There is an old rider.....

Howdy guys,

There is an old, presumably abandoned, riding mower in a field behind my property. I was thinking about liberating it.

If I do, I will post before pics and teardown pics as I go along. I am not sure what I would rebuild it as, probably something utility purposed (perhaps a simple trailer puller, if I can get it running again). I will let ya'll know more once I make up my mind on the whole "liberating" part.

Tinker on!

Do you know the brand?

No, I haven't had a chance to go down and look at it yet, it is a dark color with what looks like a yellow stripe on the side of the hood so it might be a john deere.

I would contact the owner first. taking it without asking is chickenshlt

I saw the landowners today (they were hauling another wrecked car down into the field). They don't care what I do with it.

It is a14hp Rally industrial/commercial riding mower, appears to be quite old, i'll have to google it to get more info.

that was either a AYP or Murray built machine. Should be a sturdy unit, better than the MTD junk.

It definitely looks solid, i'm gonna drag it up to my shed when my wife gets home, my mini me is sleeping on the couch so I got guard duty, LOL! I'll snap some pics when I get it dragged up here and post them so ya'll can see it.

AYP makes the best chassis for modding IMO

I agree. AYP is pretty easy to mod.

I wasn't able to get it today, started raining and that field gets slushy, but I will get it.

I am still going to get that old rally mower in the field, but since I had such trouble with the JD I figured i'd start out small and fix an old tiller motor.



This should be fun!

Sounds like a good base to start with. I prefer those older ones that look like a craftsman, rather than the newer models that had a rounded hood.

It definitely has character to it, LOL, going to try dragging it out of the field today. I have to fix my tow cable, one of the loops popped loose.

Below are the pics of the old Rally mower I am going to tinker with (finally, he got pictures, IKR).

Das a good one!

Same thing as a square body craftsman, which I think might be my favorite tractor. And those briggs OHV singles are one of my favorite engines. That there is a great platform to start with!

Looks like you've the best frame for off roading (in my opinion). The 14hp is a 28ci Briggs and Stratton OHV, a pretty reliable engine if you have a good carb. I think the transaxle is a Peerless MST Series, pretty durable transaxles stock and near invincible with a doc-locker. Any ideas as to what you want to do with it? Just a trail rig? Or Mudder?

I am not sure what I will do with it, I do know step number one is getting it to crank up after so many years in the field.

I did a video walkaround on it today after I got the deck off of it, never took one off before, was more difficult than I thought it'd be.
Here is the video:

It is an AYP, built in Orangeburg SC, read that off the model number sticker...... and now i've forgot the model number, gotta go back outside and read it again.

Change the oil, blow off the filter, look over the carb and turn her over! I bet she'll start up, not much to go wrong with these things.
Being a 6spd, I'd think its a Peerless Mst206
That little rod you didn't know what was is a clutch/brake latch.
Don't have to remove the deck lift lever, could modify it to be a shifter and do away with the "ball buster" shifter
What kind of steering does it have? Does it lay flat or is the pie gear sitting up? The lay flat is better

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Change the oil, blow off the filter, look over the carb and turn her over! I bet she'll start up, not much to go wrong with these things.
Being a 6spd, I'd think its a Peerless Mst206
That little rod you didn't know what was is a clutch/brake latch.
Don't have to remove the deck lift lever, could modify it to be a shifter and do away with the "ball buster" shifter
What kind of steering does it have? Does it lay flat or is the pie gear sitting up? The lay flat is better

There is the electronic needle valve that can be a pain in the keister. I would throw a mikuni clone 28mm slider carb on it and yank the governor out like fearless did

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Change the oil, blow off the filter, look over the carb and turn her over! I bet she'll start up, not much to go wrong with these things.
Being a 6spd, I'd think its a Peerless Mst206
That little rod you didn't know what was is a clutch/brake latch.
Don't have to remove the deck lift lever, could modify it to be a shifter and do away with the "ball buster" shifter
What kind of steering does it have? Does it lay flat or is the pie gear sitting up? The lay flat is better

There is the electronic needle valve that can be a pain in the keister. I would throw a mikuni clone 28mm slider carb on it and yank the governor out like fearless did

I'll have to get a picture of the steering mechanism for you since I am not sure (I am a noob to this).

What is an electronic needle valve?

If you look at the bottom of the carb, and the nut that holds the bowl on has a couple wires coming off of it, thats the electronic needle valve

Ohh, the fuel shutoff solenoid. I know what to do with that, I cut the nib off the tip of the one on my JD D125 so I didn't have to wire it up. Thanks for the info, I enjoy learning about small engine stuff!

Great tractor to start modding! One thing I will say though, those stamped frames can flex so you could weld in some braces (esp. at the rear) to help strengthen the frame.

MatthewD wrote:

you could weld in some braces (esp. at the rear) to help strengthen the frame.

That's the fun part in my opinion! Cheap frames FTW haha.