Appropriate mower for build?

Hello all,

I am new to this forum and to modifying mowers. Right now I am looking at a John Deere l100 with a 6speed and a 15 HP Briggs and Stratton 1 Cylinder. Does anyone know if this would be an acceptable mower to do a pulley swap and mild modifications to? I am not looking for extreme speed. maybe 20-30MPH. Also is the one cylinder a problem? Any guidance would be much appreciated. Also, if you have any other good suggestions that would be better for builds like this feel free to let me know.


Thanks.

I have an LT160. It's a body on a c channel type frame.  It's very strong, but IDK about the L100.  That might be a pan frame that's more susceptible to twist.  I think you have a spicer rear end so I would take it easy with it and not lock it.  The 15hp OHV briggs single should have enough power to start with and is easy to work on.  Sounds like you have a good basis for a beginner project.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

I have an LT160. It's a body on a c channel type frame.  It's very strong, but IDK about the L100.  That might be a pan frame that's more susceptible to twist.  I think you have a spicer rear end so I would take it easy with it and not lock it.  The 15hp OHV briggs single should have enough power to start with and is easy to work on.  Sounds like you have a good basis for a beginner project.

Thank you for the information. How would I confirm what frame and rear and I have? Also, what is the concnsus on using old sears mowers, in terms of streangth?

Old sears tractors are some of the coolest and strongest around.

I personally stay as far away from John Deere as I can. Very complicated in my experience and all the ones I’ve seen have a spicer (light duty) rear end.

Most guys start with what they can find, but I would try and keep an eye out for an 80s or 90s craftsman with a gear driven transmission. That could be a square body, or what I call the slant hood (my next project actually), or have a plastic front grill with steel hood (most common)

Craftsmen are made by AYP, which is husqavarna. Identical tractors with a different sticker that I’ve seen are poulan, weedeater, husqavarna, rally, meijer (only ever seen one but they exist apparently), wizard (Maine mud mower’s current project), and others I’m sure. These are the most common and strongest LT frames to work with so if you can afford to be picky at all, hold out for one of these. You can take it so much farther and I’m speaking from experience

Try and stay away from anything with a hydro or a stamped frame

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Old sears tractors are some of the coolest and strongest around.

I personally stay as far away from John Deere as I can. Very complicated in my experience and all the ones I’ve seen have a spicer (light duty) rear end.

Most guys start with what they can find, but I would try and keep an eye out for an 80s or 90s craftsman with a gear driven transmission. That could be a square body, or what I call the slant hood (my next project actually), or have a plastic front grill with steel hood (most common)

Craftsmen are made by AYP, which is husqavarna. Identical tractors with a different sticker that I’ve seen are poulan, weedeater, husqavarna, rally, meijer (only ever seen one but they exist apparently), wizard (Maine mud mower’s current project), and others I’m sure. These are the most common and strongest LT frames to work with so if you can afford to be picky at all, hold out for one of these. You can take it so much farther and I’m speaking from experience

Try and stay away from anything with a hydro or a stamped frame

Thank you for the info, I will look into some of those. I also saw a ‘96 white MTD with a 15.5hp and a 6speed, is it any good?

I stay away from JD and even farther from MTD. That actually has a single speed rear end with a variable pulley like a cvt. Which sounds cool but it’s really finicky and prone to failure. Also the frames are really light duty, as are the front spindles. The only reason I would bring home an mtd is for a running engine. The rest is scrap

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

I stay away from JD and even farther from MTD. That actually has a single speed rear end with a variable pulley like a cvt. Which sounds cool but it’s really finicky and prone to failure. Also the frames are really light duty, as are the front spindles. The only reason I would bring home an mtd is for a running engine. The rest is scrap

Haha, again, thank you for the info. I will probably go with the 12hp I found.

Briggs Flathead I assume? Those are all I ran for a while because they were cheap, reliable, and good on gas. 12 horsepower is plenty for just general off-roading, but it’s gonna struggle in the deep stuff

First off, welcome to the forum!   As far as the tractor, it depends what kinda riding you plan to do with it. For just kinda generally bombing around and some mild off-road most tractors will do just fine. For stuff like crawling and harsh trails though, you'd most likely want something with a decent frame, steering, front axle, etc.

If you really enjoy custom fab work and modifying stuff, you can start with with a weaker tractor and build it up to be more capable and handle some hardcore off-road situations. Most people prefer to start with a good base and work with it though, makes good sense, but it's all personal preference I suppose.

Late to the party... but Welcome!

AllisKidD21 wrote:

First off, welcome to the forum!   As far as the tractor, it depends what kinda riding you plan to do with it. For just kinda generally bombing around and some mild off-road most tractors will do just fine. For stuff like crawling and harsh trails though, you'd most likely want something with a decent frame, steering, front axle, etc.

If you really enjoy custom fab work and modifying stuff, you can start with with a weaker tractor and build it up to be more capable and handle some hardcore off-road situations. Most people prefer to start with a good base and work with it though, makes good sense, but it's all personal preference I suppose.

Thank you, I plan on just messing around, nothing serious. I also do not have a desire to do serious fab work.