Brianator's "Mud Duck"- Tractor Recovery Rig/Mudder

Hey just so you know man, I know a guy down here (I'm buying some really cool stuff that I will be showing later) who has a bolens with the same (or similar) hydro as the one you have that he's taking to scrap, it has no hood, engine or front wheels but it looks like it might be decent for parts, let me know if you're interested...
Other than that, great job on this rig, all you need is some more tractors to recover!

Thanks for the tip @TechnoChicken and yes I may be... I'll pm you about it.

Thanks man she's coming along and I'm really happy with how well it's all coming together, I'm hoping I may actually make a few bucks with it if I see someone broken down or stuck on the trails on their ATV, RTV or dirtbike and I'm also willing work for fuel! Lol.

No real updates on it unfortunately I've been designing and building a tire bead breaker, I'll make a separate thread for it once it's done but I have started thinking/planning/working on a front bumper/winch plate and the mounting for it. I'll post that update once I make some decent progress!

Okay, so I've finally gotten a start on the front bumper! Today I found the perfect piece in my scrap pile to use for the lower mount, it's a sway bar from a ATV frame I bought just to hack up and use for stuff like this!


This is a part of another previously hacked up ATV frame that will be further hacked up to harvest the long bent tubes. Here's a little mockup to get/give and idea of where I'm going with it.



It will be a stinger style bumper with the winch mounted to it and will also act as a skid plate, here's the piece that will go on top, once I hack it off of course...



...and here is what will be the upper mount that bolts on where the hood hinge is bolted to (bottom of picture). That whole bracket deal was a homemade lift device for the hay fork I got with the tractor, I cut away everything I didn't want as it would've been in the way anyhow. I had considered utilizing it for the bumper but decided it would've looked like junk and out of place and figured I could do better which is when I found the sway bar!



The plan is to use the implement mounting points on the axle for the pivot point and a piece of thick walled tubing I have with a 5/8" ID, slice it to be 5 separate tubes (3 welded on upper mount and 2 on the bumper - or vise versa) and use 5/8" round stock as a pin through all 5 tubes to hold it up/release it, kind of like a hinge the same as a door hinge found in your home but designed as a lock instead. Because the grille/hood opens forward I need the front bumper to be able to swing down out of the way quickly and easily so this is what I've come up with and I think it's going to work out perfectly!


Then I stripped the sway bar, cut it in half, drilled the holes out to 1/2" and made this jig so I can get to building! I used 1/2" round stock and some locking collars I had to make it...



...then straitened the mounting tabs and called it a day.



Now that I've gotten a start on it I can keep picking away at it! I've also started thinking about and planning the rear wheel lift/yolk but I need to get to the salvage yard and start looking at trailer hitches to see which one I like the best as it will be the foundation for not only it but also for a tow dolly and any other attachments I can dream up for it! Lol.

That's it for today guys, still lots to do but I'm getting there!

Holy Build Off countdown clock! Only 252 days left I better get a move on!  Lol


I mounted the bumper upper mount plate...



...and did another quick mock up now that the brackets are all cut off the frame to get an idea of the angle(s) I like.



Then I cut the cross tubes off the frame so I just had the curved pieces and also cut the bends off the sway bar pieces then used hose clamps to hold them together so I could mock them up and get and idea of the depth.



Turns out all I really need from the sway bar is the mounting tabs and enough round tube to slide inside the other piece. I happen to have a small tubing expander that I used to open it up just enough that the mounting tab would fit in snug then drilled a hole on each side so I can weld the pieces together there and all the way around the seam.




Another mock up. It's way too tall, looks silly and out of proportion...



...so I cut 2" off the tubes and tried again, still not liking it...



... so I took another 1" of the tubes, had a look and am liking it better!



So obviously it's not going to be an actual stinger, more just inspired by one but I'm liking it more after every adjustment. Something I've noticed is that the shorter it gets the more the upright tubes lean inwards to match the upper piece and I like that, when they were 3" taller the uprights were almost strait up and down and really didn't look very good so I may start trimming in 1/2" increments until I'm happy with it but I'll need to mock up the front aux light(s) first. I can't really go much further until my 5/8" drill bit and welding wire get here anyhow but it's all good! Lol

looking good ! i like the look of it.

Thanks @diddie! It's not quite a "stinger" (WAY too short) and also not quite a "bull bar" (way to low) so I'm going to call it a "boar bar"! It's just about the right height to cream a wild pig if it charges me so there you have it! Lol

Well, It's been a bit of an adventure today I'll tell yous that! Last night I mounted the aux lights on the winch fairlead as a test then this morning mocked up the bumper pieces to see how it would look/fit...



