I took the family ice skating today and I was looking at the zamboni. It appeared to have relatively narrow D60s. The rear was full floater and both were 8 lug. Anybody ever thought about scabbing the axles out of an old one? Any idea where a guy would find one?

www.wornoutzambonisreadytopilfer.com

Doubtful there is a zamboni graveyard out there.

:D :D :D
But,

old highway equipment like those rollerbrush vehicles and other service oriented gadgetry always wimds up tossed after a few years.

Check the local highway department auctions or better yet, get a D60 from a 3/4 ton van and go for it!

:usa:

Don't know the answer, but have another sugestion:

What about the service trucks that run down railroad tracks - tose should have pretty narrow axles, no?

All of the railroad service trucks I have seen look to have regular axles, but hellish offset rims to meet the track width. Most of em have enough offset that the wms is actually outside the outer edge of the rim.

hear ya go

http://www.geocities.com/sk_8ter2008/Zamboni.html

This guy sells Zamboni parts, he might have a line on a Zamboni junkyard:

http://www.charlesrmueller.com/arena.htm


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This guy was looking at Zambonis off-road over 20 years ago:

To: landcruisers@tlca.org
Subject: All this talk about Roc Boxes...(Here's my idea)
From: "C. HALL" <LCMIHALL@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Fri, 04 Jan 1980 20:02:12 -0500
Courtesy: Off-Road.Com - http://www.off-road.com
Homepage: http://lists.off-road.com/~tlca/
Manage: Your subscription - http://moab.off-road.com/cgi-bin/majordomo-users

Hello,

I think I may have figured out a pretty interesting idea for all of you
low speed rock junkies out there...The key to this idea? Used Zamboni
parts! Yes, you did read that correctly, Zamboni parts, the 6,000lb
machine that makes the ice nice and smooth at hockey rinks and such. I
work as a Zamboni driver after my classes are done for the day at a rink
called Ice Land, and let me tell you, a Zam (as we call it) is one heavy
duty peice of machinery. Everything on the machine is hydraulic, EVEN
the transmission (which is also full time four wheel drive). The engine
(a 63 Horsepower VW) is coupled to a huge hydraulic pump which feeds the
transmission. The trans is hydrostatic like your lawn mower only it is
truly massive. You have only forward and reverse as gear options, you
move the stick farther forward or backward to control speed. I've
actually driven a Zam at Baker rink (The home rink of Princeton
University) up a steep grade (the Zamboni room is in the basement) with
the rpm at about 3000 and the stick in the low speed position...I moved
a 7,000 (filled with water) machine up the grade at about 3 mph without
skipping a beat.

Imagine, no clutch, no shifting (except forward and reverse), and a
hand throttle. The trans is a big cylinder with the front and rear
driveshafts exiting from the exact center of each side (It could be
located right smack in the middle for optimum driveshaft angles). All
the 2F (or 350, or diesel or whatever) needs is a hydraulic pump coupled
to where the bellhousing used to be. Hook up linkages, a reserve tank,
pressure lines, drivelines custom made by your favorite shop, and some
low r & p gears and you're set. Of course this could only be a trail
vehicle as the Zam is only capable of speeds around 15-18 mph...Also
finding parts may be difficult; the average Zamboni Ice Resurfacer costs
around sixty to seventy thousand dollars...It was just a thought ;)

Later,

Matthew C. Hall
'77 FJ-40 "Kermit"



------------------------------------------------------

And, last, but not least.....................


The Complete Edition of Murphy's Laws


Z
Zamboni's Parts Laws
A dropped part will always roll to the exact geographic center of the largest available object for it to roll under.
The probability of the loss or breakage of any part is directly proportional to the difficulty of getting a replacement part.
Irreplaceable parts will always break or be lost, and at the worst possible time.
Replaceable parts will only become available after an important deadline has passed.
Parts that are difficult to install will freely fall out on their own.
Parts that go in easily will be extremely hard to remove, and removal will be necessary to accomplish the needed repair.
The part you will need will be the irreplaceable part you threw away last week because there is no more serviceable equipment of that type around.

--------------------------------------------

(Don't you just love Google?)

Originally posted by Grandpa Jeep
I took the family ice skating today and I was looking at the zamboni. It appeared to have relatively narrow D60s. The rear was full floater and both were 8 lug. Anybody ever thought about scabbing the axles out of an old one? Any idea where a guy would find one?

I think it's fricking hilarious that you can't even go ice skating with your family without checkin out the Zamboni for axle swaps. :)

J. J.

Dunno about Zambonis, but there's a guy near Tellico that has been doing some sweet 60's swaps using Ditch-Witch axles.

Detroit built in and stock 4.56 gearing, 35 spline, FF. What more could you want.

The place is Proctor's Garage.

