HALF a HORSE.

[19richie66 17,522]

Very ingenious 👍

[rjg854 11,451]

Truly amazing what you are doing,  Alan

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

I need to book a flight across the pond and visit you so I can watch you make parts . Unbelievable workman ship . 

[Pullstart 63,054]

Magnificent!

[Alan R. 316]

 

Headlights continued.  The mount was from alloy sheet.  White border painted on.  Will look better with a decal fitted.  The two holes were the first attempt at mounting the headlights via a bolt through the original painted reflector.  After scrapping this idea holes were cut using a large washer as a guide.  Easier than expected using a very fine saw but had to take care not to damage the paint too much.  Should have thought of plan 2 before painting.

 

Next are the lights with plastic retaining rings held onto the rim with very small self tappers.

 

 

These three photo's show the lights fitted, then the rings painted.  Also showing the bulbs which are just a push fit.  These appear to look cross eyed on the front view.

 

 

As said previously, these lights were worked on over approx one year on and off, trying different idea's etc.

 

The next photo's show hub caps which were quick and simple and were only made / altered recently.  Jumping the gun a bit here but not to worry.   Looking around for something suitable the cap from a deoderant  bottle was found to be a good fit over the wheel hubs.  Black plastic which was painted white.  The end didn't have a sharp edge which would have made painting the red easy so plastic discs were cut and fitted using small expanding rivets which I had a stock of.

Three more bottles were obtained which gave the required four.  The result, better looking wheel hubs and a nicer smelling wife.  OOP's, shouldn't have said that.

 

The discs mounted on a rod ready for painting.

 

The four stages and the rivets.

 

 

Front and rear wheels with caps. The fronts were a nice push fit but the rears wouldn't go over the hub weld without stretching resulting in chipped paint. A few spots of glue cured this.

 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

As was excellent workmanship .

[Pullstart 63,054]

Speechless, I think I am.  

[19richie66 17,522]

[WHX?? 49,100]

[Stormin 9,981]

Those spindle caps remind me of something?

[Alan R. 316]

4 minutes ago, Stormin said:

Those spindle caps remind me of something?

I wonder what that could be Norm.?    When you remember be sure to tell us.

[Alan R. 316]

 

Turning brakes.  I was undecided on these.  Should I fit them, or not.   OK, I'll make a start.  Bent up a pair from alloy using photo's and guesswork as a size guide.  The levers ? were from 1/8" x 1/4" brass drilled and tapped 8BA.  Each lever was made in two parts as attempts to bend as per the full size resulted in a break.  Brass too hard.  Should have tried heating up first.  These levers are probably a bit narrow, 3/8" would have been better but nothing in stock.

 

It was then decided to leave them for now and carry on with other bits and pieces.   Lots of bits and pieces later,  Iain slf-uk  my head information provider, sent me photo's and measurements of the assembly so a restart was made.  My original guesstimated alloy pedals were correct in height and the inside of the bent up lips, much to my surprise, but 1/4" short in length. This 1/4" is the model size measurement.  Two new pedals were made and the horizontal brass section extended using a piece of plastic for quickness.

 

A test assembly.

 

 

All these parts were held together with 8BA countersunk bolts.  Looks a bit messy on the photo's but all hidden later.  A few holes were drilled in the wrong place,   but not seen when finished. The pivot bar is brass tube with a plastic insert and a 3mm threaded rod.  All bits which just happened to fit together without much work.  The lower ends of the uprights were drilled and tapped to suit the rod and the tube notched to take the inner upright.  Easier than making the tube in sections as per the full size, and as these pedals won't be working, a bit stronger.  The locking bar was also fixed in position.  The notch in the tube was later filled and blended in. Various other areas had the same treatment to tidy things up.

 

 

The brake pull rods!  were from alloy angle , bolted to the underside of the footrest for extra strength with the nearly visible end trimmed down.  I had to alter my original footrest support and lay it flat with the alloy angles notched to clear, but as usual after doing all this a better and simpler solution popped up in my head, but leaving as it is.  Photo below is before cutting notches for support clearance.

 

 

The full size has a steel bar running diagonally under the footrest, from the outer end of the pivot tube to the chassis frame, which helps support the tube.  I made up a short alloy bracket which is bolted to the support angle in front of the pedals, and to the front underside of the footrest.  Not really visible without effort.   Hope all this makes sense.

 

Grip tape was added to the pedals which finished them off as well as hiding all the bolt heads.  The footrests also had a covering of the same.  This self adhesive tape was listed on eBay as carpet gripper tape. Similar stuff also used for skate boards.  I wanted to use ribbed rubber but nothing suitable found.  All too thick.   The next photo's show various stages of test fits.

 

 

I could have left the cranked ends straight on the brake rods ! by moving them closer together, but had previously drilled the footrest and didn't want to waste the holes.   Photo below.

 

 

The pins connecting the rods to the uprights were made from a bolt, turned down and drilled, then cut to length.  The split pins are 1mm diameter.  The threaded end was screwed into the alloy rods after tapping and held with a dab of lock tight.  A fiddly job inserting the split pins, especially the inner one resulting in chipped paint, now touched up. Might have been easier before fitting to the tractor.  Not too happy with the appearance of these split pins. Need tidying up and the loop made smaller. A job for another time.