...then I reinforced the mounting tabs with some 1/4" steel (just tack welded for now)...


...set the pieces up in the jig, tack welded it together and mocked it up on the tractor.




Despite all my measurements and carefully eyeballing it, it wasn't as strait as I would've liked so I tweaked it a little then added more tack welds and it was only marginally better so I blew it all apart, made some adjustments and tried again. Nope still not liking it so I blew it apart again and started over... after a couple more failed attempts I decided the last one was fairly close and that what I would do is fully weld the whole bit and then I'll adjust and tweak it with a huge prybar and a sledgehammer! Lol. But that part comes tomorrow then I can start figuring out winch mounting and the upper mount.

It's quite frustrating doing something over and over again  I wish I would've just did on the tractor from the start! Then as I start fully welding it my welder starting having wire feed issues and would keep stopping as I was welding... turned out there was a broken piece of old wire in the feed tube causing it to jam! Lol

Nice fab work. Good ideas all around. I like big hammers and big pry bars. They break things nicely.

Thanks @Nevadablue and yup, if it breaks apart then it wasn't strong enough to begin with and I'll have to do it again!  Lol

Well, not a whole lot going on with the build this past week but I did tinker with the bumper and winch a little bit here and there:


I cut the bracket out of the top of the hoop, fully welded it all together and tweaked it into shape/position, checking steering at the same time. It won't go full lock by the time it hits the lower bar but I won't lose TOO much steering so it should be good!



The square LEDs as seen in the previous post weren't allowing me to get the winch placement where I wanted it so I found some online that are small and low profile (it's mounted on the winch fairlead) for pretty cheap that did the trick! Now the tires should clear the winch with ease even after I put taller tires on and I have plenty of room behind it to fab up the upper mount.




For a little 15w light it's actually pretty bright! I'm going to use the other one on the back but I'll need to build the wheel lift first so I know where I can mount it.



Finishing up the front bumper is going to be a long and slow process as I need to put cross tubes/steel plate in for the winch, figure out the upper mount and add reinforcements everywhere I can so I imagine it's something that I'll pick away at here and there between other things but it'll get done eventually!  Lol

You can find a link to the LED lights by clicking here.

Nice work man, are you going to add more lights in the holes in the hood?

TechnoChicken wrote:

Nice work man, are you going to add more lights in the holes in the hood?

Thank you and I sure am! I had put some in place (but not wired) as seen HERE but had to remove them to do work on the hood. I've been playing around with the idea of a different mounting system and have been tinkering with one, I couldn't find a matching bulb to replace the one that broke so I had to buy a pair and would like to avoid more broken bulbs in the future. What I'd like to find are 4.5" automotive adjustable buckets/brackets but I'm not having any luck yet and I know they were made for some older cars!

IF you want the top one LED as well.  These are the ones I have on the Dirty Rat.

PAR36 LED Landscape Light Bulb, 6W 600LM, 6000K, 36Watt Halogen Landscape Bulb Equivalent, 12V AC/DC, PAR36 LED Bulb for Tractor Light, Off-Road Vehicles, RV Vehicles, 2 Pack - - AmazonSmile

I DID @MightyRaze and was looking at similar ones but... they didn't have quite what I was looking for! I have something special planned... but I'll have to leave you in suspense for now! Lol

I do appreciate the lead though!

I picked up a trailer hitch (and some square tubing) at the salvage yard today, this will be not just for towing but more importantly the base for the wheel yolk/lift I'm going to build.


Finding the right one was a little difficult because I wanted it to be square tube and have mounting plates with square cut holes (for relocation) and be a class 1 or 2 so it's overall smaller, I spotted this and thought it would be perfect! Who would even attempt to tow with this is a very brave soul I have to say, good thing for those bolts because the welds on both ends are broken! Lol. It being such a hack job turned out good for me because I got it way cheaper ($30 complete) than he wants for a good one, I need to narrow it anyhow and because I'll be able to take the ends off it will be easier to cut the welds on the mounting plates!

I agree with you on that hitch. As someone who tows a lot, a quality hitch is important. And as a automotive tech. i see a lot of shady hitches on some vehicles. it's kind of scary to see what some people are towing with.

@diddie I hear ya, alot of people neglect their trailers too so I'm always keeping a close eye on vehicles towing just in case. Not only was this hacked together but looks like it was overloaded too because one of the mounting plates and the tongue were bent...some peoples children eh?! Lol.


Well I got it cut apart so it's ready for the next phase, the red lines represent about where I'll cut it down to, it should work out perfect because that's right on the inside of the bends and is a perfect measurement to weld the plates back on for the mounting points in the tractor!


