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

looks like your moving right along ! i can't wait to get mine to a point where i can take it for a rip.

I am indeed but it's more of a crunch to get past the proof of concept stage and get certain things straitened away, I want to get back to work on The Warhorse too so I can actually drive it! Lol. The Mud Duck is disabled atm for some much needed attention before i can drive it around and test it further, that will be covered in an update in the next day or 2.

I got some tinkering done today!

I worked on the throttle creeping down, the link has a flanged washer so what I did was slowly file it down until there was a slight bit of resistance when the bolt is tightened down...


...then hooked up the springs and reinstalled the throttle speed limiter (rod) as shown in the diagram in the previous post...



...installed the new pair of belts and aligned the pulley...




...and decided to to re-mock up the battery tray to figure it and the fuel tank out. A standard sized lawn tractor battery will be too tall to work but there's a great variety of different sized ones at my local auto parts store so I'll go check some out and see which one I like best.




The fuel tank that goes with the engine won't fit beside the battery, it's close but there's not enough room between the dash and engine so it's not going work! I do have a slighter smaller tank on a 8HP B&S I could swap for but I'd rather not lose capacity so I  mocked up the tank for The Warhorse... it's so close I can taste it but it's just not going to work either! There is a tank that someone mounted behind the seat/under the fender that I'm sure would fit but I want to leave it as a reserve tank so I think what I'll do is hit up the salvage yard and see what I can come up with!




I was going to start reconfiging the dashboard controls and thought it was made out of fiberglass which would've made it easy to fill in the holes and re-drill but it's actually cast aluminum which is cool! I'm going to make a full sized filler panel out of this aluminum diamond plate I had bought to make a skid plate for my Honda Z50. I removed the dashboard (only 5 nuts) so I can design a template out of cardboard inside where it's warm and comfy! Lol



That's all for now, I'm waiting on parts to arrive for the next big update, they'll hopefully be here tonight or early tomorrow!

This probably won’t work for you, but I’m going to use a 1 gallon plastic gas can as a tank on the rat rod.

For sure it could work but I'd rather find one out of a lawn/garden tractor. It would be really cool to custom build one that would take up every bit of available space as that would mean it would hold a good amount of fuel but I'm just not sure I'm up for the challenge money/time wise, perhaps later this year if I'm feeling ambitious! Lol

Still plugging away slowly but surely!

I made the template, the lines represent the support ribs on the backside. I also made another out of clear plastic so I could play around with the placement of the controls, switches and rivets to keep it as clean as possible.




Then transfered it over once I was as happy with it as I'm ever going to be! Lol




I know it seems silly to jump so far ahead to something that would normally be a finishing touch especially since I've mentioned still being in the proof of concept stage and temporarily setting things up but there's a good reason for it! I want to get all the controls and switches situated in their final location(s) now so I can keep working on the battery/fuel tank situation.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Later!

Very cool, watching that dash for sure. I plan to use aluminum diamond plate for the rat rod. Glad you are going first.

All of my gas tanks in my junkyard were cracked or strangely shaped or too tall. The little gas can came to me free from a neighbor who moved and gave me a treasure trove of stuff. It fit the odd shaped space perfectly.

I wonder if it would be better to put a reserve under the hood and use the one in the rear as the primary? Seems nice and large and I find opening the hood and trying to refill gas around a hot engine to be a pain but that’s just my 2c.

Nice work on the new dash, gonna look very professional I suspect

Nevadablue wrote:

Very cool, watching that dash for sure. I plan to use aluminum diamond plate for the rat rod. Glad you are going first.

All of my gas tanks in my junkyard were cracked or strangely shaped or too tall. The little gas can came to me free from a neighbor who moved and gave me a treasure trove of stuff. It fit the odd shaped space perfectly.

Well then follow me! I show you the way! Lol. The jerry can is the perfect style for your rat rod build, it fits the theme well!

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

I wonder if it would be better to put a reserve under the hood and use the one in the rear as the primary? Seems nice and large and I find opening the hood and trying to refill gas around a hot engine to be a pain but that’s just my 2c.

