Dodge neon 2.0/ 3 speed Auto/ Carry

Bout time..

What gismo are you and greg using for the hydo steering? At the wheel, or on the floor; I've seen on greg's.
My dad wants to know, cu'z he wants to put the power guts from a neon onto his gogo-gadget tractor.
Something I can order off the net for him?

 

spaner Go to PSC Motor sports click full hydraulic steering; left side of screen click steering valves. you can find orbital valves on most tractors and construction equipment. the orbital valve I used came from a John Deer grader. I was able to use the Neon steering pump but needed to make a larger oil tank. I also used a trans cooler in the return line to keep temps down. On my Jeep with the PSC full hyd steering I installed a oil filter in the return line. I was able to find every thing needed for the carry used so not much money needed to get it going. The oil cooler is a must have, the oil will get hot !! So far the front and rear steering have worked good with NO problems. Let me know if I can help in any way.

 

Spaner; the first pix are the orbital valve in the Carry mounted under the floor, it is a vary tight fit. The next pix is the orbital valve in the Jeep. The last one is the Carry showing the valve under the floor. The Sorry crappy phone pix:frustration:

 

Thanks, I pass on the info and see what he wants to do..

 

Thanks guys,
Yea, he knows a lot about hydo stuff, he's always messing with it, but never steering. He said princess auto had some kind of lever action valve he was going to use, and I tool him that I was pretty sure that there was a specific valve designed for hydro steering. Saw the calc dividing volume as well, with the rack, probly the 160cc, ($250 seems a lot to him) but after all that he said that he knew where there was an old forklift parked for parts, he may just pull that rear orbital.
He works at his own pace, so I'll keep you posted, he'll probly try to get that valve on a trade...

 

I was amazed at all the different orbital valves. And ya they are pricy. The hand valve for the rear steer works vary good. on some trails I leave the front steering at center and use the rear steer: feels like a boat The rear steer is

 

Ok I have been thinking to much :frustration:. I have been looking at the tracks and just don't think the Mattracks are going to ever do what I want soooooo. I have been looking at all the tracks on the web and I think I have a plan. I will try to make this a low buck build but a lot of this stuff I don't have around the yard. I found 4 tracks for $550 and started this build. I found somewhere snow cat's need to be around .5 psi to stay on top of the snow. Looking at the Mattracks on the carry; foot print, 26" x 11" x 4 = 1,072 sq in. gvw with track's 2,400 lbs. 2,400 lbs / 1,072sq in = 2.23 psi. Ya that's not going to float much. so here's the plan, with the snowmobile tracks ; foot print 47" x 15" x 4 = 2,820 sq in. 2400 lbs / 2,820 sq in = 0.85 psi. I think I did that right. Anyway I plan to build something like the old una track, and the American truck track. I am going with the sprocket drive and the caster wheels under the drum to carry the weight like the Una track, but will go with slider's [ hifax ] and wheel caster's, kinda like the American Truck track. This is going to take some time to build so op:stay tuned. O ya any thoughts you all might have let's hear it !!

 

I thought you all might like to see what changes I have made to the Carry. I have wanted to get tracks back on now that the little truck has more power and a lot better gearing, but I haven't had much luck getting a machine shop to build the spacers to mount the Mattracks to the Cj 5 axles. I took one of the tracks and a hub to them so they could see what I needed them to build. They told me that they had a lot of work in front of them and that they would get to them in about a month. The price would be about $500 each. So two months later I went to see if they had gotten to them yet. Well not yet!! I loaded up the parts and went home. Well I still wanted the Mattracks on the truck. Fifteen years ago I bought a 2 1/2 ton Army truck with a machine shop on the back. Took the box off the back of the truck and sold the truck. A friend of mine wanted the gen set that was mounted in the box so I told him he could come get the box but I wanted the machine lathe. Well two months ago I went to see if he still had the lathe. Ya there it is just like I left it. Some how I got the thing in the back of my pickup by my self { that"s one heavy SOB !!! }. I didn't know A THING about a lathe, but I was determined to learn all I could. The Military uses something to coat metal for long term storage, and let me tell ya they had a lot of it!! This thing was covered. Well after two weeks and a lot of steel wool / brake cleaner and a lot of rubbing it is clean. Now off to the internet to see what the hell I need to make it work. Tooling, I don't have anything. so I sent for the tooling I thought I would need. Then bought a plasma cutter and a Good drill press. Ya now I am setup to build the spacers, If I just knew how to use the lathe!:frustration: Off to the internet. Long story short, I got them made. I have never done anything like this and I have learned so much. The tracks are so cool mounted on the truck. The first ride was kinda fun, I was the first one on top of the mountain this spring, mud and snow so no snowmobiles, 4 wheelers and trucks could not get over the deep wet snow drifts that blocked the road in spots. Ya not a track in front of me, the tracks love the mud and well the snow drifts were deep and soft. The Carry went threw anything I pointed it at. The deep slush snow drift's were the biggest challenge.the truck would sink in about a foot and took some power to keep moving, the truck just would not stop moving. The truck has plenty of power but in the wet snow it needed it! The pix show the anti rotation bracket's [ that was fun to make ! ] and the spacers to get over the locking hubs. The rear steer is cool with the tracks TOOOOOOO !!! Ok so now I am set to build the BIG TRACKS [ snow only ] op:op:op:

 

Yea, that's some pretty nice work there!

Now everyone knows how to make the track spacers properly. I wouldn't have thought of doing it that way, but I guess that you had to, cu'z of the hubs. I think it's a better design, hubs or not. Was that from a single billet?

The anti rotations, from what I can see there are better than factory design. WAY better.

 

The trasnsformation to somthing badder!

spaner; I didn't have much choice in the design , bolt pattern's are close to the same diameter and the 3 1/2 inch spacing for the hubs. Mattrack used small stud's to mount the track to the spacer, I wanted more ! I used 1/2" grade 8 bolt's tapped in the spacer and run from the inside out, it's not going to pull out! The spacer is made of three peaces, machined to .010 forced fit inside the other, press fit in a 50 ton press, then welded. the center of the spacer is machined to a sliding fit tight over the flange of the hub, I wanted it to center the spacer and to support some of the weight, not the lug stud's. The spacers were put back in the lathe to check for warp from welding, they all looked good. I did all the welding in the press to keep it all tight together. The anti rotation devices took some thinking. the ones Mattrack made for the Carry showed week spots that were bending some of the braces. I used alot heaver steel, larger grade 8 bolts and braced the 3/4" pivot bolt into double shear. The full HYDRO steering will turn the tracks on flat hard ground stopped NO effort!! NO problem !!!! Ya can't do that with a stock Carry !! I had to tighten up the bypass valve on the rear steer to get it to do the same. It's a lot better now! more power, auto trans. full hydro steer, lockers F/R, the stock Carry just had a hell of a time with the tracks, it wasn't a lot of fun. NOW it just does any thing ya ask with no fighting. This pix is the truck with the Cj axles the next is the stock Carry not a lot of difference in the appearance but a lot in the performance.