pmackellow 12 #26 Posted February 7, 2014 Nice decal on the battery box mate !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom. 70 #27 Posted February 7, 2014 Hi Ian, Hope you are well and that you are safe from all the flooding! The GT14+2 is looking good, the battery box fab work is great! I look forward to seeing you add the 3 point hitch, have you got any attachments for it? Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wheeledhorseman 573 #28 Posted February 7, 2014 As you're fitting a battery box at the front have you given up on the plow or is the box going on first to get the dimensions right for hanging the plow underneath with enough clearance eventually? Seeing nice thick steel to be welded makes me want to get on with adapting my A frame for the D to add a sleeve hitch facility but for now I'll be trying to weld thin stuff next week repairing cart tubs without blowing holes through. Some guys get all the thick steel to weld! Andy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #29 Posted February 8, 2014 Nice decal on the battery box mate !! Thanks Paul. I do have last years decal somewhere... I need to find it to add to the box. Hi Ian, Hope you are well and that you are safe from all the flooding! The GT14+2 is looking good, the battery box fab work is great! I look forward to seeing you add the 3 point hitch, have you got any attachments for it? Tom Morning Tom, we are safe from the flooding thanks, but the only road in and out has been under water quite a few times.. It was waist deep Thursday evening!! I don't have any attachments as such for the 3 point, only an A-frame thingy with a tow ball on it... I do plan to make some pallet forks which will be very handy for moving heavy stuff about. As you're fitting a battery box at the front have you given up on the plow or is the box going on first to get the dimensions right for hanging the plow underneath with enough clearance eventually? Seeing nice thick steel to be welded makes me want to get on with adapting my A frame for the D to add a sleeve hitch facility but for now I'll be trying to weld thin stuff next week repairing cart tubs without blowing holes through. Some guys get all the thick steel to weld! Andy Hi Andy, your first guess is right, I've given up trying to get the snowplow to fit. It needs so much chopping and changing that it would be easier to just make a new one! I don't think a snowplow will be needed this winter somehow! Don't worry, your time to weld some thick steel will come Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #30 Posted February 12, 2014 Evening all, a bit more work has been done on the GT14+2 At the end of my last update I was pondering wiring problems.. When I swapped the engine over to the 16hp the only part of the electrical system that I hadn't changed was the ammeter.. So I thought I would have a look.. As you can see it has quite a lot of corrosion going on which was quite possibly causing a slight short between the orange wire and the ammeter body.. Cleaned up and painted.. I've not had the chance to check yet but hopefully this will sort the battery drain problem. And now onto something a bit more fun.. Fitting a 3 point linkage to the back of the GT Working out how to mount the lower arms has been fun.. But as luck would have it there is a handy rear hitch bolted to the trans. Just right for mounting the lower arms, it just needs a bit more metal added. To get the arms to lift to a good height part of the roll bar is going to need trimming off at the base, but I can can add some steel above to get the strength back. Before unbolting the rear hitch I made sure the roll bar couldn't decide to wonder off or fall over.. The hitch bolts also hold the roll bar to the trans! With the rear hitch and the arms on the bench, I thought it wasn't best that I cut and shut my home made hitch which was kind of custom made to fit my home made snowplow. So I dug out a genuine Wheel Horse rear hitch to chop up.. Thinking on it I'm sure I have another hitch that's a lot more rougher looking, I should really use that instead. While I was digging about looking for metal I found these two handy bits. Which as luck would have it have holes just the same size as this pin which also matches the ball joints on the lower arms A bit of chopping later.. And with the rear hitch plonked roughly in the right place. It needs a bit of strengthening but it looks like it will do the job quite well More to come a it happens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meadowfield 2,545 #31 Posted February 12, 2014 Luverly job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #32 Posted February 14, 2014 Luverly job! Thanks Mark. Evening Guy's n Girls, it's been quite a productive day in the shack with the 3 point moving on at quite a pace.. Well, fast for me The bit's of shaped steel I had cut to hold the lower arms in place were welded together and then tack welded to the rear hitch.. They will get welded up fully when I ad a bit more strength in that area.. I also trimmed