Making A Mud Motor

[iron man]

I work with a guy who is a hunter/fisherman he has been looking at Mud Motors to buy but cannot swing the cost I have never seen one except for pictures of them. So I told him I would help out he had a motor and a prop I built everything inbetween. I started with a solid piece of scrap 6" aluminum about 2" long and machined a flange to fit the bolt pattern of the motor I then bored it to 10 under 2" heated up the flange on my BBQ grill and shrunk it onto a 6' aluminum 2' tube made a motor mount and ended up with this to start with.

 

[iron man]

I then welded it up and this is how it looked when I got done.

 

[iron man]

I then started on the bearing housing for the other end some use bushings and pump the tube full of grease it seems crude and a waste to me so I will go with sealed ball bearings. The grooves you see are for O rings to fit in the tube and make it water tight.

 

[iron man]

I then machined the outside to true it up and prepare to bore for the bearings.

 

[iron man]

I then started boring for three 3/4 X 1 5/8 sealed bearings.

 

[iron man]

The finish bore I will cut for a snap ring groove and thread it with a custom left hand thread for the cap.

 

[iron man]

Snap ring groove cut and ready for bearings.

 

[iron man]

Here are the threads being cut and then a relief cut for an O ring for the cap.

 

[iron man]

Here I did not want to stack the bearings together I wanted a little more support spread out so I machined spacers inbetween each bearing.

 

[iron man]

Here I am pressing the bearings into the housing the fit was real nice. You will have to forgive the mess at my little shop I have about 6 (friends projects) going on at the same time it is much better now.