Ian

I think you might have enough lift there If it snows this way this winter all I can do is try and clear it with Why Not... Not ideal but doing lot's of donuts might move the white stuff about a bit

I have to agree with Norm, you certainly live in a beautiful place George

If there was more than one Nigel I'd never get anything done Thanks Norm.. A bit more of the same in the next video with a splash of "how did he do that?" The strip down continues.. Right side A arms and hub. Left side and rear shock... Quite amazingly I have had no problems getting any bolts out, a few were very tight to say the least, I think only 2 small ones have broken and they only held the original bodywork on anyways so they are not needed now. Lot's of welding has been happening, you may remember the sump/engine guard mounting brackets that I couldn't weld on upside down.. Ground back... Ok, this is a different bracket but you get the idea And fully zapped up.. It ain't gonna move now Speaking of welding, you will now see why I didn't want to get the engine running before fully welding the frame up... Lot's of bit's to weld that just couldn't be done with the engine in! There has only been two bolts that were a right pain to get out, but that was only because I didn't have the right tool was the swing arm bolts with "big ar$e" 17mm Allen key bolts! But yesterday I was able to borrow the right tool, a 17mm Allen key thingy that fits on a ratchet (Thanks Karl) and after a lot of force that bolts freed up with a loud crack.. Of course the swing arm bearings are shot.. An almost naked frame.. The sump guard is doing a great job of keeping the frame steady on the bench

Thanks mate, I'm quite liking them too While busy welding the mesh on the left side I thought I could feel my right leg getting warm! For some reason I forgot to tuck my jeans over my boots this morning, the foam in the tongue had caught alight and was taking my jeans with it!! Oops! Fire put out and the mesh welded on.. With MadTrax on axle stands it was time to start making something heavy.. A engine/sump guard made from some rather thick and heavy diamond plate.. The diamonds are on the other side. A big thank you to Nigel for offering me the plate to use. A test fit after cutting it to shape. The front of the guard needed to be bent up a bit, after cutting it part way through and beating it with a big hammer it was time for some heavy duty welding.. Me like my Murex TradesMig. Another test fit to test the... er.. fit.. I needed something nice and strong to mount the heavy sump/engine guard to the frame... So I started slicing up some nice thick angle iron. Sliced, cleaned up, drilled for a bolt, and a captive nut welded on.. Welded on. Although my welding is getting much better, I just can't get the knack of welding upside down for some reason!! Which is why the mounts will be fully welded on when I can turn MadTrax on her side.. One of the mounts had to go on the side rather than under the frame tube... Nice welding eh I think the engine/sump guard is strong enough You may of noticed a gap between the top of the leg guard thingys and the frame.. Which is why I made a couple of these.. They slot in here.. Welded in.. That looks a lot better now. I had to find some storage space for a lot of parts, so the "rack sort of thing" under the bench was turned into a big shelf using er.. metal shelves.. So why do I need parts storage space? Well.... This started happening. Followed by even more of the same. Until finally I had reach this stage by the end of play yesterday. On Monday that last parts will be stripped off, then some serious welding can begin Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings, comments and questions are always welcome.. To finish up this update, here's the latest video fresh off of MooTube where you can see MadTrax being stripped down and even two of me at the same time... What more could you want eh

You can't beat the smell of new rubber Nice tires there Alain, bigger always looks better

Looks like you had a fun day Koen Nice to see your ready for any eventuality, extra fuel, a funnel and loads of spanners hanging on the PTO lever

Thanks Richard, having a "proper" Mig welder certainly has helped with the welds. My old "hobby" Mig just didn't have the oompphh behind it. Not much to report, both er... foot/leg guards have had an extra bit of tube welded in making sure the shape matched the outer tube. And one side has been treated to a coating of steel mesh... That should do the trick.

Mid 50's here at the mo, it's certainly cooled down a bit.. No idea what this winter will bring, hopefully another mild one like last year.. No snow would be helpful.

Looks like you have been having great fun doing the garden, one thing worry's me though... You might want to fix a seat to the roller, if you tripped over while steering it with the draw bar between your legs you would be in a while world of pain! "eye watering smiley"

On your next trip over there could you please bring me back John's barn? It's a fantastic building.. Nice video Chris, looks like you have a racing circuit all worked out through the long stuff

The foot peg mounts needed some strengthening.. They won't move now but I will add a bit more strength underneath. Due to the engine being offset to the left, the frame rails are not the same which meant the left side foot peg stuck out a bit more than the other side.. Chopped.. Push the ends together.. And weld it up.. I have welded the joins inside as well. With the foot pegs now sticking out the same amount both sides I needed to think about something to stop me running over my own legs with the rear wheels... So more recycling, some steel mesh and a mower handle.. The section of small louvers I will use later.. I needed to bend a couple of slight but long bends in the tube (mower handle now swapped out for a better one which also turned out to be Honda.. In keeping eh ). Running it over with the quad and even my Gt-14 didn't work, so something heavier was needed.. Please note Nigel busy eating to add to the weight I'm sure there was a length of tube there a second ago I think Nigel's truck did the bending trick As it turned out we decided not to use the long bends in the end and went for something shorter. Mostly welded on each side. The photo's do make the angles look a bit strange.. The tube heads towards the wheel before bending up.. It's hard to tell but I think they both look the same each side.. Once some steel mesh is welded in the feet shouldn't go through. And that's this thread up to date again..

