Frankencouch
The Frankencouch is a motorized couch with mud tires.
We often go on mudding/camping trips and I was looking to build something unique. I started with some recycled steel shelving and built a frame long enough to mount a small couch onto. Then added a golf cart steering box and axle up front. In the rear is a hydrostatic lawnmower transaxle with custom cnc plasma cut hubs. I pulled the axle shafts out of the trans and replaced them with a solid steel axle that I machined on my mill (no more differential, which will help get power to both drive wheels all the time)
SPECS:
Motor: Predator 212 cc (around 6 hp)
Top speed: Fast walking speed
Tires: Front, old golf cart tires Rear, 26" duro mud tires on Geo Metro rims
Drivetrain: Rear mounted hydrostatic transaxle with differential delete
Year built: 2016
Status: Pending disassembly or drivetrain update due to overheating issues
Build / operation video:
First we took my old demo derby tractor out of the weeds and dragged it up to the garage. The hydrostatic transaxle in this tractor is perfect for the needs of a motor couch. We cut the rear 1/4 of the tractor off and scrapped the rest of it.
Here is the initial mock-up of the frame. The front axle and steering box came off of a golf cart. The frame rails are part of an old shelving unit I salvaged.
Built rear hubs and mounted the mud tires. Also test fitting the couch and motor placement.
The old briggs and stratton motor had some issues. It was later replaced by a Predator 212.
Plasma cutting some frame gussets.
After some functional testing, it was determined that the limiting factor in how deep of water/mud it could go thru was the placement of the motor. We found that the motor stalls out when the flywheel fins go under water. In this pic the motor is perched almost 12" higher than in the original design. I've also chosen to run #80 chain, not for the breaking strength, but for the fact that it doesn't get clogged up with mud and derail as easily.
Some pics of the finished vehicle:
