Introducing The Hummer

Hey, y'all, here's my first mower build. For background, this was my eldest brother's mower, and I think he bought it new. He passed away in 2016 and I kept it as a spare, initially. When I decided to have a look at what it would take to make a decent mower out of it I realized that wasn't going to happen. The mower deck was rusted through in a few places and it had a spindle that was seized, so I decided I'd repurpose it.

I think it's about a 1996 Yard Machine. The model # is 136M679G382.

First thing I did was rip out the mower deck and associated hardware, paint what's left OD green, and throw some 22x11-8 knobbies on the rear. It wasn't long before the plastic hood fell apart and was replaced with a bent street sign. I got a lot of use out of it in this condition, dragging fallen trees, trailers, and whatnot about the yard.


Other than a camo paint job a couple years ago, it stayed in exactly this condition until very recently, when I decided that I wanted a new hood. I decided to go with a tilt-forward hood from a newer model. I didn't get the hood hinge/mount with it, so the new hood is on janky homemade mounts that I mocked up from some scraps that were lying around. I also got some bearing hubs for the front. The front now rides on golf car wheels and new front tires that I got for Christmas. I still haven't decided whether I'll go back to camo, go all black, or what with the paint.

Here is with new hood and used-up golf car tires up front.


Then recently it broke the transaxle. I'd heard they were flimsy, but this one took long enough to break even with my abuse.



While cleaning out and refreshing a "new" transaxle, I decided it's time to improve traction. I decided to lock the differential by adding spider gears. This should have worked fine, but there seems to be less room than necessary in the differential carrier. Within 20 minutes of romping about the yard, the reconditioned and locked transaxle spit a side gear tooth out of the differential, and this was caught by the ring gear, which then used it to bust a handful of holes in the new transaxle's lower case half.


Having busted the transaxle case spitting out that tooth, I decided to go with a little different setup. I got a 3/4" keyed shaft and a pair of 4-on-4 hubs. I bought a third hub to use as a spool or carrier, but it looks like that isn't going to work due to clearance issues with the reverse gear.



This is as it sits now; on jack-stands and waiting for me to get a transaxle together.


After the new hood, the look of it changed enough that I considered a different name. I've called it The Hummer since day 1, but it could become The Mowtivator, Darth Mow, or Mow-Mater, unless any of those are already in use by anyone here. Looking at the pictures, I really did like the look of the old bodywork. It's a shame that I wasn't able to find a metal hood that would go with the console and fenders.

That's all for now. I'll come back and update this post as work progresses.

Nice writeup.  The forum host does do image hosting, but they don't make is super simple.  It's not too hard either.  Check my signature on the how to.  The buttons have moved places, but it is still the same.  I see you have gotten the tractor in the post.  As for posting multiple or one here and there, be sure to hit the remove image in the next dialogue or it will repost it.

BTW.. the OG looks nice!

Looks sweet dude! So you know you can replace the gears in that with sprockets and chain, you already have the 3/4" keyed axle so you're halfway there! I have the same rear tires in the same size on my Trailblazer, I've been really really happy with them!

Brianator wrote:

...sprockets and chain...

Yeah, I'd seen that before, maybe an LMRA build or a tarmac build of some sort. I ultimately want to get a real transaxle of some kind into it; getting rid of the vari-drive and getting real gears will do wonders for The Hummer! But, that's down the road a ways (I hope). I mentioned I got a replacement transaxle, but I didn't mention it was pretty dang beat. It had worn through the outer plain bearing on the right side, and the inner bearings had both rotated in the case, so the case is crap anyways. So, for now I'm trying not to put much into it, just get rid of the diff and the axle sag with a spool, straight axle, and fresh bearings. If it lasts me six weeks, months, or years I'll have had a lot of fun with it and I'll be looking for a shifter transaxle

Brianator wrote:

...rear tires...

Yeah, they're pretty good at processin' mulch and diggin' ruts around here. I've had them on it since early 2017 and they're still in great shape.

I've had a lot of fun with this thing just with those tires and mower deck delete. The rolling stock hadn't changed from 2017 until recently, when I got the bearing hubs, golf car wheels. And then my brother bought the 18x8.5-8 tires for the front from my Amazon wishlist! Thank you, Brother!

I was dreaming of a Redneck Christmas!

The good news for you is just about any Peerless from a MTD chassis will bolt right in and be easy to set up, avoid the ones from Murray's as their shifter shafts are way taller and will probably cause you headaches.

I forgot to mention the repower. The mower was originally equipped with a 14.5 hp B&S. About five or six years ago I bought a new 19HP Courage (Kohler SV591) for my dad's Toro. Not long after he moved and didn't need a mower anymore so he decided to let his renter use it. Renters being as they are in the city, it was trashed pretty quickly and sat, rusting away, where it died. Well, I dragged what was left of it home a few years ago and last year decided to reuse the Kohler. Rat nest removed, wiring repaired, carb cleaned out good, and she's alive! It just barely fit between the fenders, but it's a hell of an improvement over the little Briggs.

Also, probably back in 2017, I put foot throttle on it. I got a drum pedal from a buddy and that's been the gas pedal ever since.

Progress is slow, but I'm getting a little done here and there. The transaxle belly plate/brace/girdle is in-progress. I have the lower half pretty much done, working on upper brace now.

Don't hate on my welding too bad. I'm just learning and I know they look horrible.

Sarge wrote:

Progress is slow, but I'm getting a little done here and there. The transaxle belly plate/brace/girdle is in-progress. I have the lower half pretty much done, working on upper brace now.

Don't hate on my welding too bad. I'm just learning and I know they look horrible.

Very nice, I have one suggestion if you are interested. Maybe a couple gussets to strengthen it up drastically.

Cut you out a couple triangles and weld them between the bolts for the trans.

Gussets will come. I will probably also make belly protection that attaches to the tranny plate and goes forward, perhaps up to the front axle.

I have a brother who was a meth-head for many years. He was always talking about the great stuff he found dumpster diving. It was abhorrent to me, so I gave him crap for it. Well, I just didn't know what a resource he was onto! I had a peek into a truck accessories store's scrap metal bin to get some pieces for welding practice. There were two sets of step bars, a headache panel, and a big steel bumper, all new and never mounted. It looked like they had just tossed stuff that was on display to make room for new products. Needless to say I dove in and got some scrap for practice. I got a couple other pieces too, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on their bin from now on.

Good stuff man and don't worry about the welding, it's not about looks it's about strength by getting good penetration.  I've broke some beauty looking welds and can't break some of the crappy looking ones, it takes alot of practice to learn and get good for most people so practice often!

There is a little method to bending thick steel without a bender that I wrote a little DIY on but you do still need to do some welding, click on the link in my signature and you'll find it. It's saved me so much time and frustration plus it ends up being easier and cleaner looking too, hope it helps you in the future!

Got some done yesterday. I added a couple belt guides/keepers on the top. It's only ever thrown the rear belt and got it stuck up under the pulley a few times, but I'm thinking that won't be a thing anymore..