1994 Rally build, basic and no money spent!

I'm new to the board but I've been building mowers for about 10 years, this is the first off-road machine I've really built, although I have used all my old racers in the woods as well lol. Here's a few pics of the build, spent about 6 days on it. I put 18x8.50"s on the front, lifted the rear 2" and put 18x9.50"s, beefed up the front axle pivot and frame where they are prone to cracking, put a 4" pulley on rear just for a little more speed but nothing crazy, welded the diff pozzy, and modified the steering linkages for clearance. Made a simple snorkel kit for it as well.I kept the governor in this one to help prevent stalling in odd situations, on steep inclines and off-camber. And I have the seat operator presence switch still in use, that way I can't even leave the seat in gear. A tether switch will only kill the motor if I fall completely off. Most of these mods come from my racers. Soon to come are skid plates underneath, have had a few problems with rocks and linkage and stuff. But anyways here's what I've got so far!! Rally am impressed with where i can go!

nice tractor and welcome to the forum

sweet man! good job! looks like you work fast

welcome to the forum! i think youll like it here

Sweet flexage. Say what did you use to flex it that much?

That's a nice ride, I like the snorkel idea. I really need to start working on my dinamark again.

Broc wrote:

Sweet flexage. Say what did you use to flex it that much?

I used the stock front axle off a 2000 Craftsman, and relocated the bottom clamping bolts towards center to allow fore flex. But the axle is very weak I am going to make one out of heavy steel soon. Also I had to flip the tie rod and cut and weld the steering linkage to clear the frame. Pretty simple actually!

Awesome i love craftsmans!
Do you have a youtube channel with videos of anything of your mowers?

Welcome to the forum!

roboman79 wrote:

Awesome i love craftsmans!
Do you have a youtube channel with videos of anything of your mowers?

Welcome to the forum!

I don't have any vids on my youtube (due to dialup lol) But my friend who builds with me has vids. Search for 'peelfest' he's got vids of our racers, home-made motorbikes, trucks, you name it.

Nice machine- i used to take my old stock agway mudding back north at the folks house - down here ( near the house) there isnt any- i was going to build an offroader from it, but changed my mind- im more interested at the moment making faster machines ( not for racing- personal use only ) i had a pretty fast one- but was too tipsy, im going to build my future ones safer ( lower and with brakes).

holy crap dude! you have the exact same mower as me (bar the bonnet cause mines ruined and mines green and the engine mines 11hp) looks like you've accomplished alot in a small space of time!

Weclome man! Nice build. You do work quick!

YOu've got all the basics covered with this; ground clearance and traction. Maybe some larger rear wheels and tyres and it'll be spot on! big thumbs up from me.
Cant wait to see more

Thanks guys. 'bigbleuboy' That green Rally looks a few years older, I've got one like that as well along with about 20 more junkers, Craftsmans, Ropers, YardMans, you name it !

Today I built a full custom exhaust on her, from 1" pipe into 2" pipe into a tractor muffler with a 3" stainless tip, sounds super sweet, quiet as can be, sounds like a bit ATV now lol. Pics tomorrow!

dangeroustoys56: The mower I now use for a racer is a 87 Yardman LT1034, it's low, lightweight and very stable at speeds of 30-40 mph!

Thats cool- some time when i get my wheelhorse done, im thinking of having a muffler shop custom build a set of side pipes for it.

Right now my two mod projects are MTD's - my av pic is a lowered ( by tires in the back and raised front axle) , uses a stock trans with zerks drilled in the case, uses a 4" trans pulley and im planning on ditching the varidrive for a stacked pulley ( i intended to keep the vari pulley- its not fast enough )- the other is a MTD with the vari drive pulley and a 3 speed manual trans.

The mild mod was intended to be a low fast machine nearly stock and built with parts i had lying around ( on the cheep) just to show how easy itd be .

Cool. I also love building simply from parts, I rarely buy things or have things machined! It's amazing what you can accomplish with some time and old parts! My Yardman has a 10" front pulley and 4" rear. I run 80W-90 gear oil in the stock trans, with a fill and drain plug put in. The newer 5 and 6 speed Peerless transmissions are working well for me, the older Foote / Spicer ones tend to leak and wear out for me.

Well here's my new exhaust, built from old mower pipe, dirtbike pipe, bicycle frame, car pipe, tractor muffler, VW pipe, and Magnaflow stainless tip!!! Sounds awesome!! Gotta love scrounging to save money, only cost me about 75c in welding rods lol.



Decided to go on the right side to avoid getting dangerously close to the carb.








After a good test run through rocky / muddy ATV trails, no exhaust leaks, sounds sweet super deep tone, and gives a lot better low-end torque, I can idle it in 4th and 5th gear and the governor keeps it going over hills quite easily!!! I'm also glad I kept this rig governed works alot better that direct throttle when it comes to awkward obstacles.

That exhaust is way cool - nothing like using stuff you have lying around .

I started accumulating parts for the wizard and wheelhorse builds ( pillow blocks, axles, brakes) - just need time to build em.

On the wheelhorse i wanted it fast, low and look like a rat rod with the stock rusty original wheelhorse sheetmetal , but paint the chassis semi gloss or gloss black - i planned on one of two ways to build it : 1. 18.5HP opposed twin ( off the murray mod) , to a peerless 700 ( lower input- side output type- think its a 700? ) then chain drive to a straight 1" rear axle, and will use 4 golf kart wheels.
2. ( way id really like it) use my 20HP horizontal onan ( doesnt run yet), go kart clutch - im not sure to use a jackshaft to bump the speed up or go direct to the axle with a chain drive - itd be some experimenting there.

Id probably go with a bigger front pulley on the motor- at least an 8 or so ( whatever fits under the chassis).

Wow, you made that quick!
Looks awesome, i'd love to hear a video of it running!

roboman79 wrote:

Wow, you made that quick!
Looks awesome, i'd love to hear a video of it running!

It sounds so good, I'll get my buddy down here with his camera soon. I think I may have to go drive it some more to enjoy the sound lol

nice build maybe i should put my govenor back on but i never had one since when i purchased the motor the linkage was missing. (from gov to butterfly) get some more agressive tires in the rear i have some for mine some old yamaha tri moto tires

Hey y'all
here at southernmonstermowers we are building a rally monster mower pics. on website under working
[url=http:

Nice! now that was once identical to how mine once was originally! lol.

Here's what I did today to mine: HEADLIGHTS! off my old Rally, wired direct from battery so they don't dim with low rpm, only downside is killing the battery eventually, I'm gonna double up my alternator circuits to fix that soon

What year is the mower?
I forgot if you already said it!

roboman79 wrote:

What year is the mower?
I forgot if you already said it!

1994 according to the engine stamp, my parents bought it new. Thread name

Ford Boi wrote:

I'm gonna double up my alternator circuits to fix that soon

How does that work exactly? (Insert Joe Dirt quote)

Yeah Im a little onfused about that too let us know how it goes!