off some excess metal that would of hung quite low under the GT. A test fit.. I knew the lower arms would hit part of the roll bar, a bit of trimming is needed me thinks. My 3 point tow bar/ball thingy was dug out to see how it looked and to see how well the top link would fit. It looks like more of the roll bar is in the way! Before the grinder came out I welded a bit of angle across the roll bar to stop it moving when I started slicing. Roll bar off and marked for cutting. Sliced! While I was at it I also cut out the bit of tube that was in the way of the top arm. I was going to add some extra steel on the opposite side of the sliced off bits to put some strength back in. However I think there is enough internal strength going on to not need it. so I will just plate over the holes when the roll bar comes off next. I need to trim a bit off the brackets that hold the lower arms on so the arms can move up a bit more. But this is how the 3 point looked at the end of play today... It's getting there Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom. 70 #33 Posted February 14, 2014 Wow Ian you sure are moving at a fast pace! I can't wait to see it finished! Forgive me if I'm being stupid but what are you going to use to lift and lower the 3 point hitch? Is it going to be manual? Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #34 Posted February 14, 2014 Hi Tom, your not being stupid, if you don't know then asking is the way to find out The GT has a big hydraulic ram fitted from the factory, which was connected by a long rod to operate a 3 point where fitted from the factory.. My GT used to have a 3 point, so I need to fabricate all the bit's I don't have.. I'm not sure I've explained that right, I'm sure someone with better GT 3 point knowledge will be along to explain it a bit better Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meadowfield 2,545 #35 Posted February 14, 2014 I think you are covering it well Ian Tom, have a look at my GT14 thread, there's quite a few pics of my DIY 3 point hitch there... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wheeledhorseman 573 #36 Posted February 14, 2014 Great progress Ian, more than I can say for my project at the moment as lost power in today's storm that's the second time in a week. Are the brackets that the lower arms pivot on going to be beefed up? They look a tad on the thin side to me but I suppose it depends what you're going to lift. Andy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brrly1 1,146 #37 Posted February 14, 2014 Ian, if you need any pictures let me know. I have one or two laying around that I could snap pictures of. Don't forget your going to need the bar that goes from mid-lift back to down links. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brandonozz 168 #38 Posted February 15, 2014 Great progress Ian, more than I can say for my project at the moment as lost power in today's storm that's the second time in a week. Are the brackets that the lower arms pivot on going to be beefed up? They look a tad on the thin side to me but I suppose it depends what you're going to lift. Andy Ian, I was wondering the same thing as Andy about the strength of the lower arms supports. I'm pretty sure the supports on my D are considerably thicker than yours and both mine needed straightened when I first got it. Maybe something to ponder. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #39 Posted March 4, 2014 Great progress Ian, more than I can say for my project at the moment as lost power in today's storm that's the second time in a week. Are the brackets that the lower arms pivot on going to be beefed up? They look a tad on the thin side to me but I suppose it depends what you're going to lift. Andy Thanks Andy, that was a pain about your power cut's, at least it is now looking like spring is/almost here.. Yes the lower arm brackets are going to be strengthened quite a lot. I want to check everything works as it should before I add all the extra strengthening I have planned. Ian, if you need any pictures let me know. I have one or two laying around that I could snap pictures of. Don't forget your going to need the bar that goes from mid-lift back to down links. Thanks for the offer John, if I need them I will let you know The bar from the mid lift back is going to be fun to make.. I have a good idea of the shape it needs to be, but it will still be fun to make.. I like a challenge Ian, I was wondering the same thing as Andy about the strength of the lower arms supports. I'm pretty sure the supports on my D are considerably thicker than yours and both mine needed straightened when I first got it. Maybe something to ponder. See my reply to Andy Sorry it's been a while since I updated this build, life's been a mad mixture of chaos and extreme exhaustion!! Although a bit of work has been done on the 3 point, I'm way behind where I should be with it! In order to be able to see what I was doing, off came most of the rear body panels.. I can see now I had been pondering on how to make the pivoting lift