Lifted Toro Mudder

Thats kinda the same with me, I'd like to have mine done for this winter but I dont want to rush it. If I rush it I tend to start taking short cuts and start losing the quality I like to shoot for. And right now I got a hundred things going on plus I'm doing long hours at work, so no work on the tractor.




[Are you doing rear suspension on your tractor and if so you are you doing it?]

Yeah, all I did was weld a atv sub frame in my frame so I had all the a-arm mounts, then I bought all the other parts to make it work. I did want to build it all myself but I then realized that there is a lot that goes into the design and setup of IFS and IRS to work correctly. I figured this is my test tractor I'll see what works and what don't, then after my craftsman build I'm going to do one from the ground up.


I do have some pics of me putting the front and rear atv frame in my frame, if you like to see them I can post them on my build. Just let me know.

Could you post some pics on your build thread? Id like an idea, Im thinking of scrapping my rear end now and going with a RWD ATV Chaindrive Drive Train since I have one. I wasn't thinking of doing anything to the front end just because my steering isn't loose...yet.

Can do. Might be a couple of days, got to find the pics on the card.

Thats ok, im going to go out and look at the Parts Bikes that I have and see what would work best for a Rear end.

I had bought another tractor recently and it has a Running 15.5hp Kohler(Single Cylinder) Engine and Ive been thinking of putting it in my Tractor instead of the Stock 14hp Briggs and Stratton(Single Cylinder) because the Kohler is 1.5hp bigger, has the stock exhaust(the Briggs and Stratton is cut off), and the Kohler isn't just Splash Lubrication like the Briggs and Stratton. I was also Thinking of a 22hp Briggs and Stratton(V twin) but I don't have one but I can get one from a friend for a good price. I am sort of leaning towards the Kohler because I don't need to pay any extra money and its better then the Briggs. What do you guys think I should do? And this week I should be able to start making my Lift Kit, It was Originally going to be a 6" lift and was going to mount to the original Transaxle Brackets but I am going to make it a 7.5" Lift but it will be the same overall height and be stronger then the original idea then I will use the Transaxle brackets for extra support and flip them inside out. I am also replacing the original throttle on it with just a choke cable and I will use the foot pedal for the hydrostatic drive as a gas pedal.

Finally got around to making the lift kit for my Tractor, I should of made a 6.5" lift kit but I thought it was suppose to make a 7.5" lift kit and ended up making a 9.0" Lift kit... Next time I should remember the axle doesn't go in the center of the steel tubing:P and to measure 3 times not twice. Anyways im going to run it like this, now I need tires for the front or it will look stupid if I don't.



Currently still looks like a Work bench with a lift kit.


Here is the amount of lift.


and a Back view of the Tractor.

I still need to add in more supports for the Lift but I also need to get the brakes, Axle Nuts, etc. so I will probably do that when everything is ordered and in.

If the Pictures don't show up let me know, I am trying out Photobuckets Desktop uploader and i don't know if the pictures are private or not.

Looks good - the pictures loaded - tires on the back look huge. I just use the forum's setup for loading pics , the site i keep pics on is flickr ( thru yahoo) - i dont like photobucket .

The tires on the back actually look pretty big, they are only 7" bigger then the original back tires. I never tried flickr, etc. before just because ive always been with photobucket.

I cleaned up the garage and while I was cleaning I had to pull the tractor out so I took a couple pictures of it with the hood on. Still have lots to do but atleast it rolls around now...


Just lifted it onto the cement half wall to show the "massive" amount of flex this thing has.


Another Picture from the other side. Take a look at the colour match from each front Rim...The guy before me painted it(he forgot the paint does make over spray)
Ooh yeah that tractor in the background is the Racing mower Project.


Yeah it is a little slanted forward, 6" difference from front to back.

I am thinking of using the Front tires from the ATV I got the back tires off of and making those fit, That will depend if I can find a Hub(didnt keep the old ones because the guy I sold the bike to wanted them) since the Rims are Aluminum and I cant weld the Rims together(don't really want to do that either because I don't like the look). I will probably end up doing a similar design with a junk pair of rims and make them into a hub for the New tires to fit onto or something. I was also thinking of making Hubs with bearings that will fit onto a 3/4" shaft so it could last longer.

I dig the front tires. badass

craftsman rider wrote:

I dig the front tires. badass

you like how it sits? or just the front tires? I remember seeing a Jeep ZJ and he only installed the 4.5" lift kit for his jeep in the rear end. The Tractor reminds me of the ZJ.

thats got some serious rake - adding a set of taller front tires should even it out - i noticed on my agway with the rear tires on the front it had a reverse rake ( leaned to the back), so with the rear lift on yours - it should be almost even.

