2055 White resto modding “White Lightning”

Well went for a snort today and enjoyed the near 50 degree weather. Also my not even 1 year old tire is starting to dry rot... ugh. Nothing real bad though it’s just cosmetic. Holds air fine.

Quick update for y'all. At some point in the next 2 weeks I'm going to order a fresh pair of 4 on 4 hubs, spindles, and 8x 5 3/8 rims. The blower is...well...half fixed. The gearbox is fine, I straightened the mounts, but there is a stud mounted behind the impeller, so to put the gearbox back on I have to gut it back down to a shell. At this point though, it's not worth my time to fix it for this season, so it's been disconnected from the tractor being as we only have about 3 weeks left of snow and this week is looking clear. It isn't too bad though because I was planning to take everything out of the shell for sandblasting and painting so it all worked out fine. As far as the dry-rotted tire goes, I will take it in to the tire shop and see about a warranty replacement. That's all folks!

Rims are ordered! Now on to the transmission...

So awhile ago, test running it without the tunnel cover, the parking brake rod fell in and broke off 4/5 fan blades on the hydro. I ran it like that this winter cause it’s already cold and windy outside so it cools off ok. Fenders still got warm but not hot, so I’m not worried. But with warmer weather coming I do need a new fan, so I will get one soon. Another unusual problem is that the transaxle dipstick appears to be making contact with the internal parts, probably a gear. There is a funk missing out of it and a piece of it has a concave grind down to a really sharp edge. Yeah, better figure out what’s going on there. May still need to build new spindles, don’t know yet. With the new rims I’ll cross that bridge upon arrival. Found some 1/4 flat bar for the 3 pt dump loader build which I hope to start in about 2 weeks. Not too much else is new though, so I hope y’all enjoyed the update!

Well, the thermometer hit 69 degrees yesterday. With the weather being as good as it was, among going for a walk in the woods and surveying the yard I finished and painted the new dash. The old one was cracked, faded, and covered in all this safety information that I already knew and how to start the thing (quite frankly the fact that it has to be stamped on the dash makes you wonder about the kinds of people operating these machines today) and because of all that it had to go. I’ll save it for something or other, but anyway here’s the new one.


Do note that the left side hole is for the ammeter. The paint job looks worse on camera than it actually is, but meh, it’s a dash panel, not a hood or a fender. I’m going to let it dry for another few days before mounting it so hence the lack of bolts. That’s all folks!

Well this was a busy couple of weeks for WL and Rusty. I’ve installed the new dash and rewired the ammeter.

A couple weeks ago, these rims showed up on eBay off of a 212 John Deere. 8x5 3/8, 1” ball bearings, in reasonably good condition.

Mighta broke the sound barrier clicking “buy now” lol. Anyway, they arrived on Thursday and this weekend I have been using a wire wheel and some elbow grease to remove the rust and old paint. Here is an after and before picture:

Question for the gas pedal guys:

So I’ve been driving a few full size farm tractors recently and a lot of the newer ones have a dual throttle (I E, foot accelerator and hand throttle) that operate independently. After using this, I gotta say, it’s nice when you need to change gears or slow down for a brief moment (I have a hand hydro). Is there any way to do something like this on a GT without needing to add some kind of selector between the two? The hand throttle is nice when snow blowing/mowing/towing, but when just driving around it’s kind of annoying. Just toying with the idea.

On mine, I pull on the governor lever (Briggs opposed) for my foot throttle.  Hand throttle is still set up the same.

Jack up the wheels on the trailer and give em a spin, if they are wobbly or crunchy just but new stuff, if they are smooth get em

@Rustbucket Garage My hand throttle and foot throttle both connected to the governor via a flexible steel cable with allowed them to operate independently but they weren't able to move one another.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

@Rustbucket Garage My hand throttle and foot throttle both connected to the governor via a flexible steel cable with allowed them to operate independently but they weren't able to move one another.

That is a fantastic idea Carl! I think I will be trying that soon. Thanks for the help!

