GasketCase's SEARS Swamper LT [2018 Build-Off Entry]

Very nice looking.

More and more rain today lol. I think I need to start building a boat . anyways it happened to be pretty late  last night and I was only able to paint half of it  ,but today I have found time to sit down and finish the lettering. Im thinking on incorporating some type of design behind the letters but I am still pondering on it . Now that Im looking at the preview I need to fix the first E. Smh. Lol

IDK yeah that first E looks bold but I think it adds some character.  I like the detail touch of the rubber plug and this lettering it really cool.

@Crazy_Carl I was thinking the same thing on the lettering. I think it would be too much if I did the same to the other side of the hood. I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to maybe draw saw grass with cattails on the other side or cypress trees with a lake and some other touches. Not too flashy but enough to grab attention lol . I have my buddy bringing over his old go kart tomorrow morningwith holeshot-like tread ,tiresfor the front and rear and the front has spindles with a threaded end w/ nut. so I'm definitely going to put the whole front assembly of the go kart onto the sears.

I wish i could do something that artistic. I suck at anything like that

@RichieRichOverdrive it took me a lot of years of practice and not paying attention in school lol. But after a while it starts to stick. I mean I can't pull off a Mona Lisa but I can more along lines do some Salvador dali stuff. (For those who don't know if you seen the melting clocks picture that's the artist. ) ANYWAYS I've got some actual exciting news on the build , late last night my buddy came by and dropped off his old go kart chassis with tires and thread steering spindles which I'm dying to fabricate onto the sears. Hopefully if I can get the tubes out of my craftsman tires in my profile pic , and into the (new to me) tires tomorrow. Sadly I have to break my ......tomorrow on swapping tires. Sounds like a 18 pack and tire wrestling lol Then I might have some time later on in the day to maybe get the steering mocked up for welding. Here's a couple photos of the parts kart .

Those tires are in pretty nice shape, should be alright for front tires on your Sears.

I agree @RichieRichOverdrive . The front tires are in real in really good shape. The rears have a little bit of cracking between the side wall and tread. But I'm throwing tubes in all four, so the cracks won't be noticeable at all once they are inflated. I'm shocked at how barely used these are . I'll put them to good use haha.

Well , unfortunately this past Wednesday i woke up late for work. Whoa ,Shocker right? No it gets better , I decided to put my phone on the dash of my WRX ( not something I ever do ) but for some reason I did it. Well started banging out gears to make it through the turning light just from my house and in the middle of the turn. There went my phone; it slid from drivers to passenger and ramped the passenger a/c out the window . I couldnt help but laugh hysterically on the side of the road. I felt I needed to share that with everyone on here haha. Anyways I got a new phone so I can continue uploading progress of the SEARS SWAMPER LT . My other phone that committed suicide still turns on but screen is inoperable . It's now in a vegetable state until I decide to fix it . So onward to the slight progress that I've started , since we are still experiencing rain.....every.....single....day..... Not cool .

So I changed the front grill paint color , now that I know the build route i am pursuing. Plus , I felt the other was a little much for a tractor . I painted this one simple but to match hood.



I also have defeated the tire that would not come off with every  method attempt I made with saving the rim. Well, that wasn't possible. So I decided the method that was referred to be by a fellow members of this forum but I haven't had the chance to check who it was. But thank you. So I cut the center of rim out and notched the part that slides over axle shaft and keyway .then proceeded to hit it with a chisel until it split. I then mounted the rims and what I guess you could call holeshot tires on my peerless 600 and filled her up with 24 fl oz of gear oil according to manuf. Specifications. heres what it looks like now




Also I'm starting to disassemble components for either wire brushing And clear coating on the body parts and misc. Components will be painted to stick out . Here's where she sits right now. I've taken the console and battery holder off to paint and wire wheel.



More to come !

That green color looks great on the rear rims!

@Crazy_Carl thanks man ! Its actually just craft acrylic paint . I couldn't find that swampy looking green in a rattle can at neither Lowe's or home Depot . So I went to this option which is coming out really well. Takes time and patience to hand paint but I couldn't pass it up at 70cents for a 2 FL OZ bottle and it's only 3 or 5 for the bigger bottles. Ive used only three 2 FL OZ bottles of the green to do a set of rims that ended up not using, the two rims on the transaxle above, the transaxle, and the green lettering on hood . Each all having 3 to 4 coats then clear coated twice.  if you go to Michael's craft store, in my opinion they have the best selection of every color and shade . Plus it's cheaper than spending 6 to 10 bucks on each rattle can.  

This is now my new issue, I've encountered today .


I wire wheel the console and boom perfect orange came up from under the rough surface that I thought was rust. Hmmm. Possibly paint it either green or black . Decisions decisions .

orange?

what is the rest of the tractor going to look like? Maybe the color for the grille?

@Crazy_Carl yes it is orange , whole tractor was orange . Since lack of info on this Sears LT10/36 , I find them on Google nowhere  near this color .

@MightyRaze My motive was to wire wheel the entire body cause it honestly looked like "rust" then clear coat to follow along with the hood. Now I feel as if I might have to change the game up maybe. I would have to assemble body which is just hood and top console . My phone screen broke and it's inoperatable until fixed. So I got new phone and this picture is what I have right now on hand.



You can see where I started spot checking with the wire wheel when I saw the orange . I could get a sponge and possibly make the same color of hood by dabbing the paint on with the sponge . Just be a pain in the ...... Lol

I like the orange color

Rear tires look nice on the trans. Interesting steering on that rig, how the sector gear has the teeth on inside like that. Kinda cool.