Yeah but its 6" difference from front to back and I will be putting 3" bigger tires on it(that's the absolute biggest I can get for the front or it will rub the foot rest). I might see if I can get 23" Back Tires for it(possibly on a trade with a friend) then it should be evened out a little better. If I can't do the trade with my friend I wont bother modifying the lift kit and I will look online until I get a good deal on a used set of tires that will fit that are 23's. I know my old MTD Lawn Flite had the same reverse rake your talking about because I put 20" back tires on the front from some other tractor


I have been thinking of what I should put in the tractor, It came with a 14.5hp Single cylinder Briggs but it is straight piped and I don't really want a loud tractor when I am driving it for a long time. The other Option is a 16hp Opposed Briggs but that requires cutting the hood(which I don't really mind) but It likes gas...Alot and its only Flat Head. I am suppose to be getting a 16hp V-Twin Briggs that Runs in another deal and I was thinking of going with that because he said its OHV and is a newer engine, and the other option was a 15.5hp Kohler Single cylinder which is OHV.

I was thinking of the 14.5hp, 16hp, or the 15.5hp, what do you guys think I should go with?

Yesterday i managed to re-arrange the shop area and made alot more room. Then i started working on the Toro Again, I wanted to put the ATV tires from my old Suzuki LT230 and I forgot to keep the hubs when I sold it so I needed to make some, The Original rear tires are still good and i didnt want to cut the rims up to make hubs so I sacraficed my old Mudder project(The MTD LawnFlite) for its front Tires and cut the Rims up and used it for the Hubs. I Managed to save a tube from the Lawnflites tires so I am going to use it for the Toros old Rear tires(one has a flat) and then sell those tires and make some money back.

I will upload some pictures of them later because I dont have them right now. I drilled and unsucessfully tapped a hole for the grease nipple(I had a drill bit one size larger and one size smaller then the recommended size but not the right size) and used some red locktite to make sure it doesnt come out, i was thinking later of using JB-Weld instead, I will have to see how the locktite does first.

Thats what i do - when i drill and tap a hole for a zerk, even it fits tight , i still use a lil dab of blue locktite to keep it from wiggling out.

Yeah we normally use it at the shop im at, but I never made such a mess with the threads before so I hope it stays in(thats why I used red locktite instead of blue locktite).

Here are the Pictures of the Hub:


This is it on the Tractor, Had a few problems(I was planning on having the grease nipple on the inside of the hub closer to the tractor but the tire would hit the tractor). I had to flip the tire around and flip the hub around but it still works how I wanted it to.


I didn't need the spindle extension mod for my new hub, it was actually to narrow for the original cotter pin setup that I added a 3/16" wide washer. So I put everything back on that was originally on there for the spindle extension mod so I can put the cap back on.


Here is a Picture of it still sitting on jackstands with the hub and tire on. The tire is on backwards because I forgot that flipping the tire around meant the rotation was backwards so I still need to swap tires.

maybe im wrong but if you put that tire/wheel on the oposite side and that one on this side then shouldnt the tread be facing the right way? lol

it would be but I dont have enough room, I would need to cut into where the other end of that spindle is, I forgot to mention that:P. That was the original plan but it would be almost 3/4" of spacing to prevent the rim from rubbing if I didnt cut into the spindle part which would severely weaken that point.



This is the Second Hub made, I found out why I had troubles with the Grease nipple not fitting in the threaded hole, It wasn't just my bad job at the tapping but the grease nipple isn't threaded, there is no start point to the threads on it, if I had to describe it I would say its barbed but the packaging says 5/16 - 24 on it(assuming that was what the thread was but I guess not).

W1ldyOvvnZ wrote:

This is the Second Hub made, I found out why I had troubles with the Grease nipple not fitting in the threaded hole, It wasn't just my bad job at the tapping but the grease nipple isn't threaded, there is no start point to the threads on it, if I had to describe it I would say its barbed but the packaging says 5/16 - 24 on it(assuming that was what the thread was but I guess not).

Those are barbed zerks and are designed to be pressed into the hole. A special fixture is needed to put them in correctly.

U can use something with a small ball socket end to use as an anvil to drive them in with a hammer. But if u hit them directly, they will distort and become useless.

yeah thats what I thought they were after I found out they weren't threaded:P Im guessing they were chucked into the wrong box.

Ok so i got my car out of the garage and im hoping on getting the Toro back in(and my Fathers 6 year old rebuild project is finally out because he never works on it, last time he worked on it was in 2010). i need to get some pictures of how it looks now with the tires. Once i get my car on the road the Toro is coming back in for sure.

Still haven't got the Car on the Road, i found out that Emissions testing is a pain if you have a diesel in a gas car, i have contacted the drive clean office and gave them all the information they needed two Friday's ago and they said 5 business days until i know if they approve that i have a diesel in it(i guess they don't believe me...), and its been more then 5 business days...


How it looks now with the front tires(took forever to remember when i had a camera charged and with me)


Heres the New Motor for the Toro, A 16HP Vanguard instead of a 14.5HP Briggs and Stratton.

Ooh yeah, the exhaust tips in the corner of the second picture are going on the tractor too:P just kidding my brother cut his exhaust off his truck and had no where to store it.

hey man, any update on this thing? really would like to know how its going

I like the Woolly-Booger tires and I like Vanguards, it's a cool mower.