$20 Poulan Pro Project Mower

Hello everyone so I've recently found a Poulan Pro mower for $20 from an older man that lives down the road from me. He's not sure if it runs or not but said it did when he parked it. It has a Model 28 Briggs and Stratton I/C engine and a 6 speed Peerless transaxle. Will keep you updated on the progress I make with turning this into a mudder.  Any suggestions are appreciated along the way of the build

Looks like a pretty good chassis to start with! Are those ATV tires in the first picture gonna end up on this rig? They look to have similar tread to the ones on my Ford.

The atv tires in the picture are going onto the front I have plans for putting some 27s on the back. But will have to make hubs to mount the 12' rims

Poulan with a 6 speed....That could be any transaxle, but the MST-206 is the one to hope for.

That 28 Cubic inch Briggs should be a pretty solid little engine, just make sure the valves are within spec. Its worth the 10 minutes once and a while to check the valve lash and adjust accordingly.

FearlessFront put a 28mm mikuni clone carb on his with a governor delete, made it into a monster.

Frame is the same as a craftsman, weed eater, Meijer (yes, I have seen one), Husqvarna, rally, and even the square body craftsman. If you don't have the hood for it, anything off of an AYP built mower will work.

Have fun with it!

I think that's a flathead Briggs CQ, so if the valve lash is out of spec it can't really be adjusted. 27s" would look pretty mean on there, but I'm not sure if the trans would able to take it.

It's the 206, guess I had forgotten to add that. With the tires I plan on putting on the back I'll have to do some fabrication on the shifting linkage due to the current linkage being in the way of the new ones. The motor doesn't look in horrible shape I was messing with it for about an hour before I had to go into work tho afternoon and it spins over great and fires up but smokes bad. I'll clean the carb out and check out the rings to make sure they're good.

If I run the 27s I will add supports for both sides of the axles maybe 3/4 pillow block bearings bolted on some angle iron and welded to the frame

Yeah axle supports would be a pretty good idea. Is the smoke burning oil or is it maybe fuel smoke from running too rich? I'd maybe check that out before tearing into it too much.

I'm not too sure. I'll clean the carb out and try to run it and see if it clears up. It's running really rough on half choke at the moment

Whoops lol you're right, that's a flathead. I just assumed OHV. Those valves should be fine. Something else to check that could be the cause of your smoking is your PCV valve back behind the carb.

Guessing the PCV valve may be spitting oil down into the intake?

@TN_Murray wrote:

Guessing the PCV valve may be spitting oil down into the intake?

That my guess yeah, if it does end up being the PCV

UPDATE: So I've gotten the engine to run smoothly I did find that a very small amount was in the exhaust due to some oil being past the piston. The PCV was spitting a little bit of oil but has since cleared up. I will be cutting and welding a new exhaust up because the stock one is rusted out. I cleaned is carb out and it idles at low rpm well but still back fires if idled down too fast I'll have to look into that. Anyways I took it for a ride today (with the addition of some Honda 22' ATC wheels) and bent the rod that runs the braking mechanism not really sure how but I've got spare parts. Will lock the rear end and work out the shifting linkages this weekend and have pictures posted.

Old one on top and the new one is one bottom lol

For the backfire when throttling down is one of 2 things to look for. 1 is an exhaust leak near engine. 2 would be the main jet running rich and excessive gas is igniting in exhaust.

Man, i would have killed for some throttle down backfire for my sasquatch build video.

Sorry guys have been out of town for a few days but I did manage to get my tires mounted on the back just not the front yet I'll have to make hubs.

I'm liking the look of those rear tires on that thing! Pretty mean looking. They sorta look like Super Swamper Vampires?

Looks good! I like those tires, only seen em once before

Thanks guys, and these are very similar to the vampires just the older version I guess you could say they don't make these anymore sadly

Sorry guys haven't been able to update about the mower in a month now. Have had the flu on top of work picking up to 72 hours a week. Anyways I've welded a new exhaust up on the mower that comes out just under the foot rest and have added the new front tires. I also have ordered 4 led pods for $22 off of Amazon they will be added next. I have more plans for a battery relocation.. Leaning more towards the way FearlessFront did his not sure yet. But now since worked has slowed down a bit ill be able to get back to working in the shop on the weekends instead of sleeping. Anyone else have any other ideas for this build?

If I were buying four LED pods, I would mount two up front for headlights and two on the back for rear work/reverse lights. I'd lose what's left of the deck lift because nobody needs that. I like the mud truck style front and rear tow chains. I'd make the rear one shorter and bolt it lower on the frame.

Definitely add an exhaust brace. Just weld a piece of angle iron to the exhaust and put a hole and just use a head bolt going through it to support the weight. Don’t wanna snap off one of those exhaust bolts

I agree with CQ. Looks to be quite a bit of weight hanging off the exhaust bolts. Looking good though!