Well, large scale tank production was put on hold today, due to the need to do some actual work. However, last night my dad rigged up an idler pulley to keep tension on the drive belt, and started on finding a good place to tuck the battery. We did work on the tank for about an hour and a half this afternoon, as I was anxious to at least see if it was capable of moving under its own power. We rigged used a makeshift fuel tank, rigged up a clutch lever on the ldler arm, and rigged up a tiller for steering. Looking and handling much like some form of land boat, it was finally time to see if we were as smart as we thought we were.
I was 90% sure it would drive with little or no problem, but it was the steering I was worried about because of how frozen up the brakes and throwout bearings had been. We fired up the engine, and to out amazement, it drove. It also steered. Right. After several minutes of playing with clutching techniques, which gear was which, and using my hand on the governor arm to control the engine speed we were...driving in circles! But, driving in circles is better than not driving at all! I think after a little work freeing up the lefthand throwout bearing it will be steering no problem. The only other thing we need to change is the engine pulley. It is gear a little high for a tank, and stalls out if you don't give it enough throttle at first. Putting a smaller pulley on the engine should solve that problem.
At least we can prove it runs!
The only known video in existence of my PPT/tank driving. Hopefully more tomorrow!
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