Thank you thank you, so am I! I do wish I put more time into it this summer so I was further along, I'll never get all the things done I wanted to in time but that does not mean it will be the end of the build... I have a vision for it and will get there eventually!
I also do NOT regret all the time I poured into The Warhorse, that has been a blast to build and to FINALLY have a rig to romp is awesome!
I'm hoping others also make the deadline, both @diddie and @Rustbucket Garage aren't far off but there were a couple of really solid looking builds from members that have gone MIA, I just hope they're okay to be honest!
Just a quick update on this beast, I wanted to have a little fun with it and work it hard so I put the heavy duty grader blade on the front and starting digging up my "garden".
The woman who lived here before me made the garden and used it, it wasn't in bad shape then or the first year I used it but then the weeds really got ahold of it and uncontrollable which makes it impossible for anything to grow decent because they're just sucking so many nutrients from the soil. Really what I need to do to make it useful again is excavate it all, build barriers on the sides and bottom and fill it back in with good clean soil... but for now I'll make it part of my obstacle course! Lol
A couple of dugouts and mounds plus a log or two should do the trick! After digging down about 4" I started to hit clay which means to me that to use it as a garden I'll have to dig it down a little deeper as I excavate, hopefully I don't hit a spring!
The Mud Duck did awesome, that's the hardest I've ever worked it and the first real test of those tires. The old girl didn't complain one bit!
It's raining today so I doubt I'll get any more done but this is how far I got yesterday and yes, I had no choice but to take the Roper 16T over it before parking it!
I almost have a full mini obstacle course circling my yard now! Lol
The rain settled down so I got back into the "garden" and made some progress, the pictures don't really do it justice but that mound is over 2 feet tall and the bowl I started on the far end is close to 1 foot down.
Shortly after I got started the blade was digging in and I was stuck so I started digging it out...
...then I noticed a couple of washers and a broken bolt....hmm... that bolt sheared clean and is from the bracket just above it! Lol.
I made that lift tab awhile back because the one that had been on it looked really weak, guess now that I know the tab is good it's time to upgrade to some Grade 8 hardware and add some small welds to it as well.
I'm having alot of fun putting it through it's paces and it's working really well! Both the engine and hydro are running strong and there's nothing funny I'm noticing so that's good!
For the last week in the evenings I've been picking away at the hood, I didn't like the patch I put in it and realized that with the amount of heat the B&S is pumping out that it would only be a matter of time before and body filler would start to crack if it's any thicker than a skim coat...
...so I cut the tack welds and removed it!
I found that the metal for the control panel of my scrap snowblower was right about the same thickness of the original steel so I made a template then marked and cut out the piece out I wanted!
I used some flat bar aluminum that's similar thickness to the steel to form a template for the bends...
...and spent quite a long time forming the bends and making the cuts in the hood so I can Zeus that panel in flush.
A few rounds of tack welding and grinding...
...and it's fully welded on the outside! I have a little bit of work to do on the inside of the patch so it's good and smooth but not alot and hopefully I'll get that done today!
It's definitely taking some time but I'm glad I'm redoing it the proper way!
The good news is the hood patch is 100% finished, the hood has been fitted for the first time since I built the new top clamp/hood mount/bumper mount (it fit back on perfect btw) and the hood support truss has been reinstalled.
The bad news is I've run out of (Build Off) time to get, well... just about every cool thing done that I wanted to, perhaps my original goals were a little TOO ambitious or maybe I just got carried away as I went! Lol. Before the Build Off ends I'd like to at the very least paint the rear wheels to match the fronts and do a quickie clean up and paint job on the hood and fender pan, nothing fancy but at least something! I'm planning on semi gloss black so it's close to what the finished product will be, it will protect the surface and act as a guidecoat for proper bodywork when the time comes. While the body is off I'll probably install and wire the taillights and headlights because it would be nice to have them functional!
The bumper, the winch, the lifting yolk, the proper paint job... it's all going to have to wait but will get done a bit at a time I have no plans to stop working on this thing!
Now that the paint job pressure is off I'll be able to take more care and time to do my best to perfect the stencils for paint, I've had to use a Bolens 1250 design as my starting point because it has all the important bits I need. I'd like it to look proper while standing out at the same time and it will take alot of time and experimentation to figure out what I like best. Here's how that's coming along and I'm happy with my progress, as you can see in the above picture there's not much lettering left for measurements and believe it or not but that's the good side of the hood (lettering)! Lol
I wish it was closer to completion but it's at least "complete" as per Build Off rules and for the first time in possibly a couple of decades it lives!
[mod]You are pre-qualified complete. You have mentioned it a few times. Please re-post your Final pictures so I can post for the Vote and the competion video between now and Nov 30.[/mod]
Oh man the pressure! Lol. The days are short, the snow has flown full force and it's making it difficult to attempt paint...this ain't good! See, this is what happens when you have too many projects on the go (The Warhorse,The Trailblazer,Mini Quad ect. ect.) and stretch yourself too thin! Lol
I can't say that I'm not elated to have brought this old beast back from the dead though and I'm enjoying using it that's for sure! Just today I used it to plow the dumping of snow we got and it didn't complain once, not even as I was carving back the snowbanks on the sides of the road!
I'm having a rough go up here, not only is it dark when I leave and come home from work but it's been snowing and or raining consistently so I haven't been able to paint at all... it'll never dry!
*Edit* Not to mention it's taken me 4 weeks to find the same black paint for the rear wheels so they match the front and I just found 3 cans yesterday. Sounds like there's been supply issues of a specific ingredient needed.
