Roper "TrailBlazer"

You got that right @MightyRaze and now that the new tires are on...

...I can put the cutting deck on, make the necessary mods to get max cutting height then start building the exhaust! I'd like to run it under the floorboard if possible, guess I'll find out! With the steering and articulation maxed it looks like there's still plenty of room for the stock header pipe once I cut it off the muffler.


I also relocated the oil drain to a hole that was already in the chassis, it took alot of fanagling and I had to open up the hole a little but I finally got it!


I'm sure looking forward to testing out those new tires, I think they make the tractor look bad@$$! Hopefully this weekend *fingers crossed*

Man that looks sweet!  Get some video too when you test out those tires!

Thank you sir! I'll do my worst! Lol

looking pretty bad a$$ indeed! I have a roper myself, that looks pretty sweet with those tires!

Thanks @TechnoChicken! What model do you have?

Alrightly, so the mower deck is officially on, serviced and modified for fitment/max cutting height but I need to figure out a belt as the original one was shredded and I also need to tweak the engagement pulley bracket a little to get the pulley aligned well.


Here were the clearance issues:

Sitting as stock it was touching the rear right tire and I couldn't turn full left because it touched.


I basically had to turn the whole thing a little counterclockwise so I removed the right side ground guide thing, unbolted the front mounts, adjusted the deck and drilled holes for the new mount locations (notice the old mount points to the right of them). I also had to drill a new hole in the leveling bar.


It's tight on the right side but there's plenty of clearance on the left and I have full steering travel but just barely to the right side.


As far as height goes the left side was pulling all the way up after the modifications and sitting at about 5-1/2" but the right side was sitting down around 4-1/2" so what I did was drill a hole in the appropriate spot to lift that side higher and I ended up with about 5" of clearance on both sides when the deck is up so hopefully it's enough, I'm pretty sure it is.

When the deck is down there's about 3-1/4" of clearance and that's a decent height to cut the bush trails at so this is looking like win although I don't want to claim victory too soon...

As far as exhaust goes all I did was look and try to fit tubing in through from the back, I can just get a 1" OD pipe through so it's still up in the air but is something I'll tackle hopefully this weekend!

That's all for now, later!

@brianator, I honestly have no clue, someone painted it white, I think it mighta been a hydro but it's been swapped with 23" wheels and a MST. The 18hp oppy in it is going in the UTV (update coming)

I got the exhaust done today!


I cut the header pipe off the muffler...


...and finally settled on this setup after trying a whole bunch of different pipes, bends, elbows, directions ect. It was a muffler pipe from a offshore dirtbike I think. I really didn't feel like spending much time on it to be honest.


So I cut the flange off and welded the two pieces together...


...then painted and header wrapped the top portion and trimmed the tip to be on an angle.


Even at full steering and full axle articulation there's plenty of clearance!


It's really freaking LOUD and that's okay with me I can pop in some ear plugs, I'd rather make sure that the bears and moose up at the cabin keep their distance! Lol. I didn't even get to try and drive it the belt came off basically right away I didn't feel like messing with it, it's been a long hot day for me! The tractor is missing a belt guide/hook thingie on the right side and probably why it came off so I'll have to make one up soon so I can test drive it with the new tires!

That plus it will help blow the clippings away!!!  Bonus!

Good call @MightyRaze I didn't even think about that!


Did a little more tinkering today, the tractor was missing a belt guide/hanger so I made one out of a linkage rod from a scrap snowblower by bending and threading it (there was a hole in the perfect location).


I removed the fender pan to try and remove the trans pulley and ended up spraying the back of the tractor and seat/spring with bed liner to freshen it up a bit!


The deck lift handle is bent (from the factory - to clear the hood) in a way that's its right in the way of your leg when it's in the up position but not so bad when it's down BUT it just happens to be removable! It's keyed and uses 2 set screws to hold it so once I got it off I polished up all the metal, ground the key down a little then greased the heck out of it all so it's easy to remove when I take the deck off to go offroading!


The seat spring is pretty soft which does make for a comfortable ride but when I lean back I feel like I'm going to fall off the back of the tractor and that ain't good! I found a couple of valve springs in my stash that just happen to fit tightly over the bolts and are a good height where they start making contact as soon as I'm in the seat so all that extra flex is now gone and it also seems more stable when leaning way out to the side too!


