LifeCat 1.0/Feedback

Overview

There are several ways to provide feedback.

1. Use the "Discussion" tab at the top of this page or any other page
2. E-mail the project lead listed on the home page
3. Post your question or concern on the OSE Forum
4. Edit in your comments below. Please ensure you put a date at the start and your name if desired.

Comments

• Would there be an advantage to putting the front wheels in front of the vertical square tubing? --Dorkmo 02:39, 21 January 2012 (CET)
  • The entire frame style will likely be changing for version. The picture on here is just to have a picture to play with the new format. But to answer your question, moving it in front of the the vertical tubing at the front would lengthen the wheelbase which makes skid steering harder. Additionally you'd have to push the front loader out to accommodate the tires sticking out forward more which reduces the tipping load. - Mike - 2012-01-22
• Seems like this is the natural evolution of the LifeTrac. An actual tractor, with two big wheels (due to forces) would really be a different design. --Matt_Maier 1633, 27 Jan 2012 (MST)
  • Yes and no. It's the natural evolution if the LifeTrac were just a skid steer. But from the outset, the design of the LifeTrac is such that it has a large wheelbase and wants to be able to do Tractor tasks too like pull large loads. This page on the LifeTrac II is a good read on why they still want it to be a tractor. It's a good goal, but I'm just not sure if the cross compatibility is there with a skid steer design that the LifeTrac has. Regardless of what ends up happening, I also just wanted a separate R&D page to go through a bit more methodically on with background research and specification definition. And also to explore different ways of creating the frame. - Mike 2012-01-22
    • Seems like tractors are designed to pull a tool while skid-steer loaders are designed to hold one out in front. The former exerts force horizontally and the latter exerts force vertically (primarily). That's why tractors are long and tall while skid-steer loaders are short and squat. I predict we'll be able to get all the features we want better with interchangeable parts than with a single do-anything vehicle. That being the case, you're on the right track. We need to clearly define the requirements of each "mission" so that the total space can be characterized. Then, once we have a map of the entire functional space we want to cover, we can figure out how to divide it up. I started doing that from a car/truck perspective but haven't gotten to the construction/earth-mover part yet. --Matt_Maier 1944, 27 Jan 2012 (MST)
      • The primary reason a skid-steer loader isn't suited to towing is that it's got a short wheelbase. What if an attachment, basically "wheely bars" could fix that. Just attach a set of wheely bars straight to the back of the frame so they stick out the back and double(?) the wheelbase. Then put a 3-point attachment on the wheely bars. Now you can tow regular agricultural tools. Use one hydraulic cylinder to force the wheely bars into the ground and another one to skew them left and right and you've got an articulated tractor. Take the articulated, 3-point wheely bars off and you're back to a skid-steer loader. --Matt_Maier 0836, 29 Jan 2012 (MST)