MTD - "Budgie"

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!............

Sad part... I don't think it will take him too long.  

Rich is a "send it" kind of guy! 

Used budgie yesterday to pick up some firewood outta the lawn to throw in a fire I've had going the past few days. Go out to the store today and now i have two flats instead of one. Wonderful. It took air long enough today to move a trailer around, so whatever. I'll patch it soon.

Hey look... something happened! It's only been what...3 months?


New exhaust system! It's not finished yet, I ran out of welding gas(d'oh!) but it's finished enough to use. Propane can muffler is similar in fashion to Doc's fire extinguisher ones. Sounds okay to me. Still retains a bit of bark but it's much better than a straight pipe.

Really liking the sound of this exhaust system. Not loud enough to be snappy but loud enough to maintain lots of that oppy grunt.

Finally put a screen on the flywheel today.

Much safer looking. Glad to see you being careful with your digits haha

Still liable to catch a bootlace in there though, lol

My dad somehow broke budgie's right spindle moving her around with pallet forks. It just snapped right in the bend. I stuck a block in to stop the axle from articulating and drove her to a spot in the barn that was out of the way. The 2300 is enough of a counterweight it seems. I'll weld it back together and do some general reinforcing soon.

dam I really like how you did the exhaust, all the bends and collector just flow together, strong work. seems like budgie went from kinda a after though to one of your tougher tractors

@Creepycrawler wrote:

dam I really like how you did the exhaust, all the bends and collector just flow together, strong work. seems like budgie went from kinda a after though to one of your tougher tractors

I agree on all accounts

Yeah, that kinda happened lol. It's just come together so nicely. Unlike anything else i have. The exhaust came out nice. I've been getting better at putting that stuff together.

Rolling her into the shop now.

Pic of broken spindle surface. Kind of a weird break.


Welded up the spindle and reinforced both with the mr.moo method, but with worse welding lol.


Didn't come out too bad. Hopefully they won't break again.

Took Budgie out for a rip today. She's lots of fun to drive, an absolute tank really. Lots of power and weight with the locked diff make this thing just about unstoppable.


Had a problem with the belt coming off a flat idler once in a while; I added a belt guide that will hopefully fix that issue.

Belt hasn't given me any issues since.

So I finally did something that removed weight...seems a bit out of character for me huh?

I guess I didn't get any good pics of it, but I removed the gm alternator from back when i had the 6hp and replaced it with an idler pulley.

What made you decide to remove the alternator?

It would likely fry my little motorcycle battery. I've had it on there since long before i had the oppy. It was only on there so i could use budgie as a mobile battery charger.

The charging system on the oppy is fine, the battery just goes dead when you leave it for more than a few days.

Getting out some today. It rained sideways yesterday, everything is reaaally sloppy. Got stuck behind my lower pond pretty bad but was able to pull her out on my own.


Don't know if you guys can tell but my tie rod is getting pretty bent. I'll shore that up when my shop dries out lol.

Needs some new shoes and she’s mint

Honestly yeah, I could use some new tires for her. 19x7-8 china atv tires and just some fresh mudlites would be good.

Some idiot did a really bad job welding the clutch pedal shaft support and it broke off. Whoops. I'll see about that tomorrow i guess.

Got her up on two wheels. Notice flywheel screen full of mud. Not impressed with that


I know you're gonna hate me for the Snapchat post Allis, but it's the only pic i got of the clutch support. I welded it all around this time. Whacked it with a hammer to make sure it won't come off, seems good now.


And yes, the old drag link just plain needed retired. Luckily i got a pair of ATV tie rods on my last scrap run. They're metric and one's left hand thread, but as long as I don't lose any lock nuts it should be alright.


There's the drag link done. I don't know what this ½" bar was from but it has some of the thickest galvanizing I've seen. You just can't get it all off. Makes an interesting flame when you weld it. I just stay out of the smoke so it doesn't knock me out.


In for lunch right now, when I go back out I'll put the drag link on, beef up the tie rod, and maybe take her for a run.

Welded up the tie rod.

I turned these collars on the lathe to hopefully stiffen up the ends. They get rid of the longer ⅜" portions on the end. It's likely the ends will just snap under them but I'll worry about that when i get there lol

What brand of lathe do you have? I'd like to have one but dont have the space or the money to get one lol.

It's a South Bend. 1927 9" swing by 3-½' bed. If you have room for another work bench, or just room on a workbench, you have room for a lathe.

Hmm honestly that's not a bad size lathe, way better than that junk I saw at harbor freight. Honestly I have room for one but both me and dad are working out of a little 2 car garage so it would be in the middle of the floor, but in the process of building a bigger garage out back so we'll definitely have the room for one then.

Had to haul around some railroad ties today. I got a video, I'll put that up later. Lots of fun having the front wheels lift a lot.


Definitely don't get the hazard fraught ones. They need a lot of work before they're really usable.