W.H.A.M.S.

common MTD problem. they really f'ed up when they designed that. Those spindles are 5\8, correct? rither way, go to your local hardware store and get a length of steel pipe, or a steel spacer, with an inner diameter which matches the diameter of the spindle. then just weld that into to axle. then, get a nylon bushing for the top. maybe even a brass bushing. then slap everything back together. i would weld an inch on one side, than an inch on the other, and keep flopping like that, as to try to control the heat so it dosent take out ALL the temper and weaken it.

That big ol gear is screaming to me... I need one to make into a clock!

Moose wrote:

That big ol gear is screaming to me... I need one to make into a clock!

Is it screaming, "buy me for 600 dollars"?

    

The plastic bushings are bad and good at the same time. like, if it was to seize, it would ruin itself, but you can still drive it to say, the garage, a seized brass bushing might leave you stranded. I have bushings in my front end and they dont wobble, i guess im lucky.

The bronze bushings at most stores are to small of a OD to be pressed in.  ID was 5/8" OD 3/4" but still to small, maybe  by a 1/16", just a pain to go back and return them, my wallet felt better though.

Personally, id just plastic again, they dont disintegrate like you think they would.

Before you put that front end back together, you may want to add the lawn tractor "poor man's power steering" to it. Google it or look here for pics: http://simpletractors.com/Club2/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=121649

You can get the parts from Mcmaster Carr.com, search for thrust bearings.

hey! that mower is from the same store as my white! by the everson farm equipment sticker

B440 wrote:

Before you put that front end back together, you may want to add the lawn tractor "poor man's power steering" to it. Google it or look here for pics: http://simpletractors.com/Club2/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=121649

You can get the parts from Mcmaster Carr.com, search for thrust bearings.

At this point, I am looking for solutions that do not involve buying a bunch of parts. And I am more concerned with a sleeve or bushings for the shaft, than with thrust bearings.

But the thrust bearngs are also important! I'll be doing something about that as well. Even if it is just to stack washers, and grease them.

It's not like this will get used every day, all day. Whatever solution I come up with, will last plenty long enough by my standards.

      

1997 Murray wrote:

hey! that mower is from the same store as my white! by the everson farm equipment sticker

That is too weird!

I can hardly wait to start getting it back together, so I can take a pic of it completed, and compare the two!

man where dose everyone get these all wheel steer , lookin good man keep it up

kawasaki220 wrote:

man where dose everyone get these all wheel steer , lookin good man keep it up

Craigslist! Don't worry; You're not missing anything. AWS means more parts, more problems, more money spent. It's a great concept, but the 1990's machines had poor engineering built in to them. The steering mechanisms need to be completely redone for off-road duty.

Made a bit of good progress yesterday.

The center swivel for the front axle was quite worn.


Only a little of the inner ring was left.


So I cut off what was left and cleaned it up. Then I cut some exhaust pipe of the right diameter, and welded it on.


Then I used another piece of exhaust pipe, and I drove that one through the rings I had just welded to both sides. My thinking is that this will now last the rest of the time that I will be using this tractor.



