my mower projects(name changed)

if your not going for this let me know, because i have another friend looking for one but he already has a working camra, he just wants an upgrade, so im only giving him this link if you dont go for it.

im posting a video and a pcitue of what this camra was like before i started messing it up.
https://i.imgur.com/D4uIGP5.jpg

@RockeyDA thanks for the link, I looked myself but couldn't find anything I wanted at a price I could afford, it looks like it takes decent video and pics, I did put in a bid,

@RockeyDA I don't know if you're interested but I was looking at stick welders and found a couple at a price I can afford, a friend of mine said this one is the same model he's used for a couple years for light work, fixing mower decks mostly, but he also uses it for brackets and frame bracing on his mowers and it works decent for that kind of work https://www.ebay.com/itm/110V-DC-Inverter-Welder-Mini-Handheld-Arc-Welding-Machine-MMA-20-120A-IGBT/323388002782

thanks for the offer, but i have gotten really good at my mig and wleding aluminum is about the only thing i want in a welder.

putting rusty on the back burner for awhile, I need parts to finish it and I want to concentrate on getting my murray widebody and the suburban back on the road, my murray needs to be put back together after I stripped it down to do some work to it, and the suburban needs the belt replaced and seat fixed, plus I've been exclusively working on this project for awhile now and i'm starting to get a little burnt out on it, so I will pick this build back up this spring,

I know I said I was putting this away for awhile to get my other 2 rigs going, but I thought of something I thought would be both unique and functional, I posted early on I planned to make this a 4x6 later on, and I think I came up with the build plan to do that, here's what I will need
approximately 16ft of 2in square tubing
2 36in solid keyed axles
6 pillow block bearings, 2 for the transaxle and 4 for the solid axles I use
6 #40 chain sprockets
2 atv shocks, which I have
and 2 chain tensioners
and of course the wheels and tires
my idea was to make a walking beam rear suspension, basically I would build a sub frame that the 2 axles would mount to, I would then mount this to the transaxle axle shafts using 2 of the pillow blocks, the pillow blocks would act as both a pivot point and allow the transaxle to turn freely, to drive the axles I would run a chain from each side of the transaxle to the axles, very much like how a d10 dozer tracks are run, but if I find that won't work or it gives me trouble I can easily run a chain to one of the axles and then run a separate chain to the other axle

yo lost me at "walking beam suspesnon" never even heard of that.

RockeyDA wrote:

yo lost me at "walking beam suspesnon" never even heard of that.

it's a set up a lot of 6x6 military trucks, heavy haul tandem axle trucks and tandem axle trailers use, this video can explain it better than I can,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEu6EtiWx5o

i almost, almost looked at this today and said to heck with the bed and ripped off frame extension, slapping the spicer 6sp i have in it and make it a regular mud mower, I've got a 2nd gen craftsman coming soon, and another craftsman frame sitting in the garage and I seriously considered putting those two together and mounting the bed on it instead, but changed my mind before the wrenches came out

Yeah it doesn't make sense to undo all of your work.  I thought you had a great project going here.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Yeah it doesn't make sense to undo all of your work.  I thought you had a great project going here.

yeah that's what made me change my mind, and thanks, i'll start working on it again in a few days just have some other stuff to get done 1st, like my murray widebody and this yard machine we're trading for the craftsman, not really sure what we'll do with that, it's got some issues, but it's good for a parts mower if anything,

so while i'm thinking about what to do when I finish rusty, he's mostly finished except for mounting the bed and a few small pidley things like wiring and getting the clutch done, but I was thinking I might join next years build off, but can't decide which of 3 tractors to use, one is a late 90s, I think , craftsman, it has 2nd gen steering but still has the center shifter instead of a fender shift, 2nd is a 2005-ish john deer 125, and 3rd would be my little john deer 82, but whichever I choose will be a speed machine, I know the craftsman chassis lends itself to being a race style machine pretty well and is pretty popular for these type of builds, any body have any thoughts or suggestions on these,

I vote for the craftsman chassis, but with a different hood on it.

