Heald Hauler....Project "Time Burglar"

#1
I've wanted one of these for years to use around the house, but when they come up for sale they are usually very pricey, beat to hell, or half way across the country. Back in June a friend of mine found this one and bought it for himself, but he already had a full stable and offered it to me for what he paid for it. Only going on a cell phone pic, I bought it sight unseen.

Brought it home on Sunday in the pouring rain and took these pics the next day, exactly as I bought it:







It's rough, and definitely used. The tires are cracked to hell, but have tubes in them. The brakes are there, but frozen up. It does run, really good actually, but the engine has a slight tick to it. The wire harness is gone, just a kill switch and a bump switch hooked to the starter. I knew all of this before I bought it, I wasn't really concerned as I plan on using it.
 
#2














I used it around the property for about two weeks with no brakes, and the chain started to slip on the sprocket. So I brought it into the shop, just to tighten the chain........................:crying:
 
#3
The calipers were there and complete, but they were frozen stiff and very crusty. I yanked them off and let them soak in some PB Blaster for a little while.



Next I go to tighten the chain, there is an idler sprocket that helps chain tension. Hard to see in this pic, but it's maxed out and upon closer inspection the sprocket is so worn that the reason the chain was slipping is because the teeth are about halfway gone.



Crap. In order to change out the sprocket, I've gotta pull the rear end. Not what I really wanted to do, everything is pretty crusty and I know what a PITA these diffs can be. But I gotta do it, so out it comes. After soaking in PB for a few days I was really surprised how easily it came apart. I ordered a sprocket and some brake parts from Power Tec, so while I was waiting for those I decided to open a bigger can o worms and took a look at the gearbox:doah:.
I noticed when I shifted from forward to reverse there was some slop. Most of it was from the worn chain, but when I pulled the drive sprocket from the gearbox I found the key was loose in the shaft, causing it to walk around and wear out the keyway.





 

Scottessey

Active Member
#4
Awesome project, Mark! I can picture you hauling mini bikes home from the local swap meet. :laugh: That's going to be a fun one. :thumbsup:
 
#5
Thanks Scott, it's been "fun" so far but it's taking away precious time from other minibike projects:laugh:

I removed the bed for easier access, and welded a bead or two on the keyway. Then I hand filed it out so a new key fit nice and snug:thumbsup:. luckily the drive sprocket was unharmed so I was able to re use it.

Pulled the clutches to tear them down and inspect....



Notice how the driven has "skipped" and the cam is clocked wrong, it actually shifted really well like that:shrug:



Disassembled and soaked the clutches, and ordered new springs and cam buttons. While waiting for the clutch parts to arrive, time to address the front end. The forks on this beast are trashed. Bent sideways:eek:hmy:, Looks like someone tried to take it off some sweet jumps:doah:








Fortunately I have a plan, a few years ago I bought a rough, but 100% complete Heald Super Tryke. It only had about 300 miles on it, but it sat outside for years so it was pretty crusty. It was however, totally straight with nothing broken, bent or re welded. I saved the front end for just such an occasion. Threw the forks in the blast cabinet and I just happened to have a can or two of IH red, so I sprayed em up real quick....The chrome on the bars was totally wasted, so I sprayed them with Dupli Color Metalcast base coat.

 
#7
Purely a labor of LOVE. Because it surely is not done as an investment . Most people can not comprehend the time ,labor and cost of parts to do such a project . Can't wait to see the hauler finished and get a ride with the brakes working . :thumbsup:
 

delray

Well-Known Member
#9
mark, last time i was at ron's he had couple nos seats. i believe they where little different vinyl type of material then the one you have.......:shrug:
 
#10
You are making progress. :thumbsup:
Hopefully finish this one.:laugh:
I can only hope Tom. This thing takes up a lot of real estate.