Nice work on the new dash, gonna look very professional I suspect

That rear tank I suspect is for the original 12hp Wisconsin (relocated of course) and isn't a terrible size but the 16hp B&S I'm sure is going to be a thristy motor so I want as much fuel on board as I can get! Fuelling underhood doesn't bother me I have no choice with my G10 and I have one of those massive Flo&Go fuel tanks (on wheels) with the gas station style pump handle, I got sick of spilling/wasting gas using jerry cans.

Thanks man I appreciate it and it is coming along really well I'm really happy with it so far! I have the ignition switch  and start button to finish up on then I'm posting the update so stay tuned for more! Lol

I had a good and productive day today! The dashboard is fully functional and ready for installation (tomorrow), then to start hooking things up!


Once I cut out the initial shape it was time for a quick test fit.




All shaping work from this point on was done with hand files removing a little tiny bit at a time then fitting and repeating the process over and over and over again, I started it off a little too big on purpose so I could slowly shape it until it JUST fit in so there's no ugly gaps around the outside.


I left the factory edge along the bottom and slowly worked my way down and a little in from the sides, shaping the corners as I went...



... and riveted it place once I was happy with the fit! If you look close you can see the spots I countersunk the rivets because of the pattern being in the way.



Then I cut the hole for the ammeter and mocked it up on the tractor for a quick looksee... I'm lovin' it!



The sun was going down and it was getting cold so I brought it inside to install the throttle, choke, ignition and start (button) and that's where I've left off for now. The whole process starting with the template and ending here took probably 4 working hours, but it was worth it!


The push button from the Line Ward was too big and ugly to fit in very well so I installed the little black momentary contact button (top left) that I had in stock and will need to use it to trigger a solenoid for start function.  Also on the to do list is to grind down some of the diamonds under the flapper (bottom left) so it sits flush and secure!  I haven't decided yet if I'll use the light built into the switch or a separate pilot light to indicate that ignition is on,  no biggie I have lots of time to figure that kind of stuff out I got the important stuff done! As you can see there's lots of available space for more switches but until I'm sitting in front of it on the tractor I can't decide where to put them...

 Here's the list:

- Headlights
- Horn
- Running Lights
- Front Aux Light
- Rear Aux Light
- Rock Lights (maybe)(probably).



Well there it is! I'm very happy with how it turned out, let me know what you think!

You can find a link to the red flapper switch by clicking here.

Very nice!  Love it.

MightyRaze wrote:

Very nice!  Love it.

Thank you sir!

Did you buy that diamond plate or is that salvage?

TechnoChicken wrote:

Did you buy that diamond plate or is that salvage?

I got it at Home Depot a few months ago, I think it was about $20.

A few days ago I decided it was time to have a look at the front wheel bearings before I get too crazy driving it around and plowing snow (for fun).  One wheel had a little play but the other I could see inside the wheel hub! Maybe this is why...? Lol.





It's been like that since I got and by the looks of the spindles it appears this beast has blown more than just a set or 2 over its lifetime!


Front right spindle, not so bad...




... but the front left, oh boy!




It took some time with files and sandpaper but I finally got it cleaned up well enough that new bearings could slide over without grabbing or binding.


Speaking of bearings I scored new (cheapies) on Amazon for only $15! I don't expect much out of them except to do their job for now and then become spares once I get quality ones this summer.



The bearings in the front left wheel (the one with the thrashed spindle) went in fine but the right side hub sustained some damage from the blown out wheel bearing, check out the lip that's ground down that's brutal! Luckily the bearing on that side went in after cleaning up the inside of the bore a little, when I'm ready to clean up and paint the wheels I'll do some repair on it first in the form of welding to build it up then grinding/sanding it down. For now it should be good,  I won't be too hard on the tractor yet anyhow.



Even though the spindles are pretty heavy duty and have held up to who knows what kind(s) of abuse over the years I think I'll probably reinforce them to be safe, with gussets most likely.



It's interesting to see this kind of positive camber on a tractor isn't it? Maybe it was designed to be like that so when there's alot of weight on the front the axle flattens out some (like a long hauling trailer) and corrects the camber?  Maybe they flatten out some when turning (will check tomorrow)?



Thoughts/comments on that anyone?!

You can find a link to the wheel bearings by clicking here.

My thoughts are “Good looking tractor!”

Body filler in the steering wheel, a good sanding and then paracord wrap. Should look killer. There are multi color (like silver and black) cords available that would go good with that dash.

