A little progress report...
The wheel hub discs have been cut out with the side grinder fitted out with a cutoff disc, rounded out to shape with a stationary grinder and are now ready to be welded to the original riding mower wheel cores. Hopefully that will be done today so that I can lace up the new hubs to the worksman rims with the worksman 11 gauge spokes. I'll unlace one wheel at a time so that I have the other to stare at while trying to follow the same lacing pattern Worksman used.
11 gauge spokes are thicker and less flexible than narrower spokes, so they are also a little more difficult to work with. Big sigh of relief coming up when the wheels are done and on the axle. Fasteddy and this old bear are off on a cross country trip to the east coast in two days, so we're also trying to get things wrapped up herewith the tri-car and buttoning the place up.
Along with packing for the trip the American Deluxe frame is going, too, since Steve wants to engage his son's help in re configuring the rear part of the frame. His son's buddy has a pipe bender for auto work, is a super welder, etc. so that with luck the bike frame will be modified and ready for us to fit up as a trike when we are back in Minnesota. The differential axle is also going along for the ride as it will determine the width of the new frame members. I re-installed the pedal crank so that pedal clearance is also observed in altering the frame. Pedals will be functional for purposes of legality mostly.
I also got the side panel removed from the Atco mower so that we could take a look at the way power was transferred from the engine to the roller for moving the mower along (like powered wheels) and for turning the grass cutter assembly. Good grief. There are six sprockets and multiple chains, all nicely done. One can of beer later and after much creative staring it is likely that we'll pretty much leave alone what is there other than improving the chain tensioner with an altered skate board wheel. The cutter will be taken apart in hopes that the blade part can be removed from a central shaft. The shaft would be left in place with the idea that at a later time a smallish alternator could be fitted for making a lighting circuit.
Same goes for the big roller at the rear of the mower. We'll take it apart in hopes that there is a central shaft that can be used as a kind of jack shaft with a sprocket going to a corresponding sprocket on the differential. Surgery will have to wait until after the trip east to see how difficult or easily this can be accomplished. With luck we can re-use both shafts as jack shafts. The engine will utilize the cradle it is bolted in to. Mower handle will be removed, but hopefully most of the mower set up can be transferred to the trike frame.
I also cleaned up the differential and axle shafts with a wire wheel and bolted a second, smaller diameter sprocket from one of the other donor mower axles to the other side of the differential. Our plan is to eventually grind off the teeth from the sprocket and use the now toothless sprocket as a brake rotor for a heavy duty disc brake. The caliper will be purchased at Northern Tool and is designed for racing go karts. The caliper comes with a mounting bracket. Hope this works out! This will leave a remaining need for yet one more sprocket on the axle, a small one to receive the pedal chain. I did some looking around on the Atomic Zombie site trying to re-find information on using a salvaged bicycle free wheel for this purpose. If there is a way to mount it directly to the trike axle it will do away with the need for yet one more jack shaft. While I don't plan to pedal the bike around, the pedal needs to be functional and to be functional it needs to freewheel. Lots of stuff to think about, but it beats watching game shows on T.V., (if I had one to watch).
SB