I also scored that A-frame piece (for material) and have been playing around with the front bumper a little too but nothing worth updating yet, hopefully soon though!

Like many others I haven't got much of anything done lately, I've been back to work and we're crazy busy so that's really taking it out of me BUT I have been doing alot of thinking and planning plus the acquisition of some parts and supplies!

Some of that thinking got me realizing I'm going to have a problem on my hands in regards to the front bumper/ winch plate... the lower mount is on the axle which flexes but the upper mount only has one place to go and it's solid... the frame! No I'm not welding anything to or modifying the axle, so unless I want the axle to be locked (which I don't) I need flexible links up top that allow for flex but will still make it quick and easy to undo to swing the front bumper down to be able to open the hood and it needs to be strong! I'm thinking of making tierod like links out of hiem joints with a 5/8" ID on the ball(s) on each side, the lower mounting plates will probably need to be replaced with hiems also. It appears quite a few hours will end up going into it so it's going to be more of a side project, if I can figure out a way to illustrate what I'm thinking I'll post it at some point.

I'm ditching the Dunlop ATV tires for something a little more "tractory" that will provide great traction in all situations and handle the weight of towing another tractor no problem, yous going to have to wait until the time comes for that though...it's worth the wait, trust me!  Lol. I will say the new tires are wider (10.5") and require the 8.5" Cub Cadet wheels which brings me to my next point... they have too much backspacing which puts the tires into the fuel tank! Here's the plan:

I need to push the tank over a little to center it which gains me about a 1/2" on the one side, but it's not enough...

So some 5/16" thick wheel spacers SHOULD give me the clearance I need, if not I fold the outer seams of the tank inwards to get it...


... which presents another issue, the wheel bolts aren't long enough to accommodate to wheel spacers! Arg! So what I'm doing is using grade 8, 7/16-20 bolts (to match the thread pattern) that are 2" long and will be threaded in from the backside to act as wheel studs! Next problem... the bolts aren't fully threaded so I have to thread them to the base or they won't work.



Wheel nuts are a whole other animal. Automobile nuts with a 3/4" hex have too fat of a taper to work with the tractor wheels and the only tapered nuts at the hardware store are "stover nuts" which are stamped locking nuts which I'll need to run a tap through. The taper is a close match and I can work with them if I have to but I'm hoping to find some ATV/UTV/RTV nuts that are perfect, that will be my scavenger hunt for this week!


I'm really hoping to get some serious work done on it soon and hopefully put it to work this weekend by grading my driveway with the plow blade! Lol. It's not ready for a trail ride until I have a way to get it back home if something catastrophic happens, I'm not willing to leave it on public trails and risk it being stolen so I think the next big project will be a tow dolly that I can use with my other Bolens.

That's all for now, until next time!

Click here for a link to the wheel spacers.

Well not a whole lot doing here but I did get all the new bolts threaded to the base and did some research on GT/LTs that use 7/16-20 wheel nuts. Turns out Simplicity seems to be the only one and I found a set of 10 on eBay and ordered them up, should be here next week so I need to get started on cleaning up the Cub Cadet wheels and the new tires mounted, we're so busy at work I've just been drained and haven't got much done!


I let the Mud Duck sit for 3 or 4 weeks to see what would happen on startup and go figure.... fired right the eff up like I had just shut it off so I'm happy about that! Lol. Man I'm so eager to get it out for a shakedown run but need to get all 4 new tires and the hood pins installed first, maybe I should tighten up the steering a bit first too, the tractor actually has some pep to it! Lol

I use the same on my Murray GT hubs.  I bought a bag of new ones a year ago when I put the hubs on Lil's Red.  The Dirty Rat has the same as well on it. 

AmazonSmile: Twenty (20) 7/16-20 Zinc Plated Open End Acorn Lug Nuts | 3/4" Hex (BCP1075) : Automotive

I had got some of those from the auto parts store but the taper was too large to go in the tapered hole of the Cub Cadet wheel so I grabbed those "stover" nuts to modify but they won't have many threads left once I'm done and I didn't like that. That's when I found the Simplicity nuts and the taper looks very skinny and similar to the CC and Bolens wheel bolts so I'm hoping for the best!

Thanks for the tip though I do appreciate it!

you're not doing too shabby yourself buddy closing in on 4500 views pretty impressive !

Alright I FINALLY have something update worthy, it's not alot but it is a huge step in the right direction!

The Simplicity wheel nuts came in today and they're perfect! Check out the difference between the standard 3/4" hex automotive nut and the Simplicity which is also a 3/4" hex. I didn't actually measure it, I just used the caliper for reference at the taper.



