1999 WeedEater Mowing Mower Build "Sodzilla"

Well,  we can't afford no $50 grand kabota, so when the plow showed up fo $20, couldn't pass it up. Gonna use it to make some smooth trails and a food plot for hunting season.

Pictures of the plow:

The Avery Plow Company was founded in 1891, and went out of business in 1928.  The plows are highly valued ( ) but I don't know how much this is worth.  It is pretty rusty, but the rust didn't penetrate, so it seems fine.  Coat of Rustoleum and it'll be good as new! 
Tidied up the sleeve hitch plate some: 

Been doing some thinking....

Man I have got to clean up the shop.
Oh, and here is the ripper I'm gonna be pulling with it:

IDK if it's made by Avery, but it and the sleeve hitch look like the same build as the plow that is labeled.  Which means it probably is.

That doesn't really look like a plow bottom, it looks more like a tooth off a field culitivator. Could still work good though, but it won't actually turn over a forrow like a moldboard plow would. I like the old Roper hood on there! How well does it fit everything?

Well, that's okay, wasn't gonna use it for turning.  Thought about it for plowing a small ditch or something, maybe for drainage, or if we are burying some pipe, that'd probably work.  The hood fits everything great, it's probably gonna go on.  The hood doesn't work like a regular Craftsman, Husqvarna, JD, MTD, etc. hood, it has these little brackets that bolt on to the frame, then the other end bolts onto the grille and the top piece has a hitch pin sorta set up that pivots on the hood.  Need to bolt the brackets on, then it'll go on.  Need to paint the fenders after that, then it'll look just like the original.

Glad I can do that, was really bummed when I couldn't use the Roper for anything.
Then I need a brush guard...kinda putting that off.
Man, I better get back to work on Nellybelle before I get disqualified for no updates.

All you need is bigger tires and a 5" rear pulley, and on a Craftsman style setup, they haul and they are fun too.

Okay so the belt was slipping bad, and I didn't want to go buy a new one.  It was super stretched out, so I built this extra idler pulley on it.


Worked great, and consequently, now the belt clears the shifter in 5th.

Been mowing with her!

Mows pretty good, I think the top speed is like 12 mph.  Doesn't mow too well that fast tho, lol.  Need to get a top speed later.

Huh. Didn't think the tires wpuld fit with the deck in place .

Yeah they do, and with a few inches to spare.  It's only a 38" deck tho.

Found this in a cart at Wally World, of course it had to go on my mower!

BTW, Benny Boyd is a very renowned and expensive Hemi dealership in Central Texas. Made the value of the mower go up!

Hey that adds anywhere between one and 5 hp too!!!

Haha I bet!

So the front tires on this rig are starting to get flat every time I go to drive it.  I can deal with that if it was just a mower, but since it's a ride around work rig too, it's kinda annoying.  I found these tires that I think I'm going to get for her.  I plan to put them on the Belle when I get her done.  They will mount onto the 8" rims I have sitting around from an old dump cart.  The rims have bearings in them.  I like these tires because they are tall, thin, grippy, and cheap: everything a front tire should be.  Since they are only 4 ply I'll probably get some tubes for them, too.  Lemme know what you think!

With that TX terrain, I would also stick some tubes in there. Just an added layer of puncture insurance.

pricey for front tires.......

biggasmowers wrote:

pricey for front tires.......

$19?!

the link i clinked in your post said 75 bucks.... musta misread something

biggasmowers wrote:

the link i clinked in your post said 75 bucks.... musta misread something

Oh yeah, change the quantity to 1. For some reason, that website assumes that you always want 4 of any tire, even in the listings when you are scrolling through tires have the price x4.

I think those would be cool looking fronts

Those are nice tyres but they might be too aggressive for steering. I'm not sure though. They're pretty cheap though which is nice, haha

Crazy_Carl wrote:

I think those would be cool looking fronts

Thanks, I think so too!

MatthewD wrote:

Those are nice tyres but they might be too aggressive for steering. I'm not sure though. They're pretty cheap though which is nice, haha

Yep, they're cheap and so am I!

Was out mowing...


And that happened.

And this happened.


And I blew a spindle.

That was eventful, lol.  Haven't broken anything on this old girl before, oh well.  It needed a new belt anyway, it was lunging while it was driving.  I have an extra spindle and the trans bracke just needs a couple of bolts.  Lemme know what you think!

Well now this ain't good....

Gotta love flatheads, though! Indestructible.

Filled 'er up, she drank 1/4 of a quart.
Then went out and did a bit of mowing with her, all of a sudden I heard a big CLANK and the blades stopped turning.  Released the PTO, and turned it on again, nothing happened.  So I then shut the whole thing off, and looked under the deck.

Saw that, was like, "Well that ain't good." Opened the chute and saw this:

That certainly ain't good.

Here's the list of everything that has gone wrong with this tractor this weekend.
Drive belt shredded
One trans mount fell off
Other trans mount bent
Blade bent
Same blade broke
Ran out of gas
Was down on oil 1/4 quart
Spindle grenaded itself

So yeah, I'm a little frusterated. Wierd thing is I've never had any issues with this machine before.
Also did a bit of mockup, the plan is to put this hood from the Roper on it. The tires are on hold, I've spent enough money on this thing for a while, lol.

The thing is those new spindle assemblies are dirt cheap on ebay.  Did you start brush hogging with this or something?

Crazy_Carl wrote:

The thing is those new spindle assemblies are dirt cheap on ebay.  Did you start brush hogging with this or something?

Yeah, they are, which is a good thing. I always brush hog with this thing! LOL, seriously though, I have run small trees over with it. The day she broke I didn't happen to be running trees over, however. Just grass.

I like the look of the Roper hood on it. I think it looks better than the stock WeedEater hood.