Introducing the Stig Special

[Stigian 1,234]

Nice, glad to see some progress!

Thanks, it's nice to be cracking on with it again.

The 6x6 decals are a nice addition! keep up the good work

They sure are Terry, Mark has done a great job on them.

Wow!! Been off RS for a while, and just got back signed in the other day. I started reading your thread 2 days ago in my free time, just finished... WOW!!!

I have 2 questions though.

1. I know it started life with a gear shifted trans-axle, but then you switched it to hydrostatic drive. Now have 2 hydro's. Keeping period specific, it would be more appropriately called a Charger 20, as the hydro's of the era were Chargers, and the gear shifter's were Raiders. Just sayin'.

2. On the custom hubs... those are great pieces of machine work, but why didn't you just put the hubs on the other(out) side of the wheels? The 12" wheels are made to be reversibile, so they can track wide our narrow. Even though it's not done on WH's much, many companys used them in the narrow set-up. Or, was it so you would see the deep dish and not the back side of hubs. Seems like it would have saved you a bit of time and a lot of lathe work.

Hey Alan, welcome back to RS, How many coffee's did you get through reading all this thread?

Question 1..

I get what your saying about Calling it a "Charger 20" would be more in keeping with the trans'ssss. I chose Raider 20 because I quite like the look of the body, and I had the part's (well most of them) in stock..

This machine is a right mix of different Wh bit's from many models.. Raider hood stand, I think half the hood is C-121 the other half unknown..

The chassis buried in there somewhere is C-125, both trans'sss are C-175 as is part of the hood stand.. You get the idea, a bit of a mixed years machine..

Question 2 is easier to answer... I just like the deep dish look to the wheels, they add a certain "meanness" to the look

How's things going Ian? Any updates ahead?

Hi Rich, it's update time

My new ARC welder turned up so it was time to give that front plate a good zapping..

Trouble was the two bit's of steel had been cut from a box off-cut and had sprung out of shape a bit.. That and all the welding produced a lots of warping!!

Knowing how hard that stuff is to beat back into shape, it was time to start again with some much thicker steel, yep that lump of angle.

No cutting or welding action shot's but the new ARC does produce some rather nice welds

A couple of chassis rails ready for welding on.

The new chassis front plate ready to be welded on.

This will come in handy for mounting the front of the hood.. Yep the extra two holes were drilled by mistake

Welded...

Some cross bracing was added to stop and sideways movement.

These two bit's of box will be welded on to clamp the trans down even more..

A bit like the back..

Clamped, welded and cooling.

While the above was cooling a took a look at the hood stand.. Won't be needing those slider things any more, they need to come out the way anyway to make space for the engine.

That looks better, shame I cut a big hole out of it.. I won't "back fill" the hole until I know if I need to trim any length from it for the engine.

Back to the chassis and a couple of diagonals have been added, the front of the chassis should be nice and strong now

More to come later, it's time to vanish and collect a Chinese take-out :D

[312Hydro 473]

Just when you think "wow, This sure is interesting", It gets even better! Good to see it going together and that new welder is doing a good job. :woohoo:

[Stigian 1,234]

You ain't seen nothin' yet Rich, but more on that shortly

Today was more of "sit and grin" kinda day, but a bit of work on the ol girl has been done..

First thing was to bolt on the front right side axle.. HHmm.. I thought it fitted better than that the other day

Getting the engine off the bench and on to the chassis was quite fun on my own, a series of ramps and office chairs soon-ish had it sorted though.

The rope is for getting the engine in the right place and not for working out how the drive belt would run.

The engine in the only position it would go..

It would be nice to move it a bit more towards the front, but that would mean raising the engine to get it to fit over the front trans top mount, which in turn would of lead to all sorts of aggro with the air cleaner and engine hitting the hood in all sorts of places!! So it goes where it goes.

The parking brake pedal is going to need a few mods to get it to clear the engine, but not too much.

As I thought, the hood stand will need a little trimming to clear the rear cylinder.

At this point I could not resist throwing a few parts and wheels in place to see how the beast now looks with an even longer hood..

Not a perfect lengthening job on the hood, but it was never going to be using paper and masking tape

It's looking longer..

The hood now sticks out in front of the wheels..

Now the "money shot" as they say..

Once I saw it from this angle I knew I was doing the right thing fitting the second trans..

The machine has gone from "slightly scary" to "screaming monster".!! I think if I saw this bearing down on me it would certainly be "change of underwear" time :D

In fact I liked the new look so much I made a coffee (please not the engineers coffee table) and just sat down looking and grinning for quite a while.. Yep, I rather like it

Another perk of fitting the second trans is it will give me somewhere to mount the gas tank, or battery or maybe even both.