So I installed the wheel "studs"...



...and had to bore out the wheel spacers just a hair to fit.



Here's where things get interesting... I was planning on using the Cub Cadet 8.5" wide wheels designed for 10-10.5" tires that have 3" backspacing and why I've gone through all the trouble of the wheel "studs" and spacers BUT my friend and neighbor @CodeRed (who still is too shy or something to post! Lol) sold me an almost brand new set of wheels with 2.5" of backspacing and I'm STILL going to have to do some work for a little more clearance so I'm super grateful he sold them to me, I don't know how I would've accomplished gaining another 1/2" per side! Lol. I bought the wheels only, they were spares he had for his Craftsman DYT6000 (will be turned into a offroader soon, maybe then he'll post?!), the tires we're going to cut some lugs from and install on his rig.



With the studs and spacers installed I test fit the new wheels with the Carlisle Turf Savers to see what I'm up against... I was able to move the rear fuel tank over for clearance on both sides but the inside of the rear left tire is touching the under-seat tray that the tire inflator is on so I'll need to trim that back and elongate the hole for the fuel filler neck... it never ends! Lol. Sorry, no pics I forgot but there'll be more opportunities because the new tires I purchased are a little bit wider than the Carlisle even though they're both 23x10.5-12...


Back when I installed and realized that the Dunlop KT415's weren't going to cut it I dove DEEP into research for a couple weeks, found and ordered the perfect tires that look tractory, should do well in ALL situations, are 4 ply tires designed to handle over 1200lbs each (important for towing) and I was able to get matching fronts (16x6.5-8 ). I present to you the Kenda K502 Terra Trac super aggressive turf tires that apparently do a good job at not tearing up the lawn while providing excellent traction even in the snow! I had to put a Carlisle Turf (almost new) beside it to show just how awesome these 502s are!




Oh ya, these baby's are going to take me places and handle whatever I can throw at 'em, they'd better for what I spent on them! Lol. I never intended to buy a new set for the Mud Duck, I was actually against it at the start but wanted a matching set for the front and rear and needed something good that can handle the weight and abuse so here we are! Lol. I got the beads to seat with minimal effort so tubeless I shall go! I will be designing a bead breaker for the trail that allows me to use the tractors weight just in case something happens that a tire plug can't take care of so I can break the bead and fanagle a tube in there! I doubt it will happen but it's better to be prepared right!?

That's all for now guys but I will say it feels good to have gotten something accomplished, hopefully I can get more done soon! Need to get those new rears fit for clearance so I can test them out!  Lol

Alrighty time for another update, the Kendas are now on the rear!

Here's the piece of the under seat tray I had to trim. I'll probably weld a piece back in to box it in when I'm finalizing everything.




Then I bolted the new wheels and tires on, adjusted the rear fuel tank to be centered between them and ended up with about 1/8" of clearance on each side! That's a tight! Lol.




I had to elongate the hole in the fender pan for the fuel filler neck, it ain't pretty but I'll clean it up and make it nicer before paint even though it won't really be seen.




Man they look good I think! They're going to be mud slingers with all that extra tire hanging out that's for sure! When I torqued the wheels down I lost a little bit more clearance so it's even tighter now BUT I can fold the edges of the fuel tank in a little if I have to so overall I've accomplished my goal!



Feels great to get them on finally I've had them tucked away for a couple months now! Lol. Next I'll have to tackle the fronts and install the hood pins so I can get it out for a rip!

That's all for today, let me know what you think!

Well heck I've opened up a can of worms tonight!

I peeled one of the tires off and as I was cleaning it I noticed this...


Turns out it's a blessing in disguise though because those wheels are too skinny for the new matching front tires anyhow!

I quickly took the wheels off The Warhorse , swapped bearings over and was able to install them by using spare bearings as spacers which means the hubs need to be wider to be proper so I'll be on the hunt for new front wheels now! Lol

But at least the Mud Duck is still mobile for now... crisis averted!

I'll admit, those ATV tires look pretty bada$$ on there but I I didn't spend good money on matching front Kendas for nothing and I need these for The Warhorse. Oh welly, I'll get it sorted out and maybe be lucky enough to take one of them for a trail ride one day! Lol.

Gotta love rims that get the slime treatment lol

I'm not so sure they were Slimed but maybe they were at one point? They had tubes and they were crusted to the rim pretty badly! Lol. The rear wheels were pretty bad too, it was a working tractor on a farm it's whole life so it's taken alot of abuse and had alot of repairs over the years!