"The WarHorse"

Brianator Light Mod

This was a completely impromptu mod I decided to do, I was at the auto parts store and the idea to make my headlights high/low beam (just because why not!?) jumped into my head so I grabbed the dual contact pigtails while I was there. The bulbs I had in mind can be found at the end of this thread (How I Converted My 1156 Sockets to 1157 for High/Low Beam) but then I wondered if there was such a thing as a dual color bulb for some attitude!? Lol.  After some research I discovered there is, they're called switchback bulbs but they're only available in 1157 style (BAY15D base) AND only available in white/amber... I was hoping for white/red but beggars can't be choosy so I pulled the trigger and got the white/amber! Light output isn't great or terrible but it's plenty enough to see plus once I restore the lenses it will improve and I can always add auxiliary lights in the future. The ON/OFF/ON switch(es) won't be in until next month so I used cheater leads to test and showcase them. As an added bonus the light that leaks from around the sockets and also reflects off the inside of the hood (when it's open) acts as an underhood work light!

I'm calling this the Brianator Light Mod unless/until someone pipes up and says it's already been done this way. Without further ado here they are!

Love it!  Looks pretty cool to me.

Thanks Mighty! I'm going to be borrowing your taillight setup by using the 3/4" clearance lights I absolutely love it! I've ordered a set with 5 red, 5 amber and 5 white for $20!

Electrical - Part 1

Well, I got a little bit done on The Warhorse today!



I removed all the cutting deck components.



Installed a 6 port fuse box



Installed 2 SPDT switches in place of the headlight switch (one for the dual colored headlights and the other for front/rear auxiliary lights) but not before I expanded the opening to hold both.





I figured out where i want to install a new choke cable and some switches. The switch panel and switches I bought for an offroad go kart project I abandoned last year and decided to use them for this build, it worked out great because I was able to use it to cover up an ugly spot on the dash that I have no idea what was there for! I forgot to get a pic of the bit I cut out but if you look close you can see my Sharpie outline,  let your imagination do the rest! Lol. The panel will be painted and labeled in the future.




I also recreated the front wheel bearing(s) install for completeness of the build thread. Not bad for a few hours of distracted tinkering!  Lol.

Front Wheel Bearing Upgrade

Here's how I made the (8") front wheels fit on the ol' girl, it was actually the first thing I did to her but that was before I started the thread and I didn't take pictures as I went along so I tore it half apart to document it. Not sure exactly what they came off of, a friend gave them to me a couple years ago. Could've been a golf cart or an old garden tractor? Either way I'm glad I grabbed them because they've worked out beautifully!


The original bushings had a 1- 3/8" OD with 3/4" ID, considering my axles are 5/8" that's obviously not going to work out!



I did find 1-3/8"x5/8" bushings online but I continued to hunt around and found the perfect ball bearings at Princess Auto for only $5 each, they're 35mm OD which is darn close and they fit in the hubs nice and snug!


I didn't want to risk them shifting so I made some spacer sleeves out of tubing for a portable garage I had laying around that just happened to be the perfect size to fit snug in the hubs and rest against the outer races of the bearings. The wheel hubs have grease fittings so I can see myself removing the inner bearing seals and adding a inner sleeve (to take up some airspace) in the future but for now I'm very happy with the working solution!



Once I spaced out the wheels as far as possible with shim washers there was just enough clearance between the wheel and front axle to not cause an issue UNTIL turned at full lock... then they make contact as seen (circled witness mark). For now it's good, I'll tackle that later on as I'm sure the tires will also rub the hood once the axle twists.

Nice work!

Electrical - Part 2

I was able to get a couple things accomplished today:


Running and brake lights installed à la @MightyRaze, I did warn you I was going to do it and I didn't hear any nays so I hope you don't mind! Lol.






They fit a bit loose in the 3/4" holes even though they're advertised as 3/4"... so I used a bit of electrical tape around the bulb to fix that! I have a brake switch from an ATV I can use and a perfect spring to match it but that will come later, I need to do the LH clutch/brake pedal swap first.





Next up was the master power disconnect switch, I figured better safe than sorry in case a hot wire gets pinched to ground. It's rated at 100amps but I'll be testing and keeping an eye on it until I feel it truly is up to the task, I installed it where the key switch went by opening up the hole to 7/8" to match then drilled the mounting holes and did a test fit. It stuck out too far for my liking...  



I hatched a plan to use these 1/4" carriage bolts to make mounting "stand outs" and set it back as much as possible but in true Brianator fashion I had to mess with that too because the bolts didn't fit... when I drilled out the brass rings I discovered they were holding the two halves together!  Lol



No big deal really, once I made sure it will still work properly I drilled and riveted the halves together (not pictured) with 1/8" aluminum rivets for extra strength and ease of handling even though I knew the "stand outs" would hold it together no problem.



I adjusted the depth to my liking, secured it and called it good for now!





For those of you following you'll notice nothing is being wired or hooked up yet (aside from temporarily) and that's because until I have everything that needs to be wired situated, I won't be able to build a shopping list of wire required. That's all for now!

Lookie what came in the mail today! It'll be wired up with the running lights because that's what makes the most sense to me!