Well we got us an update! I bought a rivnut tool (seems nobody I know knows what one is so it’s a rivet setter that has a threaded insert so you can use a bolt for stuff when you can’t get to a separate nut) and I replaced these really crappy and flimsy tabs that were holding down the tunnel cover. This had some tiny Phillips screws holding them in but after 23 years one stripped out and had to be cut off. So that was a welcome upgrade haha. Also, with the 212 rims they have been fully wire wheeled, primed and sanded. A couple of deep gouges and some pitting is still visible so I will cover with a coat of filler primer, and once some new bearings show up I will press them in and get everything painted and mounted. Also, my LED fender lights are now wired up and working! Woooooo!

Well I guess we ought to do a quick update. No pics today though. I have started the snow blower rebuild and it is stripped down to the shell. Once I get some paint filters and mixing cups I’ll shoot it in primer and we will put some black on it next month or so. The 212 rims have gotten their 2nd and last shot of primer and they got sanded tonight and are looking much better than before. Once the old bearings get pressed out I will lay down some paint. I tried a 2 lb hammer and a big 5/8 punch and they wouldn’t come loose. Any bigger of a persuader and I think I will damage the rim so I will quit while I’m ahead and have them pressed out. That is even difficult because these are the flanged type so I need to figure out some way to drive them out from the inside...probably going to weld some bar together in a with one shape and grin the top flat and press on that. If anybody has a better idea I’d really like to hear it.

Other project going on is my take on @Maine Mud Mower ‘s dump loader. I have a hydraulic 3pt so mine will be rear mounted. I got the well bladder cut open but I need to borrow a plasma cutter and remove an internal bulkhead. That is all I have, and thanks in advance for all who have ideas on the bearings!

On today’s episode of “Can’t leave well enough alone,” I noticed that my charging system, which has the 10-16 amp regulator-rectifier, is only putting out 9 amps at full throttle. Because of this when I turn on the lights there is a slight draw still and I want this sorted out because of that. This is coming from my dash ammeter and not a multimeter. So I thought I’d see if anyone had any ideas. What I have so far is:

Do I have a bad alternator?

Did someone replace the alternator/reg.-rec. with the wrong part?

Is there a bad ground somewhere?

Or is the ammeter not reporting correctly?

I should probably test output from the regulator to confirm but I wanted to know what was going on here. As far as an update goes I haven’t done a whole lot this week but sometime soon I will get the rims redone and mounted.

I'd go for easy first and clean all the grounds.  Maybe scuff some paint if needed on those connections.

MightyRaze wrote:

I'd go for easy first and clean all the grounds.  Maybe scuff some paint if needed on those connections.

Thank you! Will try this soon.

Been spending a lot of time in the paint department.

Primed and painted the rims. I left the original bearings in there, and they are a little loose but I asked a couple of people in the know and they said they are fine for what they are. “Run em till they blow.” So I have a new set on standby, but the old ones will get repacked before mounting. The blower has had some rusty metal primer applied and it actually worked out well. I was expecting it to turn out awful because I only washed it with the hose and brushed off the dirt but it actually came out decent. Not half bad for a first timer with a spray gun! Got in a fresh set of valve stems and hubcaps in too so in about 2 weeks once the paint is cured I’m going to mount the tires and have the bearing conversion all set to go!

@Rustbucket Garage don’t expect a whole lot of amperage from these small charging coils in these engines. 9 A is pretty good what does the battery voltage go up to at full throttle? this is the beauty of LED lights because you can run a lot of lighting on not a lot of amps.

Yeah those LEDs are nice...I added a couple to the rear fenders sorta like the old 4020s from back in the day. Great when I’m out after dark. I haven’t check voltage yet but I will do so later this week. Thanks for the input, electrical work is not my forte. Other wise I got my fresh valve stems and hubcaps on and I really like the results!


Edit: why is this picture upside down? Uploaded from Australia or something maybe....

Hmmm......

So apparently I have rims that are 3/4 shorter than stock.

