1450 crawler
 

Mentioned in my first post about my project here are some pictures I took with my cell phone. You can tell I'm no photographer just wanted to show my oldest son what I was doing.

The beginning, make the sprockets. Couldn't find them any where and so started to make them, they aren't as big as I wanted, my rotary table limited the size.

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The next part was making the tracks. I always wanted,way back when, to build a Struck crawler, but even the plans were too much money back then. Now the old plans/build manuals are online free. So down loaded them and found out what they used to make their tracks, a CA550 agricultural chain and found them on Ebay. Bought three 10 foot lengths, one for mock up when building the track chassis and 2 for the actual tracks.

The steel for the tracks was bought when the lock downs for Covid started. The local steel supplier didn't have what I really wanted and couldn't place an order so had to settle for what they had in stock.

I thought I had a pic of how the pads were made but can't find them. They started as 1 1/2 x 3 rectangle tube, cut to length and then split down the 1 1/2 side. Then some 2 x 3 angle iron to attach them to the chain. The angle has holes drilled to match the pins in the chain links then Tig welded to the link.

Then I cut some 1/2" neoprene rubber to put in the pads. This is because most places don't like steel tracks on their drive ways. After contact cementing the pads in the steel I used Flex Seal Liquid to seal around the edges.

More to come later


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Looks good so far…:beerchug:

:popcorn:

The start of building the drive chassis. I mocked up the sprockets and the chain on the bench(table saw top) to figure out the sprocket wheel base. This was to allow me to design the drive frame.

Again Thought I had pics of the frame build but can't find them.


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Ok, my son sent me the pics I sent him, so I have some more to show. More of the tracks and a sample of how they are made.

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More of the mock up of the tracks, using the extra chain. I use it because the tracks weigh100 pounds, well 96 really, but at 74 years old I don't have the strength I used to have. Doing all of this on my own no lifting help or anything.
Well I do use my "cherry picker".:)
The pieces of deck board are to represent the tracks to come later on.


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Ok, this will bring things pretty much up to date. A picture of the seat I want to use, this type because it's going to be in the vein of a late 1920s to 1940s style but not based on any one brand.

And some pictures of the steering levers. I'm using hydraulic brakes on the CC rotors for steering. I found out the calipers and master cylinder from what they call a "pit bike" would work and are not much money.

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Forgot to put these up. They show the fork assembly for the front idler sprockets with the tension springs and adjusters. The front sprockets have a hub welded in with 2 ball bearings.

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Wow, this is shaping up to be a really cool scratch build.

Thanks, this was started during the Covid-19 shutdown. I have a pretty complete manual machine shop in my "barn", along with welding equipment. Was a die maker my whole adult life and knew when I retired I'd still want to build stuff.