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 Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18

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MightyRaze
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MightyRaze
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Age : 48
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Location : Oklahoma

Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Empty
PostSubject: Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18   Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Icon_minitimeJanuary 8th 2018, 10:15 am

This is the first tractor I restored doing a complete tear down.  It is a rarer 77 hydro.  Only a few were made that year.  They were a lot more common the next year when Sears switched to the Silver/Black color scheme.  My dad picked it up from a neighbor down the street from them and brought it out to me.  I was wanting a Suburban for a while to do my garden.

Here is what it looked like when I got it home. The PO (previous owner) bought it new.  He used it for years until it quit starting one day and he just didn't care to fix it.  Not too bad looking.  It had a broken nose, starter didn't work and I could only turn it back and forth a bit.  (I feared a broken rod)
Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 111

I did get that onan running a few days later when I was able to get a new starter and cleared the dirt-dobber mud from the cylinder chambers.  LOL

Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 211

Here is my first start:


I continued to tear it down and clean it up.

Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 311

Here is pretty much how it looks today.

Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 411


One of my first issues with the onan after a few months was the COIL decided to take a dump.  I was shell shocked at the price for coils.  I did run across online where people were converting over to GM HEI coils.  I was able to do it for less than $30 and it worked great for another year. (ignore that points condenser on top it was there in testing)

Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 511

The next issue I could not get it to idle up and it was spitting gas everywhere.  It also had a lot of blow-by.  Turned out to be a carb gasket that deteriorated.  Fixed that and all was good again till about a year ago it stopped working again.  Will not start, has fire and gas.  I need to check the points and purge existing gas as I fear I got bad gas in it.


Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Sig115PROJECTS:
     Marshal ........93 Craftsman GT6000      
     Red Bandit ...72 Wheel Horse Raider 12
     Dirty Rat........77 Sears Suburban
     Bowser..........01 Murray Widebody LT
     Other projects
Have a question? Ask me! Type in "@MightyRaze" in your post!
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CraftsmanQuad19
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Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Empty
PostSubject: Re: Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18   Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Icon_minitimeJanuary 8th 2018, 11:26 am

I thought you said the Onan in here blew up. I guess it’s just a problematic old engine
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MightyRaze
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Age : 48
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Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Empty
PostSubject: Re: Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18   Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Icon_minitimeJanuary 8th 2018, 11:48 am

Yeah, it is just problematic.  I've heard they are either good till they blow or they nickel-dime till they blow.  I think I have the latter.

Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 2429134702


Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Sig115PROJECTS:
     Marshal ........93 Craftsman GT6000      
     Red Bandit ...72 Wheel Horse Raider 12
     Dirty Rat........77 Sears Suburban
     Bowser..........01 Murray Widebody LT
     Other projects
Have a question? Ask me! Type in "@MightyRaze" in your post!
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AllisKidD21
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Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Empty
PostSubject: Re: Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18   Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Icon_minitimeJanuary 8th 2018, 12:00 pm

Great looking rig mighty! Did you ever check the valve lash on the Onan? I'm pretty sure they need to be checked like every 500 hours. Putting a nice Kohler Magnum or something in 'er would be great probably, haha.


"This'll either wake you up or put you to sleep forever!"- Red Green         "Whatever you do you should do right, even if it's something wrong." - Hank Hill
     
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 Garden Tractor Collection: Allis B-110 x2, 710, 716, & 410 - Wheel Horse 655, 953 & 500 Special - Case 444 - Bolens Versamatic, G10 & 1668 Diesel Swapped - Cub 106, 124 & 1000/149 Frankentractor - Ford 120, LGT 125 & 145 - White 1650 Yard Boss - Moto Mower 710-100
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MightyRaze
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MightyRaze
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2017 Build-Off Finalist
2017 Build-Off Finalist
2018 Build-Off Top 3 Winner
2018 Build-Off Top 3 Winner
2019 Build-Off Top 3 Winner
2019 Build-Off Top 3 Winner
2021 Winner of Winners
2021 Winner of Winners
1st Place Build-Off 2022
1st Place Build-Off Winner 2022
10,000 POSTS!
10,000 POSTS!
2024 Build-Off Entrant
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Age : 48
Join date : 2016-09-06
Points : 14921
Posts : 10540
Location : Oklahoma

Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Empty
PostSubject: Re: Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18   Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Icon_minitimeJanuary 8th 2018, 6:23 pm

When it warms up I may bust into it one last time to see what happens.


Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Sig115PROJECTS:
     Marshal ........93 Craftsman GT6000      
     Red Bandit ...72 Wheel Horse Raider 12
     Dirty Rat........77 Sears Suburban
     Bowser..........01 Murray Widebody LT
     Other projects
Have a question? Ask me! Type in "@MightyRaze" in your post!
Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Sig214Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Sig314
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Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Empty
PostSubject: Re: Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18   Mighty's 1977 Sears Hydro 18 Icon_minitime

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