HALF a HORSE.

[Alan R. 316]

Hi all.

I have been a member here for a few years but have just been in hiding.  Until now.   I have recently started a build on MoM and have been urged, pushed, threatened by Chris, Mr Showman to post on Red Square too.  So here goes.

 

As some will already know, the Showman and I have been clearing a friend's land of his large collection of various garden tractors, horticultural machinery, workshop equipment and whatever else you can think of.    Nearly 2 :1/2 years later the end is in sight.  As friend John is having to sell up and move soon due to ill health, my Roper tractor which was stored on his land has now moved on to a new home.

 

As I have very little room at home to work and store in, mainly a single car size garage which is already half full of stuff, thoughts turned to something small to build which could be transported in the back of my Meriva car.  Small enough to fit in the car, but hopefully big enough to ride on, but if not towing a trailer which I can sit on and operate the tractor by remote steering etc. Various options were looked at, thought about and discarded due to too many compound curves etc.  Then, after studying photo's of the D-series Wheel Horse which has very few awkward curves a plot was hatched.

 

During the clear out lots of "might be handy one day" bits and pieces were kept.  One of the few tractors which remained, unloved and unwanted, was this Bolens ride on mower.  

 

 

It was eventually stripped of useful parts, gearbox, axle / diff assembly, wheels and various other bits before the remains were left to be dumped much later.   Also found among the junk in John's barn was the bottom end of a small engine which was later found to be a 65cc BSA 4 stroke.  After further hunting by the Showman other parts were found in various locations in the barn loft.  Enough parts to build a complete engine with spares left over.   Engine just roughly assembled in this photo.  John never stored related parts together and in one place.  We think this was his anti theft device.  Find a few parts, no good without the others, so leave alone.  Appears to have worked as we have found on various occasions.  Tri rib tires Chris. 

 

 

After looking up the measurements of the full size D-series Wheel Horse, a half size model worked out at approx 38" long, 22.5" wide and 23" tall.   I did not intend building a 100% dead scale model, just something which looked right.  If all the main measurements were close to half size and the main components looked compatible with each other, then   Some parts, for various reasons, were altered slightly in size without being too obvious.

 

First, a suitable building bench was required.  I have one along one wall in my garage but too narrow and my creaky knees object to crawling around on the floor..  A tool trolley, unearthed from John's workshop, was pressed into service.  The wheels moved outwards to give more stability, a mid shelf added which was boxed in on three sides, and a thick sheet of chipboard on top.  Not shown on these photo's.

 

 

The Bolens bits were cleaned up and placed onto some box section which would be used for the main part of the chassis,  Due to the width of the gearbox, the rear end of the chassis had to be a lot wider than scale.   This area was one of the main problems of the build, trying to keep the gearbox far enough back without touching the differential which revolves with the attached sprocket, plus keeping it and the surrounding frame within the width of the fenders and the upper sections of the footrests.  Hours and hours of head scratching, trying different positions etc resulted in "This might work".

 

 

 

When fitted to the Bolens, the gearbox input shaft pointed down.  It was hoped by mounting with the shaft horizontal a short prop shaft could be used.  This was found to be a no go due to the height difference of the engine crankshaft and gearbox shaft. The centrifugal clutch assembly also left very little room between the engine and box.

 

The next stage was to work out a mount for the gearbox.  Bits of angle were pop rivited or self tappered to the frames and lots more head scratching followed.

 

 

The long lengths of box section had been cut down at this stage as they would have been too wide further forward.  The next photo's show these in the correct, sort of, position with the engine roughly mounted to see how things line up.

 

 

 

The axle bearings from the Bolens were used plus the front axle mounting bracket which was hack sawed from the frame, cut in two, excess removed, slotted and drilled to take the bearings.  The extra holes were for possible height adjustment at a later date.  Easier to do now than later.  These were pop riveted to the box section ready for welding later.

