Mystery 6x6

[Coop]

Yes, still somewhat of a mystery. I got it from a guy in Alfred, Maine, he got it about 10 years ago from a guy in Massachusetts. He claimes it was home built, that there were 5 of them built, parts of it does look homemade, but if it is, the builder had some excellent fiberglassing skills, the body is very well built and thought out. I'd like to know more about it, there is a picture of one over on the Richard Relics site, in the gallery, looks to be the same machine with a slightly different rear cover, not sure if that one has a jet drive or not, can't tell from the pictures.

Coop

[Coop]

DSC_7898.jpgDSC_7897.jpgI got the radiator mounts built and the radiator mounted and water lines plumbed. Now I am going to remove the top of the body again and fab up the electric clutch for the jet pump. With any luck, I'll be driving it again in a couple weeks.

Coop

[Dirty Harry]

Great to see more progress on this Mystery Machine. Have you decided what color you're going to paint it??

[Coop]

I haven't thought to much yet about the color, maybe a solid orange or darker blue. I'd even thought about a camo theme.

Coop

[mrtlc]

That drive trane looks alot like my SupaCat. It as British made. Same looking engine and drive system. My steering leavers are on the other side and mounted up on the front. I don't have a jet pump, and mine would not float. The second generation did float. The people at SupaCat are very helpful with information.. If you sent them a picture they may be able to help you. These things are BUILT TO THE HILT. Hope this may help. Terry Cilley

[Coop]

Terry....I Googled SupaCat and found their website. I didn't see any 6x6's on there, but their stuff definatly is heavy duty. I'd love to see some pic of your machine, especially the driveline...

Coop

[mrtlc]

Coop Go to the photo gallery under amphib atv and search for SupaCat for a few photo's.
They are some what alike, but not the same. Yours is water cooled, mine is air cooled. Both have simular drive systems with the three speed trany. The engines are installed on oppisite directions. The tires look like the same and the axles are huge. Mine has auto oilers on the chains and huge chains driving the wheels. Good luck with your machine. It sure goes good in the water with that jet pump. Keep the video's coming. Take Care Terry

[brushcutter]

I find them in the banks of the river, especially after the ice carves out the banks in the spring, and after floods. The rivers are not in the same place and as wide as they were 3ooo-10000 years ago, the river changes course over the years, so the artifacts I find in the river could have been woodland thousands of years ago.

Coop

Cool, didn't know there were any other artifact hunters on the site! Isn't there a couple of Scotts Bluff to the upper right of center? That's a nice display! I dug artifact near my house in the hills above some of my swamp riding trails. I know several creeks where I picked up points years ago before ALL the land around here leased and was posted. So now you have to be on a hunting lease to have access, and I can't be on ALL the leases.

[Coop]

Yes, I've been collecting seriously for about 8 years now, but I've had an interest since I was a young boy. My Grandparents used to have a river camp on the Allegheny River, and as a young boy I would find points at the rivers edge. Scotts Bluff points aren't found around here, those points you are refering to are called Genesse points, mid archaic, 4-5000 years ago. I've never hunted the creeks, I hunt the river flats in the spring after plowing and planting, and then again in the fall after the corn is.taken off. I find it to be a very addictive hobby.

Coop

[Coop]

Ok, time to open this thread back up. The machine has sat in the corner of the garage collecting dust since last fall, time to get it dusted off and start getting it ready to run this spring. When I left off I had re-built all the chain tensioners, removed the twin radiators and replaced them with a single radiator mounted in the back where it can get some cool air, tuned up the engine, which included a carb rebuild and valve adjustment,, gutted the wiring, and remoed the jet pump. That's where I'm at right now. I still have the pump out, I took it all apart, everything is good, bearings are tight, impeller looks good. I don't like the engagement system it has, it was a goofy sliding coupler on a shaft, you have to shut the engine off, reach down into the tub, loosen up 2 set screws, slide the coupler into engagement, then re-tighten the set screws. Besides that, there is a homemade bevel gear set-up mounted on the rear of the pump, this was done because the engine turns the wrong direction, the pump would be running backwards if ran directly off the engine. If you watch the video I posted earlier in this thread, you can hear the howling noise coming from the pump, this was partly from the gears and partly from the edge of the coupler on the engine interfering with the side of the gearbox. So I cut the gear off the end of the pump input shaft, I had to do this to get everything apart, this gear was welded to the end of the shaft. The gearbox will not be used anymore. I am going to drive the pump with a hydraulic motor, I will couple the jet pump shaft to the hydraulic motor with sprockets/ chain, I will drive my hydraulic pump off the crankshaft of the engine. I'll have a valve in the drivers area to turn on the hydraulic motor. From what I've read, max rpm on the jet pump is 6000 rpm, I might not be able to get that driving it with a hydraulic motor, but by with playing around with sprocket sizes, I should be able to get 3-4000 rpm with no problem. I won't be pulling a skier, just putting around in the river. In the video, I don't think the pump was turning that fast, and it had plenty of propulsion. Tomorrow I'll put the drive back together, get some sprockets and start fabbing it back together.

DSC_7897.jpg



Coop

[akranger72]

I would sure like to see pics and a video when your all done? Thanks for the detailed pics and video you have posted so far. This machine is a beast.

[chris davison]

Coop will the hyd pump be running oil to tank thru the dcv all the time until you move the dcv to power the impeller? or are you going to put that electric clutch between the crank and the pump? if it runs all the time it will rob some hp not to mention heat up the oil. Oh' no I have never seen anything like the one you have or the one I built to pattern mine after. I saw one argo and have built two sand rails then I started building walley I think I drew 10 different plans until I chose this one because it suited my purpose for this machine.

[Coop]

Chris....I had thought about using an electric clutch, I could mount that directly on the hydraulic motor. You are right, not running the hydraulics all the time would cut down on the heat in the system, no need to run the hydraulics when not in the water. Using a clutch om the pump also does away with the need for a valve between the hydraulic motor and pump, I could just plumb the motor directly to the pump, turn it on when I need it. I will have a filter on the suction side, and the radiator I picked out for the engine cooling also has a transmission cooler in it, so I'll plumb into that for the hydraulic cooling. If that isn't enough cooling, I'll incorporate a dedicated cooler for it. Like you, I will start out with chain drives until I get the correct speed fiquired out, if it isn't too fast, I'll probably stay with the chains, otherwise, I'll look into some kind of chain/ belt arrangement.

[chris davison]

Coop one of the reasons I decieded to stay with a mechanical drive on the pump is efficiency I will get the most out of my 53 hp.
hydraulic pumps and motors are usually 85% efficient unless you use a piston pump or motor they are 95 to 99% efficient and they all lose Eff. as the pressure increases from internal leakage some motors have a port on them that you connect to tank to drain off this leakage others are vented to the low pressure side. The ones with the vent has to be drained off to prevent them from blowing out the seals. How are you going to size your sys. for your motor hp or for fixed hull displacement max speed? That would be a smaller sys.

[Coop]

Chris....the motor I have is a Sauer Danfoss, max flow is 19.8 gpm, it does have a drain which I will use, I will be feeding it with a 24 gpm pump. The Subaru engine is 85 hp, I should have plenty of power. As far as water speed, I'm not to concerned with that, it had pretty good speed before with the drive right off the engine, I'm sure I can get the same performance hydraulically. I'm not planning on pulling a skier, just putting around the creeks and rivers, checking out the banks for artifacts...

Coop