MTD Lawn Machine Mudder!!!!

My new Lawn Tractor, I think ill make it a mudder!!!! Its a MTD Lawn King

14.5 horse briggs

Nice lookin tractor.

Whats your plans- setup for it?

Welcome to the forum.

My plans are to do a pully swap, snorkel,remove the deck, better tires, brighter headlights new paint and possibly a detachable plow oh and a ball hitch i dont know exactly what i will do but count on the basics for sure then i'll start making crazy stuff!!!!!

Well this is my first of many updates for my soon to be mudding mower. It's only one day in and I think I have already decided on a name for it, THE MEAN MACHINE!!!
Today I first got the 14.5 briggs engine started, oh man did that thing need some encouraging. Second I removed the deck, my parents where not to fond of me doing this so I made it so I could reattach it at anytime(but don't plan on it). So with that out of the way my next step will be lifting the mower a couple of inches, so look for that update but for now I will only be cleaning the body, engine and headlights. This has been update one of the MEAN MACHINE!!!!

got the deck off

Getting the jacks off

ready to romp!!!!!!!!!!

any suggestions are greatly appreciated and tips are helpful please check out this topic often because there is more to come! See you guys later!

I posted in your other thread about how much modding youll need to do for both - if its lifted , youd need to do some mods to the drivetrain , easiest in putting a manual trans in it - the variable pulley setup just has too much stuff going on to correctly lift it.

The stock transaxle uses a splined pulley - youll have to cut the center from the stock one and weld onto another one or find some sort of adapter, if you keep the transaxle, id suggest putting zerk fittings in to grease it. Youll need to adjust the speed control rod under the tractor for the pulley swap to actually work( hooks to the speed control lever on the rear fender ) - i did a swap on a MTD, even with different pulleys, it barely went faster then stock - just dont adjust the neutral setting- or you wont have any brakes or clutching action.

Also the stock transaxle has different axle ends - one side is milled flat and fits in the wheel , putting bigger tires on either involves welding a hub on the axle or to the center of the original wheel . The other alternatives are locating a taller, aggressive tire for stock rims ( 8" diameter) , or welding a larger rim to the old rims.

This is what your drive setup looks like:


Youll probably also want to switch to a foot gas pedal for better control /better response.

Today I wandered over to Menards and got myself a 2,600 lbs. test hook with pin and quick release for either me getting pulled out or pulling someone else out. I had such a small update today, well just because its a Monday and i really didn't feel very adventurous and did not really care to do something very big. I also have pic's of the hitch and my tire sizes for the front and back of the tractor ( y X c X t ). Expect a update on a pulley swap and new wiring to come. Alright guy's that's it for today, keep checking this topic and please, please comment and tell me what you think I greatly appreciate it and try to comment back. Thanks.

All tarped up for the rain

Hitch

Back tire
Size: 18" tall and 8" wide with a 9" rim (as of now, subject to change)

Front Tire 13" tall and 6" wide with a 7" rim (as of now, subject to change)

Thanks


-Trent

Youll want to reinforce that rear hitch area - its thin sheetmetal - ive bent and twisted them pretty bad before. Years ago i bot a tractor that had this hitch on it :



It bolted right thru the sides of the chassis and was made from 1/4" steel .

To tell you the truth you just described what i was going to do but after reading it i thought hard and long and decided not to lift it anymore and just do a pulley swap bigger tires and a manual transmission. Thanks for talking about the clutch because with the different sized pulleys it might disable the clutch all together. Thanks for replying.



-Trent

Thanks for mentioning your hitch I really did not think about reinforcing it at all but i defiantly will now!!!Thanks.


-Trent

Yeah stock MTD tires arent worth a hoot - you should be able to put something else with decent treads on the stock rims - the stock MTD tires come off easy because of the tall sidewalls - i put a pair of shorter sidewall and not as wide tires on a MTD project ( wanted it lowered)- was a bi#ch putting em on, plus had to use tubes.

For the hitch an easy way out is to put a piece of angle sandwiched between the back end/hitch area - helps strengthen it a bit , instead of building a custom hitch setup.

Yea, I did not think of reinforcing the hitch so thanks for telling me and yeah I'm looking into getting sand tires for my quad and putting the old rear tires on my quad on my tractor.

Okay today I went to Fleet Farm to buy a 5 1/2 inch pulley to replace the original 3 1/2 pulley that was original to the mower and as well a new belt that is roughly 2 in bigger to compensate for the new pulley. Does any one know how much faster it would go ?

How big is your rear pulley

I think somewhere around 7 inches

Today I started to do a pulley swap on my MTD Yard Machine the original pulley in the front was a 3 1/2 to a 5 1/2 so that a 2in. increase and that means that I need a bigger belt so I went out and bought a new belt that would compensate for the bigger pulley. So today's progress included grinding off the old pulley and welding the new pulley to the old pulley. Now all I need to do is mount the new pulley on to the drive shaft of the motor and put in the new belt and lastly reconfigure the clutch/brake pedal if needed, I know, I know easier said than done but hats the plan. Here are some pics!

Got her jacked up to get the pulley and belt out

New Belt

New Pulley from fleet Farm

I just finished the pulley swap today and now think i have to get some tires with more tread because it does not grip the ground and it does not turn so expect that for the next update that and a ATV rack for the back and beefing up the hitch. Here are some pic's.


So next updates are ATV tires, Rack and hitch. Thanks Please Leave a reply!

Nice tractor. Very clean build. Get a good rack and some ATV tires on that sucker and You'll have one sweet ride. Keep up the good work.

For now you could let some air out of the tires for a lil more grip - the sidewalls will flex enough.

Thanks man your comment means a lot!

Yeah I thought about doing that but I was so excited to ride it after I finished the pulley swap.

Any updates???

My dad is using the shop to store the cars in for the winter and I have no place to work on this so I have paused it until summer.

got a lawnmower just like this one but it has a 15.5 ohv tecusmeh motor. oil pressurized

Okay it's been a while okay, a LONG while but I have some space to work now and I am looking for suggestions on what to do next. I have the supplies to do a ATV rack type of thing, I can try to put bigger tires on the front(will be putting some better ones on the back soon!) and I really want to do a bumper(back and front) but I don't know where to start.I'M BACK!!