DonStillwagon
Member
This post is in response to a question by Carl (Woodlandfarms) - he was perceptive to pick up on a side comment I made on a previous post, and asked for pictures. I thought a new thread might be worthwhile.
While doing some major hydraulic repairs due to failure of a defective internal shaft in a wheel motor, I took the opportunity to add some stability to the machine by widening the stance to 58". Choose to do 58" due to 60 inch brush cutter and bucket. Pictures are attached - I just marked and cut the wheel motor boxes off about half way out with a sawzall and a demolition blade. Cut some 6" x 3/8" plates on a bandsaw, clamped everything tacked it, checked for square and welded it all back together. I kept moving around with the welding to avoid distortion. Using the plates as gussets simplifies the welding. Had to employ the stick machine to reach some areas, MIG on rest. Had to modify the plates on the rear of the front boxes for parking brake pin clearance - did a butt weld extension with a narrow gusset above the brake rod. I make my brake pins from standard rod - just drill and tap it appropriately, and in this case make it for the new length. I rerouted the hoses to the front motors and gained the length needed. Only one rear hose had to be replaced with a longer one. I also added some 1/4" x 12" plate to the front of the machine to protect things and to strengthen the area due to the increased moment arm from the wider stance. Note the Debris shield of belting material on th top of the new boxed area - helps keep mower and chipper debris out - not pretty but it works!
The machine is much more stable on slopes when mowing and there is a really big difference when lifting things with the forks or buckets on inclines. With the White wheel motors, this keeps the moment arm on the motor shafts within the original limits. Reversing the wheels is not an option with these motors, if you look at the design curves available on the White website.
Don
While doing some major hydraulic repairs due to failure of a defective internal shaft in a wheel motor, I took the opportunity to add some stability to the machine by widening the stance to 58". Choose to do 58" due to 60 inch brush cutter and bucket. Pictures are attached - I just marked and cut the wheel motor boxes off about half way out with a sawzall and a demolition blade. Cut some 6" x 3/8" plates on a bandsaw, clamped everything tacked it, checked for square and welded it all back together. I kept moving around with the welding to avoid distortion. Using the plates as gussets simplifies the welding. Had to employ the stick machine to reach some areas, MIG on rest. Had to modify the plates on the rear of the front boxes for parking brake pin clearance - did a butt weld extension with a narrow gusset above the brake rod. I make my brake pins from standard rod - just drill and tap it appropriately, and in this case make it for the new length. I rerouted the hoses to the front motors and gained the length needed. Only one rear hose had to be replaced with a longer one. I also added some 1/4" x 12" plate to the front of the machine to protect things and to strengthen the area due to the increased moment arm from the wider stance. Note the Debris shield of belting material on th top of the new boxed area - helps keep mower and chipper debris out - not pretty but it works!
The machine is much more stable on slopes when mowing and there is a really big difference when lifting things with the forks or buckets on inclines. With the White wheel motors, this keeps the moment arm on the motor shafts within the original limits. Reversing the wheels is not an option with these motors, if you look at the design curves available on the White website.
Don
