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Great video allwheeldrive! Loved seeing the Coot keep up with the Rubicon and highly modded Toyota. I think that your Coot is awesome and I wish I could meet you at the riding spot to compare your Coot to mine.
It looks like you took a pounding over some of that terrain. I've always thought my Coot needed some kind of suspension, maybe just a cheap coil over would help with the ride or maybe just a seat mounted on an air suspension mount would work. I always feel like I've been bucked off a horse after driving my Coot. Have you thought that way? Seeing both the Rubicon and Toyota flex their suspensions really has got me thinking. What psi were you running in the tires? I've found that if I drop mine to 7 psi I can still go without losing a bead, and the tires will pull me up wet rocky terrain.
Are you running the stock disc on the tranny? I need to upgrade mine as I've never been satisfied with braking.
p.s.:
I also enjoyed your videos on the Quadtractor! What an awesome machine that is. Too bad they didn't become a market success way back when. Looks like it would be easy to copy the design and make a modern version with either hydraulic or electric power. Again, maybe with some kind of suspension to articulate. I like the simple design though. Did you do anything with the steering system? From what I recall they were ropes and pulleys.
Last edited by Noel Woods; 01-25-2021 at 12:21 PM.
Yea it's rough but honestly it's ok unless I'm in 2nd and on long bumpy trails. Slow speed I don't really notice it.
I run 4.5psi in the front and 3psi in the rear (to keep the side walls under load the same height, thus same gear ratio)
I wouldn't go any lower with these tires. My other coot I run 3psi front and 2psi rear as their wider.
The Quadractor has very thin soft 2 ply tires and I can get away with 2psi in the front and 1psi in the rear without issue. (also the tires been on for so many decades doubt they could debead at this point. Issue with the coot tires are the coots are so light even with low PSI they really don't air down very well.
Nice video, looks like you guys had a blast.
Are you going to add EPS? It was one of the best things I did with my machine. In fact I also put a unit on a tractor and a couple of classic vehicles since, and they really made a big difference in usability.
Electric Power Steering?
I used to consider it, but after hearing about some people who have broken the coot's steering gears, I'd be afraid I'd get it in a bind where the EPS would be too strong and break things. To me if I can't manually turn the wheel any further, I feel it likely wouldn't be safe to do so. With the big 18" steering wheel and my co-pilot and I both turning the wheel like a ship in place I can pretty easily get to the point where the tires stop turning but you can feel the steering shaft and linkages bowing out to allow more rotation. At this point I normally hold it still and put the coot in drive, upon moving forward or backwards the "spring" in the steering will snap the tires to the full extend that the energy stored in the steering system has bound up. If I had power steering I can see how it be easy to surpass that point in tough conditions and permanently bend or snap something.
I consider it more of a design flaw in how far out the tires stick and their extreme "Scrub" angle. I don't have this issue with the Yanmar Coot with it's narrow tires that are sucked up close to the body. At some point I may changed tires and wheels to remove the problem.
With the EPS you get a rheostat by which you can control the amount of power steering. I like to have just enough to minimize the steering effort and still feel the terrain. I'm sure some folks have gone to maximum boost to drive the thing like a car, and that is where the problem stems, aggressive tires on a wide track with a light steering box is a recipe for failure. Just a little boost like I use and I've had no issues, and thats going on six years or so. It really comes in handy in tight terrain. I recommend it. You could install it and turn the boost off for a retro steering feel if you wanted.
That's a lot more enticing! I had not realized it worked like that, figured it was all or nothing. I'll have to look into this now, is this the conversion that uses the Saturn View steering set up?