Scale Model Dozer Ride On For My Son

[dozerbuilder01]

See a recap of the entire build in one place. Visit www.minidozerbuild.com

Not sure if this is the best forum for this but I've been hanging around here for a few months getting ideas for my garage. I currently have a 2 car (21x20). I make it work but it's tight. Moved in about a year and a half ago. It's our first house. You can see pictures in the 2 car garage gallery. And since it's going to be a while until I expand, I figured I might as well start a project.

I've had this idea for a couple of years now ever since I saw a Struck dozer on ebay. It was pretty expensive and I still wasn't crazy about the way it looked but I liked the idea. And my wife and I had a little boy about 7 months ago so I figured I need to start on something soon so by the time I get it done, he'll be old enough to ride it.

I knew I wanted it to be hydraulic drive. So I looked for a while to find a used zero turn mower. I couldn't really design much until I had something since all of it was going to be built around these. A couple months ago, my brothers neighbor sold this to me real cheap.

The engine leaked oil real bad but it ran enough to test ride it. I planned to use a smaller engine anyways so it was fine.

Stripped it down at my brothers place to get to the transmissions.

Also picked this up from the same guy for real cheap for the smaller 12.5hp engine.

I always liked the way the older Caterpillar dozers looked so I decided to model it (loosely) after a Model 22. I will have rubber tracks so I don't chew up my yard and drive way. And it will be easier to do.

So this is where I am at with it after about a month of working on it in cad. I still have a little bit more work to do, but since I don't have exact models of the transmissions and engine, I need to start building to see how some things will lay out. What I have definitely gave me a shape to start with.

Update model 12/9/12

And here is where I'm at with the real thing.

That is all for now.

 

[CreekRat]

Cool project!!

Can wait to see the next update.

 

[tinbender 66]

Very cool!! I want one too!!

 

[Okie Pete]

looks good. great fab skills. You may want to use it around the house .

 

[donnie m]

awesome !

 

[Ifixvws]

Oh my! This is very cool. Did you have some of these parts cut for you on a CNC plasma cutter?

 

[Brad54]

That is going to be awesome!

I wanna be a 7 year old again.
Aw hell, I'm 41 and would drive that thing all over the yard.

-Brad

 

[bmwpower]

Sub'd

 

[Scout Driver]

Yep, this is going to be cool! Excellent fab work.

Scott

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

Does your 7 month old son realize how cool his Dad is?

You build this for him, you will earn 'Papa Points' big time!

Okay, now that you have the operator's seat built, you've just got to prop him up in the seat wearing his 'Oshgosh'by'Gosh' bib coverall Onesies and his Cat hat, take numerous pictures for posterity, and of course, post them here for all us GJ kids to see and admire.

 

[Plombob]

He'll be the coolest kid in the neighborhood!

 

[dozerbuilder01]

Oh my! This is very cool. Did you have some of these parts cut for you on a CNC plasma cutter?

I did. Just the trans brackets so far. I have a friend that has a table. I plan to get a few more things cut. It just saves so much time than sitting there with a grinder cleaning up free hand cuts and drilling all of the holes. Time is an issue with a new born and I don't want to be building this forever.

That is going to be awesome!

I wanna be a 7 year old again.
Aw hell, I'm 41 and would drive that thing all over the yard.

-Brad

I'm building it just big enough so I can ride it too

And thank you all for the compliments. This is my first thread. And my first major project. Everything else leading up to this as been small.

 

[dozerbuilder01]

Since this is a garage forum, I figured I'd post about a tool I made for this project. Several months ago, before I had any parts to start designing, I knew I was going to need a way to bend metal for the hood, tank and front grill. Since I'm fortunate to have access to a decent amount of scrap steel (including the 14 gauge that I will use for the body pieces), I was able to make this tool for about $5. I had to buy the bolts. The rest is 3/8" plate, 3/4" black pipe, and 2" x 1/8 wall tubing.

Since I painted it black, these picture aren't the best.

The pins are removable to the crossbar can be removed to get the piece out.