 

 

The front axle was then given a lot of thought.  The full size is a cast, tapered in two directions, webbed unit.  Something simpler was needed.  A piece of thick walled 1" square was used with tube king pin mounts.  A test piece was cut to gauge the angle required, followed by marking, cutting, bending, filing and drilling the main components.  Small infill pieces were inserted to give the weld something to bite on.

 

 

The axle mount was made up of 3/16" plate fastened to chassis box section cross members, with 1/2" bore bushes.  The pivot is an old Austin 7 king pin.  All a bit on the beefy side but just materials to hand.

 

 

I should say that ALMOST all the materials used in the entire build were saved during the clear out at John's.  Also, as I do not have proper machining facility's, most of the work was done by hand.  Hand drill, hack saw, jig saw, files etc.  I do have a small Unimat 3 model makers lathe which was used for some of the lighter machining jobs.  Also an old Drummond round bed which is in need of work and a chuck adapter.  Guess where this came from.   I also adapted an old Picador drill press to take a larger hand drill.  This wasn't too satisfactory, side play and too fast for the larger drill bits. These were more suitable for wood, not metal.  Photo's later.

 

The next few photo's show the chassis and axle mounted on a board ready for welding. The nails were just to hold parts in place before clamping and weighing down. The rear axle mounting plates drop into slots in the board.  The two dark colored angles are temporary and just to help keep things square.

 

 

A few photo's of a few welded up bits.  The welds on the rear end of the chassis were nice and neat.  No photo's of this.  The welder decided to be naughty at the front.  Wire feed kept jamming until speeded up which resulted in heavy welds.  Some ground or filed down and others left as will not be seen.  The used Austin 7 king pin for the axle pivot seen in the third photo.  A bit rusty but good enough to use after a clean up.  The  chassis was cut away to allow for more axle swing.

 

The rear wheel adapter hubs were made up from 2" thick walled tube and round plates into which the tube was welded. The plates already had bores of near enough the correct size. The cut to length tubes, after a lot of head scratching and measuring to make sure the holes would be in the correct place, were drilled 5/16" using a standard center drill for the first hole.  I was going to use this as a guide for a 5/16" drill to spot the lower hole, followed by gradually opening up with other drills, but found a long series 5/16" center drill which did the job in one go.  This also did away with numerous height adjustments on my not very accurate drill press conversion.  

 

 

The plates were drilled after marking out using a card template which was cut to just fit into the wheel dish and over it's hub.  4 holes were also drilled through the wheels using the same template.  This ensured that all holes lined up.   Even though my drill conversion was a bit of a blacksmith job, after drilling the axle shaft I found that it and the hubs lined up almost perfectly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stormin 9,981]

  'Bout time you posted it on here, Alan.

 

BTW. I think you need to do something about your avatar. Reminds me of the Mad Professor.

[Alan R. 316]

Working on it Norm.  Haven't found a white coat yet.

 

 

[Anglo Traction 761]

1 hour ago, Stormin said:

  BTW. I think you need to do something about your avatar. Reminds me of the Mad Professor.

 

Naah!, leave it as is Alan, just looks like your on the same stuff as Einstein   .

Good to see your li'Ie  'D' project on here.

[Aldon 4,827]

Looks like it will be a nice tractor when done. A true custom.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

Please keep us posted on the remain build , you are doing an outstanding job.

[19richie66 17,522]

Great looking project!

[Stormin 9,981]

6 hours ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

Please keep us posted on the remain build , you are doing an outstanding job.

 

 He's got 3 - 4 weeks to get it finished for a forthcoming show.

 

BTW. It was he who restored my Sears/Roper.

Edited July 16, 2017 by Stormin

[JPWH 6,067]

Thanks for coming out of hiding to share this build. Very nice work. 

Jay

[Digger 66 3,485]

Super - job on the axle ! 

[Alan R. 316]

Thanks all for the comments.  I aim to please, but often fail. Ask my wife.