arm bit for a while, a dig through my spares gave me an idea.. This is part of the lifting gear from a C-175.. It slot's in here like so.. The trouble was the bar wasn't quite long enough and the angle between the two bit's of flat steel was wrong.. Time to get more creative.. Even the rustiest bit's of Wh can have handy spares.. In this case it was the manual lift arm thingy. With a bit of grinding and some pressure from my hydraulic press, the steel bar popped out. Throw in some 5mm flat plate.. Cut it into 10 inch strips.. And there you have the basics of my lift arm pivoting thingy laid out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #40 Posted March 4, 2014 To make the lift arm pivot thingy pivot, something was needed for it to pivot in.. On a GT I believe they are dry steel on steel bearing block sort of things.. So that's what I'm going to make out of this strange shaped and quite heavy off cut. The bare blocks on the bench while I work out a few measurements. The first blocked bored out. The second block waiting it's turn in the lathe. At this point I got distracted by the roll bar again. As I had some major surgery planned for it I welded in the new cross member to try and stop the roll bar from springing out of shape anymore than it had.. Now for the fun bit.. At the top you can see four holes.. This is where the roll bar bolt's to the trans.. I need those holes and the bit of box that joins them to stay where they are.... But I need the bit's between them and the thick wall tube to move outwards by a couple of inches each side!! The only way I could think of doing this without the mounting holes moving was to weld the new steel in first.. I didn't take many photo's of this stage as I was too busy getting on with it, but here's one with the new bit's of box clamped in place ready for welding.. To make life easier cutting the old bits out, all the cut's I couldn't of done with the new box welded on were cut before hand. Lot's of welding, cutting, hammering and a few naughty words later, the roll bar was bolted back on the GT. The rear end looks a lot less cluttered now.. And I can get a clear view of all of the lower arms when looking down... Which will come in handy for lining the yet to be made drop links up I still need to add a bit more strength back into the roll bar and tidy it up a bit.. The lower arms now go all the way up to this height, which will do quite nicely Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #41 Posted March 4, 2014 So, back to the pivoting arm lift thingy.. The second bearing block was bored out and coated in masking tape so I could mark out the bolt holes.. Bearing blocks and bar clamped in place.... Not much room in there! This is where I started to have a slight re-think.... If I had a bit of longer bar I now have the space to get the lift arms above the lower arms... Despite the camera angle they are in line! Being a "Throw it all in a pile and work it out from there" kind of chap, the best thing I could do was to balance all the bits roughly in place and have a look. as you can see the bearing block thingys have now moved to the outside. Yes, I think that will work As I don't have a long enough bit of bar, I'm going to have to join two bits together.. That's where this bit will come in handy. Weld it on like a collar sort of thing.. I'm not worried about getting a strong enough weld as I bought a 210 amp arc welder today.. I've only had time for a little play today, but the difference in welds between a "hobby arc welder" and a "professional" one is amazing!! I can now say the same thing about mig welders, but that's another story Speaking of welding, here's the lift arm strips (all 6 of em) being welded together for drilling... If you look closely you an see the middle join is only held together with a few tacks. When I separate the two half I will have to 15mm thick lift arms.. While the welds were cooling I drilled and taped the bolt holes in the bearing blocks. A convenient sized socket and some masking tape were used to keep both blocks together for drilling. And the last photo for this update.. Both bearing blocks were bolted on to the GT to check I'd got the holes in the correct place and the steel bar would turn freely without binding up... Success And that chaps is the 3 point saga up to date.. Hopefully now the chaos has gone (for a few weeks at least) I will have some time to really get cracking on and get the 3 point finished, and have time to keep you all posted on what's going on.. Here's Part 1 of the 3 point build videos.. Enjoy 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wheeledhorseman 573 #42 Posted March 4, 2014 Great progress being made there Ian! Shouldn't get any problems with those bearing blocks (he says thinking back to the condition of the ones on my D had got into). Andy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meadowfield 2,545 #43 Posted March 4, 2014 Good progress Ian, looking forward to your fabrication of the long connecting link :D Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #44 