That was yesterday's work. A lot of that time was simply figuring out what I wanted to do, then finding the materials. Also several hours of working with a file to make things fit.

~~~~~~~

Today, I went to bible study, then volunteered for the food bank. After that, there wasn't much work day left.

But I did get started on figuring out how I am going to fix those axle shafts.

Here is what the bores in the axle, look like. The top one is the good one, the bottom one, is the worn out one.


The red circle I drew on the bottom one, is the original bore. No wonder that axle was flopping around so much!   

Now here is the plan. I cut a washer that had the same bore diameter as the original bore on the axle. I will weld that to the axle, tomorrow.


After that, I am going to try to figure out a good combination of bronze bushings, and various peices of PVC and stainless or aluminum tubing, (Just using what I have around.), to fab an "axle shaft housing" that I can put a zerk fitting in. And thereby have an axle housing that has bronze busings, and that I can keep packed with grease.

If there had been anywhere nearby where I could have gotten the needle thrust bearings, I would have done that as well. As it is, I will just make do with washers and grease.

I also was unable to find push nuts that were large enough. Biggest I could find were 1/2".

I probably could reuse the old one, but I don't trust those things brand new, let alone used...

So I bought a couple 5/8" bolts. I will cut the heads off the bolts, then weld them to the tops of the axles. Then use nylocks and plenty of washers and grease.

The plastic that the original bushings are made of are actually nylon. I might cut the heads off of those and use them for trhust bearings between the metal washers.

If they wear faster than I think they will, it will be easy enough to keep grease in there, and keep the tension adjusted using the nylock nuts.

Wow... Some pretty serious wear in the frontend there, you've got your hands full. Good to see you're on top of it!

Almost halfway done with what I set as my goal for the day.

Ok, I am starting with the side of the axle framing that was not damaged. I decided that I will use a piece of thick walled aluminum tubing, as a sort of axle shaft housing. The bronze busings that I have are a tight press fitting inside it.


Then use a piece of PVC pipe inside the aluminum tubing, as a solid stop for the bushings, so they cannot be pushed in, any farther.

The PVC will work fine for this. Given that the aluminum tubing fits snugly inside the axle frame, and on the outside of the frame will be a few washers. So the steel and aluminum are going to be taking almost all of the 'thrust' force of that axle shaft. The PVC pipe is really pretty much just an indexer.

The axle shaft is a snug fit in the bushings. And a very loose fit in the PVC.

The first thing I do is to press the bushings in, using a 1/2" bolt and washers and a couple of backwards, flanged bushings. I want the bronze bushings to be sitting where they will be, after final assembly.


Then I cut the PVC pipe to be a snug fit between them. Then removed the pipe and the bushings.


Ok, I didn't get a picture of when I cut and sized the aluminum tubing. But here is where I inserted the pvc pipe piece.


Then I set the aluminum tube into the frame and centered it. then set the bronze bushings into the bores on the frame. Then fed the same 1/2" bolt with backward bushings, and nut and washers on it.


Then used that to press the bushings in, once again. This time pressing them into the aluminum tubing as well.



Finally, I removed the bolt. Drilled and tapped for a zerk fitting. And it's all ready to go back together.



Next up. I need to weld the washer onto the other side of the frame, then go through this entire process all over, on that side.

One note...I am swapping the axle frame, end for end. So the washer will end up on the side that was originally good. And this side will end up where it was originally worn all caterwhompus.

My reasoning is that it will last longer this way. There is obviously extra forces at work on the "driver' side of that front axle. I felt it was better to put it back together with the better side of the frame, on that side.

Since there was no wear on the 'passenger' side... Putting the washer on that side should present no problem,


And since I can pump these full of grease... I'll just give them a few squirts every other time I use the tractor, and this fix should last virtually forever. Or at least until I am no longer able to use the tractor myself. LOL

Very rainy day today. Plus I have other stuff I need to get done. So I won't get a lot done today.

I did get the bolt heads cut off, and got the bolts welded to the axle shafts. Then did some grinding, and a LOT of work with files, to get everything to go back together.



They turned out better than I expected.

I also got the front 'carrier' plate bent back to the way it was supposed to be.

In the following picture, at the top is the frame as it was when I removed the axle. In the middle, is the frame after I straightened it back out. At the bottom is the 'carrier plate' that I mentioned above, laying on top of the frame.


The axle assembly that I have been working on, will be sandwiched between the frame and the carrier plate.

I can now start to get the front end back together.

Once back together, I need to figure out some way to come forward from the frame itself, to build a combination, battery box, bumper, and tow point.

It would be easier for me if they had built the axle into the frame somehow. But the way it is, the axle just sits against the front of the frame, and swivels on that piece of exhaust pipe. Then is held in place by that carrier plate. Plus two bolts that go through but don't really hold anything, because they have to allow the axle to flex.

I'm going to have to use really thick and heavy angle iron, notched for the axle. More on that, when I get that far.

There is a thread on here asking what tractor do you dream of owning?

I've got to say... any tractor that I have my hands on. By that I mean, working on it.

I love working on this thing!

~~~~~~~

Its starting to go back together again.

Here it is, yesterday.


And here it is today.


The angle iron that I am using is 5/16 thick. Really heavy stuff!

