[Complete] MTD Rasentrac B10 Garden and Offroad Mower [2018 Build-Off Entry}

prancstaman wrote:

Is the belt slippage on the engine belt or the trans belt? and you fixing the engine pulley help? To make sure you have the right belts, you measure the outside part of the belt to be 5/8.

on the small engine pulley. Problem is, that the belt has'nt enough tention on it, so it slips under load in a fast gear. Soon i will take it apart, and repaint it. Once i'm done with, maybe i install a tentioner with a idler pulley. Have now some freebie push mowers, there i can rob some springs from the lifting mechanism.

You can't put a tensioner on the engine belt for a vari drive setup, it will keep it from shifting and force the belts to go into high gear. The tensioner on the trans belt is the tensioner for the whole setup. Need to increase tension on the transmission belt, which will pull on the vari drive pulley harder to increase tension on the engine belt by pushing the middle vari drive variable pulley into the engine belt harder (this is how you increase tension on the engine belt). When you increase the tension on the transmission belt (by the little spring for the tensioner pulley), this will make the vari drive setup shift slower or not at all. To have it shifting again, you need to increase the spring pressure on the spring going to the vari drive pulley itself(the big spring). This big spring is the tension you feel in the clutch pedal mainly, and changing this spring's tension should be done in high gear on the vari drive setup.

The clutch linkage going to the vari drive swing arm should be adjustable to where neutral is all the way forward on the clutch pedal, then should engage in first gear when shifter is in first. Adjust as needed. This ensures the belt length will work correctly for the setup on the engine belt.

You can do all the adjustments while the transaxle is in neutral. That way you can see the vari drive working when you shift and not worry about the mower moving. And you need to do it in the order as written for ease of getting the setup to work right.

prancstaman wrote:

You can't put a tensioner on the engine belt for a vari drive setup, it will keep it from shifting and force the belts to go into high gear. The tensioner on the trans belt is the tensioner for the whole setup. Need to increase tension on the transmission belt, which will pull on the vari drive pulley harder to increase tension on the engine belt by pushing the middle vari drive variable pulley into the engine belt harder (this is how you increase tension on the engine belt). When you increase the tension on the transmission belt (by the little spring for the tensioner pulley), this will make the vari drive setup shift slower or not at all. To have it shifting again, you need to increase the spring pressure on the spring going to the vari drive pulley itself(the big spring). This big spring is the tension you feel in the clutch pedal mainly, and changing this spring's tension should be done in high gear on the vari drive setup.

The clutch linkage going to the vari drive swing arm should be adjustable to where neutral is all the way forward on the clutch pedal, then should engage in first gear when shifter is in first. Adjust as needed. This ensures the belt length will work correctly for the setup on the engine belt.

You can do all the adjustments while the transaxle is in neutral. That way you can see the vari drive working when you shift and not worry about the mower moving. And you need to do it in the order as written for ease of getting the setup to work right.

Thank You! Will play with the springs soon after the next big Step

Front Bumper

I found some rusty angle iron in the garage and decided to build a front bumper



I welded some mounts to the angle iron to mount it to the bolts on the front axle (i do'nt found a better way to munt the front bumper to the frame)







And then a long piece of angle iron across.











Now the mower looks a bit more mean than before and the grill is protected. If i will figured out a better front bumper, i will do a new sturdier one. I do'nt trust this one, to lift the whole mower on the front bumper or pull it.

Bumper looks cool! Does she have some toe?

Looks pretty neat! You could maybe reinforce this one if you don't quite trust it. Just rig up a few braces from the bumper to the frame somehow, probably wouldn't be too hard.

That looks pretty cool, suits the square hood. I need a front bumper on the Westwood, don't want that nice plastic nose getting crushed.

Bumper is nice!

Bumper looks good! Reminds me of the first one i made, just a straight piece of box steel across the front of the mower. Simple and effective.

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

Bumper looks cool! Does she have some toe?

IDK

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Looks pretty neat! You could maybe reinforce this one if you don't quite trust it. Just rig up a few braces from the bumper to the frame somehow, probably wouldn't be too hard.

Will mess with it after the repainting work

MatthewD wrote:

That looks pretty cool, suits the square hood. I need a front bumper on the Westwood, don't want that nice plastic nose getting crushed.

That's why I made me a front bumper!

MightyRaze wrote:

Bumper is nice!  

Thanks!

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Bumper looks good! Reminds me of the first one i made, just a straight piece of box steel across the front of the mower. Simple and effective.

