Tractorhead's Roper Romper [2016 Build-Off Finalist]

Coming along nicely. Those 6hp diesels don't come with electric start right? Only the bigger 10hp ones?

You could get a 6hp with electric start but I just got the pull start one. Pretty easy to start tbh

mr.modified wrote:

Coming along nicely. Those 6hp diesels don't come with electric start right? Only the bigger 10hp ones?

Hi Mr Modified, this one is a Yanmar L100 which I believe is 10hp and available electric or manual. Mine is manual only which I console myself saves the weight of the starter and of course I don't need a bigass heavy battery either. No wiring loom needed. No ignition switch. It will still run after Armageddon in the nuclear winter when all electric devices are kaput. Steam trains and diesel mowers only ~ what a world it will be
In other news ~ I just bought myself an identical looking Yanmar but it's an L90 so I assume 9hp and it has the electric start Yipee. Size is exact same so must be different internals, piston bore or whatever?  Anyway it's in good condition and started easily on the cord.  That'll find itself used in something eventually.  It's out of an industrial steam cleaner I am told.
But as for 6hp ones all I know is I have a Yanmar clone one by Lutian that I think is 6hp. It has pull start plus electric start, both. It's exactly like the bigger Yanmars to look at but scaled down smaller.  Probably plenty powerful enough for most jobs. I think these engines go right down to 4hp? They must be cute little things

Yeah, they go down to 4hp and even (I think) 3hp, although the 3 looks like a Honda clone.

Talking of Yanmar diesels, ten minutes ago I thought Yeah why not? and took off the little cap on top of the engine to adjust the valve clearance. YouTube was saying its a 5 minute job and it really is.  It runs better after too, in that if I drop the revs so it starts to die I can now Rev it back up whereas before it would continue dying so that's an improvement in my book.  Worth doing if your diesel has done a lot of hours.  All you need is a feeler gauge, a flat blade screwdriver and a 10mm spanner, does the two bolts on the cap and also the two adjuster jam nuts. Correct seems to be .15mm (6-8 thou"). Mine were visibly huge gaps more like a spark plug, a good quarter turn of the adjuster.  
I took the cap off expecting black grimy horror but really clean in there

You can also see that while the tank was off being cleaned out I welded on the neck and nice chrome cap from another tank to upgrade from the leaky black plastic original cap with worn out threads. The chrome one looks great but still leaks because there's always going to be a tiny hole to let air in to replace fuel used and of course fuel can escape too darn it so basically it looks cool but not really worth the ag. Don't bother  

Good job, I suppose adjusting the valves makes the diesel easier to burn.

I was hoping it would make it quieter. Wishful thinking, it may be a tad better. But the clutch pulley or is it the tension adjuster pulley or both Screach so bad I can't tell

Progress!! ~ decent front wheels fitted. 18" rears off something else. Stub axles were too short so had to weld bolts to the tips but that's ok.
Made up the front bumper arrangement as planned bolts to the front axle existing holes and has a skid plate protecting the steering rods, pivoting behind them.  I'll get a pic of it soon when I take it off to paint.
Self adhesive non slip stuff on the footboards.

Car handbrake cable, washers welded at each end for hood retainer strap. One is free to rotate on top of the engine using that extra long nut thing with extra bolt put in blah blah. Front one fixed where hood and grille bolt together like so...

Main news is today had its FIRST ROMP !! Wants to climb over everything even with unlocked transaxle.  Drove it at some extreme angles and it never felt about to topple. Stability was the aim so Yay!   I will get some romp vid soon. There's not been a puddle all summer so no mud to go through. Took this pic in the dark to give you some idea...

It's wearing some old Goodyear ags which I like the look of but I have taller 25" tyres ready to go on.  Allegedly the Army take these off new bought Quads to fit bulletproof army type tyres and the surplus tyres fall out the back of the army base.  I neither confirm nor deny that these are those tyres    

Looks better in daylight

Nice, that seat is really tall though!

I know. I had to replace the original seat spring that was twisted and I only had this taller one which does kick left right a bit too much on rough ground.  If I find a lower one I'll use it.
Meanwhile, cos it was raining today and I was trapped in the shed I made a mini vid of my hood retainer strap set up.  No drilling needed, doesn't rattle, easy peasy.

Yeah, nice hood retainer. Might have to pinch that idea lol. I may have missed it but, how did you do the throttle setup?

My throttle setup is 3 cables that yank the factory Yanmar control on the engine left or right as required.  Fully left kills it. Fully right is high revving and for starting.  
No1 ~ hand throttle. The original throttle lever on the dash was bust already so I welded on a bit of old bicycle brake lever the right length to give the same length of travel as the control on the engine.  The cable (bicycle brake cable) pulls against a metal stabiliser for the lower front grille as does the foot throttle...
No2 ~ foot throttle.  This is a custom creation that pivots on the steel rod you get under the footboard on these old Sears Ropers. Difficult to explain so I think a mini vid is needed. I will sort that out for you and anyone else interested, but it works alongside the hand throttle and either can override the other.  Both can be overridden by the third...
No3 ~ Pull To Stop. This does what it says, yanks the control left to stop the engine.  It has a nice red knob with PULL TO STOP in white letters.  These are on eBay and come direct from the Mahindra Tractor Company in India. How cool is that!!
The engine control has a strong friction Spring system intended to keep it where you set it, resisting the vibration.  I slacked that off as far as I could plus added a return spring to bring revs back down.  Some engines have a more user friendly vertical control but mine had this arrangement so that's what I've adapted.  The engine was in an old pressure washer not bought new.
Did any of that make Any sense at all??  

Nice! I understand it, makes sense. Is the pull to stop knob kind of like what you would get on older diesel tractors?

Yeah. Completely unnecessary, dash throttle fully down does the same job, but I liked the look of it.

Ah right cool. Makes it looks more 'diesel' I suppose

Also a safety feature, if someone in a panic needs to kill the engine quickly, very obvious how to do it

Yeah, so you can control the throttle with your hand or your foot? Nice!

Quick vid on keeping the air filter indoors (not chopping holes in your nice vintage hood)   ~

Nice job on the air filter!!

Sprayed up rear rims today ready for bigger tyres ~ 26x12-12 ags.  
Rustoleum 'heirloom white' with a spoonful of fern green for a spot on colour match to the original

That looks really good. The vintage colors bring it out quite a bit.

Doug Fackler wrote:

That looks really good. The vintage colors bring it out quite a bit.

Thanks, yeah I like that retro tractor look ;-)

Lol man is that the rear end of a Discovery 1 turned into a trailer?

MatthewD wrote:

Lol man is that the rear end of a Discovery 1 turned into a trailer?

ha ha nah it's the back half of a Mk1 Golf VW (1988).  Took me over half an hour to make  works really well as a trailer, poor thing doesn't realise it's not still a VW so it just follows along beautifully

and the bonnet/hood is a perfect fit for the front. VW think of everything