Friday, October 24, 2008

New Dog Cart

My goal with this project was to build a training/tour cart for an eight to ten dog team which could carry two passengers. I wanted to have good braking ability and a decent suspension. I started by researching parts for small motorcycles or pit bikes since the wheels for those are similar to what I have on my existing carts. I couldn’t find much for parts that wouldn’t run me more than $1,000.00 just for the wheels and brakes. That would still leave me needing a solution for the suspension. At that point I started thinking about an ATV. I thought if I could find one for $200 - $300 dollars I would be way ahead of the game. I would already have disk brakes and a suspension. I placed a wanted ad on Craig’s List and received a few responses for dead ATV s.

This is the one I ended up purchasing for $300.00. It’s a older Yamaha Banshee 350. I was told the motor did a few years ago but smoked. Even though I was tempted to try and start it I didn’t and went right into tearing it apart.



Here is a picture of the frame with all of the stuff I didn’t need removed. It only took me about two hours to pull the motor, plastic and wiring off and get down to the bare frame. At this point I was able to see exactly what I had to work with. At this point I could still turn back; once I began to cut the frame apart with the hack saw there was no turning back.



Once I had the frame cut in half at the center I did a mock up to help visualize what the final product might look like. Being a woodworker by trade I found wood to be the quickest medium to accomplish this. Basically I was trying to determine what I would need for an overall length and still have reasonable space for passengers. My existing tour cart had an overall length of nine feet so that was my target. This cart is exactly nine feet long; however it looks longer because the nine feet if from wheel to wheel. The other cart is nine feet including a foot rest with the actually wheel to wheel measurement being about a foot shorter or around eight feet.



After determining the length I bought some square metal tube and started to weld the new middle section of the cart. I used 2” tube for the flat floor part of the frame and 1” square tube for the upper parts. It’s quite possible that it is over built but being a complete novice with metal working I would prefer that over having something that might break. I set up saw horses and level beams to construct the floor frame to try and keep it as flat as possible.




Once I had the center frame welded I tacked it in place between the two halves of the ATV. Everything seemed to work well so I continued to weld. As you can see in these pictures I also added bracing to strengthen the connection of new frame to the ATV halves.





Things were going well, the suspension and brakes seemed like they were going to work fine but the steering… That was a big hurtle. How do we get from a handle bar in the rear of the cart to the tie rods at the front? It took me a few hours of scouring the internet before I came up with a source for small rack and pinions. There is a company in Arizona called Desert Karts http://www.desertkarts.com and they carry a wide assortment of sand rail/ cart parts including steering components. The owner Greg was very helpful with explaining what I would need to accomplish my goal. He had a great understanding of the product as well as the ability to comprehend what the heck I was talking about. No small feat as even I didn’t have any idea what I was talking about. What we ended up with was a nine inch rack and pinion which runs off of a straight 5/8” tube to the rear of the cart where it connects with two universal joints allowing the steering to angle up 60 degrees for the steering column/handle bars. The only issue at that point was the fact that this set up didn’t turn the wheels a full turn unless I rotated the handle bar all the way around backwards. Greg suggested shortening the steering arms which I did and this greatly increased the turn amount at the front. He also sells a steering quickener which creates a 2 to 1 ratio in steering. That was plan B for me and it doesn’t look like it is necessary at this point.



This is a shot of the completed cart. I modified some of the original plastic so I would have fenders. Some of our roads/trails become pretty wet in the fall so I wanted to have something to keep water from spraying up on the cart. I made the seats myself. My neighbor does furniture upholstery and had some foam and fake leather scraps. They have a plywood core. That pretty much did it other than a little tweaking here and there such as suspension, steering and brake adjustment. She’s pretty well dialed in now and goes great. It rolls along well and came in at less than $1,000.00 if I don't include my time. Not bad for a full suspension, disk brake cart.. I’ve been running a ten dog team with a minimum of 300 pound loads and the dogs don’t have any trouble pulling it up our hills. I do have the tire pressure up around five pounds which decreases the rolling resistance. The finished cart probably weighs around 250 to 300 lbs. I am able to completely stop a ten dog team with it; the brakes are fantastic. To hold the team I just made some low tech clips on the handle bars which hold in the brake levers. I think part of the braking ability is due to the large contact patch achieved with the ATV tires. They are much wider than the pit bike or motorcycle tires. Feel free to email me at: ken@peacepupsdogsledding.com if you would like any further information.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Early Fall Snow!

