MTD off-road build (Mobile Terrain Dominator) "1"

Hahaha will do!

Well this weekend I'm hoping to install a brake setup on the ol' MTD. I took the caliper off when I was mocking up the transaxle and I never put it back on, haha. But I think I should probably reinstall the caliper and fabricate a brake control of some sort. I'm thinking maybe a spring loaded handle that you push forward to engage and then release. I would also like it to lock so I have a parking brake. I have a few ideas of what I want it to look like, but we'll see what actually happens hahaha. Stay tuned!

The honda handbrake Doc had is an awesome idea. You have a mower junkyard near you right? Maybe try to find one of those...

I think a foot brake would be pretty cool if you could find somewhere good to mount it.

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

The honda handbrake Doc had is an awesome idea. You have a mower junkyard near you right? Maybe try to find one of those...

Yeah maybe. I'll probably try and fab one up myself first though.

MatthewD wrote:

I think a foot brake would be pretty cool if you could find somewhere good to mount it.

Yeah true. But I always sorta prefered a hand brake on my tractors. Like the one on the rat rod.

Weellllll... I didn't end up doing brakes yet like I said I would. Hahaha, I have the pieces I want to build it, but I got a wee bit distracted with something else;


Decided to build a double pulley clutch, plans change I guess hahaha! Hopefully more tomorrow!

Lookin good!

Thanks mighty!

Well I got my clutch all mounted up and working good, but my belt kept falling off of the rear pulley whenever I went over a dip in the ground. I figured the frame was flexing real bad at the rear causing the belt to pop off.
So...

















I can drive over anything and there's virtually no flex like there used to be. My belt also doesn't pop off or anything anymore, so I'm very happy! I probably shouldve re-enforced the back end sooner... but whatever hahaha! Let me know what you think!

Damn son you got serious lol

Did you really expect anything less than the best CQ?? Hahaha!

That's a lot of burning! Looks stiff now!

Oh yeah haha! I think I'm still gonna add a crossmember or two though, just to be on the safe side.

Yeeaaahh. Hahaha.

Holy crap man! I bet my Craftsman frame bends more then that ever will now! Lookin' mint!

Hahaha thanks Rich. I'm hoping she's gonna be solid as a rock when I'm done with 'er!

Those front springs look pretty cool, tucked under the body and everything.

Thanks mr.mod! It was a tight fit but they tucked under there quite nicely.

Alrighty, I'm gonna try and build a brake setup this weekend, but I'm not sure if thats actually what'll happen or not hahaha! I would like to add in a crossmember just ahead of the transaxle as well, so we'll see which one of those ideas take priority or if I end up doing something completely different. Stay tuned!

Well I got my crossmember done! Its nothing fancy, but it works. It also should serve as a place to mount my skidplate!







These are just the brackets that are welded to the frame.









Should work pretty good! I might add another one, but I'm not sure yet. I'm also working on a brake setup right now so hopefully I'll get it done and get some pictures of if. Let me know what ya think!

I got my brake handle fabbed up like I hoped. I wasnt able to get it hooked up to the caliper yet but that shouldnt be too hard.





Its not intrusive at all and I really like the way it looks! Hopefully I'll be able to hook it up soon so it actually serves a purpose haha.

I had to have a wee bit of fun as well...







Hahaha, poor old Jake. Let me know what ya think!

So... Im thinking about re-designing my suspension. Well the coilovers anyway. It's a bit too stiff for my liking and I have virtually NO front axle flex, which is a no-no for me. The coilovers come apart so I can seperate the shocks from the coils. Im think about mounting the coils on top of the axle as close to the frame as possible, then cutting and re-welding the angle iron to allow room for the coil spring. I'll just make upper and lower buckets for the coils out of large diameter tubing, the lowers will bolt to the top of the axle, and the uppers will bolt to the angle iron frame braces. There will also be a rod or two that goes between the upper buckets and in front of the engine, just to keep the upper buckets from bending. I think the reason my suspension is so stiff is because it's mounted way out front where there's not much weight to compress the springs. I feel like if the coils are mounted on top of the axle, the weight of the engine would compress springs better. I may also have to re-fab my exhaust to allow for room for the coil on the left side. But I could use a custom exhaust anyway. Hmm... well sorry for the long post haha, but this has been bugging me for a while. I would like to start mocking things up as soon as possible and doing a lot of checking to see if this is going to be possible or not. What do you guys think about this?

This is kinda what I'm thinking for the new setup.

Nice drawing! Looks like it would be a sturdy setup.

Thanks mighty! Im not quite sure if its gonna work, but we'll find out!

Well if you've been following along with my Youtube channel, you know that I recently aquired a new steering box for the MTD! I decided to start mocking it up tonight so I could see what I was getting into haha. So far it doesnt look too bad but I am gonna need a smaller fuel tank, fortunately I think I know where to get one that should be perfect!

Anyway, here are some pictures:









This is how it's gonna sit.



This part is gonna be cut out for the pitman arm to drop through. Hopefully more to come tomorrow!

Couldn't you cut a bit out there and kinda drop the whole thing down some? I think you'd have room for your stock fuel tank then. Looks good though, I could use something like that lol. Sometimes my steering skips if i ram the wheels up against something or try to turn against something.