I still need to make handle extensions for wider pieces. I'm not sure how it will do yet. I think I made it to roll up to a 30" piece since I wasn't sure how long the hood was going to be. So if I have to apply a little bit of heat, oh well. On the smaller pieces, it turned out pretty good and works really well. I kinda designed it as I built it. So the toggle clamps really aren't needed since the angle iron holds the piece down. Oh well, I had them laying around. And the nuts aren't needed because those pieces are all welded now. This is the main reason why I'm spending a lot more time actually doing some design work so I'm not out in the garage either standing there thinking, or constantly cutting pieces off any doing it over. Having a plan is already making this go faster than I had expected.

Next up is to start working on some of the linkage. I built the seat fairly soon in the build because I can draw stuff all day long, but I need to see how it's going to feel. So I want to get the linkage set up before I move forward. Here's a little preview.

Thanks for looking.

 

[89GLH]

Um, SUBSCRIBED.

 

[machine_punk]

Great project! That will be in the family for generations. In a hundred years, someone is going to be posting a project on GJ of how he is restoring the mini dozer his great-great grandad built for his great grandad (and wondering where a good source is for ________).

Great job on building your own tools too. It must be nice to have access to scrap metal and cutoffs to work with.

Looking forward to seeing where this project ends up!

 

[01ssreda4]

Cool.....I want one.

 

[mitusa]

ROPS? Seatbelt?

Your kids are priceless....

 

[Furious D]

This is going to be good.


There was a fellow around here that built a 1/4 scale Cat D-2 and would bring it to the local farm shows. I wish I had a pic, It was entirely hand made and the detail was amazing.

 

[ambenz]

Subscribed!!!
That boy of your should be able to keep the driveway free of snow, if you get that in your area.
Very cool build!

 

[Nighttrain]

When they say "they don't build them like that anymore" they are not going to be talking about this dozer. Very cool toy for your kid and very cool for us to be able to watch the build. Thanks for the details on the build.

I am just waiting for the pictures of your kid bulldozing his momma's flower garden for her.

 

[A_Pmech]

This looks like fun!

 

[twincam00]

awesome project! subscribed

 

[Scuderia-F1]

Subscribed!

 

[Mmfh]

Cool Project!

I'm going to hang around and see how you finish it.

 

[z385488]

Subscribed and awstruck!!!!

 

[dwaynerz]

I am just waiting for the pictures of your kid bulldozing his momma's flower garden for her.

or the side of your house or car

seriously tho, that is one lucky kid whose dad would be cool enough to build the neatest toy on the block

 

[MoToys]

Very cool.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Looks like an awesome little project.






Just one warning please. If you're welding that up in your garage, watch those reliners. The foam in those things will take off with a spark from the welder.

 

[dozerbuilder01]

ROPS? Seatbelt?

Your kids are priceless....

I have been thinking a lot about safety. So no to ROPS and to get it out the way, because it won't look like what I'm modeling. I know that's dumb. However, the mower that the transmission came off of went about 6mph. I have smaller drive sprockets which drops the speed to about 4mph. Which is still a little fast. I'll leave the same pulleys on the engine for now but I am going to have a pin to lock the engine throttle in low speed. Lower engine speed=lower pump speed=lower drive speed. I'm shooting for less than 1mph. That was one of the main reasons for building a bulldozer as opposed to something else; bulldozers are meant to go slow.
Also, according to my CAD model, the CG is about a foot from the ground and the overall width is 34". I live in Northern Il where it is extremely flat. I mean flat. My brothers property (where we will mostly ride it) has no hills or anything. He'll just set out a few small dirt piles for him to push around.
And last but not least, I will be using the seat kill switch from the mower to kill the engine when he gets up. And the linkage automatically returns to center so if he lets go, it stops.
Thank you for the advice though. It's nice to hear feedback while I'm building to make sure I haven't missed something.

Looks like an awesome little project.






Just one warning please. If you're welding that up in your garage, watch those reliners. The foam in those things will take off with a spark from the welder.

I will, thank you.

This is going to be good.


There was a fellow around here that built a 1/4 scale Cat D-2 and would bring it to the local farm shows. I wish I had a pic, It was entirely hand made and the detail was amazing.

There is a guy building a scale model of a Sixty. It's sick. All cnc. Very detailed. http://scalecaterpillar.blogspot.com/ I don't have the time or machinery for something like that. It would be very cool though. That's why I say mine is "loosely" modeled off a Twenty Two.

