my 80s ford yt16

i've got the chance to possibly trade my suburban for a ford yt16, it has a peerless 801-020 and factory 12in rear wheels, the briggs opposed twin is blown with a rod sticking out the block, but i was considering transferring my briggs vtwin off my murray as well as the tires, i was just wondering about anyone's opinion on weather this would be a fair trade, the sears does run, but in the year or so i've had it i've only ridden it a total of an hr, and the dash is badly cracked up, i like it but it really does nothing but sit around

I don’t think it’s an even trade at all. You’d be getting a blown engine, a weaker transaxle, and a thinner frame (I think. I know the sears are really well built)

I say no but hey if it’s something you’d rather have that’s your decision not ours

i know it's actually a down grade, the suburban is a much heavier duty tractor the real problem with the suburban is it just sits, it's not right for the kind of riding i do, to heavy and sits to tall. i'm not really comfortable riding it on the trails, which is why it just sits and collects dust, i don't really get to enjoy it, the ford sits a lot lower, and it wouldn't be hard for me to transfer the 820 out of my murray into it and use the 801 for another project i have been working on, i was trying to sell the sears but can't find anyone interested but i'm going to think about it awhile longer before i make a decision,

well i think i've decided on a different way to get the ford, if he accepts it that is, i have a saber mower, it has the deck and no engine, but otherwise in good shape, i planned to put an engine on it but it's been sitting in my garage for over a year and i haven't really touched it, i was planning to keep it since my uncle gave it to me, but i doubt he'll care if i trade it off, so i'm going to talk to the guy with the ford and see if he'll trade the saber for it instead of my suburban, i'll then put the suburban up for sale locally

That sounds a little more fair.

@Murraymountain now i just have to dig it out of the back of the garage, which will be a task in itself, and i won't be able to find out if he's even interested in the trade until i do, because he'll want to come look it over before he gives me an answer

well i made a deal with the owner of the ford, i traded my freebie golf cart for it, i wasn't ever going to do anything with the golf cart and it was just taking up space, now i just need to put the motor back on it and take it to him so i can pick up the ford

Nice! Sounds like a cool deal.

well i got the yt16 home, it had a blown oppey on it when i originally looked at it, he pulled that off in the last couple weeks and stuck on a 15hp kohler command, which isn't part of the trade so i have to pull it and take it back to him, he thought he had it sold but the guy changed his mind which is why it has the kohler on it now, but it will be getting the 23hp briggs vtwin off my murray widebody so i'm not bothered, , besides i don't like these modern kohler engines and planned to put the briggs on it from the start, anyway, here's pics

pulling the kohler was easy, he only had the wiring, the pulley, and one bolt holding it in, and the i found a few issues, 1st the rear section of the frame wasn't bolted on right, it had 1 bolt on each side and that was it, i replaced the self tapping screws with bolts /nuts and red locktight, and the left rear tire was rust welded to the axle, but after several hrs of using a hammer and large punch, some heat and a lot of wd 40 in combo with a jury rigged puller it finally gave in and came off and someone had welded in some bracing on the front where the engine mount is, only trouble was they covered one of the bolt holes so i had to drill that back out, i'll be going over the rest of it tomorrow to see if anything else needs attention and of course to grease everything before putting the engine on it and getting it ready for the trails, i'll run the 801 this winter and pull my 820 apart to clean it and convert to oil then put it in it next spring, but i will have to change the long shaft shifter to a short shaft, then the 801 will be put under my murray/noma hybrid rat rod tractor, does anybody know, can the shifter from the 801 fit the 820?

i got the ford put together and driving, but it has some serious steering play, tracked that down to worn rod ends and the bushings, the spindle bushings and the steering shaft bushings seem to be bad, so those will all need replaced if i can find them, the rod ends will be no trouble, but the bushings might be troublesome to find

got my tires changed over from the murray

pic was taken before i mounted the engine, it is up and running now,and i mounted this ugly ammo can for a toolbox, it will be repainted, problem is because of the gas tank i couldn't mount it to the fender, so i put it on the front bumper

and no it's not the camera angle it really is not centered, that's because of the bumper mounts them selves, they are in a spot that won't allow me to center the can on it, it's sturdy, easily holds my tow chain and a few tools without issue, i'm going to do a little more work to this bracket to strengthen it up a little more

the steering has gone completely sour on the ford, took it for a romp a few weeks ago and the pitman shaft separated from the sector gear, not where the two are welded together but just underneath the gearit it was partially cut through for some unknown reason and finished separating on the trail, talked to the previous owner and he said he had no clue why it would be cut, not sure if i believe him or not, but now i'm trying to fit a 2nd gen craftsman steering box on it, i think it will work once i mod the drag link and clearance the pitman arm since it's to long and hits the frame, one thing i did discover is it's pitman shaft is far shorter than the stock ford and i'm going to have to trade the v twin for an older 14.5 single without an oil filter because i don't have the tools or skills to make a drag link that will go around the filter on the twin, trust me i've tried several things and nothing i could do worked, i couldn't find a short shifter shaft for the 820 so i shortened the one in it and simply welded the shifter bracket to it, and of course as always seems to happen after i did that i found a stock short shaft for an 820 on ebay, but to late now. i guess i could buy it and keep it in case i need it should this one fail

i have the steering figured out just minor things to deal with now, i had to replace the v twin with an older 14.5 single without the oil filter, i was able to cut and weld the drag link so it works with the craftsman steering box, but had to notch the bracket holding the sub frame for clearance most of it's still there so there shouldn't be any strength issues still need to do a little more clearancing though

it just clears the motor but i'll remove the throttle control plate to be sure i have plenty of clearance, i.m putting my molkt atv carb on this anyway so none of that is needed, the engine still needs to move over a 1/4in or so


the only other issue i'm having is the rod end mounted to the pitman arm is hitting the corner of the arm when turning left, so i'm going to have to trim that down a little, then i can finally get the ford back up and on the trails, i think going to this craftsman steering box is going to be a good upgrade over the stock steering set up once i get everything lined out

finally it's running again, the steering is complete, and works good, i may need to adjust the rod ends a little, it turns to sharp right and not enough left, i still need to do the wiring, mount the hood and find the bracket for the front axle, it seems that this bracket was put there by the factory to limit the movement of the front axle, not it's pivoting but the front to back, i also seem to be having an issue with the carb, it's a molkt(mikuni clone) and it's loading up at idle and leaking fuel out a vent tube on the bowl, i guess i need to pull the bowl and see if the float needs adjusted or has something in the needle preventing it from sealing,

i changed the title since it's no longer a possible new ride it's mine, the carb problem seems to have fixed itself, it still loads up a little at idle but not bad, i took it for it's 1st run since i started the conversion to the craftsman steering and i'm happy with it, there's still some play in the steering at speed but i think it's more in the movement of the front axle than anything else, it's perfectly fine for a trail mower, it's got plenty of power to pull a full size utility trailer and a couple junk mowers i'm stripping down, last thing on my list for this will be fitting a snorkel and probably getting some more aggressive tires for the front, i was thinking some 18in v treads to match the rear, but that can wait, now that this is out of the way i can concentrate on getting the work area cleared and the tractor dug out so i can start on my comp build