In the beginning, I was trying to not spend a lot of money on this.
Hence the reason I bought used lawnmowers. The hydrostatic drives were a
one piece design (pump and motor were integrated) made by Eaton. The
engine in the mower pissed oil like crazy but was enough to test the
pumps before I pulled them. However, I was still nervous about the age
and unknown service history.
I
had a decent working model but it wasn't quite 100%. Since I was
anxious to start building and I was still unsure about the pumps, I
decided to start with the upper frame and sheet metal.
 |
| I started cutting tubing in December 2011. |
 |
| I had some time off for Christmas so I moved pretty fast on the frame. |
 |
| I had a friend cut of the transmission support plates on his CNC plasma table. |
As
I look back on these pictures, I realize how far I've come in terms of
fabricating, welding, machining etc. I was working with this frame on a
furniture moving cart with a piece of plywood screwed to it.....
Needed
a battery box. I had made a little metal brake out of some scrap to use
in my 12 ton HF press. It worked pretty well. The box is made from 11
gauge plate.
 |
| Needed
a battery box. I had made a little metal brake out of some scrap to use
in my 12 ton HF press. It worked pretty well. The box is made from 11
gauge plate. |
 |
| Then
I finish welded the frame. I tried to keep it all clamped. I learned a
lot about welding and how things move during this project. |
 |
| To
cut the sheet metal panels, I had my dad cut a pattern out of mdf and
then I screwed it to some scrap 14 gauge sheet metal panels. Using a
cutoff wheel in a 4 1/2" grinder I would run it around the wood pattern
to cut it out. It's actually worked pretty well. |
 |
| As
a Christmas present to myself, I bought the tracks. They are 180x72x39
and fit a Ditch Witch SK500 (and I'm sure some other makes/models as
well). |
My
memory is a little fuzzy but according to picture dates, I got this far
in a month and a half. Having a plan was helping......
