Hello all; Picked up a stock 3203 a few weeks ago in decent shape and already am burning through the cut off discs metal stock and welding wire
Figured I'd pop a few pics up here, for now I took care of a pretty sloppy driver's side spindle by welding a 1/4-in thick spacer to the top of the spindle (yes, it was that worn down--spindle tube and bracket were tapered out big time). It had a lot of play at the rear pivots, so that got the full upgrade treatment (pics below) --couldn't take the clanging and banging. For the time being the 6.5 engine is enough for my little woods loop. Next set of mods will be the front suspension over the winter (got a stockpile of 1-in chrome moly tubing for that). After the front gets done, i've been working up an independent rear suspension design -- that'll get done when it's time for a powerplant upgrade. Also going to add a new footbar for my little passenger.
I figure when it's time to re-do the rear end, I'll just be cutting the main cross bar right out. What i used was some 1-inch square stock from a bike trailer hitch kit, 1-inch round cro-mo, 3/4-in smooth bar stock that i threaded the ends on and welded a nut on on one side, and bronze bearings. pretty much everything is hardware store stock but for the cro-mo which i picked up from an acquaintance at half scale dragsters. Not a hint of slop or noise from it after about an hour of flat tracking and rocky woods thrashing.