Project Trisickle, maybe...

Thanks Bill but I'm not sure if it's talent or just the OCD lol.

Just a quick update, I have more info and pics that I'll put up here in the morning, been a wild day.

First pic is the prob area from yesterday, the bearing bracket wouldn't go up quite far enough. The 2 bolts that hold the bearing plate in are just to keep it from coming off if you pop a wheelie lol, the factory axle brackets really do all the work for the weight load and shear force from side to side. That part is all fixed, more in the morn.

I went on and stripped it down to the frame today to make it easier to work on because of something I found today. Of all the tractors to do this on I had to pick one with a cluster on the steering shaft... One of the many roll pins was hitting the battery box then going up into it, wouldn't take long to put a hole in the battery and made it awfully hard to steer. I just knocked it back some and put it back in for now...

More in the morn, now it's suppertime.

This is the first time I've used the autostop adjustment setup on the iron worker and it is truly awesome. Once the magnetic setup is adjusted it makes perfect replicas every time. Once one was set up in the machine I made a mark for the stopping point then just put them in and hit the pedal, it made a perfect bend in a few seconds. The second bend used the same angle and it worked out that the distance wasn't too short, they were just put in until they hit the stop for the last bend and it was just right. It took longer to do the machine setup than to make all the bends.

I also made an extra one without the hole to tack weld on the jig so it was put on right every time. Things happen and things can get put together wrong when it gets wild around here lol.

Now the main jig setup is done and will make sure every part is correct and assembled correctly every time. Where is my easy button lol.

Now back to the tractor pics... Once the frame was cleaned up and the plate was trued up it went right in with a few light hammer taps like it should. It steers stop to stop on the steering gear just like factory without putting any unneeded stress on the kit parts and works just like it should.

It's a really tight fit in there and clearances are tight but I wouldn't change the design for anything. I hate cutting up too much of the tractor and making big messes or complicated jobs out of something when more time can be spent on the design to make it easier to do while keeping the tractor as factory as possible.

Spent some of Saturday checking out parts and doing a little more disassembly and blasting. Whoever owned this before liked their roll pins (like all of them in the steering gear).

There was a little welding done on the cast iron clutch arm so I brought up a diagram and went to the back and got a NOS one. There was an extra hole in the piece they put on there, and I guess I'll drill out the new one for a bigger roll pin like they did, which isn't a bad idea, the factory one was kinda small.

I'm gonna try to finish the disassembly and get everything out that needs to be replaced to put it back together today, and get it all ready to take out to steam clean what needs to be cleaned tomorrow. It's supposed to be 60 degrees tomorrow and will be a good day to get the steamer out.

Trike works limited LLC.

GT 14 wrote: Trike works limited LLC.

Yea, like I need more to do.

Did a little more disassembly today, a little fixing, a little prep, and a little blasting. You never know what you find in some of these or why, like that 1/2" piece of steel in the tower, or the home made bolt turned into a set screw lol.

A lot of distractions today but still a pretty good day of work on it. Everything that is getting steam cleaned tomorrow minus the rear end is on a cart and ready to go, and the parts blasted so far are in really nice shape without and deep rust pits. This one should turn out really nice.

Thank the Lord for such a nice day to start off the month, 65 and sunny.

Did a little fixing this morning on the starter solenoid, it was crooked and just had self cutting screws in it so it got straightened up and nuts welded to the inside, the belt guard needs a little work as well. Steam cleaning is done on all the tractor parts, some of the building, and the Wheel Horse sign of course lol.

Everything is put back up, parts are dried out, back in the shop and ready to be checked, blasted, and fixed if need be. Things should move right along now.

It was 48 here and I washed the car.

GT 14 wrote: It was 48 here and I washed the car.

That's pretty good for way up where you are.

After my morning Chiropractor visit for this week it was frame time. One thing I didn't mention but a few of you figured I'm sure is with the front out a little the rear was gonna be a lot worse. The rear was in a full 1/4" from the front, it was 6" in between the rails and supposed to be 6 1/4" but not a big problem for a 10 ton porta-power... The way it was bent this didn't happen after the tractor was sold, someone pulled it in when it was built to weld the rear bracket and put a lot of stress on it from the beginning.

Anyway, it is straight now, and the stress is off of it. You can tell from the cracks having a small gap in them and didn't close back up. Now I can fix the cracks and the frame will be ready.