1999 John Deere LT160 "Green"

I think the mtd hood looked cooler but didn’t quite fit the shape of the fenders, ya know?

Definitely not a fan of those DLTs though

I think the MTD hood looks better, but I think a hood from an older john deere (111, 116, etc) would look pretty good on that tractor. Definitely like the MTD hood better though.

I ripped out this mess today...



I figured out the regulator and the kill wire on the motor.  I need to find a wiring diagram for the key switch and wiring everything back up should be cake.  It was interesting to see that John Deere didn't use any fuses anywhere but three relays of course which are coming out.  I want less things to fail.  I'm a little unsure about wiring the hour meter back up.  I hope it just needs 12 volts when the tractor is running but I thought it used to display the hours all the time but I'm unsure.

I'm definitely leaning towards using the craftsman hood but maybe it looks better to me because it's already a shade of green.  I need to imagine the MTD hood as green, or maybe paint a test area. I do have green paint laying around.

I would do a push button ignition, they are very simple.  And definitely keep the GT hood.

This is a diagram for the switch I have.

Looks easy to wire up.

G-ground wire
M-kill wire
B-battery
L-lights
A2-power for lights so jumper to B terminal 
S-starter solenoid
A1-hour meter maybe? gets 12v when tractor is running and a ground when it is not

The regulator was actually already wired directly to the battery.  I'll probably put the 20 amp main fuse I took from the parted out craftsman into the low amperage battery wire.  That way if any accessory shorts out the fuse will blow and the battery won't get cooked.  Opps I accidently shorted out the battery with the wrench removing the positive cable.  That's a mistake I don't make very often but it was a small spark for a split second so I think the battery is okay.

I shorted out a 7/16 wrench on mutts dual battery setup. Looks like somebody tried to weld on it lol. Whoops.

Well I got my wiring done today.  Everything worked on the first try.  I'm so glad all of the safety switches and relays are gone.  The hour meter still works!  

The old wiring used the AC leads from the coil for something in addition to going to the regulator and charging the battery.  I took the extra AC wires out.  Does anybody have any idea what they could have been used for?



I don't have my lights hooked up yet but I left myself a pigtail for them.  I now have a 20 amp main fuse too (thank you parts craftsman).  JD had a fusable link instead.

Extra AC wires were more than likely for headlights, that's what the second stator output on most Briggs is for.

Nice job on the wiring.

Well long story short I should have just kept putting off this valve adjustment .

So apparently this Kohler CV460S has hydraulic lifters and non-adjustable rocker posts.  I think someone may have been in here before because I see some non deburred machining where the rocker posts mount.  I think that's how either the factory or the dealer set the valve lash.

I came up with my own method to set the valve lash.  Grinding down the rocker mount.

I'm not really sure what I'm doing here.  There is a version of this head with adjustable rockers.  You set it between .003-.005.  That's what I'm aiming for.  The Kohler repair manual didn't mention putting the piston at TDC or anything.  Just compress the hydraulic lifter.  I could get the intake lifter to compress with the cam in just the right spot but I couldn't get the exhaust lifter to compress at all.  I think it might be stuck.  I'd really appreciate any advice here.

Well last night I put the valve cover back on.  I'm waiting for the silicone to cure just a little longer before I start it. The guy at the auto parts store told me how me had a Kohler engine with a stuck ACR so he drained the oil, poured a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF into the crankcase and let it soak, drained it out, poured in fresh oil, and the ACR worked again and it turned right over.  I'm thinking about trying that here.

I think I'm going to go with the MTD hood.  It will be more work but I like how the grille is stationary and the hood tilts up.  I'll have to make mounts for my LED pods but they'll look good in the grille.

Well I took the John Deere over to my friend's house to haul some dirt because his mower kept getting stuck in the woods.  Then all these kids showed up.  There were too many smiles to count.

That's awesome. Lots of memories created there.  May have to change your name to Cool_Carl.

This tractor has waited long enough.  It's finally getting a hood.  My plan for this tractor is to leave it at my sister's for a while so my niece and nephew can drive it along with their 110cc kids atv.  There is a short list of things I want to do to it first:
-mount hood
-paint hood and front bumper
-install LED tail lights and headlights

First thing was to address the cracks in the mounting area of the hood by reinforcing it with 1/8"x1" flat stock.


then using 45 degree bends I made a couple of struts to support the grille.

They support the grille really nicely and I like this flip up hood design.

I'm looking forward to seeing this painted green.

I'm going to drill a couple of holes in the hood for 1/2-13 thumbscrews.  I'm going to weld these couplers to this piece of flatstock I bolted to the dash to support the other end of the hood.

Great work Carl! I love the look for sure!

Those grille supports are pretty slick looking, should work nicely. I think it needs some bigger front tires though.

Awesome Carl.  Like the shot of the kitty on Facebook too!

Well the support I made for the dash side of the hood came out really nice.



The cat is just amazed that the bolts go right in without fighting it.

Then on to lighting.  Since I had the rear wheels off, I also yanked the hydro to check the fluid and put it back in.  So I loosened the gas tank and mounted the LED tail lights outward as much as I could while staying on the flat part of the sheetmetal.  This job would have been easier but the fenders on this are welded right to the seat support which is also welded to the frame.

To my surprise my LED headlights came today too.  I'm currently working on some pieces to fill in the MTD headlight cutouts and will allow me to bolt these right up.  I temporarily taped them in to test them.  They are nice and bright.  In the perfect world I would aim them down a little bit but they'll be fine.  All of the LED lights together on this tractor only draw about 1.5amps which is almost nothing.

The hydro cooling fan is shredded too so I'll have to order up one of those. My niece and nephew are very excited for this.

Nice!  A hydro is convenient for little ones!

I got my lights mounted.  I think they look great.  I'm starting to regret giving this one away.

The last thing I had to do fabrication wise was fix this heat shield I cut in order to get the hood bolted on.  I wanted to make sure all the hot air gets out of the engine compartment.

There isn't too much left to do:
-prep, paint and assembly
-put dash back together
-finish the lighting wiring
-hydro coolong fan is on its way, it's easy to put on

Looking good Carl! Definitely looks waaaay better than the stock JD hood would've ever looked.

Also good idea trying to keep the heat shield.

I've got a few small things done on the tractor.  I'm still in the process of painting a lot of the parts but I've got the dash back together, the hydro cooling fan replaced, I replaced the ugly yellow seat and even though the paint wasn't quite dry I bolted up the front bumper.  I really like the black and green color scheme.

IMO the Bumper would look nicer if it were Black, but Your Build, your Decisions!

Last night I completed the final assembly!  I really like the way it came out.  I'm sure my niece will love it.





The only thing I'd like to do to this tractor now is label the wires going to the ignition switch for future ease of troubleshooting.  I know this build hasn't been very popular because it's a slow hydro.  However this is the tractor that I got for free and revived my interest in building mud mowers which led to the acquisition of Ol' Red.  I guess you have to crawl before you can walk.  Maybe one day down the road when my niece and nephew are older this tractor will get a geared transaxle and larger front tires.

Looks great! Some John Deere decals would look great too.

Looks really sweet! Kinda makes me sad when I think about selling my MTD since the Body is so nice & the hood...

So I got the JD outside to take a nice picture of it.

I've also labeled the wires going to the ignition switch to make future troubleshooting a breeze.

Instead of buying a $13 oil filter it turns out the $2.75 oil filter that fits my Saturn also fits this Kohler great.  I changed the oil at 600 hours.

I've just been doing some basic maintenance and finishing little details before it gets handed off to my niece for her birthday.