Building my tractor-7 ( modified )

[jdcrawler]

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After the front axle was mounted I was having second thoughts on if it would be strong enough once the front end loader was on.

This axle was designed to be supported out on the spring mounts, not from a center pin.
The steel block I welded on top of the axle will keep the hole from going egg shape at the top but doesn't add a lot of strength to the axle itself.
Plus it has been cut and re-welded in the center and it has a 1-1/16 diameter hole thru the center.

Instead of taking a chance on it braking, I decided to beef it up now so I know I don't have to worry about it later.
I'm going to weld a steel bar along the bottom to spread out the force that is applied to the axle by the pivot pin.

I'm making the axle brace out of 1-1/2 inch diameter solid steel bar.
I cut the piece to the length I need and bent it in the hydraulic press.
Then I put it on the mill and machined a flat area on each end.




This is the axle and brace clamped together and ready to weld.
You can see how the milled flat area fits nicley against the bottom of the axle.




The finished axle re-mounted on the tractor.




I also have the ti-rod mounted.




Here's how she looks back on its wheels.

[C F Industries]

How did you determine the angle of the axle to make the camber of the wheels come out right? I was also thinking about the 5deg positive caster on the steering. Do you think that much might make the steering hard to turn with weight in the bucket? When I did front end work most vehicles had the caster set between 1 to 3 deg. When you increase the angle, as you turn the wheel you actually make the spindle push the axle up on the inside wheel of the turn. I am wondering without power steereing if your steering might not be real heavy or hard to turn? I could be wrong, whet do you think?

[rockinmywaypa]

Boy you do nice work, keep it up, we're watchin and learnin'

[jdcrawler]

Originally Posted by C F Industries

How did you determine the angle of the axle to make the camber of the wheels come out right? I was also thinking about the 5deg positive caster on the steering. Do you think that much might make the steering hard to turn with weight in the bucket? When I did front end work most vehicles had the caster set between 1 to 3 deg. When you increase the angle, as you turn the wheel you actually make the spindle push the axle up on the inside wheel of the turn. I am wondering without power steereing if your steering might not be real heavy or hard to turn? I could be wrong, whet do you think?

If you are expecting some kind of "high tech" answer .. you're going to be disappointed.
When I set the half axle in front of the tractor to mark where to cut it, I put a degree gauge on the backing plate surface and made it vertical.
I did the same thing when I tack welded the two axle halves together.

You sure wouldn't want to set a car axle this way but it will be just fine for a tractor.

It's been over 20 years since I set up a straight axle on a street rod but it seems to me that they were set at about 5 degrees.
I know the dragsters really laid their axle back. You don't want any chance of shimmy at the speeds they run.

Here you can see the angle on the finished axle. I can't detect that the axle dips or rises at all when the wheels are turned.
The wheels turn easy enough that I'm thinking of just using a standard steering box instead of trying to put in power steering.
I'll find out for sure though once I get it all together.

[ben2go]

I agree with the the 5* inclination of the front axle.It will aide the steering feel/response and help it self center.The king pin inclination on my old CJ5 was 15* with bushings that allowed +/- 3* of adjustment.I won't hijack jdcrawler's thread with details.

[Hugh-SS/16]

so if youre running 23's on the front, whats on the back?

[C F Industries]

JD It sounds like you do the the math on things the same way I do. The practical way. The only thought I was wondering about was if the steering would be heavy or hard to turn, I think you are building a great machine.

[jdcrawler]

Originally Posted by C F Industries

JD It sounds like you do the the math on things the same way I do. The practical way. The only thought I was wondering about was if the steering would be heavy or hard to turn.

You and I are on the same thought lines there.

Initially I had planed on putting power steering on this because I was thinking it would be hard to steer with the loader.
This cast iron engine itself is quite heavy also but still the wheels turn a lot easier than I expected them to at this point.

On most garden tractor axles, the weight of the tractor is supported by flat brass washers on the spindles or even just metal to metal.
This axle has thrust bearings on the spindals so the weight is supported by ball bearings.
Right now I can hold the steering arm with just my thumb and forefinger and turn both wheels.

I'm going to go ahead and use a standard steering box and see how it works out.
I can always switch to power steering later if needed but why go to the extra expense if I don't have to?

[jeepersmitty]

Nice work I appreciate you posting this build.