Moneybox
Philip & Sandra Box
Not directly a prospecting project but a slight modification to my Honda TRX250 quad to improve its safety.
A few days back Mrs M pulled out our travel notes from last year. I think she was figuring I had too much time on my hands so needed a gentle reminder of those items that were important enough to be entered into Phil's projects. The one thing that struck me was the reminder that two of our friends went home early with neck and back injuries after tumbling backwards into a creek bed with their 700cc Yamaha Grizzly on top. Fortunately, Marcus is a big strong guy and was able to use his foresight and strength to shed the main weight of the quad off to the side before he and his wife were crushed.
I've only had my new Honda for a few months and already I've had one incident where I parked it flat on its tail. I was outside the house on dead flat ground reversing down a steep ramp from inside the van. I realized too late that the trailer that I'd just taken off was parked too close. I jabbed the rear brake just as the rear wheels touched the ground where they stopped dead and the front lifted up until the rear toolbox hit the ground. I was left still in the saddle with all wheels in the air. It could have been a serious accident at almost zero speed on flat ground. I scrambled off and pushed it forward where it landed back on its wheels on the ramp.
Mrs M wanted a replay for the camera. I reneged :8
I woke in the middle of Friday night and fired up the computer to see what there was out there for roll-over protection for a quad bike. I had a few ideas and what I found on Google confirmed the design I had in mind. I could jump online and spend a considerable sum of money on a tried and tested design or do my usual and scrap something up.
The first thing of course was to find something to build it with
I quick trip to CueBunno and the first thing I spotted was a ready made roll bar but it was a bit too heavy to lift into the van
After a bit more of a search I discovered a trampoline frame that somebody didn't need any more.
Of course, when you're repurposing material you just have to do your best with what shape the material comes in.
With the tube sorted then I just had to look at the best way to mount it. I ended up with a short piece of 20mm heavy wall pipe and a handful of old Hummer dash mounting screws. I split the pipe, drilled the bolt holes into a nice piece of galvanized angle and then welded the bolt heads to the pipe.
Then it was just a case of welding the pipe an mounting together.
I gave it a rub over with sandpaper then gave it a squirt of paint.
With the mounting onto the rear carry rack secure it was all done and dusted.
I'm pretty happy with the overall outcome. It's not designed for a high speed crash but should give me crush protection if the little Honda loses its balance and falls over when I'm scrambling through the bush or just mucking about on flat ground
I was confident but Mrs M wanted to be sure that it would still fit into the trailer :lol:
A few days back Mrs M pulled out our travel notes from last year. I think she was figuring I had too much time on my hands so needed a gentle reminder of those items that were important enough to be entered into Phil's projects. The one thing that struck me was the reminder that two of our friends went home early with neck and back injuries after tumbling backwards into a creek bed with their 700cc Yamaha Grizzly on top. Fortunately, Marcus is a big strong guy and was able to use his foresight and strength to shed the main weight of the quad off to the side before he and his wife were crushed.
I've only had my new Honda for a few months and already I've had one incident where I parked it flat on its tail. I was outside the house on dead flat ground reversing down a steep ramp from inside the van. I realized too late that the trailer that I'd just taken off was parked too close. I jabbed the rear brake just as the rear wheels touched the ground where they stopped dead and the front lifted up until the rear toolbox hit the ground. I was left still in the saddle with all wheels in the air. It could have been a serious accident at almost zero speed on flat ground. I scrambled off and pushed it forward where it landed back on its wheels on the ramp.
Mrs M wanted a replay for the camera. I reneged :8
I woke in the middle of Friday night and fired up the computer to see what there was out there for roll-over protection for a quad bike. I had a few ideas and what I found on Google confirmed the design I had in mind. I could jump online and spend a considerable sum of money on a tried and tested design or do my usual and scrap something up.
The first thing of course was to find something to build it with
I quick trip to CueBunno and the first thing I spotted was a ready made roll bar but it was a bit too heavy to lift into the van
After a bit more of a search I discovered a trampoline frame that somebody didn't need any more.
Of course, when you're repurposing material you just have to do your best with what shape the material comes in.
With the tube sorted then I just had to look at the best way to mount it. I ended up with a short piece of 20mm heavy wall pipe and a handful of old Hummer dash mounting screws. I split the pipe, drilled the bolt holes into a nice piece of galvanized angle and then welded the bolt heads to the pipe.
Then it was just a case of welding the pipe an mounting together.
I gave it a rub over with sandpaper then gave it a squirt of paint.
With the mounting onto the rear carry rack secure it was all done and dusted.
I'm pretty happy with the overall outcome. It's not designed for a high speed crash but should give me crush protection if the little Honda loses its balance and falls over when I'm scrambling through the bush or just mucking about on flat ground
I was confident but Mrs M wanted to be sure that it would still fit into the trailer :lol:
