Biggasmowers "Muckraker" [2018 Build-Off Entry]

Figuring out belt twist ideas. Still working on it, and will probably end up with something like mighty has on kal-el .

It's a little more difficult with the Craftsman clutch setup.

Yeah it's going to be a royal pain in de adz.

I'm getting rid of the shiddy belt twist setup in the new mtd. Miss me with that sh*t

I always think twisted belt setups look cool. Once you get it set up properly, it should be fine. Be sure to have plenty of belt guides in there, haha!

Welp the more I fiddle with the guide idlers and pulleys the simpler a right angle gearbox looks. Might see about stuffing one in tomorrow, I just really do not like the way the belt rides askew in the pulley v's, seems more prone to wear .

That just happened. Need to get a new middle pulley as the one I welded a older pulleys hub into was warped from banging it off of a tranny awhile ago. Might hold up for testing purposes still. Eventually I will swap a sprocket on the RAGB and on the input of the 2300.

Sweet! Test drive soon?

Maybe in a week or so lol. Need to find a belt for the main drive and playing around with some front end stuff.

That's a neat setup with the 90 degree drive. Looks good.

Thanks !
Hopefully it performs better than a belt twist . Cut out the original axle and welded sI ome steel over the axle slot holes. The Murray axle has the coilover mounts to close together for the craftsman frame, but I have the axle I pulled out of it so I will make it with wider coil mounts and a hopefully stronger.

Nice! Do you know what that RAGB came off? Front end looks good so far

Yes it was the blade drive for a Grazer ztr. Curtis branded I think. I took it apart and cleaned the old grease out and replaced all the internal keyways. Should work nicely.

Is that an RAGB or a worm drive? Looks like the shafts are offset some to make room for a reduction in there.

It's just a standard RAGB. No reductions.

Well, change of plans, again.... lol.

Deleting the RAGB and putting in a 7or 8 hp Tecumseh horizontal shaft engine and convert to a full horizontal drive. Might put in a Briggs horizontal if it's any good once I get it. Getting the engines from my mower bud and it will make this build go much faster and easier to work on.

Neat! Should simplify things quite a bit. Is the Teccy pull start or electric?

That's what I was thinking a while back.  I knew you would come across a horizontal shaft engine.  You'll have to do fab work to make it work but the clutch and everything will be much simpler.

How's the search for the other tire going?

Well still haven't found it. Pretty much need to sharpen up my machete and start chopping down wild brambles in the general area of where I found the other one. I think it's a pulls start, but for simplicity and the low hp shouldn't really matter as I only want about 12 mph put of this thing and for off roading that is plenty fine, and for mudding the lightweight front end with help alot with that aswell. I will keep my eyes open for a opposed horizontal to put on it but for now the teccy or Briggs will work fine.

I hate that one way ratchet style starter on briggs with a passion.  When the engine backfires when shutting off the engine turns backwards just a little bit and breaks the rope.  It was a terrible design.  This caused a lot of frustration on a tow behind mott mower we had.

Yeah, and when they catch with your hand on the rope it almost breaks your arm, and has on some people I heard.

Update! Got the Tecumseh engine, 5hp flat head but runs. Need to weld in a plate to bolt it down and figure out how to run the belt without messing up the center console as the tranny pulley is pretty close to the frame and the console has a inset lip that might need to be trimmed.

Nice! Is the front track width a lot wider than the rear? It sorta looks like it in to picture. Either way, looking good!

Yeah mabye by 2 inches or less, the axle was also leaning that way as the swap bar is the only thing attaching it right now.

got some stuff done. Engine is blocked up and mounted with a mock pulley . The rear pulley is around a 7.5 inch and the front is about 6.5, so the ratio with the very high ratio of the 2300 it might give me some speeds that aren't too slow but not too high to bog the engine down too much. Engine runs but the carb is picky and needs some cleaning but I might replace it with a larger carb to get some extra hp.....

Sorry for not posting much or anything. Been pretty busy last week being in Nebraska and finally got home then got a bad cold so haven't been feeling the greatest but recently I have done some work on this thing. Cleaned the carb and now it runs and idles nicely and put the fenders back on , it has 3 link front suspension now that is full functional and gives about 8 inches of travel up and down with some soft coil overs from a 99 cc Honda motorcycle. Still can't find the other agg tire but oh well it will turn up sometime. Had a sketchy first test drive with no steering, thorttle, brakes or clutch and a flat tire. Used a idler pulley on anew old tranny mount to manually pull the slack out of the belt in 4th gear and feathered the throttle on the engine and it drives! The front suspension is light enough that the engine can lift the frame if I pulled up the pulley to much to clutch it. Needs some steering and a real clutch andable a smaller pulley on the engine so it has more torque but it's getting somewhere.