Mtd gt “tetanus”

so 18 years ago when my parents bought the house this tractor came with it but wasnt running so my dad replaced the back tires deck pulleys and spindles and couldnt get one spindle so he parked it in the back and let it sit so now i have it and so far got it to run but then it would stall when put in gear but once i got it to move 20 feet but it sounded terrible then stalled so i parked it for a week or two and came back to work on it and it seems that the fuel pump isnt working it only runs when i spray starting fluid or put gas down the carb right now i dont know what im gonna do with this thing but i think im gonna keep it since it has 23" tires and a hi lo trans on it also its missing the engine tins what could i do for those so i dont blow it

You could weld partial extensions on the fan shroud so the cylinders get some more air. If you can weld thin stuff like that somehow. Or just track down some tins from another engine. I guess it depends on what you do with it. If your gonna not be moving too fast and stuck in mud with it under load ect, then full tins would be a good idea. If your just going to be going around out in the open with a pulley swapped setup, maybe it would stay a bit cooler on it's own.

Either way, full tins are the coolest option. The airflow is definately going to be missing some of the engine without them. I ran my mini tractor with only the fan shroud and an extension on the lower cylinder side (the one with the big air gap). I didn't have an issue with it but I never ran it in the woods or under heavy load without moving. So it always had decent air flow.

18.5 is plenty of power for some decent speed though if you gear it up a bit.

I have tins if you want to buy them, not sure where you are from, let me know.

so i decided to mess with the craptd some more last night. i rigged up a gravity feed gas tank since i didnt think the fuel pump was working and i ended up being able to drive it some, very slowly but still got it to move more then 20 feet which is a first, so it bogs down in low range and also when i put it at 3/4 or more throttle so im thinking that it may need a magneto
[b]my current plans for this mower are
new coil/magneto
rebuild the fuel pump
free up the vari drive pulley
get tins for it
when i get new rear tires for the craftsman im gonna take the old ones and put them on the front of this thing since it has 8" front rims also would like to get try and get rid of the vari drive and just have a 2 speed for romping around in the woods other then that i wont be working on this thing that much since im focusing on the craftsman for now

So could I get any advice on how this thing would be if I got rid of the vari drive and just had it so it was high and low and made it into a mudder

Before you replace the magneto (if you haven’t already) try just cleaning up the magnet on the flywheel. Sometimes they get a bit rusty and don’t make a strong spark. Might save ya a few bucks.

I was actually going to make a demo derby tractor out of an mtd, just delete the vari drive so I’ve got a single speed forward and reverse with a foot throttle to a bypassed Governor. Never ended up doing it but would’ve been fun for what I wanted to do. I’m sure it’s doable, just calculate the ratio in the trans and pick your pulleys based on the terrain you want to run.

Honestly don’t think it’s the magneto since I got it to run with a gravity fed tank but the thing is now I can’t get it to run again so imma try rebuilding the fuel pump

So I finally got this thing to run and drive! I cleaned the magnets on the flywheel, cleaned the carb, and rebuilt the fuel pump now it runs beautifully and starts right up. I managed to get some full tins off another engine for free when I bought my toro so that problems out of the way. This is gonna be a budget build that I won’t be using or working on much but right now I’m gonna put some 20x10x8 tires on the front to give it better float and also I plan on deleting the varidrive and pulley swapping it. Then eventually I think I’m gonna try to stretch it about 12” since I’ve been wanting to try a stretched rig for a bit. Also I’m gonna try to figure out how to setup a straight pipe to exit out of the hood to stick with the rat rod look it already has

I can't believe that grille is in such good condition, lol. It has an interesting look.

I think this is the same body style as AllisKid's MTD build. You should look through his threads on that and get some inspiration.

Actually it only has the same hood as AK's. This one here is a bit newer than AK's I think. I can tell by the body style. This one has the same body style and frame as the Lowes I sold last year and AK's is the same body style as my brother's White. Doesn't really matter though.

The grilles in great condition except the mounting points are cracked off so I’m gonna put a piece of metal across the bottoms and mount it to the grille with some big washers them bolt the metal to the frame

So I’m prolly gonna get chains for this instead of mud tires, does anyone know what length of chains I’ll need for the 23” rear tires? I found some nearby for cheap that are 6 feet but idk if that’d work

I think chains are sized based on tires. Even if the chains are too big you can cut them down or do what i did, bolt them on.