Purely a labor of LOVE. Because it surely is not done as an investment . Most people can not comprehend the time ,labor and cost of parts to do such a project . Can't wait to see the hauler finished and get a ride with the brakes working . :thumbsup:

Sure is, the cost wasn't so bad but just the sheer amount of time. Hopefully we'll be driving (and stopping) it again before the snow flies:thumbsup:
Thanks, I dig the diamond plate bed you did on yours. Any updates?

mark, last time i was at ron's he had couple nos seats. i believe they where little different vinyl type of material then the one you have.......:shrug:
I already asked, unfortunately all sold out. They suggested I go to a place that does boat upholstery. Doug is hopefully going to have his seat lady make him one for his Hauler, I asked him to have her make me one while she's at it. We will see. Worse case I can make my own, I have some leftover pleated vinyl and there is enough left of the original for a pattern.


So by now I have the bed off....



The rear end and brakes off, the front end is all apart, basically the only thing left on the frame is the motor and the gearbox. The wife looks at the newly painted forks, and the basic frame and says, " you can't put that new front end on the old rusty frame, you're going to have to paint it or it'll look stupid". Ugh. She was right.
 
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#11
Getting the engine out was easy, although that sucker is pretty heavy. The gearbox was another story. There are six bolts that hold it to the frame, and there is a drain plug at the bottom. I figured it would be easier to drain on the bench, because I thought it would make less of a mess. The whole box was greasy and I didn't know until I cleaned it up, that it is all one piece, and the bottom is open. Yup, pulled the six bolts, grabbed a small pry bar to separate the box from the frame and all of a sudden there is gear oil everywhere:doah:. Good thing is that everything on the inside is in great shape. Boy it would've been easier fixing that worn keyway on the bench:laugh:.

Under the grease I found this, pretty cool..



Hammered out some dents and smoothed out the floorboard and did some strippin'..




Even found the serial number..

 
#15
Nice work Mark:thumbsup: I have worked on 2 Super Broncs in the last year, they now seem easy compared to to what you are doing!
 
#17
Thanks guys:thumbsup:

I ordered the assembly sheets from Power Tec and had them mounted on cardboard and laminated. It's a pretty simple machine but having the instructions sure helps. One thing I noticed, for the brake line there is a 18" rubber hose from the master cylinder that transitions to a steel line that runs the length of the frame and then ties into another 18" hose before the first caliper. You are supposed to just zip tie the steel line to the frame and let the hoses flop around, I think it looks kind of sloppy. Here it is when I bought it, I thought it was someones home brew attempt but it came that way from the factory.



So before laying down the paint, I welded two washers to the frame, one by the forks and one in front of the battery so I can attach the hoses and steel lines with clips...



Bent up the hard line and secured it using some self tappers and cable clips...









When I first started this project I looked into changing the whole brake system out, thinking maybe some ATV or motorcycle brake calipers. First I decided I'll try to fix the stock setup.
I ended up getting the factory calipers apart, and I got the needed pieces to complete the system from my local Napa and Power Tec:thumbsup:



 
#20
When I ordered the sprocket from Ron he told me an "easy" way to to mount it. He said that if I tried to take the whole axle apart chances are that the bearings and brake rotors would fight me every step of the way, and that they were probably a rusty mess so that removal surely would trash them. Instead, he suggested taking the diff apart, then slide the spider gear off of the axle and then slide the diff half off with the sprocket. Sounds good in theory, but unfortunately the end of the axle was mushroomed so the gear wouldn't slide off. Didn't bother to take some pics, but it turned out that after soaking the bearings and rotors for a couple weeks in blaster was ineffective. I tried to get it apart in my press but there was no way I could do it without trashing the rotor.
I stared at it for an hour or so, and finally it hit me. Took the die grinder to the mushroomed end, and carefully ground off just enough material so the gear would come off. Took less than ten minutes:laugh:. Threw the new sprocket on, and bolted the diff back together and mounted it all up. Now I can finish mocking up the rest of the brakes:thumbsup:

 
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