Scene from our front yard in Lake Elmore on Wednesday, September 22nd. Not quite enough to run the sled but maybe it's a sign of things to come. One thing for sure; the dogs are loving it and are much happier running in these temperatures than they were at 55 or 60 degrees.

Our new to us Tidd Tech groomer arrived from New Mexico yesterday and I can't wait to try it out on our sledding trail. I've heard great things about these as a means of grooming dogsledding trails. I believe Stowe Mountain Resort uses the very same drag to groom our sledding trail over there and those trails are always beautiful.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Colors of Fall

As the leaves begin to fall from the trees here in northern Vermont and we enter into stick season I have been pondering the other colors of fall. With November elections just around the corner not only are the orange and reds of the trees on my mind but also the reds and blues. Is it only me or do others feel we are manipulated by the main stream media into a us and them attitude toward our fellow citizens? The powers that be seem to want us to view each other as liberal, conservative, red, blue, republican, democrat, pro this or pro that. Just turn on your television and look at the ads that are being aired. Virtually no real discussion about the problems we are all facing; just more of the blame game. If so and so is elected we're all going to pay more. Has the cost of living ever gone down? Certainly not that I can recall. Things cost more and more every year no matter who is sitting in the White House. Aren't we all looking for the same thing? Don't we all want to live in a world where everyone has enough to eat, a roof over their head and no fear of being accosted by "evil doers"? Why then do so many of us waste our time being angry at our fellow citizens if they are not the same color (red or blue) or do not wear the same label of conservative or liberal, etc.? They want us divided because they know if we were all together we would throw them out on their butts. Is there really a big difference between either of the two political parties we get to choose from? Why have the policies of our government continued in the same direction for centuries with little difference whether there is a democrat or a republican president in office? Why do we spend our time shouting at each other over choices that really aren't even choices? Come on America, we are all smarter than that. Look through the smoke screen and see the real issues. I know it take a lot more time and effort to seek out the truth than it does to soak up the propaganda thrown at us by the main stream corporate media but isn't the future of our world worth it? I don't claim to have a answer for the problems we face but I do believe if we all started to spend more time looking at the real problems rather than blaming our neighbors because they do not wear the same label we do we could at least begin to discuss the problems with some level of intelligence. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but even I can see this.

I'll step down from my soap box now and turn my mind to more pleasant matters; my dogs. Fall training has been going great. The new dogs are working out very well and getting to know them has been a joy. I am already quite attached to them and it will be hard to see them leave in the spring. The new cart is up and running and works great! Building it has been a pretty intense learning experience. Being a woodworker all of my life I have never ventured into working with metal before. I find it to be quite enjoyable although as with most things if you do not have the right tool for the job it can take ten times as long. I'm very well equipped for woodworking but not so much for metal. I have been able to make due with the few tools I have and a good dose of Yankee ingenuity. Come by and visit us the next time you're in the neighborhood. The dogs don't care if your red or blue, conservative or liberal; they just like people no matter what their label is.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Fall Again!

Once again it is fall and the trees are a flame with beautiful reds and oranges. It has been a bit on the warm side through out September but we were able to begin running the dogs. The forecast for the next five days calls for highs in the low 50s with 30s overnight so it’ll be great weather for running.

We have six new dogs spending the winter with us and they just arrived last week. So far that transition has gone well with very little trouble. Of course Exxon our alpha male has to be sure and let everyone know he is top dog. Once we got past a little posturing and growling everyone has settled in as though they had been here for years.

I’ve been working on my own wheeled dogsled cart and have it almost completed. One steering part that I ordered has been delayed in shipping but as soon as I get that here I will wrap up the project and get it out for a test run. I think it will be an amazing wheeled sled. It has front and rear disk brakes, full suspension with about five inches of travel and padded seats. The main components are from an ATV. I bought and cut in half. This gave me the suspension, brakes and wheels and should make for a very comfortable ride.

This is a picture from a week ago. I’ll be sure to post a complete photo when it is all put together. I hope to have it up and running by next week so stay tuned for the results!