'wittle 'wesistor (Mini Jeep)

[Kartorbust]

fun fact about the roxor or whatever. do you want a brand spanking new 1970’s Jeep cj5?? pull the whole front end/vin tag << hey that’s illegal! and bolt it to the front end of a roxor.. bam new Jeep! sooo many people did this and I think of them as the last jeeps. grandfathered into the world by hacks.

If I recall, Mahindra had the rights to produce these during WW-II and then continued to make them after the war as the Roxor. Pretty much same specs as the old Jeep. But no way am I paying $30K for one brand new.

 

[Thepartsguy]

If I recall, Mahindra had the rights to produce these during WW-II and then continued to make them after the war as the Roxor. Pretty much same specs as the old Jeep. But no way am I paying $30K for one brand new.

You can read up about the no give backs ordeal. where people were building brand new cj5’s with nothing more then a vin tag/front clip you could imagine it caused some worry when the buyers were asked to return the Roxors for destruction or somthing. either give back a road legal stunning cj5 or revert the work and give back the roxor. some people I guess fought tooth and nail to hide/keep there cj5’s Edit: did I mention you got to build the good Jeep to not the amc you got the small pre ‘76 front clip so that means you could also have a street legal clone mail Jeep. Or even better a cj5 willys! i Think you could bolt the willys stamped tailgates right on and hang the gate chains no modifications. Of course the hood depending on what year was also stamped willys.

 

[Functional Artist]

I took the drawings & measurements
...& started attacking a piece of ~1/4" plywood with a ruler, square, a pencil & a sharpie

First, I started with a 48" wheelbase
...but, it didn't seem right/proportionate (the wheels looked too far apart)

So, I tried the 44.5" WB
...& it looked much better

* One of the "visual markers" I like to maintain is the "look" of the frame, where it curves up a bit, just in front of the rear wheel

Then, after everything was drawn out
...maybe something like this

 

[madprofessor]

Great scale drawing, looks like the seat is even with the tops of the tires. That should definitely help keep the center of gravity low enough. Is the motor going to sit like cargo in the back, or do you plan on encasing and fan cooling it? I can imagine it would stay just below line of sight with the top of the bed in the back.

 

[Functional Artist]

Great scale drawing, looks like the seat is even with the tops of the tires. That should definitely help keep the center of gravity low enough. Is the motor going to sit like cargo in the back, or do you plan on encasing and fan cooling it? I can imagine it would stay just below line of sight with the top of the bed in the back.

Thanks, Mad!

Yup, that's what I was thinkin'
...& the motor will be mounted (out of sight) under the cargo area

Here is the full size drawing with wheels

 

[Functional Artist]

Let's talk about the frame & suspension

Many "replica" or "bodied" go karts use a simple Ladder style frame
...& the body is just a facade (or outer cover)

I'm thinking, since I'm designing & building a frame, from scratch, I'd like to incorporate a few features
...which may even strengthen it as well

Here is kinda what a "stock" jeep CJ frame looks like (top of pic)
...& below is kinda what I'm thinking for a rear trailing arm

* Notice it would be "curved" to "mimic" the look of a leaf spring

It would connect to the frame in front of the rear wheel (like a CJ)
...& use (2) coil-over shocks (1) on each side (not shown)

The rear of the trailing arm would curve upwards a bit
...& then "cross-over" to the other side
...but, would not be connected (to the frame)

The rear axle
...motor
...& brake system would all be mounted on this trailing arm

* Thinking about using this concept for the front axle/suspension too

 

[FlyFrog]

are you going to try to make the interior look like a willys?

 

[Functional Artist]

are you going to try to make the interior look like a willys?

I guess the best answer would be "kinda"
...but, they really don't have much of an interior to them

I going to try & have the seats "kinda" where they should be
...with the inner wheel wells right behind the seats
&
The steering wheel will (hopefully) be "kinda" where it should be
...with the "instruments" (speedo & guages) in the center of the dash (like a "big" CJ)
...but, there won't be a transmission "hump" or drive shaft "tunnel" between/under the seats (more foot room)

 

[Functional Artist]

So, thinking about "how" the frame needed to be shaped, first I thought of something like this:

*Notice the "leaf spring looking" trailing arms?


