Ol' Sears - 1975 Sears Suburban ST/16

Thought I would start a thread about my Old Sears.  It is a 1975 ST/16 my dad bought new.  Engine gave up for the last time in 1989/90 after being rebuilt 2-3 times.  From there it sat at my parents and then my sister's for the next 22-23 years. I messed with the engine, but it needed $100's in parts so I got a 420cc Clone.  I'm on my 5th year of the clone with no issue.

This last week, I had a 15 ton load of gravel dropped to expand the driveway.  A few days later of after work use, I am finished for now spreading the gravel.  The gravel pile started off about 8ft wide, 10ft long and 5.5ft tall.

Man what a workhorse. Is your 420 thirsty? I remember moose was constantly checking his fuel tank making sure he didn’t run out...again

No... not that thirsty at all.  It is my least thirsty engine I have.  I think I can run for about 3 hrs or a little more on the stock tank.

Wow you really put that old GT to good use. I spy a grader blade on the back too. Nice

I was just thinking, I think it took me about 3 hours total to knock the 15 ton gravel pile down.  I could have done it much faster with my father-in-law's tractor with a front end loader, but where is the fun in that?

Sorry, not the best quality of video I have done.  I wanted to put something out there, but I have been a little under the weather the past couple days.  Much better now.  Also, not done much with the ST lately.

Good looking Sears @MightyRaze

This the same one you had the thread for on MTF? I remember reading through that once.

Yeah it is. Pretty rough shape when I finally got it. Now I use it pretty regular lately.

Time to give gramps some love since the 9n is down.  Going to put the Duro's on it if I can.  The big issue is, will they fit or rub the inner fender where the tank is suppose to fit.  I'll find out tomorrow.



Using some wide rims I had in the shed. Sanded down the bead surface and sealed it.  Smooth all around. Should seal fine.



That left tire just is always going flat.  I hope the tires fit in the fender.



Should get better traction than those turf savers.

They fit...barely. Lol

good enough, what are they 26"?

Yeah they are 26's.

AYE! I was going to fire up Grandpa and it was a no go. Batt dead. Would appear the starter is a no go too? Booster did not seem to work, but then again I was cold and didn't think of a stuck neutral saftey. I'll try again tomorrow. But the worst is... My trans appears frozen. I should have changed the oil in it I guess in the fall. That seems like it may have water in it.

Leave a drop light or any incandesent light bulb right next to the trans for a day. It'll warm it up eventually. Maybe just a bad connection on the jump hookups? Sometimes that's an issue too.

mr.modified wrote:

Leave a drop light or any incandesent light bulb right next to the trans for a day. It'll warm it up eventually. Maybe just a bad connection on the jump hookups? Sometimes that's an issue too.

I'll see tomorrow.  My neutral safety is starting to get sketchy.  I may do a delete on that, may just need an adjustment.  I was able to move the shifter finally.  It was sluggish.  Could just be the oil thick, but I'm betting a thin layer of ice inside.

It turned out to be the neutral switch.  Got it started.  Let it idle for a few minutes and that warmed up the trans enough to put it in gear.  It only got easier from there.  Got the porch under the cover cleared off. Path to the building and back garage patio cleared.





Can't see it in the second, and just to the left of the 3rd, I have about a 3.5 ft tall push off pile.

Looks like it makes easy work of that snow! Theres a couple older guys that live down the road that have sears. Both use them quite regularly. One day dad told me one of the guys had his outside with a for sale sign on it and when I drove by to check it out he was putting it back in his garage and I havent seen it for sale since so I think he decided to keep it. But the other guy's is maybe an SS18 but I'm not sure. The onan is black and the hood along with the running boards are yellow. Both look to be very well taken care of. I'd like to stop and talk to one of them one day but I'll have to wait till this covid mess is over.

it's good to know the 28s i was looking at for my ss16 won't fit unless i remove or raise the fenders, but then i might sell it before i get the money to put tires on it

She did good! You mentioned about getting 15-20” last week. How did that turn out?

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

She did good! You mentioned about getting 15-20” last week. How did that turn out?

Ended up being 6-8.  Getting more tonight. About 4-6 inches more so far.  Some of my yard is up to 12 inches, out in the open where the wind blows is a bit less, around 3-4 from both storms.  Second storm is about 2/3 done.

I know looking at my hood got me thinking that it is time to give the old tractor some love.

I'm thinking since the Bowser build is winding down... Maybe get to working on Grandpa this winter.  Maybe a little refresh?  I'm not sure.  I do want to take those duro tires back off.  I do not care for them at this time.  I'll put red's old rears on it.  We'll see how things go.  I need to figure out why I cannot get the starter working on the Lifan 13hp.  I don't know if it is a short to the neutral saftey, oil sensor or a bad solenoid.  Possibly a keyswitch.

Now that I am a bit better at welding, I may look into a different exhaust solution and maybe intake solution to take that 2" spacer out of the hood.

PICHERS!

What happens if you connect directly to the starter? If it goes, you know it is not the starter. My little booster pack has a ‘starter switch’. I can connect it to the starter and turn the knob to test stuff.

Ok, I found the pichers. I like the Duro tires. Look like monsters. 

DO build an exhaust. I need to do one and would rather see somebody else do it first.

The duro's are nice, but they are starting to rub a bit.  Especially when the tires build up dirt!