mini-artic-loader

h1. Chassis

The chassis consists of 3 main parts:

# Front Frame

# Articulating Joint

# Rear Frame

h2. Front Frame

This is the part that holds the driver's cab and the structure for the boom.  It should be balanced slightly biased toward the rear until the heavier attachments are installed.

h2. Articulating Joint

This is the heart of the vehicle that lets it steer well without tearing up the ground and scrubbing the tires.  It provides for > 90 degrees of steering pivot (right to left in the horizontal plane) and about 30 degrees of roll (axial rotation) around the central axis (axles out of plane with each other in the horizontal).   Both degrees of motion are controlled with physical stops to keep the machine within balance tolerances and prevent wear on structural parts.

The pivot pin (vertical) is fixed within the body by welding.  That whole half of the assembly is bolted to the rear frame, making it serviceable.  The pin itself is drilled and tapped for center-feeding grease zerks, top and bottom, and will be fitted with dust caps on the ends (possibly held on with the zerk threads).  These features are visible in the top part of the image below.  Flanged bronze bushings (Sn based, maybe leaded) are fitted to take the wear and are the replaceable part in the mechanism, hopefully making the rest of the assembly a one-time fabrication. 

The roll pin (horizontal) is fixed with its body by welding as well.  It is fitted through the front frame by a large bearing housing that is bushed with flanged bronze bushings as well, front and back.  Accommodations are made for greasing this joint in a similar manner as the pivot pin.

!{width:50%}artic.assembly.png!

@Initial design of articulation joint@

h2. Rear Frame

This is where the engine and core hydraulic components are mounted, weight balanced on the axle as much as possible, and as much weight as possible included in this area, to possibly include extra weights to improve traction and machine balance under load.