Great project! That will be in the family for generations. In a hundred years, someone is going to be posting a project on GJ of how he is restoring the mini dozer his great-great grandad built for his great grandad (and wondering where a good source is for ________).

That's is actually one thing that worries me. I bought a used mower and the transmissions are probably 20 years old (the design I mean). I did find a service manual and parts catalog on line but a quick search for some random parts found nothing. So if something does fail, I may have a hard time finding it or end up costing more than if I just bought new ones from the beginning from a place like surplus center. Oh well.

As always, thanks for all of the compliments. I will have another update soon.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

You're awesome.

 

[mitusa]

Re: Scale Model Dozer Ride On For My Son

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
Originally Posted by mitusa
ROPS? Seatbelt?

Your kids are priceless....

I have been thinking a lot about safety. So no to ROPS and to get it out the way, because it won't look like what I'm modeling. I know that's dumb. However, the mower that the transmission came off of went about 6mph. I have smaller drive sprockets which drops the speed to about 4mph. Which is still a little fast. I'll leave the same pulleys on the engine for now but I am going to have a pin to lock the engine throttle in low speed. Lower engine speed=lower pump speed=lower drive speed. I'm shooting for less than 1mph. That was one of the main reasons for building a bulldozer as opposed to something else; bulldozers are meant to go slow.
Also, according to my CAD model, the CG is about a foot from the ground and the overall width is 34". I live in Northern Il where it is extremely flat. I mean flat. My brothers property (where we will mostly ride it) has no hills or anything. He'll just set out a few small dirt piles for him to push around.
And last but not least, I will be using the seat kill switch from the mower to kill the engine when he gets up. And the linkage automatically returns to center so if he lets go, it stops.
Thank you for the advice though. It's nice to hear feedback while I'm building to make sure I haven't missed something.


I'm glad to hear that you have thought about the safety of your kids. I have learned that when it comes to kids, you can't be too safe. It sounds like you think you have it "bulletproof". That's great.... and thanks for the reply.

Good luck on your build; I know your kids will love it.

 

[dozerbuilder01]

Got some more work done. Warning, lots of pictures.

I need the linkage to pass through the frame. I knew that ahead of time so I drilled the 1-1/8" holes before I welded the frame together.

Then I had to drill out the tubes.

The upper and lower arms had to be at 90 degrees. I know this is all a clap trap but I'm bounded by the transmissions that I have. So I made a jig to get that perfect 90 by drilling the holes on the mill and then it clocks the collar correctly.

And these are all of the parts for one side (except for the upper arm which I haven't made yet).

Now I was going to buy a keyed shaft along with split lock collars that have the keyway already cut in it. But at $12 a piece and I think $16 for 9 inches of the keyed shaft, forget it. I had 1/2" round stock and $0.80 one piece lock collars. Then I milled a 1/4" diameter hole a 1/4" deep into the shaft and moved the table the correct distance and did it again. And combined with the jig, I got what I was looking for for a lot less $$.
This is partially installed.

I also started making the upper link support bracket.

It will eventually go here.

And the nice thing about actually having a plan for once, if I get frustrated with something (which happens often), I can move on to something else. So the other night I felt like making the battery box. Made out of scrap, made by a tool made out of scrap.

I made that press a few years ago when I was doing some axle upgrades to my Jeep. It worked out really well in my little 12 ton HF shop press. It was just wide enough for the battery box.

And also, I'm not an expert welder. I get advise from my brother but I have no formal training and I don't do it for a living. I like projects like this because I can get practice. I hate to waste metal, gas, and filler rod/wire to just throw it out. Any advise will always be appreciated.

So that is all for tonight.

 

[adamsredlines]

Man this is a very cool project!

 

[SpeedyGee]

Awesome project, thanks for posting.


Looking forward to following this one.

 

[SpeedyGee]

Emdtrainguy in your very first post you said :-

Not sure if this is the best forum for this ...

I say "Oh this IS definetly the BEST forum for this PERIOD !!"

Lol

 

[W650Mike]

WOW and Subscribed!

 

[ridestreet]

wow, this is turning out to be one cool project

 

[Chaz]

This is the coolest thing on the web . AWESOME!

 

[charger891]

Awesome build! was just looking at those mini dozer builds a few months ago, keep up the good work!

 

[geotek]

Its a briliant idea, best of luck, I can't wait to see how it progresses and finishes.