want to have again.

I spoke with a guy in Mississippi who rebuilds the hydrostats, he seemed to think he could get the 4 seals to me. I'll call him back tomorrow and hopefully get them headed my way. The boys want it going before opening of duck season, Nov19 here, and I think that is very possible. I don't really like the contrast the aluminum has against the dark grey, looks almost white, so that will be painted. Nothing too fancy, just a rattle can black that is easily touched up when it gets a scratch, which it will do a lot. What do you think? Once the seals are installed and hydros primed and oil cooler and fan are mounted then we will get the exhaust hooked up, run fuel lines and wiring, build a seat and dial everything in, so we are getting close.

[Coop]

Wow, heckuva month indeed, glad things turned out like they did. I had skin cancer removed from the bridge of my nose a few years ago, so I know where you are coming from.

The machine looks awsome. I myself like the aluminum color of the skid pan, like you said, it is going to get scratched anyway. That winch looks like it will have no problem pulling you out of a bad situation, but in my experiance with my Trackster, the winch gets used more for pulling other things out, they don't stick easily. Be sure to post some pics of it on the trails and in the water for the first time...

Coop

[brushcutter]

Hey Coop, yes it was a scary time, and as I said completely unexpected. Glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I plan to post some vids as soon as I can get the ol thang up and going. I was reading in the sundstrand manual Sunday and learned something, the series 15 u type hydrostat has ports for using implements, like a plow or similar with hydraulic cylinders, as long as the valve used is an open center type. I thought that was cool but due to the fact that the body in these are fiberglass, I don't know that I want to risk putting a dozer blade on it. I sure would hate to bust a hole in it after all the work we've put into the build. It looks as though the blade could be attached to the frame but one would still have to have a way to raise it. The one I have on my quad uses the winch to do that and although the bumper on the trackster is bolted to the transmission I am still concerned. I've had the back end of the Honda off the ground while rooting trees out and I just don't know if the trackster would handle that, given the fact that the Honda has a 2500# Warn, and the one on here is a Warn 3000rt. I would build it so that everything except the winch would be dropped when not being used, which can be built easily. Maybe later...

[Sixxer]

So weird. I had a large mole on the back of my left arm (yes, I'm light hair,skin,blue eyes) that had been growing since I met my wife 6 years ago. Last year she would comment on how big it was getting and I should go to the doctor. Well, I absolutely hate the hospital and never went. a few months later it started bleeding after I cut the edge of it in the shower (dam luffa!!). THEN my wife REALLY started to worry. I told her it was fine, it was self inflicted damage. 2 weeks later IT FELL OFF!! Completely healed underneath.The spot where it used to be stayed red for awhile, but it's barely noticeable now. I had that mole for as long as I can remember.
I'm sorry yours went a different direction.

[brushcutter]

Sixxer, I also detest going to a Dr, but I can safely say that single Dr visit saved my life, at least extended it for a number of years. I don't want to worry you but unless you've seen a Dr and had the area checked, that may not be a good thing. I urge you to at least make an appointment to have it checked, the reason being that as I stated mine never gave me any cause to think of it as anything other than a mole. About 4 years ago I had one removed from my upper left lip by my nose that for some reason went nuts and over the course of a 3 week period grew so tall it was sticking out past my mustache. I would have bet it was cancer, but after removal it was found to be absolutely clear of any cancer. Had I continued to ignore the advice of others, there is a better than 70% chance that the cancer would be in my lymph system by now, and I would pretty much be a walking dead man. The choice is yours to make, but look at it this way, the least that could happen is that you be told it is nothing, or you caught an impending disaster in the nick of time. Remember: mine never itched, tingled, burned, bled, turned red around or on it, didn't scale up and flake not at all at any time. absolutely no reason to suspect it for what it truly was... DEATH hiding beneath a relatively small spot of discolored skin.

The new seals for the control rods came in this evening, so I'll be pulling the Hydrostats tomorrow and installing them. Maybe if things go well, I'll be wiring the thing up this weekend and getting the transmission primed.

[Sixxer]

I need to go in anyway for something unrelated, but I'll ask him about it when I go. Thanks for the advice.

Anyway, I need to go to the beginning of this thread first. I have a lot of reading to do!!! I flipped through a few pages to see your project. Very cool. I thought about buying a track kit for my Terra Tiger, maybe someday.

[brushcutter]

I was thinking of starting this post with this because it would fit so good. I came home early, excited that I had the seals I ordered and would get them put in and the hydrostats reinstalled. It should only take about 1.5 hours to pull and replace them all. I yanked them out and pulled the first of the 4 seals, cleaned the shaft oiled the lip and set it in place to drive... wait for it... too small. Yep, they are wrong. I emailed then called the guy I got them from, but he is homeward bound from Tulsa and won't be home for several hours so it will be Monday before I can get any info or order the right(hopefully) ones. But since they are out I will replace every seal I can get to on the Hydrostats and that will be that much less to worry about. Heck the machine is only 41 years old, surely they haven't changed the shaft size in such a short time. Maybe I can do some seat building, or wiring, or get the oil cooler mount built. Think I'll have a few beers while I decide, that should help.

[brushcutter]

Well I'll be... I got a response from Ricky(my seal guy) who was somewhat perplexed that my seals were wrong. So, I went to the shop, reached in the envelope and pulled out the first 2 seals I touched, just like I did on Thursday when they got here. They turned out to be the seals for the charge pump, which I had ordered Friday after discovering the others were wrong and I was going to have to re order anyhow. No point not replacing them since the hydros are out. Then for some reason (mostly because Ricky said mine must be oddball units) I reached back into the envelope and pulled out the other 2... they ARE the seals I ordered, I just need 2 more of them. Question: How did they know I would be needing the charge pump seals?(Twilight Zone music playing) My guess is they were mixed in with the others and this was a mistake that happened to go the RIGHT way. This means I can at least get one hydro back in today, and hopefully the other seals will be here soon.
I got the oil cooler mounts built and bolted to the steering stop bar, as soon as the seals get here all that can finally be bolted in place and the hydrostats primed. In the meantime, I will be wiring things and bolting on what I can that will not interfere with the hydro install.