John Holgate - 15-2-2013 at 02:35 AM
After spending a bit of time with my alloy bug, there was only a few things I didn't quite like...it was a little too high, a little twitchy and the
rear axle was far too close to my bum - meaning it stepped out at the rear with little provocation.
So, I cut the axle right down and added the extenders from the Vmax (which were too long for the Vmax) adding about 7 1/2 inches of length to the rear
end. I also had the local aluminium place do a little welding for my new rear axle rather than the galvanized brackets I had been using. The new
axle lowers the rear 2". I also thought I'd try adding a bit of camber to the wheels....I've gone for 6.8 degrees on the right and 7.5 degrees on the
left because I prefer turning left and use that side more. (yeah, right.....I've got a cheap bandsaw!!!!.....and I'm crap at uniformity).
The only thing I've left to do is to plug the open ends of what was the original rear axle...then get it to the beach of course.
Surprisingly, last time I was out in it I spent four hours in the plastic seat and was still pretty comfy at the end of the day.
Here's some pics...
edit: Imageshack has deleted my pictures but there are some in my gallery page about halfway down on the ExtremeKites site here: Vermin Pictures
bourgeois.jason - 15-2-2013 at 03:00 AM
Looks cool. I don't know why you decided to take on this project, but if it was to save money, you probably came out worse than buying a good used
buggy (after you account for your materials and your labor). If you did it because you have an fixation on do-it-yourself activities and love
building stuff, you came out way ahead!
It will be interesting to see how the aluminum holds up to the dynamic loads.
I'd love to do something like this someday.
John Holgate - 15-2-2013 at 03:49 AM
It started life as a buggy trailer....but wasn't getting a lot of use so I thought I'd turn it into a buggy. You're right...if I had to buy all the
stuff from scratch it would probably cost me the same as a bought one. But a lot of the stuff I already had so it's ended up being relatively cheap.
And there is a certain sense of satisfaction of putting something together that's hard to put a price on...
.....that and I'm a born tinkerer....
bourgeois.jason - 15-2-2013 at 03:53 AM
That's great. I wish I could find uses for a lot of the stuff I have laying around.
John Holgate - 19-2-2013 at 12:00 AM
Managed a little over 60km with the bug on the beach today and all went smoothly. Slides were quite predictable and easy to correct. No noises or
rattles anywhere. Loses grip at the rear end first but not by too much so I'm pretty happy with the handling. Steering is a little quicker than I'd
like - I probably have too steep of an angle on the forks - but I dare say I'll get used to that. Only got it up to 50kph, but it felt very solid and
secure.
One thing I did notice is that sand builds up on square tubing more easily than round....
So far so good, now to give it a bashing in the paddock...
djinnzfree - 19-2-2013 at 03:16 AM
Did you feel the stiffness of the rear end? I mean when passing on small bumps?
Nice job done!
popeyethewelder - 19-2-2013 at 11:49 AM
Well done John, nice modification, looking forward to hearing the results
John Holgate - 19-2-2013 at 01:16 PM
Can't say I noticed any particular stiffness in the rear end - beach was pretty smooth. I'll give it a bash in the paddock - which is not very
smooth! - and see how it goes. I think I noticed that there was less of a transition between grip and slide - probably due to the camber on the
wheels.
cheers guys.