4 wheel surrey

David D.

David D.

New Member
Hi everyone, well had a customer drop off a surrey the other day... 2 seater...wants an engine on it.... looks easy enough ...thinking about the 6.5 HF engine, and running a jack shaft to the passenger side wheel... anybody got a line on suppliers for the centrifical clutches and sprockets , shafting, chain, ect...saw a place online that has some stuff called tulsa engine i think...just dont know anything about them,,, and the selection was not so good... also the customer would prefer electric start... any help there? any input would be appreciated... David
 
4 wheeler questions crop up here from time to time and we generally begin by offering the advice that in almost every state, without exception, a 4 wheeled vehicle is considered an automobile, not a bike or trike. As such the laws are a lot different as far as requirements go. You or your customer might be wise to check into the local laws pertaining to 4 wheeled vehicles before embarking on what could be an expensive but illegal/unusable venture. Good luck and please keep us posted.
Tom
 
Thanks Tom, yes we aware of the possible law issues, this thing is used for parades and on the customers ranch in caruthers ca. actually was in the caruthers christmas parade 3 days ago... he owns 3 of them and has friends with many others, all used in parades.... reason for posting is to share an unusuall project with everyone, and get technical help and parts souces if possible..... David
 
Four wheelers are cool. I would highly recommend a differential axle. Peerless makes all kinds. I'ved used one on a motorized project in the past and they make all the difference in the world how you steer your vehicle. You can get transaxles with speeds and reverse also. Used garden tractors are a good source. Northern Tool offers electric start engines. Good catalog for reference. Would like to see photos of the surrey If possible.
 
Could you clarify the differences Msrfan?

Speeds and reverse would be great!
 
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Had to resize so not too sure if this will work...anyway this the surrey....
 

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Good ole State Law!

We mules jest hafta keep chasin that overpriced overblown overpowered carrot they can justify taking that huge chunk of income to insure.

This IS NOT taxation without representation!
 
Re: It's Electric!

5-7HEAVEN said:
How about electric drive? Much quieter, no smell, no mess, no oil splatter.
Click to expand...

That is a great thought 5-7. Could prolly get a golf cart drive chain to work easily. Solar panel canopy to help top off batts?

Dang, now am gonna be looking for a used one. lol
 
:) no substitute for an engine.... actually the owner has tried electric... just was not happy with it... I motorized his huffy Nel lusso last week and he was so pleased with it he is gettig one for his wife... and deciced he wants gas engines on his "fleet" of surreys.... he had been thinking about doing this for awhile, just was not sure how to go about it....
 
well the latest news is he found a spare honda engine at the ranch... says he uses them in his sprayers... he thought it might work so is bringing it by today for me to check out, as long as its got the HP and a horizontal shaft it should be fine. . . as for the drive system was thinking we would keep it simple and use a centrifical ctutch...although i like that variable pulley you found there dan....that would help if HP was a problem... but for this one i think we're going big.... the way the rear wheels are set up is a basic freewheel hub and independant pedal drive each side ... the customer is ok with losing the pass. side pedal power and replacing it with an eng....however my thought now is a freewheel on both pedals like the shift kits use(never used one yet though so a little help would be good...) and a full width jackshaft driving both wheels ...the rear hubs would then act as the differential... also has drum brakes operated from a lever on the dash, i will fab a conventional gas and brake pedal to make operation safe and easy....i priced the sprockets and shafting from mc master car, surely there is a less expensive supplier ...any help there?
 
David D. said:
Had to resize so not too sure if this will work...anyway this the surrey....
Click to expand...


Wow! A perfect platform for a garden tractor conversion. A floorboard with the vertical shaft motor under the front seat. The shaft goes through the floor, add a centrifugal clutch to eliminate the foot unit, with belt drive to the rear transaxle and the shifter back up through the floor for easy access. A three speed and reverse would probably be the most available and some have a disc brake built right on the unit. Everything you need in one package for a few hundred bucks and a minimum of fabrication. I see them at swap meets and farm equipment auctions. Saw some on the bulliten board at the Vista Gas Engine Museum in October.
 
David D. said:
well the latest news is he found a spare honda engine at the ranch... says he uses them in his sprayers... he thought it might work so is bringing it by today for me to check out, as long as its got the HP and a horizontal shaft it should be fine. . . as for the drive system was thinking we would keep it simple and use a centrifical ctutch...although i like that variable pulley you found there dan....that would help if HP was a problem... but for this one i think we're going big.... the way the rear wheels are set up is a basic freewheel hub and independant pedal drive each side ... the customer is ok with losing the pass. side pedal power and replacing it with an eng....however my thought now is a freewheel on both pedals like the shift kits use(never used one yet though so a little help would be good...) and a full width jackshaft driving both wheels ...the rear hubs would then act as the differential... also has drum brakes operated from a lever on the dash, i will fab a conventional gas and brake pedal to make operation safe and easy....i priced the sprockets and shafting from mc master car, surely there is a less expensive supplier ...any help there?
Click to expand...


I'm afraid double freewheels would drive the inside wheel on every turn instead of the outside as on a real diffy.
 
and what problems would that create msrfan? do you think it might steer funny? my thought was that most turns will be made at relatively slow speeds or while decelerating (slowing to make a turn)....trying to think about what would be happening if turning while accelerating any ideas? i anticipate a top speed around 25mph, and for all intents and purposes an average useful cruising speed of about 15mph... i have seen a few parades and usually they are only going about 3 mph....average walking or marching speed....
 
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