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Spring Break Project

9K views 161 replies 17 participants last post by  Ryan313 
#1 ·
Today was my last day of school before spring break. I go back on the 11th (I think) and I need a project to work on and keep me busy. I saw a homemade compressor on here with a homemade trailer to make it mobile, sorry, I dont remember who posted it off the top of my head. I have been wanting to get one of the extra compressors in my garage going and since seeing the post I wanted to make something to move it around with. I think it has a bad regulator but I have 2-3 extra regulators that I can put on it. I have been thinking about it almost non-stop for the last few days and I think I know how I'm going to do it. How wide do you think the axle has to be? The widest part of the legs are roughly 22 inches. I didn't think to take any more measurements of it.

As you can see, all it does right now is take up space,and hold my extension cords.


Hopefully I can dig it out tomorrow and see what I have to work with.
 
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#2 ·
Are you going to tow this behind a car or a GT or just to be mobile in the shop?

For towing, wider is better - some kind of a ratio between how high the center of gravity is vs. the distance to the bottom of the tire. Take a look at commercially made units like log splitters - they have solved these problems.

Have fun.
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
I would start out with an axle twice the width of the machine's widest part. If you want to get really technical in the best of width and stability get out your 60*-60*-60* triangle. Take a rear view picture of the air compressor and fit it inside the 60*-60*-60* triangle. Then determine with a known dimension of the air compressor how wide the bottom of the triangle is in full scale and use that dimension as your axle width. Good luck on this project.
 
#4 ·
Ryan, skyrydr2 posted one lately. I would use Casey's triangles. You have a lot of high weight, so it's needs to be fairly wide at the bottom. Good luck!
 
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#5 ·
That's a nice looking compressor. The other thing to watch out for is getting the axle placed front to back so that there is about 10-20% of the weight on the tongue. You also need to make sure your tires are big enough to hold the weight and allow you to pull it easily on rough terrain if you need to do that. Sounds like a great project.
 
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#6 ·
That looks like a great compressor. Engine looks like a Kohler twin! As to the trailer, follow Casey's advice. That will be a very stable unit, but watch hillsides, like Kenny said, Compressors are top heavy making for a high center of gravity. Make sure you securely fasten it down to whatever trailer you put it on!
 
#7 · (Edited by Moderator)
Note the fire extinguisher

I see the tank has the side mounts as apposed to straight up and down, much better stability, if it is to be towed around the yard and such a low center of gravity is a must, thoses compressors tend to be top heavy with the engine and pump on top.
As an idear a 3-wheel set up with the 3 rd frount wheel a caster type with a hitch tongue. The swivel wheel aid in manuvering the compressor around the shop.
Hope this helps.
 
#10 ·
Ryan, that looks like a great project to keep you busy over break. I hope you will keep us posted as you go along. That is quite the compressor too.
 
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#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
I know that this is very top heavy, with the big engine, pump, and big pulley on the reverse of the pump it has a couple hundred pounds up high. Can somebody explain Casey's idea a little more? Im not sure what he is trying to explain. getting a good balance will be hard since it only has the 4 legs and they are opposite each other. What if I make a 4-wheel setup? Like a hay wagon with 2 axles? I could make the rear axle wide for stability, and make the front axle steer it. I dont know how wide the front axle is on a cub but do you guys think I could use one of those, for the front steer axle? I have big hills on my property and I dont see any reasons to need to go on them but I want to know that I can if I need to. Thanks for all the ideas!

EDIT: This was one of the old compressors my dad used in a service truck for his tire business. It has a fire extinguisher to keep the DOT happy while it was in service.
 
#12 ·
I took some more measurements.

width from mount bolt hole to mount bolt hole-18"
width at widest part of mount-22"
length from mount bolt hole to mount bolt hole-30"
length at longest part of mount-31"
height at engine/pump base mount-21"
overall height-46"
overall width-22"
overall length-45"

This is the engine, singe cylinder. The air cleaner cover and gas tank make it look bigger then it is in the first pic.
 
#13 ·
With dimensions provided I have come up with the correct axle width and placement for you. Position the axle as far back as you can and use a longer tongue to hook directly to the tractor and have a trailer jack on front of the tongue. I would leave the current base intact for a frame of the trailer to add more lower weight and make stuff easy to build. Positioning the axle far back will give you a second large triangle for running it unhooked from a tractor and great stability. You say it's widest is 22 inches and height is 46 inches, therefore I would make the axle about 48 inches wide, with an overall tracking width being the width of your tires added. I would use pneumatic tires of no smaller than 4.80-8 but if you plan to take it places than I would go taller and wider to a 6-12 gt rear tire or 5.30-12 trailer tire. Does any of this help you?? lol

Personally I would make it slide into your current wood hauling trailer as needed and store it in a raised position. Obviously this isn't your only compressor so wouldn't be a huge issue.
 
#15 ·
I looked at what tires I have when I took measurements and I have some 6.50-8 that I can use for this. I dont plan to go off-roading with this so I think thats enough clearance. Do you mean 48 inches wide before or after the tire width is added? What if I add weight on the trailer frame to lower the center of gravity? I thought shortly about using my wood trailer for transporting it but Loading and unloading it every time seems like more work then making a frame one time that I can just hook up and go. Also, if I did that I would have a place to mount my hose reel or a battery.
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
I got It out today and started looking it over. The first think I did was check for spark to see if it had a bad regulator, it had all kinds of spark so I put some gas in it, hooked up a battery, and it started right up without any problems. The exhaust had more coming out the back of a pipe then it did coming out the end so I welded it up. Its probably the most hideous thing I have ever seen but it will work.

Here are pics!






I didn't want to ask for help moving it so I clamped some wheels to the front, and lifted the other end with the bar sticking out and wheeled it around. It got old fast!





Again, I didn't want to ask for help, so I used my uncles engine hoist that is at my house to take it off of the pallet. I know the hoist will come in handy with this project.



Its hard to tell but the compressor is off the ground in this pic almost a foot. This is where the wheels will be located, if I make the rear axle 48" wide. The front axle would be at the other end and the rear axle would be on the side the cub axle is on.


When I measured the overall height before I measured to the top of the muffler, the top of the engine is 35" high. How does this affect the width of the rear axle, if any? The only thing above the top of the engine is the exhaust and the air filter on the pump.
 
#21 ·
Ryan, just maintain the width of 48, you really do need the stability, regardless. However, if you are using a front axle, make it wider. I know, PITA, but if your front axle is as narrow as the machine your back axle has to be much wider. It looks extremely top heavy and the ONLY way to remedy that would be to pull the motor and compressor off and mount those on the frame first, and then make a second frame to be able to mount the tank above. At that point you would have great stability at 3 foot wide axle.
 
#25 ·
The steel I mentioned before was 54" It had big sides coming off of it so I had to cut them off and about an inch and a half so the sides would clear the drop saw so I just made it and even 50 inches.

The other cub axle I had in a previous pic was kinda messed up so I cut a better axle out of a different parts cub. I was able to cut it out with the pivot plate as well.

those are the tires I will be using.

 
#26 ·
The mounts are wider then the C channel I am using for the rear axle.


So I used the sides that were on the ends of that piece to make a mount base. I had to cut all the welds with my die-grinder and grind them flat. If I knew I was going to have to do this I would have done it before and gained a few extra inches in width, oh well.



One of the pieces is bent so tomorrow I will straighten it out and get them welded on.
 
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