@Crazy_Carl it's starting to look more like a peach than orange . Probably sun fade and 40 years . Lol I wasn't looking going for a orange cause of the green I went with . Ill have to wire wheel the whole thing and see if majority of the tractor is still orange or rust then go from there.

@AllisKidD21 yeah I never seen anything like it before. All it needs is a bushing that I probably have or can make and it will tighten up the slop in it. The teeth on both gears aren't even chewed up . I feel that the old guy I got it from just parked it after the Tecumseh engine stopped working. (He even had two identical kaiser-frazers just rusting away next to each other) . Cause previously on page 1 or 2 I found the magnet for the pick up coil to be moved from where it was glued. I'm thinking I'm going to remove the stock steering to install the one from the go kart or somehow install the go kart steering spindles on to it cause of it having threaded spindles

My body decided it doesn't want to go to sleep yet , so back to the garage it is . I've cooked up a pretty cool idea in my opinion on fuel tank . Well the stock fuel tank can hold maybe a half gallon or 3/4 of a gallon ,which will not be anywhere near enough for the 18 hp oppy . So I've decided to use a bigger one that I got out of a old Murray. It's more along the lines of maybe 2.5 or 3 gallons. But since the battery and original small tank sit right above the engine. I'm thinking of using both. So the small one will be where you would fill it and then the hose will go to the bigger tank then the fuel pump will pull from the big one. Easy enough right? So I've got the rack for the battery and tank painted and also the small tank too .



Now to hide the bigger tank will be easy. Because , the tank that I do have is perfect size to hide under the seat . I'll explain . Using the picture below where I circled on the Sears is a completely empty tunnel . It's late right now so or else I would take a straight picture showing but I think y'all get the idea.

So I have found something rather interesting in my older brothers carrying tool box and said I could have it . Its a snap-off power inverter that looks like a BEER CAN !!! Totally , going to incorporate this into the Sears . Maybe build 2 cup holders and have this in one of them and of course the other for your actual beverage of choice. It had a accessory outlet plug on it so I snipped the wires and I will hardwire it when I come to to that point . Maybe even slip a budweiser can over it instead of snap off. Lol. Still it's neat as hell .

Cool did he get that for "free" with an $8,500 tool box or something?

So how do you plan on connecting the input line into the larger gas tank?  I'm thinking it would be a royal pain to get that to seal up nice and it's right under you butt so you don't want it to leak.  How about just flipping the seat up to fill the larger gas tank and mount a toolbox where the original gas tank was?

I would totally pour a drink into that on accident and electrocute myself. Lol

@Crazy_Carl they better not of been giving those away for free. They're gonna hear it big time from me, Because I didn't get one when I bought my 2015 snap on 3 bay classic but then again they did take my us General service cart  for 500 haha. But nah my brother has all Craftsman  tools so I was curious as well. I find him in my toolbox alot . Gotta make a trap to keep him out.....seriously. loll

Anyways I was going to use a 1/4 barbed fitting that I have so many of . And drill holes in cap and then neatly place jb weld to seal . Also the seat plate on the Sears doesn't flip ,it is just a mount. hence why I was going this route but I did think about the flip seat lastnight ,since I have the brackets. the seat I'm going to use is off of a Craftsman ll . So using the jb weld I'm in no worries of any leaks or issues ...two weeks later......ok I have an issue with it... Haha

So for an update . I pressure washed the Sears to get a good view of what's rust and what's not. Here's a pic. I have no clue but this new phone makes the orange look lighter. Where the engine will mount is like a shade light than the pumpkin orange rims that I have on it for moving around for now. Still stuck on this color thing. Really messing with me. I was really hoping for rust . I could rip it all down to bare metal and just let it rust itself but I'm very impatient on getting it done lol .

Just paint it with that brown rusty metal primer and leave it be.  It kinda matches your theme.  I've seen a rat rod painted with it that looked pretty good.

@Crazy_Carl I think I'm going to have to suck it up and agree with you haha . Sounds like a trip to home Depot or Lowe's. Both are across the street from each other in my town. Lol talk about competition lol

So about two hours ago it has finally stopped raining for the day , we've been having tons of rain and some gnarly lightning storms over here on the west coast of Florida, about 45 minutes directly north of the Tampa Bay . Anyways luckily have I some good news and of course when there's good there has to be a bad lol .

I got the rest of the body and seat plate unbolted . So now I'm down to the frame . First time, having a tractor with the frame and platform being one . Anyways here's a couple shots of it




Entire body is completely solid with no severe rust or Swiss cheese holes. Lol. By this time about 40 minutes ago , it was beginning to get dark but motivation kept me going , so I test fitted the transaxle on the frame . Plus I thought it would be easier to move around as well . (Yes, this is where the bad news begins below )



Them here tires are a bit too wide. Any suggestions to fix this concern? The brackets must go in there spots to line up . I only have on bracket on so far but you can see where the other side would go with common sense. All the ball breaking effort to get tubes from 2 other tires then mount these onto mower rims. I have no admitted defeat I shall find a way or maybe one of you guys have an idea haha. I also took a picture with the body just laying on top of it . Looks pretty sweet in the back, if I do say so myself .

Just throwing this out there.... If you turn your wheels around where the valve stem is on the inside would that widen the stance?