Turns out the transaxle is a Foote but I can't find any numbers on it yet, that's one reason I wanted to remove the pulley (to see if there are numbers under it) but mainly so I could see what the input shaft looks like so I can find a pulley that's a little smaller. It has a huge pulley on it, 10" I think and I'd like to get a little extra speed out of it!


Well, that's all for today. Until next time!

Yet ANOTHER update on this beast! I was done work early today so I stopped in at a scrapyard that's on my way home and scored a small pile of goodies for $40!

The side panels both have some damage but they're made of fiberglass and that's something I know how to work with so here we go!


A couple pics to show the damage.


I got the matting cut so it was ready to go, mixed up the resin, poured some behind the mount, put a piece of matting around it then clamped the mount down, taped the outside of the bottom corner so I could pack the hole with wet matting, put matting on the inside then peeled the tape, put matting on the outside and kept playing with it until it started to dry and would stay in place. I hustled and did the whole process in about 30 minutes having to mix only one small batch of resin.



About an hour later it was dry enough to drill a new hole in the bottom corner but until I do some sanding and shaping it won't properly fit but at least it's on the tractor so I can have a look, it may be faded but I got one!


I scored factory original hood straps that are in great shape (I did paint the buttons though), not sure why they would be needed for mowing the lawn, the hood is heavy and very unlikely to open on it's own or why mine didn't come with them (from the factory) but I'm happy to have scored them! Really easy to install that's for sure! (I only had to drill 4 holes). I know they're factory because both of the Ropers in the yard had them.


I also found a clutch/brake pedal pad in excellent shape...


...and an actual Roper key!


I also found the Roper running board pads (not sure if I'll use them or not), an almost new ider pulley to replace the worn out one, a Silver Bullet badge for my silver MTD squarebody (I've been calling it the Silver Bullet for a couple weeks now - it will be a race inspired build) and a oil dipstick assembly for an old Briggs flathead vertical shaft.

All in all I'd say that was a ridiculously successful impromptu stop at the yard, good thing I carry a few tools in the work vehicle! Lol.

Well, the last couple evenings I've manged to do a pulley swap on the transaxle! I went from 10" down to 6.5" in hopes of picking up a little speed while not killing a slow 1st gear TOO much, I'd still like to have a crawl speed. The original pulley was a real nightmare to remove but I got it after about an hour and it's undamaged!


I got a weld-on pulley and hub, welded and painted it last night after using rope to figure out approximate belt length...


...and installed it today with a 86" belt. Turns out it not TOO difficult to replace so I went with a low cost Kevlar belt from Princess Auto and will get a spare also. Guess I'll have to make new belt guards which is no big deal, I'll probably tackle that tomorrow and test out the new pulley!

I made the belt guides today, I used bolts on the original bar and it's worked perfect so far!

Once I drilled the holes I welded nuts to the underside of it...


...I welded the upper nuts to the bolts (the washers are floating ones)...


...then cleaned, painted, installed it all and tested it out without the fender pan on so I could keep an eye on it. Of course I forgot to get a picture then so I had to sneak my phone in to get a picture of it installed! Lol.

All I need is a 1/2" socket on a ratchet or a 1/2" wrench to remove the bolts if I need to change the belt, easy peasy! The pulley swap itself is also perfect, in 5th gear it's picked up to a decent pace and 1st gear is still pretty slow for crawling over obstacles. Also my 5th gear, revved up, dump the clutch pop-a-wheelies have gone from 1-2" high to about 5-6" but what's great is I can still ease the clutch out without it instantly grabbing for a smooth takeoff! Hopefully I'll remember to get a picture of me popping a wheelie tomorrow, I was having too much fun to think about it at the time! Lol.


I also made a heatsheild for the exhaust out of leftover galvanized steel that I used to make the rear fuel tank bracket for the Mud Duck. A couple of rivets hold it on and there's about a 1/2" of clearance between it and the floorboard, it's definitely helped ALOT!


Then I decided it was time for some handles! The side handles where parts for a boat ladder (the folding kind) and the rear grab bar was a handle also from a boat which I riveted on. It's meant to be for pulling and not for lifting or it would bend the fender pan.


This rig seems to be working pretty well but I need to get it out on some trails to really test it so I can figure out if it needs the rear end locked or not, those tires hook up really well once I lean my weight over to the side losing traction and I'm not having much trouble getting over stuff.

That's all for now!

Looks great @Brianator!  Not being locked should be fine as long as you don't have to deal with steep hills.  

otherwise...

Lol nice one @MightyRaze!