My Ride-on Tracked dumper

dcyrilc · Sep 26, 2010

David Devuono said:
looknlearn said:

hello
David Devuono, you might want to be careful of those wheels.

LOOKNLEARN was right on with the wheels. I noticed one flexing when I was moving it around the driveway the other day. So now what do I do? I am looking at another 600-800 dollars to upgrade the wheel rim assembly. Having more time then money I am looking at making 20x (3/16 by 5in dia) discs and welding a 2" piece of 1 1/2 inch inside dia tube. Then slide this over the long side hub of the wheel assembly and bolt this on.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the design issue. Looking forward to hearing if your fix solves it.

jcims · Sep 26, 2010

David Devuono said:
LOOKNLEARN was right on with the wheels. I noticed one flexing when I was moving it around the driveway the other day. So now what do I do? I am looking at another 600-800 dollars to upgrade the wheel rim assembly. Having more time then money I am looking at making 20x (3/16 by 5in dia) discs and welding a 2" piece of 1 1/2 inch inside dia tube. Then slide this over the long side hub of the wheel assembly and bolt this on.

Is there any possibility to return the wheels, or at least most of them to look for something with a bit more fortitude? Unless I'm missing something in the detail, they look brand new.

Looks like most of the wheelbarrow type wheels run in the $15-30 range, and the small 4-4.80 trailer wheels are going to be closer to $45. Latter would need some type of hub or bearing added, but would be substantially stronger. I pulled a 1,000 box blade on two of them a couple of weeks ago, and about 1,400lbs of limestone last year. Tires got a little warm, but the wheels are in perfect condition.

Adding the plate on would probably work, but i would test the heck out of one first. If the wheel metal is actually flimsy, you might risk tearing it out at the rim. That would probably take quite a bit of lateral force, which i would imagine is in relatively short supply as long as you are on relatively level surfaces.

Whatever you do, don't get discouraged. You're blazing a trail and are going to hit thicket every now and then. It's a great project and I think you have everyone's admiration for the commitment you've shown so far!

cnicholls · Sep 29, 2010

I may be missing something, however, I had a similar issue with rims from harbor freight. They are split rims with tubes. Each side is 16 gauge sheet stamped steel from china. They are bolted with the five bolts. Have you considered unbolting them. Cutting a round disk out of 1/4" or 3/8" plate boring the 5 bolt pattern bolt it all back together with longer grade 5 bolts and remount the tube tire? It will more than double your lateral strength with minimal invested. And you rims will look stock.

looknlearn · Sep 29, 2010

That is what I was going to do but Dad just said he would return them get a better one to start with. If the rims are any measure of how the rubber in the tire is, then there would be no end to repairing and putting money into them.
Just my 2 cents.
Tucker

David Devuono · Sep 30, 2010

I paid $10 a piece for the wheels so even if I could return them, I am still looking at spending another 400-600 bucks. I think I can upgrade them for about $100. Need to go to my steel supplier and see if there is something like a 5" die and he can quickly punch out 20 plates or I will buy a 5" bymetal hole saw and cut my own (time consuming).

The way these tires are made, even if you sandwiched a piece of steel between the halfs, the hub is only welded to the thin part and so it will still want to pull away. So instead of sandwiching it, I will bolt it to the outside and weld a short piece of tubing on to also brace the hub. Anyway I am off next week and hope to get some major progress done.

dcyrilc · Sep 30, 2010

Is that a dump bed or a cab-over designed cab that you're adding on top?

Iplayfarmer · Sep 30, 2010

dcyrilc said:
Is that a dump bed or a cab-over designed cab that you're adding on top?

Check out the hinges. I'm giving 5:1 odds it's the dump bed.

dcyrilc · Sep 30, 2010

Iplayfarmer said:
Check out the hinges. I'm giving 5:1 odds it's the dump bed.

When I first saw the pic, my first impression was, Cool, it's going to be a cab-over. While I was posting, it occured to me that it was probably the dump bed since this is his "Ride-on Tracted Dumper".:laughing: I decided to change my response to a question before I actually posted it.

David Devuono · Oct 1, 2010

Can always compare the picts with the the concept drawing in the first post.

Did not have any better angles but this will be clearer. Bed is 4ft x 4ft with 16" sides. I just need to work out where I will position the dump cylinder.

mjncad · Oct 1, 2010

David Devuono said:
I paid $10 a piece for the wheels so even if I could return them, I am still looking at spending another 400-600 bucks. I think I can upgrade them for about $100. Need to go to my steel supplier and see if there is something like a 5" die and he can quickly punch out 20 plates or I will buy a 5" bymetal hole saw and cut my own (time consuming).

Unless you have a milling machine with an ultra low speed, using a 5" holesaw is going to be difficult on a drill press. I managed to do either 3" or 3-1/2" diameter through 1/4" plate and it was painful on my 17" Jet drill press at its slowest speed of 200-RPM.

I'd be surprised if the steel supplier has a punch that big. I think your best bet is to see if the steel place has a CNC plasma or laser cutter. That way you could have them cut not just the plates; but any other holes in the plates on the same run. If you have access to a CAD program that outputs an AutoCAD DXF file, you should be in good shape and will save money by drawing up the file yourself.