Best I'll be able to do is get a few pics today of how it sits and it's not a very nice day out at all... stupid weather!
Guess it'll be best to wait for paint and do a proper job next summer instead of halfa$$ing it and being unhappy about it.
This is the first slideshow I've ever made and it took me all day so I hope it's decent! I wish I could've slowed it down a little more but I wasn't buying into the "premium package"! Lol. Anyhoo here that is!
Here's a short video from last winter I forgot about
And my completion video (reposted)
AND a few pics for @MightyRaze to pick from. The first 2 are ones I've taken today as it sits right now! It's been near freezing and rain for the last couple of days so the foot of snow we HAD is gone now...
Well folks it's far, far away from where I wanted it to be at this moment in time but it's all good! I brought this derelict POS back from the dead and have a super heavy duty tractor at my disposal so I'm not even upset about it! Lol. Perhaps my goals were a little over ambitious but that's okay, I'm far from done with it and will still have countless hours of fun working on and driving it!
I wish @MightyRaze, @RCG and myself the best of luck in the voting and hope our pal @Rustbucket Garage makes er to the finish line to join us!
Well the 2022 Build Off may be over but not the saga of the Mud Duck!
There's still lots of work to do and something I've been wanting to do for awhile is give the blade itself adjustable tilt! It loves to dig in and can be a handful at times so I'm finally working on it after a couple weeks of planning and grabbing the parts I needed. Here's a close up of what I'm working with.
As you can see I'll be using turnbuckles and lower mounting tabs (were already in place) I just need to cut some stuff out of the way, make upper mounts and get to testing it!
It looks like the original build utilized a lower pivot point and a bunch of springs but now is welded solid with a bar so my guess is the original idea didn't work out so well! Lol. This blade was really well built though I'll give it that!
So I made some upper mounts and tack welded them into place. I made them tall enough so a short tab with a hole sticks out the top so I can put D rings on them for?!
The lower mount for the springs ended up interfering with the turnbuckles so I trimmed some out of it leaving tabs on the sides in case I want to use them for something in the future.
Here's how it sits all the way back which is basically how it was before I started and tipped most of the way forward!
It's surprisingly easy to adjust the turnbuckles by hand if you do them in sync and it only takes a couple of minutes so I'd say this is going to be a great budget upgrade for under $50!
Just need to finish welding the mounts on tomorrow and it's ready for testing!
I made new pivot pins to replace the threaded bolts that were there, I used 1/2" bolts which I cut the threads off of and drilled holes for snap pins...
...and hooked it all up!
There is a design flaw in the mounting itself that has always made the blade higher on one side than the other and it's a real pain! I was hoping that maybe having proper pins in the pivot point would improve it but nope! Lol. Everything LOOKS strait and true but obviously something is out of whack and I'd like to solve that someday soon!
But there is the budget upgrade done and quickly tested, I've been wanting to do that for awhile so I'm glad I finally got it did!
Maybe get you a piece of flatstock. 3-4 inches wide however thick you think and long enought for the width? You can use that for a cutting edge so you do not wear out your blade. Maybe make it adjustable (piviot) so it takes out the imperfection?
I put one one my blade so it would not wear it out so fast. Red secion at the bottom.
You raise a good point @MightyRaze, a scraper bar would look awesome and allow me to really shave down ice in the winter although it's not really required because the blade itself is 3/16" thick! Lol. I do really like the idea and it would help me level out the last little bit but I would like to get it as even as possible first.
One hurdle will be attaching it because of the design with the angle iron along the bottom.
I suppose because the blade is as thick as it is I'll be able to drill/tap and add a few small welds along it though.
A pivot is out of the question because it would just be too much work and I'd have to re-engineer the whole system...not going to happen! Lol. I have one possible way to gain a little while beefing up the tilt pivot points though, they're only 1/2" and I think that seems a bit wimpy for this blade so if I use my dremel to open up the holes to 5/8" (one downwards and the other upwards) that should get it pretty close and be in the realm of what a scraper bar can finish up.
For this winter... I'll probably just make some adjustable skids so the one corner doesn't dig in and revisit it in the summer so I can sandblast and paint it (along with the tractor).
I've also been toying with the idea of making a small lift/crane for the front for lifting/moving awkward items and think the main frame of this blade will be a great base to do so instead of having to build a whole new unit. Blade off, lift/crane on, winch engage and I could move big heavy GT motors with ease!
@RichieRichOverdrive the (inside) joke here is that I almost threw my back out with the 1977 cast iron B&S that's in this beast now because I wasn't prepared for it to weigh 143lbs! Lol.
Also I have some problems with the tendons in my arms so I need to work smarter not harder or I'll be ruined and in alot of pain for an extended period.
I got the old steering wheel off and the new one (from a boat) installed! Thanks to my new tractor friend Ernie for lending me his bearing separator/puller so I could make this happen!
I still need to align the steering shaft so I can clock the wheel strait but at least that nightmare is over! Lol
Not really but thanks for asking! It's gotten a little bit of use this past summer and just last weekend I've moved it out from the tractor shed and up to the workshed so it's ready for winter, I love how it never struggles to fire up after sitting for a couple of months that engine is definitely healthy!
I'd still like to build a tow yolk for the rear (have most of what I need) and have been thinking that linear actuators instead of turnbuckles for the plow tilt would be pretty slick! I'm going to try and paint the body panels and rear wheels over the winter by taking them into work one at a time to work on them, I think it'll look great dressed in black and gold!
Subject: 
October 24th 2022, 5:00 pm