If you ever decide you want to get away from the spacers I found these by the way.
1 3/8 od bearings

Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately they wouldn't have worked for me because of the flange, I forgot about that until now!  Lol. When I test fit the wheel to see if they would even clear the axle I realized I could never even put a pin through the spindle to hold the wheel on let alone use washers. Needed to be flush mount or cut the hub shorter or cut/weld a new (longer) spindle.

That was a excellent tip and a good catch on your part,  I truly appreciate it and wish I could take that advice!!

Dude, I love the color chose, totaly something i would do

Thanks! But are you talking about the paint or the headlights? Lol

both are cool i like the blue paint

Budget_gokart wrote:

both are cool i like the blue paint

It's all yours! Lol

Securing The Hood


It seems to be a common thing to make sure your hood is good and secure when off roading your tractor (and it makes good sense!) so I started looking around at different hood pins, flip style latches etc. and came across these Jeep hood latches and thought they'd be brilliant! Based on the dimensions and the design of my tractor I figured I could make them work and I did! Not only that but I think they look great, even better than I had imagined and they fit the offroad theme!  


For the first order of business I made a template out of cardboard, not only to mark where to drill but mainly to line it up and be sure it will even work. Turns out there's little to no room for error...




As you can see the holes are quite close to the edges, I had to push the hood down to mark the holes for the upper half or the lower bolt hole would've been out of bounds! Inside the hood I had to remove the random bolt, bend the tab out of the way and trim the washer to be able to secure the one bolt. With that side done it was time to move onto the next!
 




When I closed the hood with the template and lower latch in place it was WAY off from where it should've been as witnessed by the marks to the right of it.



Turns out the sheet metal is beat to crap on the front left corner and pushing the hood and grille way back.  Are these old Sears prone to being bought by people with a habit of sleep-mowing or what!? Lol.


It's supposed to look like this!



After a little tweaking with vise grips to start working the bad kinks out and a bunch of hammer/dolly work I got it straitened and stretched close enough to push the hood forward closer to where it should be.


And that's it, hood latches installed! They feel great, they lock it down good and secure which should mean no rattling! Not that I'll likely hear it over the exhaust but I'm still happy with how they look and work!  

Your really making me wanna hurry up and build my MTD

Very nice work on that! Looks really good.  

Budget_gokart wrote:

Your really making me wanna hurry up and build my MTD

Don't you already have like 9 on the go which is about 50% of all the current builds here! Lol. Just playing around!

Nevadablue wrote:

Very nice work on that! Looks really good.  

Thank you sir, I'm very happy with the results!

Electrical - Part 3

I got a start on some wiring today, I had grabbed a few small bundles of wire while I was at the salvage yard yesterday. I figured with the mess of wire I have kicking around, existing wiring in the tractor that I can use if I choose plus all of this I should be good to go!



First thing I did was install the horn (Hella low tone), wired it to the horn button, temporarily wired the illumination for the horn button to the running light switch and finally wired them both to the fuse box.



I also made and installed the ground wire for the fuse box and a couple other bits to get ahead of the game. I used red and black cheater leads to power the fuse box,  the green and yellow ones are hooked up to the headlights for testing.  Looks an awful mess right now but it'll be cleaned up nicely in the end.

Looking good man... I like to run horns in all my stuff.  Helps get attention if needed.  Nice bundle of wires there.

MightyRaze wrote:

Looking good man... I like to run horns in all my stuff.  Helps get attention if needed.

Thank you and I couldn't agree more, safety first! The horn is more for fun (and startling people), I'm installing a small (yet loud) car alarm siren hooked up to a tether switch in case something goes wrong. Also hoping I can connect it to kill the engine at the same time as it engages the siren, I think I can pull it off with some thought, testing and a 5 pin relay or 2! I want to paint the underside in blaze orange as well in case it ends up on top of me like that Simpsons episode! Lol.

A horn and hood latches wow that's fancy.

You need one of these stickers

Joe_the_mower_man_1320 wrote:

A horn and hood latches wow that's fancy.

But wait there's more! Lol. I scored a XL ATV cover at Princess Auto for $30!

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

You need one of these stickers

I like that, maybe I should make me one just in case! Lol. I've seen Jeeps with the upside down "If you can read this flip me over" on the windshield and always have a chuckle.

Electrical - Part 4

I got the headlights wired up and tested today after work.




I want all the body panels to be easily removable and not have to fuss around with wires so I'm adding these GM style waterproof connectors to make my life easy. I found a 10 pack on Amazon so for $2.90 per connector that's a small price to pay for some piece of mind! Instead of having 2 loose wires from the switch to the front I used a length of heat shrink tubing to keep them together and keep the wiring clean (as seen in above 2 photos).



I'm pretty particular with my wiring so all the connections I do are soldered and (heat) shrink wrapped, butt connectors are great when you're in a pinch but less than reliable in the long run as I'm sure most if not all of us have learned! I do crimp the end terminals but I heat shrink those over the wires as well, I'll add some dielectric grease to everything to prevent corrosion once all the wiring is complete as a finishing touch.



I also found these nifty wire clips that I'll use throughout the build to keep all the wiring secure.

man my wiring wont ever look that good! i plan to shine my mud mower up for the next car show! i hope my GT is ready for the next one if not my other craftsman should make it