English TowTractor for Estonian boys at Ladoga 2008

[YellowTractor]

We were told that you needed another tow truck to keep the stages clear of broken cars, so we start to make another stupid English tractor







I just hope we get it finished in time!!

Cheers

Jez
House of Flying Spanners

[Veiko]

This thing is looking GOOD.Keep us posted how things are going with new truck.
Veiko
PS selle posti võiks liigutada võistlus autode alla ka.

[K.Kotkas]

Kind of bold to go out without testing... Join us in the Spring run, will throw you a bone here

[TR Pjätt]

HI, Jez :::)))))

this is not a car, my friend.

Best,

Priit
your only friend

[YellowTractor]

we normally finish the car on the ferry between Germany and Finland so as usual we will do our extensive pre-race testing somewhere on the road between Helsinki and St Petersberg

its only a 3200km to St Isaacs from my workshop - what could go wrong?




ok..... a lot.. but Im sure it'll be fine


Hey Priit - when have I ever had a real car?? so Im not going to start now (by the way - you havent told me what stage do you want me to wait with my tow rope?? ) we have a much faster winch now so you wont be stuck in the swamps for long - there is just a little piece of Range Rover if you look really closely

I will try my best to burn even more gas than you this year, this V8 is thirsty

I want to come and race in Estonia, but I cant understand any dates, whats on after Ladoga?

Who else is coming? Urvo, Oliver, Indrik?

Lets hunt frogs

[Veiko]

Next race after Ladoga in Estonia is 11-13.07.2008.I hope U can come here to race
Veiko

[YellowTractor]

maybe these are interesting or maybe not

its taken longer than it should to make this chassis because I thought I should Tig weld whenever possible, I need the practice because its been a looooooooooong time since I did it properly and it shows, I used to be ok at this but now Im a little bit rusty





The cab is almost big enough to fit Priits fat ass - but for us skinny guys its like a Rolls Royce


The engine is an LS1, 5.7litre V8 making about 450hp, the gearbox is a tremec TKO500, we make some strong parts for the Volvo axles so hopefully they wont explode (I drive like an asshole so I need as much help as possible)

The new winch will have 4 speeds (we will probably only use 2 of those in reality) and they can be changed under load, a few of you guys have seen our hydraulic winches before, they were good but now they should be really good, here is a little video of my old winch Petals Winch

sorry to those that cant read English - I cant find an English-Estonian translation program anywhere maybe someone could translate this?

where abouts is this race in July Veiko and what kind of race is it?

[Veiko]

It is usually 2 day race.4-6 special stages.Most of them is finging points in woods or in sandpit.It is not like Ladoga where U have to drive from point to point.Usually ther order is free.I'll add some liks where U can find some pictures from last year event:
http://pilt.delfi.ee/album/29067/
http://nagi.ee/photos/garfield007/sets/25170/
http://pilt.delfi.ee/album/33275/

Veiko

[D-90]

Hello Jez

I have seen your Type R winch in action at Ladoga, which was really fast.
We have also Milemarker with Maxi Drive hydraulic PTO from http://www.4x4winches.com/ on our D-90.
We have upgraded it with bigger dual pump and faster motor. Got it quite fast and reliable (except winch rope )
Now looking for possibility to drive pump from engine via toothed belt.
I like fast hydraulics.

[K.Kotkas]

DOOH!


It was about time we had a decent build thread here. HMM is sitting silent somewhere there and scraping his stuff together. Ha HAA.

Keep it coming Jez, and have no worries mate, you will be ready for Ladoga (year I don't know thou )

[ed101]

Great build, nice welds

Our silent and sitting home project just went to paint shop.
Unfortunately we will skip Ladoga this year.

I have been looking long time something like TKO500 (for future project). Lightweight (105lbs?) manual transmission for LS-series engine. T5 is too weak and NV-series transmissions weight as much as Moon. Thanks!
What transfer case are you using? Seems not Atlas.
What tube are you using? CrMo?
Suspension? 4-link? Coil-overs? Air shocks?
Planned weight?

I have my doubts about Volvo axles, hopefully it's my personal problem.
Robe from Finland used V8 and Volvo axles but he had automatic transmission and automatic saves a lot of axle parts...

Good luck and keep up the nice work

[YellowTractor]

We looked very long at using toothed belts but there are a few problems, they dont like working when there is lots of debris, they have a very low tolerance for radial and axial missalignment (0.25 degrees ) and when they go wrong they do it instantly - theres a lot to be said for chains!
having said that we use a prop-shaft from the crank this year so we can spend more time in camp using Priits sauna

Ed - we settled on the TKO 500 because it can handle the power, its light and it has the right ratios, first is low but not so low, reverse is good and 5th means we should be good on fuel, the transferbox is a Landrover LT230 so it has gear drive, permenant 4wd with a lockable diff, PTO port and its an all aluminium casing - its a hard combination to beat, the clutch is a 12" so crawling should be ok (hopefully?!?), we have cro-mo halfshafts and 4340/300m CVs for the volvo axles, we also make the diffs stronger, they will be ok - Roope keeps his axles in one piece by having a self-destructing gearbox, I spoke to him today and he will go and test his new gearbox this week - it should be a lot stronger now
your car looks good - it looks like one of the Hamburgers or a Russian cuttlefish?

Mike came to the workshop today and played with fibreglass - we use a heat shrink plastic and then cover it in tape


then Mike plasters it in glass


its only the first stage but at least its a start - we will get the front steel work finished tomorrow, get the radiator fitted, build the frame for the back so the rest of the fibreglass can be moulded, shouldn't take more then 5 minutes

more welding

[YellowTractor]

well we got a little bit more done

needed to make a strut brace for the front suspension, so with a few pieces of steel and a little bit of welding


and some more welding


it fits to the front end (and with the wing bars welded in), the front is almost finished


The roof got cut back and the aluminium radiator got modified to fit the car


The back end will get finished tonight, the seat mounts will get made, we will plan the shape of the air scoop (it takes air from the front of the car, goes through the cab and then to the radiator), if we can find enough aluminium I will make the doors as well


Lots left to do...

[tai]

So Jess you got sure plan to beat this year russian "frogs"?

[YellowTractor]

plans are easy - making it happen is hard, the only guarantee is that we will try our best

I think the frogs are impressive pieces of engineering, green frogs driver is good - he has a good eye for the terrain but Frogs have weakspots. Maybe with luck and hard work we can beat them - we beat orange frog last year so we know the Frogs are no longer invincible. I think the rule changes this year will make life even more uncomfortable for them