lightweight rock crawler and Hydraulic drive options

[Baloo]

l will put this here as its atomotive powered

this is a small 4x4 buggy biult by a friend of mine called Mark





the 2 vids above show it finished and out and about

but jumping back about a year and it was nothing more than a car engine and a pair axles







marks main aim was as light as posibble with as much axle travel as possible,  weight is just under 600kg finished,  about 1300 lbs for you imperial guys, and there about 1000mm ( 40 inches ) under each wheel when lifted,

 since he had a pair of suzuki sj 410 axles lying around they were pressed into service,   they were lightened where ever possible, the discs were given a heavy skim and reduced in diameter the hubs were turned down where ever there was spare metal it was removed, the rear drums were also treated to some time on the lathe
the brakes are about to get binned and replaced with motor bike or quad brakes in an effort to shed more weight still

the engine chosen was a front wheel drive citroen, picked only because it was the lightest engine he could find, and they are cheap, as you can see in the pics it was turned round 90 deg and mounted beside the driver,  the diff in the citroen gear box was welded up to make sure it would feed the power to the front and rear axle equally, the diff in the citroen gearbox is about 3.5 to 1 and the sj diffs are about the same giving about 7 to 1 overall reduction, some where about right for some big tyres
the citroen gearbox drive shafts were the cv type, this were stripped so they were just a cup on the gearbox to these 2 steel discs were welded and drilled to match the sj prop shafts, so with the engine and box sat on a crate with the props attached to the axles the wheel base was set, which just happened to be 80 inches, may as well use standard suzuki parts, no point in making special props is there, 

dont know if you get citroen cars over there, but l bet you have plenty of other choices like the ecotec engine l keep reading about, but there not much else thats as light as suzuki axles is there ?

[RC51 Rhino]

That is the coolest thing I've seen in quite a while! I have a mini rail frame I'm thinking would be great for this application also.

[Admin]

It is very cool, make a damn good mudder to with a little bigger engine...

[fabr]

Way to go! Very cool.

[fabr]

I LOVE that first vid!

[Doug Heim]

Awesome!. Thats all I can really say! 

[SPEC]

Thanks Baloo,
It helps me to get started

[Baloo]

[Baloo]

I LOVE that first vid!

one of my favorites too, it looks like it going to get stuck when it first drops in but sort of just pops free,  its still got open diffs at the moment but some ARB's are on the shopping list, then he can try some thing difficult 

[Baloo]

couple more pics for you

[Carlriddle]

Nice, very nice.  Taking FWD turning it and making it 4WD, why didnt I think of that?  Auto power/tranny, reliable, reverse.    I thought it was even smaller than that from pics.

[Baloo]

Nice, very nice.  Taking FWD turning it and making it 4WD, why didnt I think of that?  Auto power/tranny, reliable, reverse.    I thought it was even smaller than that from pics.

if you want to go smaller how about the suzuki swift engine and gearbox, 1000cc and 3 cylinder, do you get them over there ?, you might even squeeze one in the back of a buggy instead of by the side of the driver



l have plans to biuld one simalar but with a subaru engine, will tell you more about that after l have covered Marks in more detail

Andy

[odypilots]

if you want to go smaller how about the suzuki swift engine and gearbox, 1000cc and 3 cylinder, do you get them over there ?, you might even squeeze one in the back of a buggy instead of by the side of the driver




l have plans to biuld one simalar but with a subaru engine, will tell you more about that after l have covered Marks in more detail

Andy

Alain from Drakart was thinking the same as you. He put them in his Drak Extreme. Didn't really catch on, though.

[SPEC]

Hey I got one of those...car is white as well

[Baloo]

Hey I got one of those...car is white as well

you got one Spec
so how does it go then ? would it be ok as a buggy engine or is just up to the job