MTD off-road build (Mobile Terrain Dominator) "2"

Oh no!  You'll get it going again soon.  Are you going to have to do a GT6k style grill for it?  Can't really tell if the grill is completely demolished or not.

Oh heck no! If the grille is done for then you'll just have to find another one lol! Can't those that awesome look!

Oh don't worry fellas, she'll be keeping the original look! The grille is pretty far gone at this point so I think I'm just gonna have to keep an eye open for another one.

LOL. An identical hood was scrapped at the scrapyard the other day.

Glad you're not hurt AK.  Hope it won't be too hard to find a new hood.  As far as the front end, here's a chance to build it stronger!

Thanks. Yeah it could've hurt a lot more than it did, haha.

Anyhow, the day after the "wreck" wasn't so bad. I was able to get the engine to fire up and run fine, so no issues there.



Then I got the tie rod fixed up:



Then we're back on all fours again. I just sorta set the grille in place were it's supposed to go, the steel reinforcements I had on the inside got a bent a bit so the grille won't it back in perfectly anymore. Oh well.





May look a little more trail-beaten now, but she's in the shed!

Looks good all dirty and ready to put in work

You didn't bash 'er up too bad. Make you some new braces under the hood and your good as gold!

Yeah she's banged up, but not too bad. I even did a little hood-less wheeling with it after it was all put back together, haha.

Looks good Allis. Reminds me, I need to straighten out Mutt's hood from a poorly executed maneuver in the driveway.

You guys really have a lot of fun I miss the days I used to be able to live in the wild with home made machines, nobody to bother you. Fix your own problems and stuff.

I've got a hood AK... PM me if you're interested.

Forgot to update yesterday, a few days ago I decided to fire up the ol' MTD and do a little bit of wheeling to blow out some cobwebs:









She was working great! Oh sure, cosmetically she's a bit iffy, but that's okay. Haha.



Gonna have to do a little revamp on this old war horse sometime soon, just to kinda fix up all the little stuff that needs attention after so many hours off-road.

I'll probably just peck away at that task every now and then, but it's nice to get 'er out and about!

It's always nice to see MTD out and about!  I know about taking care of issues from normal use.  

Thanks Mighty! Yeah it was nice to be behind the wheel again.

Looking good Allis! The clutch on the outside of the floorboard ever give you troubles catching on stuff? It sure makes things interesting for me on Budgie.

I've never had it catch on this one, but believe it or not the one on the GT has gotten a hold of trees a handful of times.

Now that you mention it though it's probably a good idea to make a little guard for it.

lol

Been meaning to post this for like a week, haha. So I figured I would get this old rig out of the shed (the same day I filmed the video for the Build-Off tractor) later in the evening, and hit the trails with 'er.



I forgot how much fun it was to drive, she did great. But... she needs work. Now I imagine most people would say (and a couple already have, haha) that it was time to scrap it and start again. While that would make more sense, I can't do 'er.

Instead, I think it's revamp time! She's gonna come apart and get improved in every way I can think of. Needs a new grille for sure, and after I get one I'm gonna build a roll bar for under the grille for some strength and protection. I'm also thinking new dash (fabbed up from steel), complete re-wire, new bumper, better front rims, new steering linkage setup (going for maximum ground clearance), bit of bodywork on the fenders, new heavy duty foot throttle, new exhaust, re-do some of the rear frame braces, etc...  Gonna take a while, but it can be sort of a winter project I guess. First the engine's gonna be coming out so I can fix a couple oil leaks, thinking about maybe a head and valve job while she's out too, we'll have to see.

Also not sure whether to document it here or make a new thread, but that's not really important right now.  

Anyhow, she's gonna be a bit of a long ride here folks, hopefully it's not too boring for everyone. I'm quite looking forward to it myself, I'm hoping she'll come out of this a new machine!!

That's the name of the game!  Personally, I would do the documenting here if you want!  That's up to you!  I did mine in a new thread just because.  I am excited to see the upgrades and such!  Maybe a hair faster in there too? 

I would never scrap any of my builds unless it's completely junk... I like originals LOL.

I love when great becomes greater... Can't wait to see the end result!

Thanks a lot fellas. I haven't made any progress yet, but hopefully soon I'll get the engine yanked out so I can begin the work on it. Should be a good time to do some chassis work up front as well.

Engine roll cage?  Take the rolls?  :-)

Seriously, I am excited to see where you go with the ol' MTD.

Yep that's the idea hopefully. I learned my lesson, haha. Thanks Mighty!

First round of improvment to come soon... took the engine off the frame today and brought it home.



Gonna take it apart to do the valves and heads, then seal it all back up. This will also allow me to more easily work on stuff like the dash, fuel tank mount, coil buckets, steering box, etc.

Looks like a little bit of cleaning there too!  Can't wait for the upgrades!