Your ride looks great! Job well done

Nice mods, you really are a talented buggy maker, rather than make a new set of forks, why not just cut the bottoms off, sleeve (with another piece of close fitting tube)and add another longer piece of tube, just make sure you prep all the joining edges and leave a slight gap between your existing fork leg and the extension, so the weld penetrates fully, prior to welding back up again....

unless you want a spare set of forks of course

Hope you find some work soon

ps love the pic of you sat in the buggy looking proud as punch

Temporary layoff- I work in the building materials industry (roofing.) As to the forks- I have never been fully sold on the strength of the ones I built all ready. They were one of the first parts that I built and didn't come out all that square, either. They will work for now, but when I get the cash together for the fat tire setup, I don't think they will be wide enough (9.5 inches between the tubes.) As always, thanks for the kudos and advice Popeye, and thanks to the forum members for the encouragement.

heliboy, what popeye said about the fork mod is the way to go. Except you should look for a piece of pipe that will fit snugly in the other, even if you have to slit it and expand it a little. then put the other piece of pipe on it ,leaving about 3/16" gap between the two pieces. you should have a little valley or butt to put your weld in It is called a "backing or chill ring" if your not a weldngod, don't try an "open root joint " . That is what popeye is talking about. A chill ring will give you something to weld to. (so you wont blow a big hole or get alot of porosity)You will get alot better weld with it. But if you're a weldngod, go for it. But remember , your butt is on the line. Literally

WG

Looks slamming HB50, can't wait to see it now, I was truly impressed checking it out in NABX and now it looks very sweet and improved a bunch for higher speed and stability... love the goose neck...
I'd like to see the drop axle in the rear to see how you got it lower...

"VERY NICE"

BTW - stickers came out perfect, I might hit you up for some small ones (like 3"-4") just cut, send and I'll pick, I have a roll of transfer...

Let me know 'bout the stickers. The drop axle is 1.5" schedule 40 with some big gussets.

That's a nice job, you've done there partner!!!
I like that it lowers your overall center of gravity, and you gotta have plenty of clearance with them tires, I remember the being tall...
You gotta be stoked, it turned out really nice!!! Good job!!!

Well at long last the nightmare got it's BF's. The new forks came out way better than the originals. First run on the new stuff tomorrow (hopefully.):bouncy:

Heliboy50, I found persision bearings the same size and with a retaining ring that acts like the lip on the ones in the borrow wheels at my local ace hardware for $11 ea. Or did you already solve that problem with the bigger wheels.
By the way it looks great! how did you make the seat or is it a seat cover? (with the flames)

I sewed the design with a zig zag stitch right onto the seat. I think I know the bearings you are talking about- look at bearings direct.com. I think they go for like $5 there. I am just using the same type of bearings that come with barrow wheels in my hubs for now (home made and not all that true) until I get the cash for the trailer idler hubs that I want. I think you can get the cheap bearings by the bag on e-bay for not much money. When I go to the beach I take a couple extras with me in my tool box, but I haven't needed one yet.

I was wondering how you did the seat, it looks pillowy and extra comfy

It's 2 layers of black cotton duck (like carhardt stuff) with 3/4 (?) batting like one would put in a quilt in between. It's a bit of an odd design to fit the way I did my frame, but it works well. I will pull it off and get a closer shot of it for you. It is pretty comfortable.

Ok seat close ups-

....and to think you were`worried about showing your buggy on PKF in case it got slated, you must be very happy with your final result, it looks mean and lean now with the big tyres on......oh and I LOVE the name

you can get hubs w/ 4 on 4 lugs.They are for front spindle on go carts and come with sealed precision bearings already in 'em. Cost around 20 bucks at online go kart supply.

Thanks for the heads up on the go-kart hubs WG. I'll have to check into those. The others I found are for utility trailers, but I would imagine they are a lot heavier. I'm not too concerned about the weight, but if I could save 5-10 pounds, that would be cool. Thanks for all of the help and encouragement to you too, Popeye. A lot of us home builders wouldn't have even tried this without seeing what could be accomplished if one was willing to put in the effort.

http://www.mfgsupply.com/m/c/8-370.html?id=Gy56a6Un
this is just one place, there are others

I dig this company alot...I bought my front axle from them and its great!