Major progress! Got the original baja sears tie rod at the bottom and the parts sears suburban tie rod on top. Same tractor, but maybe different year and sears got a deal on tie rods from someone else at the time. I don't see why they would need to be twice as heavy in a stock situation. At any rate, going to install the heavier ones and keep the light ones for spares.
Joints are bigger too, same threads, so they fit right in. The rod from the steering shaft to the front was the same on both tractors, but I took that off for a spare too.
Gotta have fenders for water crossings, so I cut some out of the back of a mercury sable.
They seem to fit pretty good, tried to match them side to side as good as possible.
I'll paint them blue to match everything else, then re-install with some large washers so the bolts don't pull through the plastic. Welded brackets to the seat and they attach with two 1/4" bolts.
Aluminum number plate, so people know who just past them. Grab bar protects the gas tank neck from overly hyped up racers trying to pass you and also gives you a place to pick up the back end.
Once the paint dries, I'll grease up the joints a little and bolt these on.
Brakes are back on. Still have to: Finish skid plate Lengthen brake pedal 2" Install alternator, clutch, gas tank, tie rods Solder wiring Paint
redlinemotorsportts Moderator
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Thanks. Yeah they don't offer 100% coverage, but I had to stay with the baja look. I figure just keep water from pouring directly onto the seat. Also maybe keep your hands from getting caught between the tires and the sharp edge of the seat. Could possibly hurt pretty bad.
Painted the fenders. Probably add some stickers. Seat painted back up where I welded the brackets.
Painted rear bumper again and added some silicone spots to the gas tank cradle for the heck of it. Now I can put the tank back in and bolt on the number plate ect.
Got two free dunlop atv tires at my super free tire getting location. That rusty sears rim on the right will get cleaned up and painted, then I'll mount the tire with the thinner knobs which I already cleaned up. Neither tire has exactly the same tread as the matching set already on the tractor, but the one I cleaned up is closest.
Only things left to do now is finish soldering some wire connections, put seat/fenders on, and weld up the skid plate. Brakes completely done, tie rods greased up and swapped over, spare tie rods painted up a bit. Painted up my belt idler and bolted back in. Even touched up a bad spot on the front bumper where it was too close to the garage door when I opened it...Should be some testing next weekend.
mr.modified Veteran Member
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Cracked steering wheel taped over and sears cap installed.
Gas tank back in, number plate bolted on, and adjusted the fuel line situation slightly.
New gas tank vent line runs up the side of the dash to the highest spot on the machine to keep it above water.
Skid plate during contruction, now painted. It was tough to get a good picture showing the whole thing. A couple rods come out and protect the brake caliper. At least somewhat.
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I just geared it 1-1 to the transmission. With this trans it ends up being around 10mph. I checked it with a gps this afternoon. 10mph doesn't sound fast, but it's not too bad for in the woods. Gives you a decent enough range for what I'm gonna use it for. I took some video of the test ride.
The sears is officially ready to roll!
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Thanks. As it turns out, the thing isn't so bad to drive around. Only bad part is the seat is pretty hard, needs some padding. Today I checked things over to see if I broke anything during the test run and my limiting cable on the seat wasn't snug enough. The seat spring had jumped out of the lower cup and bent the edges of the cup down a little. Front spindles and everything look good. Just need a new limiting strap or chain on the seat and some seat padding somehow. Maybe tie something to the seat, but it has to be pretty rugged so it doesn't rip off when your sliding around in rough terrain.
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Looks like a pretty rugged trail runner! *cough cough* Haspin test time *cough cough*
I don't know about that, but yeah, works pretty good.
redlinemotorsportts wrote:
It's getting tested, secret PA testing grounds, to come... lol Looks nice, driving crazy like usual. Seems to run good, doesn't appear to be as heavy as I know they are. Should keep up good
That's what I thought, you can throw it around pretty good for how heavy it is. Bit tippy maybe, not so bad. I'll probably flip it on it's side or something in PA. Good camera footage.
Three 10amp fuses in the system. One is main lights, tail, and tach light. Number two is aux headlights (center two). Last one is for the 12v outlet and master switch. The toggle labeled master turns on the voltage guage, 12v outlet, and also activates the alternator. In the car, that would have been taken care of by the key switch. So once you shut off the engine, you just flip off the voltage guage and then nothing drains on the battery. I've had more trouble forgetting to turn it on, in which case the alternator isn't charging.
Also added this extra idler to give more clearance between belts under the clutch.
Tight fit, but seems to work ok. It's a flat pulley on the V side of the belt, but it just barely touches it. Shouldn't be a problem.
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I was thinking about upping the speed on the one I have. It has the 3-speed hi-lo transaxle. Nothing crazy, Id be happy with 8... just to outrun my brother Kubota lol.
Did you put in any sort of different oil or whatnot in the transaxle?
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You could use a relay activated by the master switch to interrupt power to a light on the dash powered by the charging circuit... Might need a diode to avoid back feeding, but would give a good reminder to switch it on.
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I just filled the transaxle with gear oil. 80-90 mostly I think. Started out pumping it out of a 5 gallon pail, then that ran out and I topped it off with some small bottles we had around.
I usually think about flipping the swicth on, just takes a couple minutes before I look down and see the guage.
Lights are pretty bright. I never adjusted them, just tightened them up where they looked straight. Not really an issue when max speed is only 10mph.
Tail light is pretty bright.
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Stock sears front tires on the simplicity gives you an idea of the size difference of the tires I put on the baja sears. Same rims. Video of the sears from PA coming soon...
mr.modified Veteran Member
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Gotta run the sears now and then to keep the battery charged up and all that. Everything still in order, but still didn't get the carb bleeding in fixed.
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Brakes work pretty good. You have to push on them a little to get them to work, but they work a lot easier since I lengthened the pedal out for more leverage. I can lock the rear wheels on gravel or drag them down a steep hill now if I want to. Once I get some time I might take the carb back off and replace the inlet seat. I was thinking of maybe selling this at some point. Other projects are in the works (tractor related and otherwise) and I'm trying to get things cleared out for more space.
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I'm pretty oblivious, lucky I can get on the site at all. I keep thinking one of these days I'll pull the carb off and have the local mower guy press in a new brass seat. Then everything should work pretty much perfect. I did have it running a couple days ago to keep the battery up.
(edit: now at 11470 something? Since mid day today??? Must be linked somewhere else or a bunch of spots, like people coming from other websites. That's pretty nuts.)
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Baja Sears back in the shop after sitting for a while. Carb bolts came loose and gasket got sucked in. i finally took the carb off to get the flooding issue fixed. Thinking of quieting down the exhaust somewhat.
Picked up a spare engine. This one is a 10hp but as far as I know the blocks are the same. No electric start on this one, but the holes are there to bolt the starter on.
Engine is in semi rough shape.
Seems to have been sitting out in the rain for a while. Some corrosion on things. Everything moves free though, so it should be savable. Some cross hatching visible on the cylinder, but it probably has a million hours on it. I'll try cleaning it up and keeping it ready for a spare block so I can swap over the manifolds if I frag one. I melted the aluminum some around one of the intake bolts trying to get it loose, so i might need to get that welded up. Otherwise I think all the threads are savable and I can use it.
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Carb fixed back up and some test running today. Still runs a bit rich when banging over really rough ground, but otherwise it's ok. Pulled a 67 or 68 suburban frame out of storage so I can remove the trans and front axle for another project.