Articulated tractor build questions

[parvodog]

Hello,

I'm thinking about building an articulated tractor with a backhoe, and possibly a 6 way blade on the front. I'm still in the planning stages. Soon to be followed by the hoarding of parts stage.

My question is - Can I run two 1 ton axles, with dual wheels on it, with both axles facing toward the front, with hydraulic motors powering the yoke directly?

The differential gears are 3.31:1, so I'll need to figure out a motor to give me plenty of torque with enough speed to get around.

Thanks for looking!

Tim

 

[PapaPerk]

All depends on motor specs. Personally I would study existing designs. I think you motors maybe weak.

You need to know max vehicle speed, max pulling force, vehicle weight, etc etc to size correctly.

Personally I would use auto trans, engine and transfer case out of something like a Jeep or dodge diesel.

Interesting project.

 

[parvodog]

I forgot to mention that I'm using a Perkins diesel with a monstrous Eaton hydraulic pump.
It came out of a boring machine used for burying fiber.

 

[bigdeano]

That should be a fun project. Is that a hydrostatic drive pump on your engine? Your plan to use 2 hyd motors will certainly work. Depends a lot on what speed range you want for your tractor. If you size the motors to have enough torque to spin the wheels.then your top speed may be slower than you want. You can hook the motors in series or parallel or have it changeable for two speed ranges.

I built an articulated hydrostatic garden tractor. I turned the front axle around and hooked the 2 axles together with a drive shaft. I used a chain drive from the hyd motor to a sprocket on the rear pinion flange. On a larger tractor you could have a transmission for multiple speed ranges with this setup. Mine has plenty of torque to spin the wheels, but top speed is only about 6 mph, maybe not enough for a bigger tractor. I used a Vickers hydrostatic transmission pump. Lots of things for you to figure out, but that's the fun of building things.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

What size hoe and what size blade? Hopefully you are going to run ag tires and not truck tires? A sketch would be pretty helpful!

 

[PapaPerk]

Check this out. This is more of what I had in mind. (0:

http://youtu.be/6GygsMFju6I

 

[Mysfyt]

What your proposing to build sounds similar to a logging forwarder. Google them to get some ideas. I remember seeing one that was all hydraulic driven and had an absolute monster of a pump driven by a Cummins 6C. Sounds like a fun project.

 

[parvodog]

Those are definitely monsters. The Vimek Mini looks neat.

I'm mostly wanting to do a larger version of the CadTrac.
The plan is to do a 6 way blade, since my tractor has a loader. That will be a big learning curve for me.

 

[MossRoad]

Have you considered putting one wheel motor at each corner and skipping the axles? Plus side is extremely less complicated. Down size is no hi-low range selection. You either have a very fast machine with low torque, a medium machine with medium speed and torque, or a slower machine with huge torque. If you don't have to road travel it often, it works well to have a slow-medium speed machine.

Look at these machines from Power Trac for some ideas....
Versatile Tractors,Compact Tractors,Trailer Packages,Landscaping,Utility Vehicle Rentals,Mowers-Power Trac