Posted March 10, 2014 Great progress being made there Ian! Shouldn't get any problems with those bearing blocks (he says thinking back to the condition of the ones on my D had got into). Andy Thanks Andy. I'm not worried about wear on the bearing blocks, the 3 point won't be used on a daily or even weekly basis, so wear will be minimal with a bit of grease to help. Good progress Ian, looking forward to your fabrication of the long connecting link Ta muchly Mark. Yes the long connecting link is a bit of a funny shape So, back to more metalwork.. Here's the arms from the pivoting lift arm thingy. I had hoped to be able to make a nice hole through them so they could be slid onto the bar for welding.. But they proved to be much harder to chain drill than I thought! So in the end I had no option other than to cut the hole in half and finish it off with a grinder. However, I'm not worried about welding it all back together now I have this beautiful new-ish Arc welder.. Nearly twice as powerful as my old Clarke 110 and produces a much much better weld as you will see later on. Time to give the "collar" which will tie the two bits of bar together a good clean up.. That's better The flat bit with the holes came off cleanly enough for it to be used as a template on the two bit's of steel tacked together. Quite possibly the best bits of thick steel shaping I have done in years.. So have two photos of them While I was in a metal shaping mood, the bearing blocks were bolted together and marked out for a little trimming. Trimmed. And cleaned up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #45 Posted March 10, 2014 It's taken a while bit I finally had made all the components to make the pivoting lift arm thingy. I need to cut down the length or bar a bit and radius the corners of the lift arm, but it's all there. This collar will be welded to the bar to stop any sideways movement. The thick hard steel washer and lots of grease should stop it wearing so fast. Now for the fun part.. Welding it all together.. Part 1 done. Part 2 involved lot's of clamping, measuring more than twice, and a ratchet strap Ta-Daa... It's only tack welded together at this point, should I need to change anything thing it will be easier to do so. It fits Now for the part that Mark is waiting for... Yep, the long link arm To make this I had to work out how far "off-set" the inside of this bit.. To the inside of this bit that's tucked away under the hood stand and was a right pain to take a photo of! Lots of measuring and scribbling later I had the answer.. They are off-set by 20mm.. Which was quite handy as I'm making the connecting arm from layers of 5mm thick steel. My 5mm thick steel also just happened to be 5 inches wide.. Quite handy for cutting into 4 strips Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigian 1,234 #46 Posted March 10, 2014 Three of the strips of steel tacked together.. Now, that's what you call a tack weld!! I love my new Arc welder The long part of the long arm made and plonked mostly in the right place. As I'm working out my measurements with the 3 point at it's lowest height I wanted to make sure that this part of the pivoting lift arm thingy didn't hit the big bit of tube that the top link brackets are welded to. So I zip tied a bit of steel to the tube. When the long link arm is made and the zip tied steel is removed nowt will hit The short part of the long link arm was made the same way as the long bit. Here it is wedged in place. Bit of a bad photo but after having dirt and grease fall into my eye's twice in 5 min's while lying under the GT, I'd had enough for the day. Which brings us to this morning... With dirt free eye's and a big risk of "Doing a Meadowfield" (burning my fingers ) while holding the two parts of the long link arm together in situ for welding. It's not looking pretty at the moment but with a bit of trimming, strengthening and welding it will look just great. Does it work? Down.. And up. And just for a bit of fun some garden wire was used as drop links Down. And up again It even fit's under the GT's rear bodywork.. Tomorrows job is to make some drop links.. Should be fun Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wheeledhorseman 573 #47 Posted March 11, 2014 A joy to watch and follow Ian Andy 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Anglo Traction 759 #48 Posted March 11, 2014 I know Zip about Hydros and Cat Linkage, so I have to along with Andy. The Stigian Fab work speaks for itself 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meadowfield 2,545 #49 Posted March 11, 2014 Tomorrows job is to make some drop links.. Should be fun I used a bottle screw and a piece of pipe for mine - with a couple of nice rose joints... can't wait to see what you magic up from the stig parts bin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wheel-N-It 2,967 #50 Posted March 16, 2014 A joy to watch and follow Ian Andy Ditto here Ian. Your videos go great with my morning coffee! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
