'86 Westwood T1200

Yeah fuel shut offs are always a good idea. Did you consider welding a couple of nuts inside your blower shroud and using something like an M5 or M6 to hold the dipstick on. I prefer to check my oil level with a dipstick, but it's pretty easy I suppose to unscrew that cap and see right where the oil level is.

That's a good idea, I might try that in the future. For now though, I find it pretty handy to just remove the cap and check that the oil level is right at the top.

Trans swap looks good! I like the exhaust too, pretty decent.

Thanks Rich!

Had some problems with the threads in the block for the exhaust. They were stripped so I heli-coiled them out but the heli-coils kept slipping out past the threads. So I decided to use the internal threads of the exhaust port. I used a piece of threaded pipe, welded a flange on the end and an identical flange on the end of the exhaust I made up. It works pretty good, although I may have to make up a brace to keep it steady. Also got some newish front tyres mounted on the front rims. I don't have any pics atm, but will get some tomorrow.

Sounds like a good exhaust fix.

Yeah it seems to work good. 
Here are the pics:
Exhaust fix

Front tyres


Also, one of the bolts that holds the brake caliper on fell out yesterday and the brake pads fell out too so I'll have to order some more up. So for now I've got no brakes 

Neat little flange there Matt. Looks good! Are the inner sidewalls of those tires rubbing up against the spindle knuckles on the axle?

Thanks Allis. I also noticed there's a hole in the exhaust that you can see in the first pic. Yes the sidewalls do rub slightly on the front axle, but less than it looks like in the pic. I do plan on adding some washers to the spindle to move the rim away from the axle.

I had to do a threaded pipe retrofit for my snowblower exhaust.  It was great for years until this season it loosened up and tightened itself more.  I used a 3/4" trade size conduit locknut to keep the pipe from turning and keep it the exact position I wanted.

Yeah I had thought of using a nut to keep the exhaust in the right position.

Took the Westwood for a little mud run today, went pretty well and I'm very pleased with the gear ratio, it's just right for going through deep mud holes and also has that speed you need when you get a bit of flat ground. 

However it did show up some problems;

• I definitely need to fix those brakes
  
• The engine does not like running at full throttle over rough ground, am thinking it's the float or something but will strip the carb down and see what the deal is.
  
• A rear rack with incorporated mud flaps would be nice
  
• The trans whines a little but that's to be expected I suppose
  
• The lose side of the belt flaps about a lot, might need to put an idler on it and a second belt keeper on the trans pulley to ensure it doesn't come off.
  
• I'd like a foot throttle, going to make one out of a hand throttle which I seen done and seems to work good. 
  

Below are 2 hand throttles I found, the one of the left (used to be the choke on the Westwood) moves easier but the one on the right has a better platform to weld a pedal onto so I think I'll use that one.

Nice Matt! I've made 4 different foot throttles using hand throttle mechanisms, and it has worked out pretty good for me.

Thanks AK, the plan is to make a bracket out of angle iron and mount it on the foot board. I know it's on the left side (the wrong side) but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I'll make the throttle pedal different to the clutch pedal so hopefully I won't mix them up if I get into a quick reaction situation.

The hand throttle idea is ok, but i prefer something i can stomp on without fear of bending. It's up to you though, really

Yeah I know where you're coming from, but I can't see it being abused very much. It seems to be a better idea than using a bicycle brake lever though. If I have any problems with it, I'll probably build a pedal setup but I can't really see having any problems with the hand throttle.

Here's the progress on the foot throttle.

Made a bracket out of 1/2" angle iron

Test fit

Bolted to the footplate.

I did put a solid cable in and go for a test drive but the cable has to do two 180 bends and is very stiff and my two return springs couldn't return it. Also, the angle of the lever to the foot plate is too steep for your foot to control it properly so some modifications are in order. Namely, tilting the lever more towards the footplate, adding a piece of flat stock to the lever to make it easier to use, and see if I can either route the cable differently to avoid the tight bends or find and use a flexible cable. Oh and I need to find or buy a stronger return spring.

Looks like you're off to a start here.  Now the refinement process begins.

Thanks Carl.

No more progress with the foot throttle, decided to work on the belt system as it needed sorting first.
Made a second belt retainer for the rear pulley


Changed the front clutch pulley for one that has a bigger space for the belt to run, the rear one was already one similar. Also the front pulley kept sliding down the shaft because I couldn't tighten up the small allen head set screw fully (not enough room or leverage) so I replaced it with an M8 bolt and lots of locktite. Shouldn't come loose anymore.

Next thing I had to fix was the slack side of the belt drooped down when the clutch was disengaged. It also vibrates around when the clutch is engaged and rubs on a bolt/shoulder that sticks out.

So I fabbed up an adjustable idler using the old clutch pulley. The bearing in it is pretty good.


Haven't got it installed yet but a quick mock up proved it does work. It could also function as a belt adjuster, if the belt wears out a little, just use this to take up the slack.
I also noticed that the carb is leaking, probably the float so I'll have to take it apart again and see if I can sort it out.

That idler setup looks pretty good Matt! Should work well, I have a swinging adjustable idler similar to that under the MTD. Nice to have a bit of adjustability, haha.

Thanks! Do you have some way of locking the idler in place so it doesn't move when the tension comes on the belt or would tightening the nut all the way down keep it still?

I actually just have a 3/8" bolt with a lock washer and a nut on it, I wasn't sure about it holding but it hasn't moved since I put it on so I guess it's okay. Haha.

Here's a photo showing the bits that the belt was wearing on.

Mocked up the idler

Tightened it in, need to get a spring washer and lock nut for it. I didn't get a chance to try her out as it is really wet and windy outside and the carb is not playing ball. I may change the position of it later when I test drive it but the slack seems to be taken up when the clutch is disengaged.

Next thing to do is fix the brakes and maybe replace the clutch spring with a heavier one.

It's starting to look like my John Deere under there!  That has an idler pulley on it too.  I think this should hold up nicely for you and last a long time.

That looks nice Matt!

Crazy_Carl wrote:

It's starting to look like my John Deere under there!  That has an idler pulley on it too.  I think this should hold up nicely for you and last a long time.

I don't want to have too many idler pulleys in there, I'd like to keep the drive train as quiet as possible. 

MightyRaze wrote:

That looks nice Matt!

Thanks Mighty! Hope it stops the belt rubbing on stuff and wearing out.

Replaced the pads, plate, small rods and the brake arm from a spare transaxle onto the MST. The brakes worked really well but after a while stopped working, I think they went out of adjustment because the lock nut has lost the 'locking' bit. Also adjusted up the belt idler and it works really well, the clutch is much smoother when engaging.

Put the Westwood to work drawing sticks. The trailer behind it is one I made years ago for my first mower. It used to have 3 sides but the welding broke on the angle iron holding 2 of the sides on and I never got round to welding them on again. I plan on fixing it up again, and I'll probably just put the progress on it on this thread. Also I found out that the trans that used to be on this was an Peerless 832, not an 801 which is what I thought previously.