Progress Everywhere

A lot has happened since we sold all our Tripods. Our 3 cylinder Kubota Engine was removed and is going to get rebuilt. Andy L cut the frame around the engine mounts on the scissor lift. We plan to reuse the frame to save time because we won’t have to drill new mounting holes.

Josh, Aaron and I got the steering joints taken apart.

They were rusted in place, it took the 20 ton press to break the “pivot point” free. We are going to replace the bronze bearings with new ones. This was about 10 hours of work between the 3 of us, one of those things you don’t plan for but has to be done.

We made the the hydraulic motor mount for the front drive motor. It is made from 3x8x1/4 tube. The mounting bolts are 3/4″ grade 8 because they go through a slotted hole. The slotted holes through the tube were reinforced so that we don’t crush the tube. I am going to add another set of screws to to help pull tension on the chain as well. We don’t need it super tight because we have nearly 180deg of chain wrap on both sprockets, but I would like to get it set right.

Jules has been working on the lathe all week. We need (8) more 4″ roller wheels to guide the huge 10ft diameter front wheel. There are a lot of steeps involved to make those.