Hello both Scottm355 and freebird,
As the resident Moderator of the SB Model 45 area, I feel that it is time for me to step in here and clip some wings so to speak before things get too out of hand.
Here at the ODK we have a good reputation that we live by and as such the project Scott is suggesting here is not one to be taken on lightly, also one that we wouldn't endorse to freely discuss in the public domain and definitely wouldn't give advise on.
To freebird, "PLEASE" if you are going to suggest as you have then it would be best for you to support what you are saying with some images of what you are referring to, this way everyone can clearly see the standard of work that you are capable of doing, and also having the credentials to do so. If I may suggest that you could place some links etc. pertaining to other threads here on the ODK into your post supporting what you are suggesting.
We could all just suggest "weld this bit in here and that bit in there", thus Please do not just randomly put forward farmyard methods to members here on this site, as there is some rather serious engineering that needs to be addressed to ensure that this piece of machinery is going to be "totally safe" and not one day simply fall apart and throw pieces around which may well fatally injure some one, something I'd never want to see happen. For that reason we here will not endorse nor encourage owners to modify machines in any way that is not what the original manufacturer intended to have done to it.
To Scott, In the case of what you are suggesting of embarking on, may I suggest that it be just easier to find a 20 inch twin railer as there are still plenty of them out there that could be lovingly restored or even repaired to a satisfactory level that will not compromise the integrity of the original structure intended by the manufacturer of the machine.
These types of topics have over the years been quite regularly discussed here on the ODK Forums between the following members, Grumpy (no longer with us here and had formal engineering qualifications), Deejay (past administrator and Model 45 Moderator), and Bonnar_bloke (has now taken over DJ's Scott Bonnar role) so there's plenty of information if you use the search engine at the top of the page.
As suggested at the upper section of this post, we here have a "Duty of Care" that must be strictly adhered to as none of us wants a litigation case brought against us, and believe me it will happen one day, but due to our hard working Moderators and Administration team hopefully this will never happen here on this Forum.
I'll leave it there for now and trust everyone understands the issue being brought forward here.
Cheers,
BB.
