Simplicity Broadmoor 728 XC

I'm thinking the ramp you flipped backwards would be a challenge maybe especially wet with those tires?

Yeah possibly. Maybe I better look for a tire groover...

I think it’ll be fine. If they aren’t biting in good you could always try loading ‘em. Just my 2c

Mr. studabaker had some traction issues last year with some big block tread tires that he had. That was more or less the concern but I would imagine it would only be an issue in a couple places on the course. And even in those places, maybe if you hit it hard enough it wouldn't be a problem. I hope this build will have quite a lot of get up and go with 20 some hp available and a couple hundred lbs less weight than the other tractors (hopefully). We'll see....

I was thinking that it may be a good idea to run tubes in the rear tires so I can run them low without knocking them off the bead. I'm at a slight disadvantage there because my tires are so small and running them low won't have as much effect as everyone else. So I gain some cornering speed and handling on some courses, but I'm giving up some performance in courses like the rock crawl. It's a bit of a gamble because if it's a complete failure in the rock crawl and mud bog, doing well in the other courses won't be enough. It's still gotta be up there in most of the other courses. I'm not expecting to do great in the mud bog but who knows. I'm a bit worried about intake height as the mud bog is expected to be pretty deep this year... My ground clearance is gonna hurt me there for sure.

Here’s what I do with all my sears suburban frames. Cut a slot for the transaxle oil fill elbow. Makes it a whole lot easier to get the transmission in and out.

Started on the wishbone. 1” square steel same as the axle itself. First I marked the front axle length out on a big piece of cardboard and used that to mark my steel. Once I had the two pieces cut about right, I clamped everything straight and welded it up. Next I’ll have to grind out a spot for the ball joint to fit. After that, the sears steering needs to go on and there will be some brackets for shocks and a panhard bar. So far everything is turning out nice and straight. The square steel is easier to line up than round tubing.

Cut the notch out of the wishbone for the weld on joint


Joint welded in, turned out good.


Main part of the front axle is done.

Looks great so far, should be nice and solid.

Thanks, I plan on beating on it pretty good so hopefully it holds up. Here’s a top view of the axle.

I never thought to notch mine like that on the link end. I like.

I'm fascinated by your axle design! Are you going to use a Panhard rod or something to prevent side-to-side movement at the front, or....?

It seems like a very elegant & sturdy way of improving the front end of tractors!!

Thanks a lot. On the Simplicity adventure edition I had some pretty big gaps to fill once I got done cutting the pipes that I used for the wishbone. Where they came together at the joint was a bit of a nightmare too and I basically just welded it all in. This time I got things a lot straighter and it turned out better.

There will be a panhard bar across the front, ahead of the axle, to hold it from side to side. Basically I'm doing the exact same design as I had with the adventure edition except with the golf cart spindles instead of the sears suburban spindle and axles. I'm still going to use the normal stock sears suburban steering also, just like on the adventure edition. The steering pivot will be welded to the wishbone. I show a couple pics of that later on. It's pretty much going to be an improved version of my last setup. Also the golf cart spindles have the axle right on the center line of the wheels, so your axle is 3 or 4" lower than a normal tractor axle with the stepped up spindles. Little better center of gravity while sacrificing a little bit of ground clearance.

I think redlinemotorsports had the first one of these suspensions made up on here with his MTD build. I copied my adventure edition front end from that design.

Well, you're doing a great job, and it's going to be fantastic!!

Thank you! I'm a bit doubtful about getting fiberglass body panels made by August but we'll see. Worst case I use actual stock metal parts and make sure the fiberglass ones will fit later on. As long as the mounting will still work for fiberglass then I'm good.

Intended on using a disk brake on the rear axle but I think this will be the first time I actually use the stock brake drum on the side of the 633. It's out of the way and should work decent enough. There's not a lot of room for a caliper with how far in the rear tires stick in toward the trans. Also, with these lower rear tires, a rotor would be a lot closer to the ground so that might not be the best or easiest option. As far as I know a lot of other builds use the stock brakes on these so I figure I'll give it a shot this time. I don't like the fact that the drum is such a heavy chunk of cast iron but that's ok.

beautiful work

Thanks.

Ended up ordering a brake band from amazon so I have brackets for a band that’s readily available vs the sears one which is obsolete as far as I know. Plus I might be able to make it a little bit lighter than the stock sears bracket. Probably will need a rod to transfer from the left to the right side.

I wonder if you can swap in the brake shaft out of newer craftsman 633 with the factory disk brake ?

Newer craftsman's had a disk brake?

All, be.... never knew.

yep the factory setup goes out of adjustment super easily but my cousins tractor he swapped on a pit bike caliper, line and master combo and it works extremely well now

Hmm, I didn't know that either. Looks like it would fit in the frame but I'd rather not have to track down the rotor. Probably the same shaft though and would probably work good. Currently trying to get some tie rods and ends. I'll have to weld the tie rods to the outer golf cart ends. 3/8" Heims on the inside sears pivot.

Cut down the factory sears steering pivot to fit the wishbone. Waiting on some tie rods to be delivered for final placement before welding.

This might be some inspiration for when you cut the lawn tracks. Pitbull growler atv tires.

Thanks! That's sorta what I was gonna go for, maybe not quite that aggressive though.

Any updates on the build? It looks awesome so far. And I may be steeling ideas for my own projects.

N1ck wrote:

Any updates on the build? It looks awesome so far. And I may be steeling ideas for my own projects.  

Oh man, June... guess I haven't been on here for awhile. Thanks. But nah, not really any progress. I got tied up with a bunch of things and I kinda stopped working on it. The frame and everything is still sitting where I was last working on it and I still have my engine build in the same state it was in, except now there's more junk on top of everything. Eventually I'll clear things out and get back to it. I just don't know when that'll be. I may end up just using the metal hood and fenders though as this isn't quite the priority project that it used to be. I think with the TTC mud hole super deep now days, that this build won't really be competitive like it may have been during the first or second TTC. So it's almost like I dragged my feet too much on it and time has passed it by. Obsolete before it was ever finished kinda sorta. It would still be a really capable woods machine though. I think it should do pretty good on steep hills being so low. Just really deep water or mud isn't gonna be something it's good at because of the small wheels and low frame. I think the whole engine would be underwater with the looks of how deep this years TTC mud bog was, although I wasn't there to see it in person this time. In theory you could have a snorkel but that's not the whole answer. I think it'll just get hung up on the transmission or the frame itself is gonna plow into the mud. Especially if you aren't the first one through and other machines have deep ruts cut through with bigger wheels. One of these days tho.