Thinking about it more, I came up with these (3) options: (Notice: these frames are facing the other direction than the above pic)


The excessive curves in (A) didn't seem necessary

The (B) option was simpler design
...but, (as seen in the above (1st) pic) extra bars would be required for mounting the seats

The (C) option (with its (2) inter-locking pieces) seemed like it would make a stronger frame
...& also, have the seat support "built in"

So, I'd have to say Option (3) is the winner

 

[Functional Artist]

After further evaluation, I revised the frame dimensions just a bit

So, for the "main rails" it looks like we need (2) 98" pieces, each cut into
...a 42" piece (for the rear section)
...& a 56" piece (for the front section)

Picked up some pipe
...2 "sticks" of (1/2" Schedule 40) water pipe

Then, cut the pieces I needed, to the above specifications

 

[Functional Artist]

Um...how exactly did you get
...56" from 16" + 3" + 30 + 3? (that adds up to ~52" by my calculations)
...& 42" from 36" + 3"? (& that adds up to ~39")

Well, I'm glad you asked

I kinda forgot but, the distance from the "roller" to the die in the bender is ~4 1/2"
...& I usually just start off with 6" when doing a bend close to the end of a piece
...but & also, for this situation, I wanted to add a bit more (length) to be able to accommodate the battery box, that I plan on mounting under the seat

So, it looks like my left brain made the adjustments
...but, my right brain forgot to add them changes, to the diagram

Here is the revised diagram

The total lengths are the same, I just made some adjustments to the "bend points"

* Notice, I went with 7" for the "up/down" transitions, for just a little bit deeper area for the battery box

 

[madprofessor]

Oww! Unfortunately, my tenderized brain can't hold those many ideas. All I can think is a faux leaf spring on each side, with some concealed actual suspension. Only when being bounced would the truth come out.
That great plywood drawing shows about 3" of travel before the tires hit the fenders, and I'm pretty sure actual Jeeps and Willys had a lot more, albeit with concrete shocks. May I assume there will be a lot of travel in that swingarm?

 

[Functional Artist]

Oww! Unfortunately, my tenderized brain can't hold those many ideas. All I can think is a faux leaf spring on each side, with some concealed actual suspension. Only when being bounced would the truth come out.
That great plywood drawing shows about 3" of travel before the tires hit the fenders, and I'm pretty sure actual Jeeps and Willys had a lot more, albeit with concrete shocks. May I assume there will be a lot of travel in that swingarm?

There should be around 2" - 3" of available suspension travel (front & rear)
...but, IMO they probably won't "travel" much more than ~1"

It's not being designed or intended to be a "radical" off-road vehicle

Think more like a parade vehicle, that can go off-road

Speaking of parades, that's (1) of my goals for this kart.
If I can get it done in time, I'd like to see if I can enter my 'wittle 'wesistor in the 2023 Toledo Jeep Fest Parade Aug 24, 2023
https://toledojeepfest.com/

This pic is from the 2019 parade
Where they are stackin' 'em

 

[madprofessor]

Okay, 4-wheelers with more money than sense, and less concern for their rides. Go for it, build extreme, those folks won't be impressed with less.

 

[Functional Artist]

Okay, 4-wheelers with more money than sense, and less concern for their rides. Go for it, build extreme, those folks won't be impressed with less.

They do it 'cause they can
...they are "kinda made" to do that
...& nothing usually gets damaged

Sorry, didn't mean to "freak" you out

* I don't think any other production vehicle, on the entire planet, that can do that
** Notice the front axle articulation

Here is what the parade actually looks like:

 

[Thepartsguy]

Now I want my gen 1 ice bear back

 

[Functional Artist]

So, I bent both "A" pieces at the 7" mark (25 pumps per bend)
...& then at the 30" mark (25 pumps per bend)
...then, flipped them over & bent them at the other 7" mark (25 pumps per bend) (like in the diagram)

The "B" pieces were simply bent at the 7" mark (also 25 pumps per bend)
...& here is what they look like (so far)


It looks like Ducky approves

 

[Functional Artist]

I cut the ends off, on angles, where the pieces needed to be welded together

...& did some rounding so they would mate up, with the pipe nicely

Then, took the pieces to the full size drawing, to do a "dry fit"
...so, I could mark where the (2) pieces needed to be aligned, for welding

Then, cleaned the ends up (for welding)
...& clamped them down, in a jig, to suppress movement (during welding)

Welded them together
...then, flipped the piece over
...clamped it back down
...& welded the other side

Then, did the same to the other (2) pieces

* IMO Marking & cutting
...then, marking & bending
...& then, welding both rails simultaneously, seems to make it easier to make them almost identical

 

[landuse]

What I like about you, is that if you have an idea to do something, you get down to it and do it

 

[ezcome-ezgo]

Something very Manco about this. Build on!