Upgrading my 4/4000 Direct Drive to a GX630 paired with Udor GKC2128 Gear Drive (5.5/4000). I have the ability to draw and design my own base plate for this new setup since I am a computer aided draftsman full time and work for a manufacturing business. Pressure washing is my side gig here in Central PA but I typically get 80-90 jobs in a year (evenings & weekends).
My direct drive was on a wheeled cart so I’m starting from scratch on the base plate. I have access to laser cutter, welding, fabricating…the whole nine yards. My plan is to draw the laser cut & have it bent to the typical upside down U shape with ears to anchor to my 7x14 enclosed trailer floor. Other than holes for engine mount & pump rails, is there anything else you would add to your base plate if you could design & build your own? Base plates are fairly simple but wanted to see if anyone else had any input, opinions or ideas.
My base plate is 3/8" flat steel that I got from a scrap yard for $5. Wire brushed it shiny, primed, double enameled. Sitting on 4x4" rubber pads for air conditioning units. It’s got everything I want, strong as heck and the trailer barely vibrates!
These work even better than the rubber pads. They are normally placed between the engine and base plate. Heck, you could probably use both styles at the same time.
Ryan, I also had my base plate made of 3/8" steel formed as a c-channel. One thing I would have done different is to make the sides taller. Mine is 3" and it is too tight to get my hand under the plate if I have to get a wrench on the bolts to detach my motor or pump. I then placed the entire plate on a piece of 3/4" rubber horse stall mat. I have a Kohler ECH749 with a Udor GKC 30/24-GR mounted to it and it is very solid.
For a gear drive you don’t need a pump rail it complicates things should you ever go with a different sized pump or layout. Just a threaded rod with a foot that’s adjustable up and down will support a gear drive pump no worries, the gearbox does the majority of holding its weight and more than sufficient anyway.
Thanks Steven, great input on the height. That’s almost identical to what I was thinking. I currently have mine at 3". Will probably raise to 5" or 6" now. Funny you mentioned the mat, I already have a rubber horse stall mat where I am putting my base plate. I had it in there to catch any oils from my current engine/pump setup. The engine was older so it had some leaks/spills/etc. I was on the fence if I should leave it in there or not but now it’s just one more thing to dampen the vibration. Will still probably use rubber cylindrical dampeners that @marinegrunt recommended between the plate and engine.
The cylindrical damper that @marinegrunt posted up top is what you are after, it has great up down and side to side absorption, witch is what you are after on a torquey V twin setup.
@MuscleMyHustle totally agree about the need for a little up/down give with the v-twins. These are the pads I used; from the pic above you can see I torqued it down until the EVA (blue part of the rubber sandwich) is almost completely squished, but still have a tiny bit of give. These pads are rated to 960lbs each. I’m SUPER impressed with their vibration absorption so far; we’ll see if that’s still true in June lol
Looks to be a foam center with rubber outer, be sure to re check and re tighten nuts later down the track. Foam usually loses its tension when load is left on it for a long time loosening the nuts (see the blue foam bulging?) Just keep that in mind.
Good call, and that’s why I put nuts up instead of below; I’ll be able to see daily what’s actually happening here. Apparently it’s a really dense EVA, I torqued the heck out of those nuts. I’ve also got some thick stall-mat just in case these don’t hold up well.
I got my fabricator to weld up the engine mount, and used these neoprene hole plugs from Lowe’s as vibration dampeners. Drilled holes through them and bolted it through the trailer using massive fender washers and 2 lock nuts on each bolt.
Thank you all for the input, comments & opinions. I searched and didn’t find much on fabricating your own base plate. So hopefully this helps someone else that is looking to do the same thing at some point.
@Jake_Lambert yes it is bent “formed” as they referred to it. The only welds are the crappy ones that I did on the four tabs underneath. I agree with what @Clean_Blue said about the unloader block. Mount it right to the base. Because I could not get my hand under my base I added another piece of square tubing to the side of my base for the unloader block.
