:dance1:
I do have time on my hands. In 2006, I was critically injured when a 4000 volt switch that I was working on blew up. I was left with burns on over 60% of my body. I have heterotopic ossification in my right elbow & shoulder. This phenomenon was first discovered in WW1 when soldiers were getting "up close and personal" with bombs going off ! H/O is where, as a bodily defense mechanism, bone actually grows in ones joints and reduces movement. My elbow is locked in the "hand shake" position and the movement in my shoulder is restricted by about 60%. An "over eager" surgeon attemped to fix it but only left me with one ugly shoulder (see 4th photo). I am lucky because I am left handed and I still am able to use my right hand well enough to build my dozer.My biggest problem is in my legs. The surgeons had to take a layer of skin to graft onto my upper body. The skin never regenerated properly on my legs, especially around my ankles. Occasionally, one of my ankles will start to bleed and I might lose a few pints of blood. This happened this past July and I was down for a month trying to get my blood count back to normal. So to paraphrase another member's quote: "when I can works, I works hard !". I've been dreaming about doing this project for years. Hopefully I'll get through it with no incidents ! NOW...... BACK TO DOZER BUILDING !! :dance1:
My sentiments +, and then some!
They inspire me to keep after it. The pulley/transmission was no problem because I had purchased the plans for a MD12/1600 from Struck Co. The body and track system are my design. The reason I chose the MD over the MT transmission design was because of the way that it is steered. I gave up the benifit of having a multi-geared transaxle which is steered by applying either of the independent brakes, for its predecessor, the MD line which is steered by independently driven tracks. One side can go forward while the other side goes in reverse thus having the capability of turning 180 degrees within the length of the unit.
First, I would like to, once again, say thank you for the heart felt words.
In regards to what is the hardest part to plan out, I found it difficult to figure out how and where the track would be connected to the frame. As can be seen in a previous photo, I didn't figured it close enough and had to make some reliefs in the 3" square tubing. This kind of error can cause a weaker than normal structure as well as making it look like a cobbled hack job.
Chris:Thanks for finding the chain. When I was researching my project, I looked and looked but couldn't find it. I may still need to use it if mine fails sooner than expected. This weekend I worked on installing the track. It went smoother than I expected. No pinched fingers, no extreme cursing !
