1970 John Deere 112... The beginnings of MULE II

Duallies, huh? Damn that's gonna be a lot of money in rubber!!! But oh, so badass!

Doc Sprocket wrote:

I think I'm going restomod on this. Find some nice meaty tires (ag's?), put some lights on, lock the rearend, maybe a winch and some other offroad-friendly mods that won't radically change the machine.

I agree 100%    Expand on it's already great capabilities without molesting it too bad.   

And today.....

Fitted a set of 26x12 ITP Mud Lites on a pair of Bolens 12x8.5 rims. Dang, that's close! The tires actually measure 17" inflated to 10psi, and I have just about 1/2" between the top edge of the fender, and the tread. If I flip the rims around the other way for greater outward offset, they touch...

26's? You have XL mudlites. Theres normal mudlites (22's - 25's) then the XL's (25's - 28's) then XXL's (30's)

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

26's? You have XL mudlites. Theres normal mudlites (22's - 25's) then the XL's (25's - 28's) then XXL's (30's)

Perhaps you are right. I knew there were different models (AT, XL, XXL) but wasn't 100% sure which I had.

Doc Sprocket wrote:

redlinemotorsportts wrote:

26's? You have XL mudlites. Theres normal mudlites (22's - 25's) then the XL's (25's - 28's) then XXL's (30's)

Perhaps you are right. I knew there were different models (AT, XL, XXL) but wasn't 100% sure which I had.

No prob. Johnny looks awful big compared to MULE, even the sprinter!

Funny how that works, eh?

Well, I guess I have a plan for Johnny D here, a loose one anyways. I'm going to slowly make this as capable as possible, without hacking it up too badly. Now that the MULEII project has gone a different direction as far as the engine goes, that leaves me figuring on shoe-horning this thang into Johnny D here:



Other loose plans:

Better front rubber
Lock the 2300
Bumpers
Lighting
Winch
Foot throttle
etc.

This may well end up being MULE's replacement. I guess that makes it MII. Hell, I dunno... LOL

It's gonna be a monster! I will be watching this one closely.   

Okay... After Swashbuckling my way through a brainload of clutter...

Meet MULEII!

Now- Don't panic. The custom/scratchbuilt Kubota-powered Bolens will live on, and be built according to plan. But it seems to me that this John Deere will be done sooner, and a lot more like MULE than the Bolens would be. So- I just gotta think up a snappy new moniker for that Bolens build, and we're good!

nice motor man... where is the rest of the tractor?

The rest of the tractor is the project formerly known as MULEII. Since I have the Kubota going in it, I didn't need the Vanny. So, the John Deere gets it (If I can figure out how the hell to shoehorn it in there!!!).

 now that you got it figured out, i cant wait for the builds to start taking shape

Well- Out come the powertools!!! I yanked out the 10hp Tecumseh boat anchor, and stuffed that Vanny in!!! I had to do a bunch of grinder work to the rounded frame cutout around the shroud, to the upright where the gas tank used to mount, and various engine mount locations.

Vwa-LAH!





Now... Fitting the hood will be another matter. I will have to

*Trim the drivers side front grille/hood support
*Get rid of that stock muffler and re-route the exhaust
*Relocate either the fuel tank or the battery. Only ONE will now fit where the two WERE.

MULEII (freshly christened) has begun!

Looks good so far! Can't wait to see what it will look like when it's done!

Sweet project, it's gonna be a Beast!

Well... It was quite a task getting it back together with the new engine in. The factory fuel tank would no longer fit with the Vanny in there, and I had to hack part of the tank mount bracket to clear. Sooooo... I built the Heineken minikeg fuel tank, fabbed up a bracket, hung it, and plumbed it.

Next... The exhaust. I cut the port flanges off the factory muffler, and ashcanned the muffler. I bent up some EMT and messed with it until I was happy with it. Bolted the flanges to the engine, and tacked the EMT to the flanges. Removing it again, I burnt in the flanges and used a scrap of 2" pipe beaten to shape to make a collector. Burnt that in full, and re-hung the whole thing on the engine.

I grabbed a used Hindle Stealth carbon fibre motorcycle muffler that I been saving for a special occasion, and used a plumbing coupler to attach the pipe to the collector. Here's the beauty: The couple (minus the rubber insert that comes with it) is thin, corrugated stainless steel, and secures nicely with two attached hose clamps. It gets a good grab on the pipes, but is weaker than any other part of the system. IF I should smack the muffler off something, or roll the tractor, that joint will let go, sparing the engine from damage. Later, I will attach a brace from the collector to the tractor chassis. What's also nice is how light this muffler is.

Turning to the hood... The factory hinges were big, cumbersome buggers that were hitting the airbox. I wanted to keep the airbox because of the 1 1/2" round intake tube, that will be dead easy to attach a snorkel to. Hacked off most of the factory hinge mechanisms off, and did a little reconfiguring to re-attach the hood to the hinges. Closing the hood, I could get it past the body of the airbox now, but hit the intake tube. Little jigsaw work there. Lastly, a pair of rubber bungee-type hood latches. Done like dinner.

Damn this sounds nice. Expect a video the next time I have nice enough weather.

This just PROVES that there truly ARE Canadian Red Necks... Take ME out for some HIENEY...

Yup! Git-R-Done!!!   

I would wind up busting that tall stack off pretty much right away. Cool work though.

I cant get over the look of the rear lol looks good

that gas tank definitely adds some character lol

TheRainbowBoxer wrote:

I would wind up busting that tall stack off pretty much right away.  Cool work though.

Better that, than breaking the heads! Yeah- I don't know what it looks like form there. It's not particularly tall, I tried to find a balance between the ol' smoke-in-the-face, and interfering with air traffic. I think it's okay, for me at least. Where I ride, anything that really would threaten that, is threatening my upper body... LOL

This build is sorta directing itself...   

83ratrodmurray wrote:

that gas tank definitely adds some character lol

agreed. Lets hope eh dont hit anything to hard...

camomanusa wrote:

83ratrodmurray wrote:

that gas tank definitely adds some character lol

agreed. Lets hope eh dont hit anything to hard...

By the time the front bumper and guard are done, I'll be able to square this thang into a brick wall, and the tank won't even blink.

Yea, the stack looks high from here!

Personal preference, make it through the hood, like an old time tractor, then use a 90 on top to direct it to the side.

Leaving the wheel weights on it?

I thought about it, but one of the fullsize tractors I use time to time has that, and I consider it a pain to take the exhaust off to open the hood. Plus, the hood is fibreglass. Heat- EEK!

The weights are there to give it more grab in the snow ad such, but i suspect I will be taking them off when it melts. As I add more weight (accessories etc) the wheel weights will likely prove unneeded if not overkill.