More wagon progress

Well, I got the frame of the wagon fitted, jig'ed and welded this weekend.  First order of business was to get the drop axel figured out.  I bought a old used beat go-cart frame off craigslist for $10 a while ago.  Once I got it home I cut off the pieces I thought I might use at some point and pitched the rest.  Two of the pieces I keep were 1" OD and had what looked to be the right bends. 

After a little work I had the excess stuff cleaned up and cut it between each bend.  Then took some measurements and did some cutting and a little more cleaning then got it welded together.  I forgot to take very many pictures of this process but you can see the finished product down below.

So I figures I could use some old 2x4 scrap I had laying around and screw it to my "bike table" and create a temporary jig out of it.  I think it turned out pretty good, the thing is pretty much dead nuts square.  All coping/fish-mouths done with a hand file.  You dont always need high end tools to get great results.

My welds are looking better after my little time off welding.  It is crazy how a little time away and your welds start looking not that great again.  They could still look a little nicer but I think they are pretty good for what it is for.

Frame all welded up, still need to do a few things like weld the mounting tabs for the tub, figure out the steering and weld up the hole that was left from the rear axel not being as big as the radius rods.

Side view to give you and idea, you also can see the wheels I am going with.  The rear wheels I got off of my buddy Jimi's neighbor.  He had a tool cart that he didn't want anymore and he gave me the roller for it free.  I took what I wanted off of it and cut the rest of the frame up and will use that steel for future stuff I am sure.  The front wheels came off a Schwinn tricycle.  They are 10" and pneumatic so they should help the wagon roll smooth.  The wheels were just placed there to help hold the wagon on end.  It will sit a lot lower, ground clearance will be 4" in rear and 2" in front.

Triumphs....wait what

So this past weekend I got a great opportunity to chill and build with a couple buds.  So my buddy Bill is about to get deployed yet again and I am about to be heading west to CA on a new adventure myself.

So we got together this past weekend and his buddy Chad was down from the dirty Jersey.  He picked up a project a few months back at the VA British bike show and swap.  He had not really had a chance to work on it so we dug into this weekend.  By the time I got there it was in a roller already.  A few of the things I helped with were making the oil tank mount and getting that welded onto the frame and also getting the rear fender mounted.  We still need to figure out the front mount for the fender but it is coming along pretty nice.  I love the riding postion, a little aggressive for some probably but I dig it.  Sorry for the shitty cell phone pictures it was all I had with me.

   Bill hit me up a few weeks back and asked if I was still interested in building a Triumph.  I bit and said hell yeah why whats up.  He told me he had enough parts to put together about 75% of a unit 650 motor and he needed to clean out the garage a little.  so I picked up 2 plastic bins of Triumph goodness too.

I have plans on building a Vintage Racer/cafe around it.  I really miss the track and would love to have something I can take to the track every once and awhile and fling it through the turns.  Should be a fun but long project.  Got to get to Cali and settled before I start tearing into this guy, even though I am chomping at the bit.

From what I can see it appears to be a set of cases from 71, the number start with DE, if I am wrong someone please set me straight.  He hooked me up with some good stuff too.  Hard to see in the pictures but you get the idea.

Stay tuned for the wagon project completion and the start of a total Triumph newb attempting to build a motor from a bunch of pieces.  Should be interesting

Wagon Start

So I know I have not posted in forever, been busy with the family and havent had much time to wrench/fabricate.  So I am moving to Cali in like 2 months so the original plan of tearing the bike down for paint and powder has been put on hold.  I will just wait until I get out to Cali and get settled in then tear it back down.

With that said I did get some time in the garage today and I started on my sons first birthday present.  I picked up a brand new still in the box Radio Flyer a little while back from Craigslist for cheap.  I have decided that my boy can roll in any old wagon, that shits gotta be custom.  This is nothing that ground breaking, shit Slim just did one not to long ago and I hope mine turns out half as good as his did.

It was a slow start today but I got the spindles made.  I bought some old radius rods a little while ago off eBay to use for a springer but they are to thin.  I didn't realize there were different thicknesses for them.  So I am going to use them for the main rails for the wagon frame.  Here are a couple shots of the spindles.

I can tell it has been a little while since I welded.  Some of the welds look a little rough.