There are at least 4 reasons for this huge thing.
1. Bumper. (I'll probably cut it off so the ends of the bumper line up with the center line of the tires.)
2. Weight. I need weight on the front of my tractors. I weigh so much that even a moderately powerful takeoff results in a wheelie. I don't want to do wheelie bars, so the next best thing is to put more weight out front.
3. Battery box. I'll build up from this, to make a battery box for a full size battery. (More weight. And longer lasting charge.)
4. Tow point. There is no point on this frame that makes a good tow point. Anywhere that you hook to, will cause warpage and bending of the frame.

I will probably just bolt every bit of this together, because I'd like to be able to remove it later.

I also reserve the right, as a creative person, to completely change this up, before I am finished. LOL I may just make a removeable gas tank to go on top of the hood, and then hide the battery inside the console.

Angchor,
I love what youre doing with this tractor. I love the time and attention you take documenting it, and I especially love the creativity you display in devising solutions to problems like the worn steering.

I am now finally convicted enough to get my build on the forums. I am taking an extra day off from work this Independence holiday to use to get "stage 1" complete. Ill do my level best to get the thread started.

Im feeling really motivated now. Keep inspiring us!

PS: Be gentle after you guys see it. It wont exactly look like a tractor when Im done, and its meant for long trail rides, not hardcore Romping. (My dream tractor is a 4wd diesel for the romping!)

RCTankboy,

Thank you for that feedback.

Especially since you confirmed what I had hoped would be the case. That I would help to inspire others, and that I could show what you can do with almost no budget, and a willingness to think outside the box.

My front axle setup, for instance. The original plastic was a joke. What I have replaced it with, is a thousand times better, and cost very little.

About 2.50 apiece for 4 bronze bushings. (Compared to over 8 dollars apiece for the original crap plastic.   )

About 3 dollars worth of washers.

Two bolts with nylock nuts, probably another 4 dollars there.

And some scrap PVC pipe and aluminum pipe.

Plus, I used all hand tools, an angle grinder, and a cheapo HF welder.

It would have been nicer with a cutoff saw to keep things square. And a grinding wheel, stationary sander, etc... In a dry, well lighted, heated shop with a solid, level floor. But I got it done, and done well, in a badly sloped gravel driveway, under a tarp, with less than 130 dollars worth of tools. (Including the welder.)

Today, I volunteerd at the food bank again, and by the time I got back here, it was too hot, and I am too tired, to go out there and do anything major. So I think I'll just take it easy the rest of the day, and read some of the old threads here. By the way... there is a great deal of inspiriation there, as well.     

Oh, I also got the dash pretty much set up yesterday, and ready to put back on.


I am setting this one up a lot like the last one.

A. Is the choke. (Gonna have to make a gas pedal.)
B. Is the ignition switch.
C. Is the killswitch.
D is the battery cutoff switch.

On this one, I am using a universal ignition switch made for homemade vehicles, ratrods, and just about any vehicle that has lost it's ignition switch and you can't find a replacement.

Still not sure if I am going to hide the battery inside and have to carry the gas tank to town with me, when I catch a ride to town.

Or if I am going with the stock gas tank, and having to take the battery with me when I catch a ride. Or even just make a solid battery box on the front.

Right now I am leaning toward having to carry the battery, or making a solid lockable box for it. I've had some problem with spillage in friend's cars when I carry the gas tank with me. Even wrapped in a garbage bag, it still tends to smell the car up.



I am looking forward to seeing your tractor build!!!

i just had a brainblast! Make a heavy duty, lockable hood! then mount your battery low, and the fuel tank above it! then pop a padlock on it, and Viola! safe and secure

thats looking good and are you painting it its original color

willis923 wrote:

i just had a brainblast! Make a heavy duty, lockable hood! then mount your battery low, and the fuel tank above it! then pop a padlock on it, and Viola! safe and secure

You mean as in, run the hood all the way out to the bumper, and hide the battery and tank behind that?

Sounds like it could be pretty cool. Stretched hood!

But I doubt that I'll go to that much trouble.

Who knows?

I do know that if I leave the tank in it's original location, I had already planned on a padlock or two, to hold the hood down. Because I need to get to the tank to put gas in, and don't want to have to unbolt the hood every time.

kawasaki220 wrote:

thats looking good and are you painting it its original color

If I paint it at all, I'll wait till later. Right now I am just trying to get it to where I can actually use it.