So why did that axle not fit where it should?? Because I was trying to fit it in the wrong place.. At the back it should go..

Loads of space... yep it's been a rather good day

[Martin 2,130]

looking good ian, yes the second trans has really added to the look.....

you can never have enough 'mechanical-ness', i say.......

[312Hydro 473]

I think you need a new decal,Ian. 6x6x6 foot hood! It screams fast with that hood and has a low mean look! I like it! Where's my coffee......... If Batman had a mower that would be it!

[COMMANDO6 20]

I think if I saw this bearing down on me it would certainly be "change of underwear" time :D

I agree! LOL

[jachady 130]

Stig, that is looking awesome. I've got my fingers crossed that my crazy idea and your time and energy turns out to be a great working tractor.

John

[Anglo Traction 759]

Ian !, Your an inspiration to us all. That Beast is looking meaner with every Update. I Pity the Guy you follow in a Show Parade with that.

See you soon.

[Stigian 1,234]

looking good ian, yes the second trans has really added to the look.....

you can never have enough 'mechanical-ness', i say.......

Thanks Martin, yep the second trans has added to the "solid look" of the front.

I think you need a new decal,Ian. 6x6x6 foot hood! It screams fast with that hood and has a low mean look! I like it! Where's my coffee......... If Batman had a mower that would be it!

If Batman had a mower would it be called "The Bat-mow-bile"?

Lol at the 6x6x6ft decal.. Not sure how long the hood will be, but if you add 9 3/4" to a standard hood (for the first extension) then add another 6" for the gap I need to fill then you would have the overall hood length..

I think if I saw this bearing down on me it would certainly be "change of underwear" time :D

I agree! LOL

Stig, that is looking awesome. I've got my fingers crossed that my crazy idea and your time and energy turns out to be a great working tractor.

John

Thanks John, she should end up as a great working tractor, if not I will keep working at it until it is.. I will get there in the end

Ian !, Your an inspiration to us all. That Beast is looking meaner with every Update. I Pity the Guy you follow in a Show Parade with that.

See you soon.

Thanks you Richard, that's very kind of you to say so.. Let's hope the guy in front of me at the show parade doesn't have rear view mirrors :laughing-rofl:

[Stigian 1,234]

I got a bit more done on the ol girl today, almost got the rear left side axle mounted..

The day didn't start too well with a cutting disc self destructing!!

I've taken the odd small chunk out of cutting discs before but never had one fly apart!!

As luck would have it most of the shrapnel ended up inside the bit of box I was cutting..

Cut up and tacked together.

The bracket thingy was taken off for seam welding, seen here under the express weld cooling system

Welded and tidied up a bit.. To think it started life looking like the one on the right!

The question was, had all the heat from the welding warped the bracket, and would it still fit??

It still fitted, only tacked on for now.

To finish off this short update, have a photo taken on the box my new welder came in....

"Can be used around the house"!!! I think my Wife would freak out if I tried welding the chassis up in our lounge

[Don1977 604]

Your moving right along I believe we will see the 6x6 spinning around in circles with in a month or so.

[bowtiebutler956 649]

Ya Ian I don't think welding in the house would go over very well with my wife either! Probably some thing like this and then this !!!

Matt :flags-texas:

[Ole MN 11]

Ian,

This keeps getting better all the time. Your right the look is awesome. :thumbs:

[chesbaycruiser 82]

If Batman had a mower would it be called "The Bat-mow-bile"?

A master of fabrication...and the pun! Excellent!!! :laughing-rolling:

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,125]

Looks like things are coming together when you put that hood on. :handgestures-thumbupright:

[kpinnc 10,686]

That thing is a BEAST Ian!

I sure hope you have a "special" bumper in mind for the front of it... And seatbelts! :ychain:

[wheeledhorseman 573]

Coming on great Ian ! Just watched the latest video on the 'tube' - great stuff.

Andy

[Stigian 1,234]

Your moving right along I believe we will see the 6x6 spinning around in circles with in a month or so.

Hi Don, thanks for the vote of confidence I'm hoping it will be "drivable" with in a month, got less than a month until the Ardingly show!!

Ya Ian I don't think welding in the house would go over very well with my wife either! Probably some thing like this and then this

Matt

Morning Matt.. I'm just trying to work out how I would explain the welding burns through the carpet to our landlord!!.. I'm not sure the old "well it needed replacing anyway" line would work

Ian,

This keeps getting better all the time. Your right the look is awesome.

