a homemade utility vehicle with hydraulic dump

[dfkrug]

Well, not completely homemade; I started with a Suzuki Samurai.

Moving dirt around with your tractor, one loader bite at a time can be pretty
inefficient and frustrating, esp when you need to move the dirt more than
100 feet or so. 500 feet, and you REALLY want a dumptruck.

So.....I have always wanted a small utility vehicle that could move a ton
of dirt or rocks at a time, easily. That rules out your ubiquitous Gator, Mule,
Rhino, or RTV. Those factory side-by-sides are quite expensive, too.

Enter the Suzuki Samurai, a 4x4 small jeep that features short wheelbase,
fully-boxed frame, and readily available repair parts. You can land one of
these for $500, with a little patience and a trailer.

So, I got me an 88 "tintop" 1.3L 5sp a few years ago. Engine and tranny needing a
bit of work, but no frame rust, good compression, and the front hubs not
frozen. (I did get a "free" 86 AMC Jeep Wrangler before this, but it had only
a partially-boxed frame, and it was bigger, with a 6 cyl motor. Got rid of it.)
An even better find would have been an automatic Sidekick/Tracker with the
1600cc FI engine.

Photos show my acquisition, hauled 25 mi to my property.

 

[dfkrug]

Next, I removed the body, which I scrapped. I sold a bunch of the parts on Craigs,
recouping most of my $500 investment.

 

[dfkrug]

I could get the engine to run (poorly), but I quickly found that the clutch was frozen,
so the tranny would have to come out.

This vehicle features a separate transmission and transfer case. Tiny little suckers,
and very easy to lift out from above with the body off. No jacks or lifts at all.

The boot on top of the transfer case was missing, so I wanted to open it up to make
sure all was clean in there.

After peeling off the stuck-on clutch disk, I rebuilt both the tranny and transfer, the
easiest I have ever experienced. Gears and bearings were all good. It looks like
an optional PTO shaft could be substituted for one of the transfer case shafts. A
PTO would be fantastic, since I planned to somehow run a hydraulic pump.

 

[Bob77064]

The price was right, the frame looks good.

 

[farmall 55a case]

This looks like it going to be an awesome thread to follow!

 

[ultrarunner]

I've used the heck out of my Sami...

Hauled rocks, boulders and many gallons of diesel to refuel the tractors.

I'm kicking myself now that I'm reading your post...

Last year I stopped to look at a Sami that was covered with a tarp... it had rolled.

The guy wanted to sell it and it sounded good when I jumped it... wanted $500

A couple of months later he called when I was in Washington and said the city tagged it on his private drive because it was not operable... said $200 and come and get it...

Called him the day I got home and it was gone...

Mine has been bullet proof... I did buy it was a noisy transmission... found one bad bearing and replaced the clutch while I had it out... that was 15 years ago...

 

[Renze]

I have always wanted a small utility vehicle that could move a ton
of dirt or rocks at a time, easily.

a quick look in the spec book says mass 910kg, max allowed vehicle weight 1330kg. The dump body would probably weigh as much as the passenger cabin you took off, so by the numbers you roughly end up with half the payload you require, so you probably need to reinforce the rear suspension as well...

 

[dfkrug]

I took some 0.08" steel plate I had and welded it to the frame tabs to make a
floor, and bulit a roll cage of some square tubing, plus some IMC conduit. Front
fenders are made of the same plate, plus some pre-formed trailer fenders I bought.
A steel plate firewall isolates the engine compartment.

 

[dfkrug]

And here it is. "FrankenZuk", if that name had not already been taken.

I had a big dilemma: The frame is really short, and the engine takes up a lot of it.
I really should toss the engine and go with a more efficient cabover design so the domp
box could be large enough. That would use a low-mounted engine, not the tall motor
in the stock truck. Too much work for this one, I decided.

So, I went with a small 5x3 dump box. Narrower than the wheel spacing so it can sit
lower, and overhanging the rear of the frame. The box is formed from the bottom of the
bed from an 88 Ranger (another freebie), and some corrugated steel roofing/siding I had.
Edges are finished with angle iron. The tailgate is a top-mounted unit to add strength
to the sides.

