Ol' Sears - 1975 Sears Suburban ST/16

Lots of good news, bad news happening today.

Good news, The center mandrel showed up a day early! 
Bad news, The top bearing was shot.
Good news, I still have the bearing I was going to install on the jacked up one I had.
Bad news, I jacked up the threads on the top of the mandrel.
Good news, It was an easy fix!
Good news,  Mandrel installed!
Good news, Mower deck installed!
Lastly, Bad news.  With the new engine mount, the pulley is in a different location so a new belt will need to be purchased.  Original is 5/8-103.  I need 5/8-105.  So, the mower deck needs to come back off more than likely as I do not know if my back will allow me to get down and remove the belt guide off the top of the mower deck for belt removal.





Also, I found some oil under the tractor, and it is dripping a tiny bit.  Found that the low side cap is weeping some oil.

Take your time. Take care of the back for sure.

It looks fantastic! Nice work!

All good news today. Grandpa is a mower again!





Also the oil was due to gas in it. I figured due to the carb having a little bit of an angle now with the new engine plate. Easy fix, run the gas out when I am done. lol

Contemplating renaming Grandpa to Phoenix.  This tractor just doesn't know when to give up.

• Mid 80's the tractor had a bad wreck where it fell out of a pickup.  Dad got it running but ran hoodless for several years until my brother build a nose for it.
  
• Blew original engine,
  
• Blew rebuilt engine,
  
• Blew rebuilt engine again- final nail for engine.
  
• Left to rot behind my parents shed for several years.
  
• Moved to my sister's house to continue to rot as well as sit in 4-6 inches of water in the rainy season a few more years.
  
• Saved and rebuilt about 7-8 years ago by me. Repowered 389cc Lifan. Found a new nose cone for it as well.
  
• Freshened up again in the past year mowing again like a champ TODAY!
  

My dad was the original purchaser from Sears in 1975.  I've definitely had the most seat time post hood smash.  This tractor is the first motorized thing I ever drove.  I hope you have enjoyed this tractor's journey with me.  It'll probably fall off ATLTF for the most part but will survive to see several more years use!

Dad in '76



Me getting ready to mow in 88.


Recovered in 2015.


Rebuild in '16-17.


2nd redo 2022.

If decals were not so much, I'd consider getting some ST/16 decals back on the hood.

Actually, they are quite a bit less now.  Around $34

That's awesome it's been in the family since new and now you've brought it back from the dead and will keep it working! For $34 you'd be silly to not put that final touch on it, just do it! Lol

I've thought on this awhile and I am going to rename the tractor to Phoenix!

OK, I've been running the new config now for about 5 months.  The rear oil cap is just leaking way too much oil.  I either need to figure out the thread pattern and put a real plug into it or put it back down on the frame where I had it.

Lovely mower, it really needs some decals.

Cant seem to get a liking for the engine but that's just me being a purist perhaps

I hear ya.. those old OH160 Tecumseh's are getting pretty slim out there and tough to find parts.  I no longer have the old engine as it finally had catastrophic failure years ago.

Just a thought I had today... might be really cool to hand paint a phoenix on the top of the hood or on the seat.

Phoenix is a good looking tractor!

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Just a thought I had today... might be really cool to hand paint a phoenix on the top of the hood or on the seat.

Phoenix is a good looking tractor!

I can’t say it hasn’t been considered!

So... adding the riser may have fixed the space issue under the hood, but it has caused possibly a new worse issue.  The tractor is starting to dump oil.  I didn't figure the small amount of incline would cause any issues.



What to do.  Hmm..


Also, the mower deck is all grinding again. Ugh.

Maybe needs a crank seal? I don’t think the inclination should hurt anything.

I dug into it today. I think with the new angle, gas was getting drained into the crank. It became over full and super thin.

Might be good now. I'll give it a bath tomorrow and see.

Very cool! I’ve always been a fan of those sears/ roper GT’s. Have yet had the chance to own one though. Never see them in my area.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

Maybe needs a crank seal? I don’t think the inclination should hurt anything.

I failed to mention it was coming out the fill plug that is now the "low" side. I put on a new o-ring and tightened it a little more.

Still leaking. It started after the riser was made. Teardown has started on the mower deck for new bearings.

So... the Cummins beige has not grown on me any. I will more than likely blow the tractor back apart and go back to the yellow/white with black accents when I am done. This will be my April/May project for this year.

Maybe some Cat yellow? That might pretty cool

Edit: or burnt metallic orange, keeping with the phoenix theme. Your tractor though, and knowing you it will look great any which way!

Mower deck has been stripped down, wire wheeled with the angle grinder, and repainted.







I know the images are flipped.  I'm feeling lazy today.  I'll fix later.
Fixed.

No oil drips today.  No teardown at this time.  Motivation is low on that front.  Good news, my bearing should be in tomorrow for the mower deck.  Some new hardware may be needed.

Finished up the deck.  Decided to not paint the rest.  Let it grow a little more.





Got the blades all lined up.  Realized one spindle was about 1/8 shorter than the others.  Always noticed one side mowed lower.  I thought I needed to level the deck, just needed a little adjustment on the one.  Mowed great today.



First time ever since mowing with this deck, one from the Dirty Rat, that I could barely hear the deck over the engine.  Deck use to be insanely loud.

I really put the old tractor through its paces today.  Finally a day with no rain for a couple weeks nearly.  I saw a couple snakes so I decided it was time to battle the grass.  It was dry on top, and I did find that there were some substantial water puddles hidden under the tall grass.  I figured there were a couple patches nearly 10 inches tall.  I mowed today at 3.5 inches.  Where I normally mow, but today was a 1st and 2nd gear day.  Those high places I had to drop it to 1st.  Got it done, not the prettiest today.  It will all work out in the upcoming weeks.  More rain and potential flooding later this week. Next week they have taken out much of the rain if not almost all of it.  That will give me some time to hit the grass again with it a little drier and mulch up the clippings from today.

Front


Back (off to the right of pic was some 8-9 inch grass and left where the camper usually sits was almost 10inches)


Finally finished and all cleaned up.


I really need to get a new battery for this thing.  The 7 year old walmart battery gave up last year.  LOL. 

Only issues today was a random shutoff.  Looked things over, and it fired right back up.  Not sure about that.  Could be due to a vacuum leak on the fuel pump. I need to look into that. Also, while I was at the furthest from the house... of course... evidently my snap ring had fell off the steering shaft long ago. Over time steering wheel bolt backed itself off and came off on me. AYE! Talk about unexpected. I totally lucked out that the key caught the steering tube and wedged itself there holding the steering rod from falling into the mower pulley. It gave me the opportunity to fix the clocking of the steering wheel. LOL it was a couple teeth off.



All in all a good day!

Tomorrow, I'm going to see about clearance on the carb, I found an actual pulse plate the fits between the carb and head. If I have the space, I'll get it as it's only 9 bucks, but I have limited space in there. If not enough space, I can just make what I have better. Also, I may look into putting a set of new-old-stock blades on the tractor after today. Then I can resharpen what I have and put back in rotation.