Buggy - Page 2

Progress on the buggy over the summer has been a bit slower than I would have liked but we have managed a bit of improvement.

The most involved process was the increase in width of the driving wheel track from 33" to 53". The gearbox incorporates the differential and so has half shafts of different lengths, to keep things simple we took the longer of the two shafts and placed it on the short side. We then made a new shaft, longer by the difference in length between two original half shafts, and placed it on the longer side. The new half shafts needed greater support so this was achieved with 2" thick wall tube with roller bearings at each end replacing the original needle rollers located at the outer ends only. The tubes in turn needed greater support so the brackets that you see on the photos were designed to support from two points on the chassis. The brackets are all made from steel tube and clamp onto the half shaft for security. (Described in 10 seconds what took me weeks to achieve!)
Other progress has been the addition of a disc brake caliper and support bracket. Construction, from an old army ammo box of the two bunkers standing on a frame suspended from the chassis, and starting the work of mounting and alignment for the engine.

I haven't weighed anything yet but I suspect that I'm still less than the average 4" scale model traction engine but not by much.
Jonathan Bregazzi.

Front view almost ready for a test run