I discussed it with my brother, he thinks the length of time given should allow me to get this build done, i decided on using the craftsman, i'm not sure about the hood, though I do have a huskee hood I may be able to fit, my plan is to lower it drastically, i want the chassis to be as low as i can get it, i'll lower the seat, race prep the peerless 700 I have and run a solid axle, the front will get go cart style front spindles and better steering, and strengthen the frame for safety, if anything entering the build off with a clear goal in mind will help me improve my fab and welding skills

So there's a guy on here that doesn't live terribly far from me doing just that with craftsmans.  He uses a CVT and a live axle, but he doesn't buy a ton of parts to do it.  Check it out here .  You could do something like this pretty easily.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

So there's a guy on here that doesn't live terribly far from me doing just that with craftsmans.  He uses a CVT and a live axle, but he doesn't buy a ton of parts to do it.  Check it out here .  You could do something like this pretty easily.

that's exactly what I want to build for the most part, slammed, fast and fun, but reliable, I planned to use the 700 because I have it already and have several vertical shaft engines to choose from, a couple 12hp flatties, 2 14.5 briggs ohvs, and i could use my 23hp briggs vtwin but a 212 and torque converter isn't out of the question either, I also have a good molkt 26mm carb I can use on any of them but the twin

changing plans on rusty, again, I was inspired you could say, by a model A rat rod truck I've recently seen, I decided to drop the bed to the frame, cut fender wells out to make room for the tires and do more of a rat rod style machine, I plan to put rusty's original rear fenders on the bed and might still do a dually, haven't decided on that yet, tonigh i got the left side wheel opening cut out and the hitch plate and original front bed support cut so it sits down on the frame nicely, I have to center it before i can cut the right side wheel opening, i also think i'm going to pull the 14.5 ohv i have on it and put one of my 12 hp flatties on, to run the ohv i need to cut part of the grill out because it hits the valve cover, and i don't want to cut the grill, i have been focused on other things and haven't really checked how much i would have to cut away, if it's a small section inside that won't hurt the looks or strength then i will keep the ohv, but if i have to remove that whole section of grill then i will do the swap instead, i'll get it centered and finish cutting the bed tomorrow so i can get some picks of what i'm doing,

oh I like where this idea is heading.  The machine will be pretty unique all said and done.  Plus you'll still have a nice little cargo bed.  I'm looking forward to seeing some pictures.

Yeah, I'd love to see some pix as this comes about. Sounds very sweet.

MightyRaze wrote:

Yeah, I'd love to see some pix as this comes about.  Sounds very sweet.

still have some trimming to do, but got the right side cut out, and realized the sections will make perfect inner fender wells, i'll use some aluminum sheet I have to make the curved section of them



hmmm with duallies or without, can't decide, it's going to have a sheet of 3/4in plywood underneath for added strength and to clear some bolts I can't remove, they hold the transaxle mounting brackets to the frame, the plywood is structural ply and was originally the floor of a friends house so it should be strong enough, but there's a brace on the front that originally held the floorboard i'll mount it to and I will make a brace for the unsupported section in the rear if I feel it's too weak

A tubbed lawn tractor??? I love everything about it!!!

Haha, seriously though this should be pretty neat when it's done. Nice work!

the more i look at it the more I like the singles over the duallies, so I think i'll stick with them, other plans is to use some of the aluminum sheet I have to make a tunnel for the shifting rod, since I have to have it in the bed instead of under it, i'll also use it to cover the hole I made overly large where the shifter rod comes through the bottom, and now even my seat almost fits right, with just a little trimming to the front lip of the bed needed to clearance it, or I can mount it and smack it with a hammer until it clears.

Nice I prefer singles to duals on rat rod trucks too

I've seen a couple rat rod trucks that look good with duals, but they were tall skinny old school truck tires, and fit the trucks style, the duals just don't fit the style of this, I was planning to cut down the original noma fenders and mounting them to the bed side, but they would be little more than fender flairs with how wide this bed is, I have maybe 2-2 1/2 in of tire sticking out on each side, so i'm not cutting them and will just leave the tires exposed, I did get my plywood cut for underneath the bed, just have to notch or drill holes to clear those transaxle bracket bolts, I feel like i'm finally settled on something I like with this project, I just wasn't really into the high dump bed look and lost enthusiasm for it, I have some other ideas coming up, like a set of round old school taillights, and maybe a mack bulldog on the hood, if I can find one I can afford

I just found out the craftsman I was planning to use for next yrs build off is out, I was planning to trade a yardmachine I have been putting together for the craftsman, but the other person sold it, i'm not upset about it, she needed the money, but now my only 2 choices are two john deers, my little 82 rer or the 125, i don't know if i can do anything with the bare craftsman frame i have, all i can do is look at it and see, i do have a dash and front axle for it, may be able it use some other parts i have scattered around like the murray lt body that was on my old trail mower