Originally posted by bluesman2a
Dunno about Zambonis, but there's a guy near Tellico that has been doing some sweet 60's swaps using Ditch-Witch axles.

Detroit built in and stock 4.56 gearing, 35 spline, FF. What more could you want.

The place is Proctor's Garage.

so I'm wondering, if you work at this guys garage, are you required to be an "ologist" of some sort?

--sherpa

Originally posted by patooyee


I think it's fricking hilarious that you can't even go ice skating with your family without checkin out the Zamboni for axle swaps. :)

J. J.

LOL, I know, I'm sick sick sick!

I did check out www.zamboni.com though. Those thing are a little more rare than I thought. They've only built a little over 7000 of them since 1950. The early ones, like the one Chief linked to, were built on a Jeep chassis. The later ones (70s on up) have their own chassis. They last for decades, so finding a junked one that wasn't built on Jeep axles doesn't look good.

Originally posted by bluesman2a
Dunno about Zambonis, but there's a guy near Tellico that has been doing some sweet 60's swaps using Ditch-Witch axles.

Detroit built in and stock 4.56 gearing, 35 spline, FF. What more could you want.

The place is Proctor's Garage.

I saw a ditchwitch axle on eBay once. As I recall it was a front D70 and it was only about 48" wide. The pig was centered and the inner knuckles nearly touched it. There was just enough room on the axle tubes for the spring perches. How wide are the ones this guy is using? Does he re tube them or something?

ive been eying our forklift at work, it has what appears to be a VERY narrow dana 60 in teh front.

it runs dual tires, and I assume is geard pretty low, I cant recall the size of the lift, but its also perkins diesel powered, Id be interested in a cat junkyard.

just go fullwidth and be done with it.

Originally posted by ozarkjeep
ive been eying our forklift at work, it has what appears to be a VERY narrow dana 60 in teh front.

it runs dual tires, and I assume is geard pretty low, I cant recall the size of the lift, but its also perkins diesel powered, Id be interested in a cat junkyard.


Wouldn't the front axle on a forklift be non-steer?

Originally posted by Grandpa Jeep


LOL, I know, I'm sick sick sick!

I did check out www.zamboni.com though. Those thing are a little more rare than I thought. They've only built a little over 7000 of them since 1950. The early ones, like the one Chief linked to, were built on a Jeep chassis. The later ones (70s on up) have their own chassis. They last for decades, so finding a junked one that wasn't built on Jeep axles doesn't look good.


My roommate is a rink attendent part time. They just sold the old Zamboni (70's era), for some big $$$ and bought a new one for over $100k (I think, they aren't cheap). Pretty much they go from school districts with cash to the smaller districts, until they are pretty much shot.

If you guys want I can go snap some drivetrain pics, and engine shots....

Originally posted by Lame



My roommate is a rink attendent part time. They just sold the old Zamboni (70's era), for some big $$$ and bought a new one for over $100k (I think, they aren't cheap). Pretty much they go from school districts with cash to the smaller districts, until they are pretty much shot.

If you guys want I can go snap some drivetrain pics, and engine shots....

I should have known Lame would know something about Zambonis. :laughing: Sure, see if you can find out if it does indeed have D60s, especially the front. Maybe it would be possible to order stuff like axle shafts to make a narrowed 60 work.

I'll see when he works next, I might be able to get some pics tonight.:D

Originally posted by liveaxle



Wouldn't the front axle on a forklift be non-steer?

of course, but its like 50 something inches wide.

Just an idea man, I wasnt saying run out and buy one.

might be a source for short shafts, or DEEP gearsets, or whatever.

Well on there site they say they use Spicer axles. the front axle has a load rating of 4800 lbs and the rear axle has a rating of 6200lbs. would those numbers just be a D44 and a D60 or a D60 and a D70?

Originally posted by ozarkjeep


of course, but its like 50 something inches wide.

Just an idea man, I wasnt saying run out and buy one.

might be a source for short shafts, or DEEP gearsets, or whatever.


That'd be a cool axle for a CJ5 or something. It would be fun telling people where you got the axle when they ask you who narrowed it.

i got some ditch witch axles 20 years ago in a swap, they had 7.17 gears and about 48 " wide. used the rear in a pro street 55 chevy. at that time in my life i had no idea what i would do with the front axle, so i left it.
damn damn damn

Originally posted by gunracer1
i got some ditch witch axles 20 years ago in a swap, they had 7.17 gears and about 48 " wide. used the rear in a pro street 55 chevy. at that time in my life i had no idea what i would do with the front axle, so i left it.
damn damn damn

Shame on you!!!!.

yea i know, but i also passed on a 400 dolar hemi cuda that was rolled. still mad at my dad for not lending me the money. but i can kind of see his point being that i was 16.