To fix this I will be buying a set of lock collars (cause spacers cost way more and they both will work the same, not using the collar’s lock just its length) Needless to say, I have about 200 lbs gross on each spindle (with the blower mounted, and this figure is slightly overdone just for my peace of mind) Will a spacer of this length risk damage? I have 1” spindles as mentioned.

Also, I have alignment issues in the front. The tie rod and drag link are adjustable. I am dangerously close to having scrub issues (~1/4” clearance) on the left tire, and around 1” on the right, and this is at lock on both sides. Toe-in is under 1/4” and there is no obvious sign of bending in the drag link or tie rod. Should I try to adjust the drag link to get a more equalized clearance, or does this sound like another issue?
Thanks for any and all help given!

Just remembered that MTD uses a different rim offset than normal, hence the shorter spindle. Still unsure about the spacers though, think they will hold but I would really like some kind of second opinion if it’s possible.

Well, it looks like the old girl is getting ill.

Engine is burning oil. Took out the plugs and there was oil buildup on the threads. Sounds to me like some slight oil seepage.

I looked and a set of rings for both pistons is 86 dollars. Not sure if I want to cough that up, especially since with head gaskets that runs out to 136 dollars. Might consider a repower at that point.

But, compression feels fine, and there is only a bit of smoke at first fire, so I think it’s not worth worrying about yet.

Maybe I’ll try that synthetic 5w30 or something.

Anybody else have 10w30 conventional doing this over 80 degrees?
Still curious about spacers too if anybody knows anything.

10w30 should be fine. I sometimes run just sae30. I’m not concerned with running synthetic in mine. I do add a zync additive to my oppys.

Spacers? Talking wheel spacers? I do on kal.

Yessir wheel spacers. I want to run 3/4 long spacers on my 1” spindles but I wanted to make sure that will be fine with 200 lbs max on each spindle gross. I’ve never run spacers so I thought I’d check and make sure this is adequate. Thanks for the input!

Thought today I’d go and give you guys something to chew on:


Before: 



After:

Not a whole lot of external difference even with the rear fenders redone. But, she runs and goes much better than the day I got her so hey, progress is happening.

Well I probably deserve a slap in the face. This is a tough post.

Was out riding down the light line a while ago and I gues I was tired or something because I tried to change ranges subconsciously while I was still moving at about 4 miles an hour. I ground the gears and panicked and put it back in low. This happened twice.

I KNEW BETTER! Why the I did that I don’t know, I was in a perfectly sound mental state and I knew by heart not to change ranges while moving, why my head tried it I don’t know. Not how I try to treat my pride and joy.

Damage report: Clicks in gear when being pushed. Silent in neutral, don’t hear anything while moving, so probably only 1 tooth per gear. Evidently there is probably a chipped or broken tooth in the 1st and second gear train. No metal flakes in the dipstick but I may take a further sample.

Options: limited. I can’t find a gear set anywhere, the only feasible replacement is a parts tractor and change the entire transaxle, at best $200, might be able to make something back if I sell off some other parts. Maybe I could try and have the gears brazed and reground but that wouldn’t be too cheap either I suspect and there wouldn’t be any guarantees.

Sigh, well, what do I do? Run the tranny until it grenades? Hope that by some miracle I can afford a parts tractor?

Although I haven’t pushed it in gear before so maybe the issue is older than I thought. Slim to none chance though.

Not sure why you quoted yourself.  I can remove that if you like. I'd say keep running, but keep an eye out for a parts machine?  Since you can see the oil, I'm guessing drain and refill and check for chunks?  If only the click, it could be a dimple created that may self clearance over time?  I don't know, I guess I am talking out my tailpipe now.

Must have hit quote and not edit, whoops. If you could get rid of that I’d appreciate it. Yeah I’m going to run it for a while still cause parts machines are expensive. It occurred to me that maybe I could be hearing the pump’s valves or something since there wouldn’t be a whole lot of fluid in the pump to make the valves quiet, I don’t know though. I will definitely change the filter, and I will probably drain the oil. It’s only a few months old so no need to replace it I think but I will look for chunkies or flakes when I do that.