If I do paint it, it might be either ODgreen, or forest green.

I got the bumper all bolted on. The battery is just sitting there.

Its starting to look more and more like a tractor again.



Measured and marked for the places to cut off the ends. Then got to looking at it and thinking. (Any time I say the word, "thinking", that's your cue to say "uh oh!")

Why cut it off? Only reason I can think of, is to keep people from cutting/banging their leg on it as they go around the front of my tractor.

Since I am probably going to be the only person legitimately that close to my tractor... No one else should be hitting their leg, right? And I know to pay attention.

Plus, I can paint it black with yellow stripes just like I painted my homemade bumper on the back of my isusu trooper which you can see in the background. (Painted it that way for the exact same reason.)

Last... With it this wide, anyplace that that bumper will fit through, the rest of the tractor will fit through. And that will keep me from trying to go through somewhere where I might get stuck, partway through.

That said... I'd like to figure out some way to cover those outside corners, and make them less likely to cut or bruise someone. Maybe I'll use pipe insulation. Or maybe even pieces of PVC pipe. Both? We'll see...

this is awesome!!! good job imma see how bad mine are and see if i cant get something going cause im sure mine are shot

Looks great! I love all the little innovations!Inspiration is contagious! (I may have to copyright that)

Today I rebuilt/cleaned the carb, one more time.

I did find more granulated grunk in the float bowl! Had to have come from up inside the carb. Because I used a new fuel line and new fuel filter when I ran it before. So, I decided to take it off and clean it as completely as possible.

Then spent part of the day just putting things back on, and then taking them back off, so I could figure out what kind of space I have for various items.

Finally... Bolted the dash in place. Got the linkages for the carb and governor sorted out, and got started on the wiring.



I decided to stick with the original throttle, for now. Instead of a gas pedal. (So I hooked up the throttle lever to the throttle, instead of the choke, and put the original choke lever in for the choke.)

I am a bit anxious to get this back together, and get it running, so I can drive it.

My experience so far with the BEAST... I never sit around and blip the throttle with my foot anyway. Nor do I tend to stomp into it and let off of it frequently. If I am headed downhill, I mostly have my foot off the throttle, and let the engine "brake" my way down the hill. Maybe having to give it just a little throttle to keep it from dieing.

Coming back up, I tend to get it to a certain point in the throttle, then have to sit there and try to keep my foot steady around the bends, over all the huge bumps, etc.

It looks like there is enough friction in the throttle lever, to keep it wherever I set it. So I won't have to be constantly resetting it. So I can concentrate on driving, and enjoying myself. As well as the fact that I can keep my feet on the floorboards, so I can keep the thing balanced.

So basically I am going to try it like this until I get a chance to drive it a bit and see whether I like it or not.

I did make a couple modifications, though.



I put a light spring on the governor arm. Without that, it never really came all the way back.




Once the throttle cable was set up, I was not getting full travel. It would go all the way open, but not all the way closed.

So I did a FearlessFront job on the spring tang on the throttle-governor connection.

The tang is pointed to by the red arrow. The yellow arrow shows the direction that I bent it. If you do this, don't bend it much. I only bent it just barely far enough to make the throttle completely close whenever I turn it all the way down.

These mods give me fuller control over just how open or closed the throttle plate is, but I don't believe either modification will keep the governor from doing what it is supposed to do. At least not keep it from limiting the RPMs.


Also, I removed the rod that was originally in the choke linkage, that the governor is supposed to hit, when the gov kicks in. It never came anywhere close to touching the gov, anyway. It was just sitting there, doing nothing.

I had to drill a new hole in the choke linkage, because the end of it was broken off.


The battery disconnect switch now has a waterproof cover on it. I wish I had one for the ignition switch.

Got the engine the rest of the way back together, yesterday.

Then got the electrical work all finished. (All that's left is the charging circuit. I may not even use that.)

I used an old pair of jumper cables to make all my battery cabling out of.

Here is something a bit different. I want to keep all the gas lines and such, as far up under the hood as possible. I also want to lock the hood. All this is so that I can lock the tractor to a jersey barrier at the bottom of the hill, and leave it unattended all day while I am in town.