That's my first front bumper i ever made

Toolbox
I needed to do a Art Project at School but we could decide at own what topic. So i decided to restore an old wooden ammo box from WW 1 or 2 as my Toolbox. Got Mark 2 or 3 for it i think.











How do ya like it?

I think it will look great on the Rear of my MTD!

That's sweet! Looks really nice! I have an ammo crate from WWII in my shop, but it's much bigger.

Looks good. But it looks a bit big for the rear. How big really is it?

Double W Cross Ranch wrote:

That's sweet!  Looks really nice!  I have an ammo crate from WWII in my shop, but it's much bigger.

Cool

muckmudd wrote:

Looks good. But it looks a bit big for the rear. How big really is it?

26 " wide

Nice wooden tool box!  Very fine german craftsmanship there.

Good start to a bumper butI would rethink the way you mounted that bumper or add more braces.  I prefer the 45 degree cuts on the ends facing forward instead of that but to each their own.

Looks good! Is the wood sealed to protect it from rotting?

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Nice wooden tool box!  Very fine german craftsmanship there.

thanks

Good start to a bumper butI would rethink the way you mounted that bumper or add more braces.  I prefer the 45 degree cuts on the ends facing forward instead of that but to each their own.

I also would like the other side bevels, but would'nt work on that angle iron. Maybe i will add some more braces soon, were a quick build.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Looks good! Is the wood sealed to protect it from rotting?

It's sealed with 2 coats of satin varnish

TEST IMAGE...



Hope you have better luck next try. Give another go!

Test image worked but it took quite a while to load.

I do'nt knew why, because every pic before worked.

Try changing this setting.



I have noticed that host has made some changes. I'll have @Doug look into it when he gets back from Haspin.

Only other thing I can think of, maybe lowering the resolution of the camera? Not Ideal.

I too have been having a bunch of issue uploading photos, and then once they finish uploading then they flip the picture over if it's a horizontal frame setup.

Isn't this build almost finished? I mean it looks great and looks like you have completed all of your goals for it (better tires yet?)

MightyRaze wrote:

Try changing this setting.



I have noticed that host has made some changes.  I'll have @Doug look into it when he gets back from Haspin.

Only other thing I can think of, maybe lowering the resolution of the camera?  Not Ideal.

Thanks Mighty! I'll try it soon. Hopefully it works then fine. With Camera i had'nt issues til now. Some Pics had even more MB,s and i also tried lower MB Pics, they even do'nt work.

biggasmowers wrote:

I too have been having a bunch of issue uploading photos, and then once they finish uploading then they flip the picture over if it's a horizontal frame setup.

Isn't this build almost finished? I mean it looks great and looks like you have completed all of your goals for it  (better tires yet?)

Nah, it's lots of Work to do. I need to repaint it, cuz i welded the holes, and on those spots it starts to rust horrible. I'll need to get rid of some belt issues (front belt slips, rear belt has a crack, and were brandnew, only 1 month used, and the deck belt also slips. This screws up the mowing Quality, and that damn sucks!) Once i fixed the Belt problems, i wanna do some Tire mods. But i decided against real Offroading, cuz the Frame wo'nt like that. Maybe i can bolt some angle iron or box steel to the frame to stiff it up, cuz i want to let this Build last a very long Time.

SebastianAlbrecht wrote:

MightyRaze wrote:

Try changing this setting.



I have noticed that host has made some changes.  I'll have @Doug look into it when he gets back from Haspin.

Only other thing I can think of, maybe lowering the resolution of the camera?  Not Ideal.

Thanks Mighty! I'll try it soon. Hopefully it works then fine. With Camera i had'nt issues til now. Some Pics had even more MB,s and i also tried lower MB Pics, they even do'nt work.

There have been some issues with the host last couple days. It appears to finally resolve last night. Lets hope it does not return.

First Mow

I were very excited, abot mowing the first Time with it, because i only did a small test mow by mowing a walkway through the garden and tha lawn were'nt high.

So i fired up the Briggs, it runs great, Engaged the Mower deck, and mowed the Damn tall Jungle of a Garden in highest Setting. Dad wants to let the Lawn grew in SPring til the seed were spread, so i side discharged everything to spread the seeds.

It did fine, except of the Belt slippage, so the blades slowed down and the mowing quality gets bad.






It made a lot of fun to mow it, except of the belt, so i needed to mow in 2nd. THis were the last use of it, cuz now i want to do the final work on it to finish the Build, to start the new Real Offroad Build.