MTD - "Budgie"

About how many pounds are you adding for traction?

80-100ish, those chunks of stainless are ~40lbs each. Needless to say, turning isn't a big thing. But traction is lol.

Got bored and decided to take this rig out for a run today. Started right up, she's as reliable as she is underpowered. Bent the steering arm again, I forgot i need to fix that. Besides beefing up the steering arms, I don't really have anything planned for this thing. Why fix what's not broken?

@RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Why fix what's not broken?

Because that’s what you do best

On occasion

Braced up the spindle arms, was tired of them bending

Yeah every time one of the steering arms bends it throws the alignment way out of whack. I like to see reinforcement mods like this one.

Kinda thinking about using this rig as a portable battery charger. There's room for a Delco 10si in the belt system, and i can even fit two batteries under the hood if i want to. I think I'll wire it so the return feed from the alternator is on battery charger leads and the field is charged with the old headlight setting on the keyswitch(one of those weird Murray 3 position switches). I might wire the one headlight i got left too lol.



Would be nicer to find a starter/gen but this is about the easiest pulling engine I've ever encountered, so the starter part isn't necessary.

Wish i could do this on mutt

Added a plate to support the peninsula i created when i cut to fit the belt.


Put a piece of ½" thread rod though a hole in the frame that butts up against the alternator as an adjustment.

Sweet charging system upgrade! I like how you connected the terminals together on the alternator and you're just running a ground and +12V wire to it. That's simple.

I'm not sure it's right to call it a charging system lol, there's no battery in this thing to charge.

I took the wheel weights off of this thing and it's a bit better off offroad again. This thing is really just a reliable offroad rig, I like the simplicity with no electronics

Stalled it lol

Oh no

Ooooh yes!!! Nice find, I'm pretty jealous of that.

WOW, a pressure lubed version! Very Nice.

Thanks. Got it for $50 btw

This might be the most important find in the history of finds, at least between everyone on the forum.

The most important Briggs oppy right there!!

Hell Yeah!!!!
Hope this Oppy runs great!

Your wire hook up on the alternator, the side plug prongs, terminal 1 needs to be on a switch. That would normally be the light on the dash of a car and is powered by a 12v keyed source normally. If terminal 1 is hooked to live power all the time, will keep the regulator on when not running and will kill the battery when motor is off. This terminal turns the alternator on after starting. It looks like you got both side terminal plugs going to the battery terminal on the alternator. Terminal 2 is voltage sensing and is ok to hook to battery terminal post on alternator.

To save the weight and $, those 10 SI alternators can run without a battery once they are excited and turn on, but you must first wire up the alternator as mentioned above first. It doesn't take much to turn them on either. Use some AA batteries hooked in series to add up to 12v (8 AA batteries) to turn the alternator on. The alternator will stay on as long as there is a load, maybe just keep the headlights on if the headlights are hooked to the battery power on the wiring harness, would be good enough. Then you have a power source of whatever the amp output is of the alternator, as long as the alternator is spinning it will stay on without a battery hooked to it.

You mentioned you wanted to use this setup to power stuff, batteries are heavy and cost money plus keeping them charged is a pain too. AA batteries are way easier to get and you can carry them in your pocket when not being used to turn the alternator on. To turn the alternator on, you touch the + side of the AA batteries to the #1 terminal of the alternator and the - battery side of the AA batteries to a ground going to the alternator for a split second, with the headlights on. You'll see the headlights come on to let you know the alternator is on. And the alternator will probably whistle a little too, which is normal. A little 9v battery would probably turn on the alternator too in the same way, but not sure. There is a minimum power needed to turn on the alternator but I forgot what it is. If the engine has a generator on it, as long as it is enough volts, you could wire up a push button switch to the #1 terminal circuit of the alternator to get the alternator turned on too. Engine has to be running to get the alternator running too, and since you got no batteries to start the motor that means pull starting. The good and the bad I guess.

I'll rewire it when i put a battery in it, right now it just has battery charger wires on it lol.

Reread the above post, I added to it, when you answered it.

Put the belt back on after it wouldn't work on the gt6k anymore. Man this thing is fun to just point at something and see if it'll take it. Simple and reliable, I'm gonna try to keep it that way with the oppy. Might even stay with pull start on it, kinda doubt that though. Haven't had any progress on the oppy since the day i brought it home, too busy with the GT6K.

Oh boy

SWEET!!!
I love the Oppy in Budgie!

i'd definetly like to come across on of those 50 dollar deals ! for sure great find !

Just keep your eye out, they're not that hard to come by