How to build a vehiclethat will let you ride incomfort where even walkingwould be difficult—

Wheeled

By V. Lee Oertle

THE one place it makes no senseto drive this handy little vehicle ison the road. When the load ends,

it comes into its own. Unload its 200pounds from station wagon or trailer,crank up the geared-down, 4-1/2-hp. en-gine, and it'll carry you just about any-where you want to go—through countrylanes, cow pastures, swamps and bogs,over out-of-the-way beaches, or deep intothe desert.

New fat tires are the secret of its go-anywhereness. They're a full 12" wideacross the tread, 16" in diameter. Thisbroad, flat footing gives the buggy asure grip wherever you go. For sand orsoft earth, you carry only two pounds ofair in each tire. Where you need greatesttraction, fill them with water to addweight.

Goodyear dealers can order the Terra-Tires for you at about $35 each. Priceis expected to drop. Wheels are availablefrom Hadco Engineering Co., Los An-geles, Calif., or from Geneva Wheel Co.,Geneva, Ohio.

Gelling ready to roll. The two rearwheels are keyed to a 1" axle. 60" long,to provide a wide tread for stability onhills. The ends of the axle are shoulderedto 3/4", threaded and slotted for the keysthat lock the wheels in place.

The front wheel is mounted on a yoke—as on a tricycle. The three wheels stayin contact with the most uneven ground,eliminating any tendency for the frameto twist. The single front wheel simpli-fies construction and handling.

Chalk the outline of the frame on asmooth floor, and sit down where you'vedrawn the seat. If the dimensions given

Three-The

DesertScout

LOAD THE BUGGY into a stationwagon to carry it over the road.A couple of two-by-fours serveas an unloading ramp at road'send. A sprocket-and-chain drive(below) steps up the 4-1/2-hp.engine's torque, enabling it tohaul two people with ease.

don't suit your leg length, tailor thebuggy to your size by making the sidemembers shorter or longer.

Starting the buggy. Cut the framepieces from rectangular steel tubing. Fitthem together on the floor, mark them,and take them to a welder. It cost meonly $18 to have the frame expertly heli-arced together. The seat back, armrests,

rear-axle bearings, motor-mounting plate,and jackshaft supports were also weldedin place at this time.

On a second visit, I had the floor pan,steering sleeve, and bushings for thebrake and throttle arm welded to theframe. These had been cut and fitted be-tween visits to the shop.

I also had the welder bend the front-

MOUNT REAR WHEELS on axle and check insideclearance before cutting frame parts. Rectan-gular steel tubing was chosen for maximumrigidity, but round tubing could be used.

SIMPLE TILLER steers front wheel. Sleeve iswelded in vertical position to front of frame,braced securely with steel gussets. Telescopingsteering arm fits over tiller shaft.

wheel yoke from a length of husky 3/8"-by-2" hot-rolled .steel. I held the 1" tillerrod in position while he butt-welded it tothe center of the yoke. A steering arm ofl"-i.d. steel tubing is pinned to the tillerwith a bolt and wingnut. Bolt holes spacedat intervals along the tiller permit ad-justment of steering-arm length.

The 1" tiller rod turns in a sleevewelded through a hole in the front of the

frame. Bearings were setscrewed to therod at each end of the sleeve.

The front wheel rolls on sealed bearingspressed into the hub. It is mounted on a1" axle bolted across the open end of theyoke.

Adding the horses. Any four-cycle en-gine in the 4- to 7-horsepower class willdrive the buggy efficiently. I found a goodused 4-1/2-hp. engine for $50.

JACKSHAFT between the engineand rear axle allows fast chang-ing of sprockets to suit a varietyof operating conditions. Diskfor the caliper brake is alsomounted on this shaft.

SPLIT-AXLE SPROCKETS speeddrive-ratio change-over. Seg-ments of various diameters bolton hub keyed to axle. Twosprockets can be mounted onhub for use with double chain.

CALIPER BRAKE, sold in kartshops, stops disk on jackshaft,effectively braking both rearwheels. Short linkage actuatedby a hand lever at side of buggyoperates the calipers.

FLEXIBLE CABLE connects throttle control to car-buretor. Compression spring slipped on cablebetween housing and linkage returns carbu-retor to idle when throttle is released.

TO CUSHION ANY JOLTS that aren't absorbed bythe pillow-like tires, thick foam rubber padsthe seat and back rest. Cover foam with plasticor other durable upholstery material.

FOR ROUGH GOING, tires can be filled with wa-ter. Use a tractor's valve fitting attached to agarden hose. The extra weight provides greatertraction and reduces bounce.

A shoe-type clutch could be used butmight overheat when pulling over looseturf and sand. A fluid clutch canbe bought from Bowlus Engineering,Pacoima, Calif.

You can run drive chains direct fromthe clutch to the rear axle, but this isn'tadvisable. The use of a jackshaft providesmore flexibility in setting up drive ratiosand lets you mount the brake clear ofsand and water.

Kart shops stock a variety of caliper-type brakes. Some work mechanically andsome are hydraulically assisted. I chosethe mechanical type for simplicity—anarrow disk about 5" in diameter that ismounted on the jackshaft. When thebrake is applied, a caliper squeezesagainst the disk.

Riding soft. To absorb the shocks ofdriving in rough country, doublesprockets and a double-row No. 35 chainwere used on the jackshaft and axle.These I obtained from Bug Engineering.Irwindale, Calif. Single sprockets andchain were used between the engine andjackshaft, since the fluid clutch smoothsout much of the impact.

By varying the number of teeth on theaxle and jackshaft sprockets, you can geta wide range of drive ratios. For flat ter-rain or beach sand, a 10:1 ratio will pushthe buggy along at about 18 m.p.h. Forclimbing and rough-country use, a 20:1ratio will provide all the power you need;but top speed will be between 8 and 14m.p.h. Even though speed is reduced, theextra power allows more fun. It's likedriving a bulldozer. You feel that no ob-stacle can impede your progress. Toachieve this ratio, I used this combinationof sprockets: 13-tooth on the engine. 36-tooth on the jackshaft, 10-tooth on theoutput end of the jackshaft, and 72-toothon the axle.

Making it go. Controls are simple andcan be operated with one hand. Pushdown on the lever—or pull it up—to applythe brakes. Twist a motorcycle-typethrottle on the end of the lever to gunthe engine. The fluid clutch automaticallyengages and disengages the engine fromthe drive train.

A guard mounted over the sprocketsand chain is good insurance against acci-dental injury, especially over roughground. This could be quickly shapedfrom thin plywood or hardboard. • •