Monday MadTrax went back up on the bench to do all those little jobs that I couldn't do on the ground. Thank you Rob and Nigel for your help. The exhaust system gained a guard to stop any legs from getting burnt.. The system will be heat wrapped also. Recycling time.. This was part of a Wheel Horse cutting deck.. Lot's of chopping and welding later a battery box bracket was born. A couple of captive nuts were welded to the bracket so the battery box can be welded on. To hold the battery in the box I welded a couple of bike straps together. Finally fitted... Yes the battery does come in and out easy, and no the swing arm does not hit the battery on full compression despite how it looks in the photo

Nice gauges, the rev counter is a nice touch

That's a great idea Mark, it should save your back a bit

This was spotted in Cranbrook last night parked outside the curry house.. Not sure what it is other than the mudflaps are Land Rover..

I can only imagine how good the finished deck will look knowing the quality of your work Richard.. Just don't make the deck too good to use

I bet if you left it on the car parcel shelf you wouldn't have any problems with tail gaters

Evening all progress on MadTrax's gauges continues.. The temp gauge face plate had all the cut/other marks welded up.. To stop me blowing any holes through with the welder the face plate was clamped to a lump of brass. The rear side, you can see where the weld has filled the gap without sticking to the brass plate. Once the welds were smoothed a couple of small brackets were welded on which bolt to the temp gauge backing plate.. Quick, easy and does the job a treat. It all started with a cardboard template. The steel version with 4 captive nuts and two bit's of threaded stud welded on. The threaded rod is for bolting the ignition barrel on. The gauge pods/bowls gained a flange thingy, only tacked on at this point.. To bolt the pods on I needed a M8 thread but with a bolt head smaller than 10mm, so I dug out a few allen key bolts.. Clamped one in a drill chuck then put the drill in the vice.. With the drill tuned on I fired up the grinder and totally failed to get a good photo of the allen bolt head being ground down to size! A quick test fit, me likes.. Working out how to mount the bracket that the gauge pods bolt onto has been fun! In the end I made a couple of brackets that use the same bolts as the headlamp. Other than cleaning up a few welds and adding a couple of captive nuts to stop the pod tops from opening, and adding a couple of warning lights the gauges are done. A view from the seat.. You may of noticed in the above photo that the front brakes have gained a bigger master cylinder.. An upgrade that's needed me thinks.. And to finish off, the latest MT video... Enjoy

Making the head lamp bowls 1 1/2 inches longer has been fun, here's the second one after tack welding. And the first one part way through having the welds cleaned up.. As well as a temperature gauge the pod on the right will have a couple of warning lights fitted.. Neutral and low oil. Only balanced in place here, but the shape and look of them do make me grin

Evening all a bit of a MadTrax update for you.. The coils, regulator etc have been mounted under the gas tank, you might say space was tight! Photo's to come when I remember to take some To make enough space to get the ignition barrel in the right place and to stop my thumbs being crushed between the bar and the gas tank I made this handle bar riser thing.. The riser thingy in place. While in the handle bar area I thought I should have a look at getting a rev counter, temp gauge and a couple of warning lights mounted. With a bit of trimming of the mounting plate the temp gauge shrunk a bit in size. Some thick-ish flat steel was needed so I decided it was time the last remaining part of my first Mig welder found a use.. I do have plans for the louvers Not a bad fit.. The plan was to mount the temp gauge in a box, I even started to mark out the sheet to do so.. Then Nigel asked if I had thought of fitting the gauges in tube? Not a bad idea I though and went of the search for a couple of big enough bit's of steel tube.. It was at that point that I found a pair of Gutbrod headlamps that have a rather nice shape to them. Who would of thought a Honda rev counter would be such a good fit in a Gutbrod headlamp!!! I just need to make them a bit longer

Nice looking wheels Chris, no idea what they are from but I do agree with you both that they could be off a scooter of some sort..

Happy birthday Norm, here's wishing you a great day

It will be I do plan to make some supports to help hold up longer bit's of tube/box. Thinking on it, it would be quite easy to make something using an office chair just minus the chair bit.. Height adjustable and would move around easy

A bit more company for your cow's, these beauty's were in the field next to a small holiday cottage we rented.

I've no idea Chris, it was given to me by someone who didn't know what it was.. It was a mystery to me for many years until Koen came up with the answer.