First round of the chassis modifications has been now started:
Maybe it was too long? ๐
And also some other unnecessary parts needs to be taken away:
KA metamorphoses to DT. Longer explanation is that I decided to convert one front crashed Ford KA to Do It Yourself Tractor.
Current situation:
But before that I made some tests about the final installation angle:
The reason why I might install the chassis back at rear-up angle is that I want to utilize the height of the windscreen better. Usually tractors & other machines have rather tall windscreen for better visibility, and most probably so shall also my tractor have. ๐
There are some little things like doors that will be “at interesting angle”, but based on quick tests they are working good enough way. Tailgate I have planned to install about 90 degree angle looking from the ground level. That should be fairly easy modification since I will chop about 0,5 – 1 meter out from interior length. So the tailgate will be immediately after the front doors.
Some photos about the current state:
Since the Ford Ka I acquired has had a front crash I needed to cut out the whole front body support structure to make enough room for the engine to run.
I also switched a new cooler and added a couple of things that were missing… Like air filter assembly, battery and starter motor. On the top of those one spark plug was completely missing and another was badly broken. Luckily I had agreed with the scrap yard that I can get parts from other Ford Ka’s to get one which is running and somehow drive-able. ย So I went to the scrap yard and got the parts I needed.
After installing all the needed I turned the ignition key and it started like nothing was wrong with it. ๐ Here are two videos of the engine running:
Some cooling water was leaking because of not so good temporary hose joint with the internal heater block valve. That valve is made from plastic and it had broken at crash. I do have already one unbroken one, but did not bother to install that.
I very shortly test driven the car and all the gears were working and engine was running nicely. Even the brakes were working so I consider this to be a really good deal. ๐
Next time I will start dismantling everything out from the car since I will build a completely new frame for my tractor and the car body will be mostly scrapped.
Some weeks ago something was badly wrong with my morning coffee. After the breakfast I went out and the grass looked too long and lawn-moving exercise was awaiting. I started to think about drive-able lawn-movers and then the next thought was that am I able to build one by myself?
After some brainstorming I came to a conclusion that it would be possible to build. Then some time passed and actually the lawn-moving issue was solved since my dad purchased a robotic lawn-mover and the housing company where I live purchased a better more traditional lawn-mover (but with battery power) that was nice enough to use.
Everything seemed fine, but I was not able to drop the idea to build my own tractor or a kind of big garden tractor. The business case for the build is at least to my dad being able to do snow plowing easier and I’m able to tow what ever I need at my garage from one place to an another. Ok, I admit that the last reason is quite lame, but the first one holds better. ๐
The DIY Tractor idea has matured to a state that I just couldn’t resist start working on it. The idea was to purchase some really cheap front wheel driven car where I will take the engine, gearbox, electricity things, etc… Basically all what makes the car move. After studying a bit what car to purchase I come to a conclusion that some small Ford which engine has timing chain instead of belt and it needed to have proper fuel injection system. So I ended up acquiring Ford Ka with Endura-E 1.3 engine (based heavily on Kent engine) from the local scrap yard:
Someone had crashed the front to something and at least cooler was broken and some electrical connectors as well. But at least this was a start…
Since it would be just too boring to be happy with front wheel driven or rear wheel driven car I had decided to make it 4×4. ๐
Basically the idea is to rotate the engine and gearbox 90 degrees so that the drive shafts will work as power output for front and rear diffs. Those diffs will also work as reduction gears so that there will be enough force and the tractor will not go too fast.
I already had twoย 4×4 Sierra rear diffs which I thought I could use. One which is a bit worn out and another that is at good condition that I have planned to keep as a spare for my Sierra. Since I did’n want to use the better diff which I had planned to keep as a spare I acquired rear wheel driven 1.6 CVH Sierra diff ย (same 3,92 ratio) from a guy very close by where I live. He had keep that stored for some future project which he had then decided not to do so it was available very cost efficient price. At the same time I also got two cardan axles and drive shafts:
ย So now I have all the major parts acquired and hopefully now it will be mostly work to make the DIY Tractor as reality. There are still some minor parts that I know I will need, but those can still wait until the project reaches proper state for them.
So this is the starting post for this insane project. More to follow soon… ๐