Thanks Brad, a bit of overhang adds to the mean look.. It kinda reminds me of the front of a Doe 130 now! That's lot's of overhang and the look of a lot of weight.

If Batman had a mower would it be called "The Bat-mow-bile"?

A master of fabrication...and the pun! Excellent!!!

Thanks Chris.. Not sure the pun was that funny though..

Looks like things are coming together when you put that hood on.

Thanks Terry, it will look even better when my "donor" hood turns up and I can extend the hood again, hopefully getting rid of all the wonky and curving the wrong way bits as I go.. I was never happy with how the hood extension went!

That thing is a BEAST Ian!

I sure hope you have a "special" bumper in mind for the front of it... And seatbelts!

I was thinking of strapping a small kid to the front to save any paint damage

Coming on great Ian ! Just watched the latest video on the 'tube' - great stuff.

Andy

Thanks Andy, the latest vid is a tad behind the action on here, but have most of the footage for the next one..

As you mentioned the vid.. Here it is..

[Stigian 1,234]

Best get on with an update now...

Quite a boring photo really.. I put all the front hitch parts back on the hitch partly to make it look more complete, but mostly so I did lose them!!

When the strip down for "operation slice and dice" happened a couple of the axles were unbolted complete with wheels just to make the strip down faster..

For some reason this axle and wheel didn't want to part company!! Quite a few days of heating/cooling/hitting with hammer/swearing happened before it finally gave up the grip..

I knew it was a tight fit when the wheel was bolted on, but I thought it was only paint causing it!!

A quick spin on the lathe made sure it won't happen again.

For quite a while I have been trying to work out how to get two motion levers squeezed in this tight spot...

It's going to be fun to do with lot's of narrowing of parts.. Moving bit's from one side to the other... and working out how to make the shifter lever the mirror image of the other..

But I have worked out how it can be done including getting both motion levers to go into neutral when the "panic pedal" is stamped on

In between trying to beat the axle off the wheel I gave the panic pedal a quick narrowing job..

As was..

Chopped and moved outwards..

With the ends capped off..

By moving the pedal outwards it gave me a nice straight run under the engine for a rod to the front trans brake

Finally the wheel and axle parted company so the axle went on the lathe for a quick trim in length..

Yep it fits now...

The new mount for the axles inner bearing block, a different design to the rear mount as the chassis rails are different.

Welded on.

The side trans mounts have had threaded plate tacked on, they will be fully welded once the trans comes off the chassis.

[Stigian 1,234]

Back to the panic pedal.. As it was after narrowing.

Throw in a bent bit of steel with a hole through it.

Add a couple of off cuts..

Weld and grind to taste until the panic pedal looks something like this

Bolted back on the beast with both front and back brakes connected.

The rod to the front is a bit of a strange shape to allow enough space for the trans oil filter to be bolted on, but it works.. Although a couple of rod guides wouldn't go amiss!!

And that Guy's and Girl's is this thread up to date again..

Today's fun is to start fitting two motion levers in a space designed for one... Should be fun :D

[HorseFixer 2,012]

Looks Great Ian truely amazing :thumbs:

[Stigian 1,234]

Thanks Duke, that means a lot coming from the Master of the Snow blower

Today's fun and games has been making a start on fitting two motion levers in a space designed for one..

To make both motion levers go into neutral when the panic pedal is hit a second er.. brake linkage cam thingy was bolted on the right side..

As this is a complicated bit of chopping and shoe horning I thought a list of what order to do things might be handy... Or not as it turned out!!

After a quick bit of ing but no scribbling a plan was hatched..

Stage 1, make a few cuts.

Stage 2, reverse the bit that have been cut out..

Stage 3, weld it back together.

Stage 4, cut the lever off for shortening. The steel block will make sure the lever goes back on at the right angle.

Stage 5, take photo of slightly wonkey and not narrowed enough lever. Then repeat stage 4 again until it's right!

Stage 6, check the fit and measure up for more narrowing.

Stage 7, Slice about an inch from the middle.

Stage 8, while the lever thingy is cut in half, cut the flange thingy off that the trans control rod bolts onto.

Stage 9, weld the flange thingy to the inside of the other side of the lever.

Stage 10, weld it all back together then spend 10 min's trying to balance it for a photo

Standard and narrowed side by side..

One lever done, one to go... It will give me something to do tomorrow

[312Hydro 473]

Nice fabrication as usual, Ian!

[zieg72 209]

Amazing as usual

[massey 111]

Looking good Ian. :handgestures-thumbupright: