Double Tao Tao Rhino 250 Assembly

[goldstryker88]

Here is the follow up to the Delivery and Unpacking video. Kinda long but wanted to get as much in as possible. They ride like a dream...Need to get used to shifting again and its not geared like a motorcycle. I'm back in the Dakotas working till the end of the month but we have a couple of gold claims we want to check out north of Stanton, AZ. We will put these through the paces then and I promise to video the trip.




https://youtu.be/O7mIkRE7fPI

[Darth Racer]

They look good. That plastic on the racks tends to warp a little in the sun... You soon forget all about it once you have all your gear lashed to it.

Do you guys dry wash or metal detect for the gold?

[goldstryker88]

They look good. That plastic on the racks tends to warp a little in the sun... You soon forget all about it once you have all your gear lashed to it.

Do you guys dry wash or metal detect for the gold?
We sold all our dry washers. I like recirculating water through a highbanker. Now Im shooting to get my trommel complete....we bought a yanmar tractor with a loader and a backhoe and were about to put paperwork into BLM....had a claim leased from Weaver Mining District. I was working that claim since 2013...nice gold but much hassles with other miners. Now we're taking up to where the tourists dont go.
I have loads of prospecting videos on my youtube channel.

peace out

[Darth Racer]

Cool .. will definitely check out the channel. This side of the Mississippi its just leased land. Small nuggets, pickers, and lots of fines. Usually end up with a gram a day or better. Still love doing it to no end. Going out to Idaho this year to visit my mentor on his claims... can't wait.

Never dry washed here.. love dredging... hoping to get a hookah setup and float it by then end of this season. Got on some new properties that are a bit deeper.

Take care of your Rhino's and treat em right... Last trip out I pulled a complete 4 inch dredge and 2.5 inch dredge and a days worth of cons out of the creek in one go. A couple of simple mods goes a long way.. carb and sprockets mostly.

Cool on the loader. Wish I had one.... been debating on putting a small bucket on the front of the Rhino for some old gold mine tailings pile work in VA.

[DuaneEddy]

How durable are the rhino clutches?

[goldstryker88]

How durable are the rhino clutches?
This is my first go round with a Chinese manual trannny...Darth might be better able to answer that question.

Peace out

[Mudflap]

That's a hard thing to quantify.

How durable are the rhino clutches?

[Darth Racer]

Really don't know how long the clutch will last but it will probably wear it out at some point.

Given what I have put it through so far I would say it's durable. When it comes time to replace it though I will get something better/upgraded if possible. Gearing the ATV right for your purpose will help take the strain of the clutch.

It's not the end of the world if one wears out.. it can be replaced.

[david3921]

There was a comment made about the missing fender screws. I see that they changed the screws as mine came with the shiny phillips ones for all the fender, foot well, and deck screws. And yes, they were the same as the frame screws.

[2LZ]

Darth nailed it, gearing is everything. I just changed my gearing a few months ago and it helped take the stress off of the clutch. Before that though, I use my Rhino for hauling a cart with everything from garden tools to boulders and big stumps up a hill, plus dragging around my landscape drag with a cinder block or two on it to turn my gravel driveway and drag down dry weeds and my clutch has given me zero problems.

[beyondhonesty]

Just signed up to the website and a new owner of a Rhino 250. I want to thank everyone for the information they have provided, truly helped make my decision to purchase an easy one. Thank you all.

[Darth Racer]

When I was using my minibike to tow my gear the first trip out I galled the centrifugal clutch from the strain. Was stuck in engaged position... was happy the kill switch worked that day. It was slipping a lot and took some high revs to engage before that.

Upgraded to a bigger rear sprocket (60T if I remember right) and a Tav2 Torque Converter setup (Auto trans) and set the tension spring to its lowest torque setting. Used a 10t sprocket on the front.

Made a world of difference. Actually felt like I had six horses pulling on the throttle. Never had a problem with the clutch in the torque converter galling. It struggled on the hills with the current load I haul now though. But was still holding up to the abuse.

Haven't had any issues like that with the Rhino and the sprocket change. The last trip the load out was somewhere between 6-700 lbs + 200lbs of me. Honestly I'm kind of curious when the clutch will wear out. Gonna have to pop it open sometime early this season and inspect it. Not getting any slipping or having to high rev it to engage so it must still be in good shape.

You guys would know better then me. If it is worn, the clutch lever will probably grab much later in the throw right? Just looking for some early warning signs a change is in my future.

Welcome to the forum BeyondHonesty.

[goldstryker88]

When I was using my minibike to tow my gear the first trip out I galled the centrifugal clutch from the strain. Was stuck in engaged position... was happy the kill switch worked that day. It was slipping a lot and took some high revs to engage before that.

Upgraded to a bigger rear sprocket (60T if I remember right) and a Tav2 Torque Converter setup (Auto trans) and set the tension spring to its lowest torque setting. Used a 10t sprocket on the front.

Made a world of difference. Actually felt like I had six horses pulling on the throttle. Never had a problem with the clutch in the torque converter galling. It struggled on the hills with the current load I haul now though. But was still holding up to the abuse.

Haven't had any issues like that with the Rhino and the sprocket change. The last trip the load out was somewhere between 6-700 lbs + 200lbs of me. Honestly I'm kind of curious when the clutch will wear out. Gonna have to pop it open sometime early this season and inspect it. Not getting any slipping or having to high rev it to engage so it must still be in good shape.

You guys would know better then me. If it is worn, the clutch lever will probably grab much later in the throw right? Just looking for some early warning signs a change is in my future.

Welcome to the forum BeyondHonesty.
When I got my Roketa 150, I built and extension on the rear rack to accommodate more buckets of dirt. I was hauling out of a wash and the angle was steep and it was very rocky. I smelled that clutch burning on the third trip and flipped the quad backwards....I overextended that damned rack. Gold fever.....If I can get one more bucket out with each trip...more gold. One minute I was navigating from rock to rock then suddenly saw nothing but the blue AZ sky thinking "This is going to hurt!" It did and that Roketa rolled over me and was gone in a flash! Good thing is when it flipped...all the dirt came out of the buckets and that lightened the quad to where it righted itself and had just a few scratches...not so lucky losing that paydirt though. I never pushed it like that again and this was back in 2013. Never had an issue with the clutch....chain jumped on the front sprocket eventually but I tightened the chain and that oldquad is still tearing up the desert.

[goldstryker88]

Just signed up to the website and a new owner of a Rhino 250. I want to thank everyone for the information they have provided, truly helped make my decision to purchase an easy one. Thank you all.
Welcome! We got ours here recently. I think we're in good hands here with these cats!

[Darth Racer]

Sorry to hear about your loss goldstryker. My condolences to you, your cleanup sluice, and your vials. Hopefully you were able to get most of it back in the buckets. It's a travesty to lose a days worth of sweat and digging.

Haven't heard any good stories that involve putting a lot of weight on the back rack of a China ATV. Just keep tow straps, oil, water, and other light odds and ends in my milk crates. I built a trailer for hauling the dredge gear and cons. After seeing your trommel build I'm sure you have that covered.

That trommel looks like it will run lots of material. Don't waste the cash on the Gold Hogg mats, you will go home with less gold. Vortex mat (industrial conveyor belting), or traditional miners moss is your best bet. Put some 10 mesh screen over the upper mat, 1/4" punch plate over the upper mat (3/4 high at the start, 1/2 high at the end), and some 1/2" expanded metal under your riffles and you will be good to go.

One of the guys in my group uses Hogg mats and always comes up with less gold. We all usually dredge the same spots together. I see an average of about 30-40% loss from him compared to what we find. The rest of us use Vortex belting. Doc is good at mining the miners. He uses a Gold Cube to clean up his cons.... which has the same Vortex matting. Says it all really. :wtf:

There is two free modded Rhino's in that advice if you get out enough this season.

[goldstryker88]

Sorry to hear about your loss goldstryker. My condolences to you, your cleanup sluice, and your vials. Hopefully you were able to get most of it back in the buckets. It's a travesty to lose a days worth of sweat and digging.

Haven't heard any good stories that involve putting a lot of weight on the back rack of a China ATV. Just keep tow straps, oil, water, and other light odds and ends in my milk crates. I built a trailer for hauling the dredge gear and cons. After seeing your trommel build I'm sure you have that covered.

That trommel looks like it will run lots of material. Don't waste the cash on the Gold Hogg mats, you will go home with less gold. Vortex mat (industrial conveyor belting), or traditional miners moss is your best bet. Put some 10 mesh screen over the upper mat, 1/4" punch plate over the upper mat (3/4 high at the start, 1/2 high at the end), and some 1/2" expanded metal under your riffles and you will be good to go.

One of the guys in my group uses Hogg mats and always comes up with less gold. We all usually dredge the same spots together. I see an average of about 30-40% loss from him compared to what we find. The rest of us use Vortex belting. Doc is good at mining the miners. He uses a Gold Cube to clean up his cons.... which has the same Vortex matting. Says it all really. :wtf:

There is two free modded Rhino's in that advice if you get out enough this season.
Guess, as usual, I need to learn everything the hard way. Which is what happened with loading the back rack of that Roketa. I have every intention of making that tow mod seen here on this site. Was that you? I like my Gold Hog mats though...been using them for a few years. I use a fail safe system in my sluice box....Top half is always Gold Hog Mats...leading to a wider or less angled lower half with miners carpet, riffles, and expanded metal. That totals over 8ft of sluice with my Long Tom. I think each piece of gold running down the box is looking for a particular type of place to drop and hide. If it don't see someplace it likes, it says "Screw it! I'm blowing out the end of this box!" So I give it a variety of choices....Crash box with a punch plate, UR Mats, Scrubber Mats, slick plate, riffles with miner's carpet, and finally...expanded metal with miner's carpet. I rarely find gold in the lower half of my box but am way too paranoid that something escaped. On top of that...I constantly pan my tailings. As you you, though, we each have our tried and true methods ha ha. I have three more weeks here in North Dakota and when I hit Phoenix for my two weeks off...It's like being let out of a cage! Can't wait to get those quads on that mountain trail to those claims too test.

I stay close to the Rich Hill Area how about you?

[Darth Racer]

Virginia mostly... Idaho this summer... and a side trip to Ohio with some buddies.

Good to hear you have some traditional methods running in your sluice. The recipe I use above only needs about 36" of sluice. Most of it is in the 1st foot.