 

 

A few more photo's of the various parts, mounting brackets, footrest support etc plus the unit finally fitted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•  

[AMC RULES 37,134]

Some spectacular  fabrication work here Alan...

you make it look so darn easy.   

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

I can't imaging the number of hours you have spent on this project . I will just keep following along.

[Alan R. 316]

7 hours ago, AMC RULES said:

Some spectacular  fabrication work here Alan...

you make it look so darn easy.   

  A lot of head scratching and reworking involved Craig. 

1 hour ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

I can't imaging the number of hours you have spent on this project . I will just keep following along.

Wouldn't like to try to calculate the hours Jim.    Would be interesting to know though.

[rjg854 11,451]

Such attention to detail,  absolutely marvelous,  Alan 

[Alan R. 316]

24 minutes ago, rjg854 said:

Such attention to detail,  absolutely marvelous,  Alan 

  I aim to please. Doesn't always work though.

[Alan R. 316]

Another little update after another delay.  Too many things to do.  Who said retired people have plenty of spare time.   The hood catches which started off as 3/16" diameter car brake pad pins.  An alloy sleeve pressed on, drilled 1/16" for a short piece of wire, then the domed head turned off. 

 

 

1/2" ID alloy box section was pop rivited to the inside of the hood after drilling for the pins.  A nut and bolt held it in place while drilling for the rivits.

 

 

Another 1/16" hole was drilled for the retaining R clip after careful measurement to make sure it was in the correct place.  It was.   More measurement and head scratching then the excess was cut from the pins and the ends chamfered.   When closing the hood the pins slide down slightly angled plates before popping into holes near the base. These plates can be seen on this earlier photo of the dash panel.

 

 

The pins are sprung into place by springs, what else, taken from AA size battery boxes. These were inserted into the alloy box first, then compressed with special tool which I carefully designed then made, allowing room for the pin to pass through.  OK, a piece of scrap alloy with a slot filed in it did the job.   It was a pig of a job to hold the compressed spring, hold the pin steady, and insert the R clip, while trying avoid it pinging off into the distance.  If the R clip had been long enough to protude outside the alloy box it would have been easier.  The clip can be seen to the left, the rivits to the right.  A washer between the clip and spring would have been better but I gave up trying to fit one. Kept going awol.

 

 

The parts almost ready to be fitted.

 

 

Works as intended although just as easy to pull the bottom corners of the hood out slightly which releases the pins.

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

Your always amaze me with your craftsmanship.

[Alan R. 316]

35 minutes ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

Your always amaze me with your craftsmanship.

Thanks again Jim.

[rjg854 11,451]

As usual with these updates. ..........

Exceptional 

[Pullstart 63,054]

The places on sources Wheel Horse parts...    Genius!

[Alan R. 316]

Still bits and pieces to do on the tractor but have also been working on the trailer.  Wanted this to be as compact as possible but still big enough to sit in comfort.  The chassis started life as a transport frame for motor cycles, shipped in part assembled form to a dealer near where I worked.  This was altered to a trolley using wheely bin wheels with a storage box and frame on top so that I could move large model boats from the car to lakeside at the various locations we sailed at.  Most lakes did not have access for cars, only footpaths.  The trolley frame is shown below minus it's towing handle.

 

 

This now out of use frame was cut down and used for my sit on trailer.  A new axle was made from box section and 16mm bar bolted together and to the frame, using pneumatic wheels instead of the solid tires used for the boat trolley. 

 

 

The seat mount was made up from scrap ply with alloy sheet outer panels.  The edges were trimmed with alloy angle, more scrap salvaged when clearing my friends land.

 

The sit on part of the seat is actually the backrest part of a seat I bought on eBay.  The seat section looked too big when fitted so went into storage.  Short lengths of studding were fitted into the already welded in mounting nuts and just drop into holes in the box top.  Hope this makes sense.

 

 

The now proper backrest, complete with it's Wheel Horse motif, was kindly donated by Chris the Showman, and is mounted on doubled up lengths of alloy angle.

 



[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,343]

I really like your work. I wished I lived near you so I could visit and the projects you are working on.

[Alan R. 316]

I did think of having four wheels on rocking beams but decided against it for now.  I had bought four wheels extra cheap from eBay.  The seller bumped the price up soon after, probably realizing his listing mistake.  I made and tried the four wheel arrangement which could be easily changed over via quick release R clips.  Could even have three wheels, two one side and one the other. The rocking beam parts before assembly and on the trailer.

 

 

The steering column was made to hinge down for more compact storage but didn't save much space so just left in the upright position.  The bracing strut can be fitted  as shown, or in a horizontal position which I thought might make the assembly more rigid. Extra bolt holes were drilled in the face of the seat box.  Again left as it is as no difference either way. 

 

 

Some of the column and steering parts.  I tried a chain and sprocket first, parts from a lawn mower which were heavy and had too much free movement. Later changed to push / pull rods. The top sprocket which had a D shaped hole was pressed onto it's 1/2" shaft after filing the shaft to fit.  Was going to be welded but it hasn't moved yet.  The yoke is a mixture of box section and tube shown before welding by the Showman, along with the following parts. Thanks Chris.

 

 

The bottom sprocket, a 3/8" drive socket, bolt and tube, were all welded together forming the pivot and drive between the trailer and tractor.  A piece of shim was inserted to take up the gap around the socket.