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

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.

Mule II... The plumbers paradox!

Ya know, an exhaust set up that that pivots similar to the snorkel wouldn't be a bad Idea... a galvanized 2 inch universal coupler would work similarly to the abs connector on the other side. It would allow you to lay the stack back when needed.

The only problem with laying the stack back... Is I'M THERE! LOL... Interesting.

simple 90 degree exhaust tip will kick it out to the side, and still prevent the "Rain Gauge" effect when vertical

Indeed, but still uncomfortably close to my body.I toyed with simply laying the muffler horizontally. Didn't like it. The CF part stays a reasonable temp, but obviously the end cap and outlet are a whole other matter. Having roasted myself ona bike once or twice (no doubt you have too) I'm... Uninterested.

Wouldnt you want to make the brake away in the conduit tubes? i mean if you put it on its side your smashing the collector chamber and the conduit. i guess it isnt a big deal because the conduit would just bend.... food for thought

Food for thought, indeed- and I did think on it. However- One: How to brace it, yet still allow it to collapse? Two" how to make it collapse? Got me on that one. My solution- although I have yet to do it- is to fab a guard around it. If I drop it on its side or whatever, it will live.

its really simple actually... just dont roll it   

nice gas tank it gives the tractor a new twist

willis923 wrote:

its really simple actually... just dont roll it   

Ahh... THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!!

I had an exciting evening. Began by mounting a pair of 19x7-8 ATV tires I picked up. Took it for a buzz. Feels good and even steers a lot better!


Sooo- I was goofing off sidehilling the snowbanks and wouldn't you know it? Rolled the bugger! And dropped it on what? Yup. The stack.


So-

willis923 wrote:

its really simple actually... just dont roll it   

This is your fault. Ban coming. LOL

The good news is that the breakaway worked perfectly. Zero damage to header pipes or engine. More detail, brighter pics, and video tomorrow.

well im bet that break away got tested sooner than you expected    any other damage to hood or such?

thats good that nothing major is messed up... ya goof   

If you ain't breakin' crap, you ain't playing hard enough!!!

Wrench, Wheel, Wreck, Repeat...

now dont do it again :p

I'll try to avoid it. Thanks for the tip! LOL

No guarantees, though. I was goofing off on some more snowbanks today, and even with the open diff it still climbs like you would not believe!

ffs LOVE THAT KIND! can that start the engine too?   

No sir. Automotive alternator, internally regulated. Charges only. BUt if anyone wants to do such a thing, they are common as hell, as cheap as they get, require 2 mounting bolts, and easy as pie to wire up.

i guess you didnt get the joke.. look back to you post on southern offroad mowers

UGH. I had a feeling, smartass! LOL

I haven't done anything BIG to this yet that hasn't been posted, but I"ve done a few little things lately aside from the alternator. I had added a marine deep cycle battery, and located it under the seat. ultimately, that did 2 things I wasn't thrilled about. 1)Too much weight in the rear, not enough in the front. 2)Raised centre of gravity because I had to raise the seat. Made driving it feel a bit weird, and climbing was getting scary. Always felt like it wanted to flip back on me.

So- I bought a new battery (the one I'd put in wasn't holding a charge) and the new battery JUST fit under the hood- so I put it back there. I dropped the seat as low to the pan as I could manage, using the seat brackets from the parts AWS Noma.

I went out this morning, looking to protect my new alternator. I needed to try to keep the rain off it, keep mud and water from spraying up from the right front tire, and it was awfully dang close to the rear cylinder header pipe.

Since I wasn't in the mood to refabricate a new header (yet) I cheated. I put a couple slices in the tube, and bent it upwards, and rewelded. Lost some beauty, bet...meh. Later.

I grabbed some aluminum and put together a quickie heat sheild.

I have some 1/8" closed cell foam (actually underpad- the good stuff) for engineered hardwood flooring, and wrapped it around the alternator as a rain sheild. This left the problem of splashing.

Looking at it, I intended to simply extend the footoard forwards underneath and in front of the alternator. I went around the property in search of a bit of steel sheet, a mower footboard, or SOMETHING I could hack up.

Next thing I know, I have two utility trailer fenders in hand- a round one, that was the twin brother of the one I hacked into MULE's rear fender extensions, and a squared off one. I stared at it awhile, and decided to go for it. Fantastic, you idiot. Now I have a PAIR of completely mismatched trailer fenders left- like the two socks sitting on top of the clothes drier, who's brothers now appear on various milk cartons.

A little hack-n-whack, and MULE2 is now sporting some VERY Jeep-looking front fenders!







Now- I have to decide what to do about them. I might at some point try to meet with the footboards and kinda blend them in, or I might not bother. We'll see. Oh yeah- I've also been playing with shifter modifications to get it outta my testicular area...

Love the look but the front fenders need some green! I gotta get some suitcases for the front of the massey I went to load it in the truck the other day and as soon as the front tires got to the top of the ramps they kept going up instead of into the truck so...... gotta even that out.

I love the beer gas tank and i agree with moose fenders need some green other than that it looks good

love the fenders man what did they come from