An idea if you wanted to retain the louvres would be to cut out some of the nose and put in a piece of your louvres. I won’t tell you how to build your machine though, you are doing a fantastic job either way.
It's an idea, but that area will be filled with the hydraulic reservoir/tank and below it will be the main Hyd cooler. So you'd be able to see through the louvers, but it would be nothing but a big aluminum tank.
JD hood hinges showed up late today so I quickly threw them on before packing it in for the night:
Hinges are from a 318 IIRC.
Hood opens like my Corvette now!
Thats still pretty rough, but with some fettling they’ll be just what I’m looking for. Theres a fourth rod that goes on the rh side, I just haven’t gotten it fit yet. Right now the bolts are just drilled through the hood. Not a big deal as I’ll be welding them in place and then grinding down the heads to flush with the hood skin.
Now I’ll actually be able to check oil levels or add oil without crazy arm twisting, scraping knuckles or needing funnels with long hoses on them. The “car style” opening hood was a neat little Murray feature, but totally impractical for the way the Briggs is designed...unless the only thing you need access to is the air filter that is. Much better having the hood swing up and out/forward. Completely out of the way now.
That's a Case 220/444/644 transaxle. About as HD as it gets for a garden tractor.
Quick inspection reveals everything is tight and the gears have no nicks, burrs of chipping. Wear pattern is about perfect for straight cut gears.
I'll still gut it and clean it all. there's quite a bit of dirt and rust particles floating around in side it. from What I can tell, it all got inside the transaxle during breakdown (IE: the hyd motor was pulled off the side of the gearbox) of the tractor it was in. There's no damage inside, so that jives with the contamination getting in when they pulled the Hyd motor off. best to pull it down and clean it now, before any damage is done to what seems like a pristine gearbox.
Looks pretty good! The rest is just bolting things together, some brackets and hydraulic plumbing. Doesn’t sound like much, but probably take me 3-4 months to complete it right down to the loader and 3 point hitch. Not to mention a complete re-wiring job....
Maybe crazy for a lawn mower (or mud mower if you prefer) but this is going to be built into a full GT and carry a front end loader. You need HD everything to do that kind of work.
Its no longer than it used to be, but it sure looks longer with some of the tins in place:
And every nook and cranny is going to be stuffed with pumps, valves, lines, tanks, coolers, fans, electrics and all manner of assorted brick-a-brack needed to run everything.
It’ll probably be in the 750-1000 lb range once done. Getting into serious “heavy metal” status at that point.
Top speed? Right around 7 mph in high gear and hydraulics at full battlecry. Its the limits of the case hydrive, but enough torque to pull a 747....
Travel control valve with integrated holding valve: Controls fwd/rev and speeds, plus holding valve acts like a hyd brake when stopped and prevents “freewheeling” down grades.
Hyd cooler postioning:
Engine back in:
Instrument cluster:
Pretty much all the major components are in place. Now its a matter of building tanks, hydraulic lines, linkages, wiring, etc.
Once up and running, it will be time to start building the front end loader. At least a couple more months before I get to that stage though.
Once the loader is built, the whole thing will get blown apart down to the frame again and prepped for final paint. Hopefully done before the snow flies at the end of the year.
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Is there enough clearance between the hood and the flywheel for the hydraulic cooler to go between? That way the flywheel is constantly pulling cool air through it?
Is there enough clearance between the hood and the flywheel for the hydraulic cooler to go between? That way the flywheel is constantly pulling cool air through it?
Nope. Not even a full inch when the hood is closed.
Cooler is getting an electric fan. I have several left over from previous motorcycle projects so they’re essentially “free”.
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Its pretty tight in there, but it all fits. The electric fan will fit nicely up to the cooler and then its building the shrouding to direct and exit the air.
Feeling slow today, didn’t feel like getting much done so I just messed with the “dash” area:
finished up the instrument “pod”, filled some holes, took out a few areas (ie: formed areas for previous controls), mounted the choke and throttle levers and popped in the rocker switches.
looks ok to my eye. Plenty good for a garden tractor. A skim of bondo will flatten it all out nicely.
Taking a pause for the duty cycle on my TIG right now. Plus, I’m old and I just wanted to take a break.
You’ll have to pardon my crap AL welding. I’m not a professional and I haven’t tig’d AL for many months now so I’m waaaaay out of practice. You’ll have to pardon my crap AL welding. I’m not a professional and I haven’t tig’d AL for many months now so I’m waaaaay out of practice.
It’s solid and water tight, so I can’t ask for much more than that from my skill level. I’d love to be able to lay a “stack of dimes”, but I just don’t do enough of it to get that good at it.
was going to go fancy with some perforated internal baffles, but decided just forcing the oil to make a couple turns would be enough to slow it down and “de-aerate” it:
Then, on goes the filler neck and top:
Not super professional looking welds, but they will hold just fine.
Internal volume calculates out to just a tick under 2.5 US Gallons. Was hoping to get 3 or 4 gallons, but I’m hemmed in by the space I’ve got to work with.
I still have to add the feed and return tubes, as well as some tabs to bolt it down, but the basic tank is now in place.
That has to be the most advanced, comprehensive, tricked-out lawn tractor on earth!!! Wow! Some nice fabrication there, TourMax!
Thanks for the compliments.
I’m basically trying to build SCUT capabilities in a GT sized package and keep it all under 4 grand total. Pretty sure I’m only going to get two out of the three goals...
Of course, if I were to buy one of the few GT’s left on the market (JD 7xx series, loader, 3 pt hitch, etc) I’d have to drop around 30-35 grand. So this little rig is a bargain compared to that.
Pretty sure I’m going to make a filler neck and place the cap in the RH fender:
Just seems to feel more “finished” that way. It will also be getting a cab for winter work so no hassle with lifting the seat and PITA maneuvering around in the cab to refuel it.
Now thinking I might be able to get everything out of the middle “deck space” and make it flat like the case models where you can “step through”. The older I get the harder it is to lift my feet up and over the “hump”. Making it a flat deck (like the case tractors) will make my life soooo much easier.
Well, decided to see how it would look in a step through” design:
looks ok. I think I prefer it with the side walls for looks, but theres no denying its easier to get on/off the thing.
It will also make it miles easier to get in/out with a cab on it where you’re already bent over to clear the cab roof.
So, unless theres a significant reason that crops up where I will need the space, its staying as a step through design. Sheet metal is an easy fix to make it look like it was built that way.
not to mention, now I have a place to mount a high/low shifter for the transaxle.
Subject: 
March 10th 2021, 3:26 pm