Also need to put in a gas cutoff, so that the gas doesn't just keep draining from the tank through the carb, if the float gets stuck.

Didn't want to have to open the hood each time, just to do the gas cutoff. Soooo...


The gas cutoff is from an old generator.

I drilled a hole that will be just below the side of the 'hood'. Then had to cut the slot, because of the handle on the cutoff.

Now, with the line coming from the gas tank, to the cutoff, then from the cutoff, headed toward the carb... All installed and tightened down...

I thread the end through that zip tie I have there. (At that point, the zip tie is open.) Then I am able to drop the tank in, and keep threading the line through the zip tie. Once the tank is in place, I reach in with needlenose, and pull the cutoff through that hole, hold it in place, and tighten the zip tie, to hold it in place.

Tight quarters in there. Would have been nice to put it somewhere else, but because this is a gravity fed system, the 'good' places to do this, would all have been too high up.

So... Yeah. I made something as difficult to work on, as the factory usually does. LOL That's alright. Cut the zip tie, and pull the tank, to be able to get this back out of there.


Also had to do some welding to make a new stud, out of an old bolt hole. LOL I twisted off the bolt, in that bolt hole. Spent a couple hours trying to drill it out and breaking drill bits off in it. Then gave up and cut off a new bolt and welded it into the old bolt hole.

May well be the first thing I think of, next time, instead of reaching for the drill...

~~~~~~~

Today...

Filled the oil. Put in some gas. Put in a new plug...

And...

Nuttin.

The starter solenoid is shot. So, I jumpered the starter. Still nuttin.

Had to rebuild the starter.

Still wouldn't turn over. I think the problem was that I didn't put a gasket in. So things inside the engine were too tight at first.

Tested the starter solenoid again at this point, just in case. Solenoid is definitely shot.

Removed the spark plug. And the belt. Spent an hour... First, turning it over by hand for a while, with a socket. Then used a drill for a while. Then finally the starter would turn it. So I let the starter do the job in several 15 to 30 second tasks. So that the starter wouldn't get too hot.

When it was spinning easily again, I replaced the plug, and tried again. Took several tries, but it did finally start.

I let it run about 5 minutes, turned it off, replaced the belt, and tried again. It started and ran just fine.

Then I let it cool completely, and tried again. Worked fine, Even started with the clutch pedal NOT pushed in, and the FNR in neutral.

So I think the 'mini-breakin' worked. LOL

All this, so that I could test the pulley system.

At this point it looks like it will work. Barely.  There were sparks flying everywhere. I figured out the problem was that the shifter arm for 'speeds', that pulls the variable pulley back and forth... Was being cut by the lip of the pulley. (I am going to have to weld that. It cut almost through, before I saw it.)

For now, I put a spring on that arm, to pull it up away from the pulley. But that causes other problems, so I am going to have to fix things right.

To do that... Remember how I mentioned that the bracket that holds the variable pulley was bent and warped? Well, that's the problem. So now I am going to have to take all that back off of there, straighten things out, weld in some reinforcements... And see if I can get it to work right again.

Tomorrow is town day, so I may not get anything done on the tractor. I will, however, be buying a new starter solenoid. LOL

Oh, also. That spring that I put on the governor... I took that back off of there. Turned out, it keeps the engine from being able to rev more than halfway. Take it off, and you get full revs again. BUT... It never goes more than just over half of what I would consider normal speed.

So, I am going to have to make a gas pedal after all. But I am thinking of doing the linkage steup differently from the norm. I'll explain that when I get to actually doing it.

sweet write up keep up the good work!!! everyday i get on to check on your build lol you go full detail on what your doing i like that

You're doing great, I'm diggin' it!

I got lost here, though-

Angchor wrote:

Also, I removed the rod that was originally in the choke linkage, that the governor is supposed to hit, when the gov kicks in. It never came anywhere close to touching the gov, anyway. It was just sitting there, doing nothing.

The governor doesn't actuate the choke. Shouldn't ever, anyways- unless a previous owner seriously screwed things up. Normally, the dashboard throttle control causes the arm to push the rod, when it's jacked up full to choke position (on machines that have a combination throttle/choke lever). unless I missed something somewhere?

Also- I think you're right about the gasket thing- probably had insufficient crank endplay.