[Alan R. 316]

18 hours ago, Anglo Traction said:

 

Naah!, leave it as is Alan, just looks like your on the same stuff as Einstein   .

Good to see your li'Ie  'D' project on here.

It has been mentioned Richard, that I look like Doc Brown in the Back to the Future films.  Now I REALLY do need a white coat.  My sister was a LOT less complimentary.

[Alan R. 316]

10 hours ago, Stormin said:

 

 He's got 3 - 4 weeks to get it finished for a forthcoming show.

 

BTW. It was he who restored my Sears/Roper.

It won't be completely finished Norm, but should be far enough advanced to show.  Don't forget,  us retired people never have much time to spare.  

[Alan R. 316]

The Bolens axle was cut down and drilled.  The shorter end didn't need altering. The length was just right and the original wheel retaining bolt hole was also used for the model.   The other end was a pain in the ++++ though.   Tough to hack saw through, although it could have been worse, but the 5/16" hole was a ( censored word ) to drill.  Finally got through with an assortment of drill bits, cutting compound and my lashed up drill press using various speeds and lots of naughty words.  Luckily I only had to drill this one side. 

 

 

Now, what to use for the front axle bushes.  A long time was spent looking through my piles of bits and weighing up all the options.  Some bits had the correct OD but too large on the ID and so on.  Still wanting to use what I had to hand, a piece of engineering plastic was used.  Not sure, but I think this is Delrin or Acetal or similar.  A short piece was tapped into copper tube to hold it rigid while drilling in my Unimat lathe.  I was surprised to see blue swarf as the material is black.   After drilling up to 1/4", the bore was opened up on the drill press.  Can't remember the drill size but slightly under the OD of glacier bushes which were tapped in afterwards.  These had an ID of 3/8" which was the bolt size I used for the king pins.

 

 

If these bushes were later found to be unsuitable they could easily be changed. So far, with a few test drives that the Showman and I have had over rough ground, no problems have been found.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

@Alan R. How about sending some photos of your drill press . We colonists across the pond are always interested in tools and your drill press sounds like something I have never seen. Keep up the great work.

[Alan R. 316]

I'll take a few and post Jim.  I'm sure you will have something similar at your side of the wet stuff but might be known by a different name.  There are a few part shots above.

[Pullstart 63,054]

Awesome little project!  I'm surprised to not see mm measurements, but increments us "colonists" can wrap our heads around!

[Alan R. 316]

I use both metric and the real thing when measuring.    I often find metric is more convenient for some jobs.    Never gave it a thought when I gave the sizes in inches on this build though.   Must be my default setting. 

[Alan R. 316]

 

On 16/07/2017 at 10:57 PM, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

@Alan R. How about sending some photos of your drill press . We colonists across the pond are always interested in tools and your drill press sounds like something I have never seen. Keep up the great work.

Here you are Jim.  My converted drill press.   The first photo shows it fitted with the type of drill it was intended for.  Low powered and with a 5/16" capacity chuck.  The larger drill was too long to fit so an adapter was made which offset the drill to one side.  The original top clamping bolt was reused, turned upside down with additional spacers and a bent metal clamp.  By chance the lower end of this bolt, now the top, was internally threaded 3/8" UNF which made life easier.  The black lower clamp was just part of the larger drills chuck end hand grip.  Hope this makes sense.

 

 

As mentioned earlier, although I managed to drill the axle and the adapter hubs the drill was too fast for the larger drill bits.  The variable speed control didn't help much, nor did the slight side play on the slide assembly.  Probably OK for drilling wood which these drill presses were mainly made for.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Alan R.

[squonk 41,287]

I haven't seen one of those hand drill presses in years. Of course this is from a guy who used to drill holes in wood with a screwdriver and a hammer! 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

@Alan R.Thanks for the photo's like squonk wrote haven't seen of those in years. My father had one , but it disappeared after he died. I use a bench top drill press with pretty good results. Purchased from a company  that sells off brand tools and equipment. I don't think the company does any business in the UK.