Without any load, the Sami is essentially undrivable on any slope in 2WD, since there
is little weight over the rear wheels (RENZE), and my tires are crappy.

 

[dfkrug]

To get the Samurai running correctly, I tried to get the electronically-controlled carb
working. I also wanted to stay CA SMOG-compliant. I gave up, and went with
a Weber DGV 32/36. Off-road only now.

Now the wiring is very simple, and the engine purrs.

Next, the fun part: hydraulics. I had 3 options for hyd power: a Fenner 12V electric/hyd
power-pack, a gear pump driven off the fan belt, or a power steering pump.

 

[Wook660]

You scrapped a rust free tin top body?? :bawling:

 

[Midniteoyl]

a quick look in the spec book says mass 910kg, max allowed vehicle weight 1330kg. The dump body would probably weigh as much as the passenger cabin you took off, so by the numbers you roughly end up with half the payload you require, so you probably need to reinforce the rear suspension as well...

But then, those are 'on road at speed' specs and you can go higher when off road, slow speeds are the norm. Not sure how much though.

 

[Renze]

Without any load, the Sami is essentially undrivable on any slope in 2WD, since there
is little weight over the rear wheels (RENZE), and my tires are crappy.

Yes, you have a very light dumpbox... i was envisioning a standard dumpbox of 3mm steel with crossmembers, but those roofplates you used are more like 1.5mm and because of the corrugation dont need that many crossmembers ?

 

[Renze]

But then, those are 'on road at speed' specs and you can go higher when off road, slow speeds are the norm. Not sure how much though.

In military trucks, the offroad ratings are often lower than on-road load ratings because of the increased torque on the driveline when going in heavy terrain.

 

[dfkrug]

You scrapped a rust free tin top body?? :bawling:

No buyers, even at $50/obo. I sold the 3 doors, hood, front fenders, rear seat, etc, no problem.

 

[dfkrug]

Yes, you have a very light dumpbox... i was envisioning a standard
dumpbox of 3mm steel with crossmembers, but those roofplates you used are more like
1.5mm and because of the corrugation dont need that many crossmembers ?

You got it. If I recall, the corrugated panels are .040, but the bends make them very
strong. I estimate the weight of the box at something like 300#. The gate uses .060
galvanized sheet with angle frame.

The 5-ft size of the box will allow loading with a 5-ft FEL from the sides, which I have
done already. I prefer to wait until the soil is more damp before I load it up with dirt.
I am looking forward to a full-load test. No significant rain here since last spring.

 

[ultrarunner]

No significant rain here since last spring.

You got that right... I'm kind of spoiled because in a wet year there are many places I just can't go.

This year not once has rain or wet ground been an issue...

Even my friends on Last Chance Road said they have had zero weather issues... which is very unusual.

Keep posting pixs and reports... great project.

 

[Renze]

You got it. If I recall, the corrugated panels are .040, but the bends make them very
strong. I estimate the weight of the box at something like 300#. The gate uses .060
galvanized sheet with angle frame.

Thats a wee bit over 1mm... its fine as long as you dont dump boulders in it

 

[dfkrug]

After thinking about hydraulic power for the dump for literally years, I decided not
to use a 12V power-pack (tho I have one here), and not use a Barnes-type gear pump.
Both approaches I have done before, and I want to try something new.

So, I snagged a power steering pump, a Nissan unit off an Infiniti Q45 engine I
picked up (free). I looked and looked for info from others who have used PS pumps
for this kind of application, and came up short. Even on YouTube and other places
where you see stuff like this.

I am guessing this one can put out maybe 1500 psi, tho I have no specs, and I have
not done a test (yet). Most seem to be clockwise rotation and use vanes instead of
gears. I wanted a PS pump with no reservoir, since space is very tight. This pump
is tiny. I had to look inside. The relief valve is on the inlet and it is a spool-type RV.
If I want more pressure, I can just stretch the spring a bit.

 

[aczlan]

If that doesn't work and you end up getting one from a JY, look at the ones in 200, 700 or 900 series Volvos. Many of those are already setup for a remote tank (mounted on the fender) so it wouldn't be a big deal to up the tank size and they already have vbelt pulleys on them.

Aaron Z