Keep up the great work on your project. Looking forward to your next pictures and description of the work.  

[Alan R. 316]

 

As the front axles were 3/8" and the Bolens wheel bores 3/4", bushes to fit both were required.  A hunt through my bits and pieces for something suitable drew a blank and nothing found on the internet.  I could probably have made these up on my Unimat lathe but no suitable material to hand at the time.  I came up with a different idea using parts lying around.  New axles were made using 10mm  coach bolts and nuts, stainless tube and 10mm bolts.

 

The tube was threaded 10mm internally each end, it was luckily close enough to the correct tapping size. One end was screwed onto the cut down coach bolt after fitting it to the angle iron hub, the wheel retaining bolt fitted in the outer end.  Suitable bronze bushes with the correct ID and OD from the spares box finished the job.     These look a bit over the top but didn't take long to make.  Took longer looking for the bits.  The king pin was left at 3/8".  Weld between the two inner ends made the unit extra rigid.

 

Sorry for using metric measurements this time but can't win all the time.   Chris, the Showman mentioned earlier, is better known state side as plain old Chris Sutton just in case you are scratching your heads wondering who he is.

 

 

[Alan R. 316]

Can't remember exactly when, but part way through the early stages of the build it was thought a good idea to see if the engine would run.  It had only been roughly assembled up to now so  carb cleaned, new fuel pipe fitted, bolts tightened and so on.  The recoil starter was a problem.  I had 3 of these, 1 complete and 2 in pieces.  The complete unit was fitted but locked up when the cord was pulled.

 

I had this apart 4 times before finding the problem.  A missing spacer washer.  Wasn't sure if this washer should have been there but it did the trick. One of the other units had one, the other didn't.   After the 4th assembly I was getting the hang of fitting the recoil spring.

 

Clamped to the bench, petrol in the tank, starter pulled, and pulled and pulled, nothing.  No spark.    Cover off, points cleaned, they were furred up, and away it went.  There was a knock which appeared to be from crankshaft end float.   A PM to Richard ( Anglo Traction )  who suggested that the knock might disappear when the engine was under load.  This proved to be the case.  Thanks Richard.   A few bench test runs followed and the engine appeared good to go.

 

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[Alan R. 316]

 

This photo shows the chassis on 4 wheels, still with the first style front hubs and with new tyres fitted.  Tread wrong way around I know, wheels just roughly mounted.  The front tyres are 9 x 3.50 x 4 made for mini motor cycles fitted to the Bolens 4" hubs.  The 9" tyre was better proportion wise than the 10" previously fitted although I have not been able to find an inner tube with a straight valve.  The bent valve finished up hard against the rim when inflated.  A little mod later improved things.  No photo of this yet.

 

 

The height difference of 2:3/4" between the engine and gearbox shafts can be seen. Just by chance an old Picador double bearing found at John's had the same C/L's and with a slightly cut down base was a perfect fit.   Now what to use to transmit the drive from top to bottom.  Sprockets and chain from old mowers were dug out.  Most were too large to fit between the frame or were double sprockets.  The smaller sections were cut off and after trying various combinations things started to look workable.

 

 

After trying various chain lengths, too short or too long, a cut down mower tensioner was fitted but didn't look right.  Another sprocket was found which fitted between the frames but had the wrong ID.  This was bored out and welded to the gearbox sprocket ( thanks Chris ) after mounting the pair on a suitable size bolt.  After this, the existing keyway in the small sprocket was used as a guide to file out the larger one.  The result was a nice tap fit on the gearbox shaft and key and also after altering the chain did away with the need of the tensioner although this could be refitted later.

 

 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

I need to visit you for a few weeks so you can teach me all your tricks on this build. Couple of problems , no passport and no money . Keep up the great work.