Lol thanks but I meant thoughts on that amount of positive camber on the front wheels and why!?

I was thinking more along the lines of fiberglass resin and torn up shredded mat snot/slime like junk I mix up for certain things like this but I do like the paracord idea and will keep it in mind!

If I’m correct it’s to prevent under steer. Tires dig in rather than slide. You see it on the older 2nd farm tractors sometimes.

for the steering wheel a freind of mine used jb weld and tin foil tape! he used a heat gun to remove the foil tape after the jb weld dried then used more jb weld for filler and sanded it down

I started working on a wiring diagram yesterday for this beast and finished it up today, there's not a stitch of wiring left in the tractor itself so I'm starting from scratch! I used these diagrams as a base to come up with my own, you'll notice some things X'd out as they don't apply to what I'm doing.


I thought I'd be smart and try an color coat based on usage but it didn't end up exactly as I envisioned. No matter, this is what I came up with (legend below):

- RED is main power
- ORANGE is power after accessories
- GREEN are "trigger" wires
- BLUE is "other" I wasn't sure how to classify
- BLACK are grounds


For the ignition ON/OFF and START functions my original design wouldn't work, I realized power would've been fed TO the coil and I don't want that! Lol. I've modified the design so the ignition switch still activates the relay for coil KILL function by using ground as an input on pin 30, the ignition switch also enables the push button to trigger the starting solenoid. It's definitely more complex than it has to be but the ignition switch has its own pilot light and I've had to take these measures to keep the option to use it open. Phew! Crisis averted, I'm glad I go over things several times before jumping in! Lol




Most of the the rest is pretty self explanatory aside from the insert which is a pilot light circuit I'd like to test out and see if it works. I do have an ammeter to show if the battery is charging/discharging but I won't be keeping my eyes glued to it and would like a visual warning in case it stops charging so what I'm hoping for is it to come on if the system stops charging!



How it works is the BLUE wire is where the generator sends the power it's making to the voltage regulator to power everything and charge the battery so that is where I will get the signal to open 87A (Normally Closed) on the relay, power for the light comes from L (LOAD) on the voltage regulator. If the generator stops generating power the relay will turn off closing the circuit on 87a and turning the light on! I'm pretty sure I've gotten it right but before I get into it I'll do some testing with my multimeter and make adjustments as needed.

Well enough of the planning and working on it, time to drive the thing! Lol

I installed a temporary battery and wired it up quick, just enough to start it (electrically) and have a kill switch hooked up...



...then took it for a blast around the yard and up and down the street plus a little carb tuning while I was at it. The throttle is still creeping down on me so I need to sort that out (again), I like the push/pull for the throttle and now that I've designed the dashboard for it there's not really any going back! Lol.

im really loving the build all these old tractors makes me really wanna do a restomod like this. my next build is gonna be a craftsman just havent decided the details but its gonna get a dash like that!

Budget_gokart wrote:

im really loving the build all these old tractors makes me really wanna do a restomod like this. my next build is gonna be a craftsman just havent decided the details but its gonna get a dash like that!

Thanks dude! Glad I could give some inspiration! Restomods can be alot of work and expensive I'll tell ya that! Worth it though, every last bit of it!


On another note, when I had another look at my wiring diagram I noticed a fatal flaw in the ignition/start circuit and have corrected it. I left the old diagram up as a reference and explained the modifications in the post.

Thanks for the work you are sharing. This is a fun build. You have more snow than we do. Ours is finally wearing out.

Looking good ! the Diamond plate dash turned out nice. iv'e worked with some in the past on a golf cart project i built, and ran into the same thing as you where i had to grind down some of the diamonds to get switches to fit right, but worked out. a little advice for you and anyone else that's going to use diamond plate. what i did was buy a cheap old truck tool box and cut it up. some times you can find junk ones for free !

diddie wrote:

Looking good ! the Diamond plate dash turned out nice. iv'e worked with some in the past on a golf cart project i built, and ran into the same thing as you where i had to grind down some of the diamonds to get switches to fit right, but worked out. a little advice for you and anyone else that's going to use diamond plate. what i did was buy a cheap old truck tool box and cut it up. some times you can find junk ones for free !

Yep, that’s how I got mine. WITH a trailer made from a truck frame and utility bed. The aluminum is  perfect and the metal utility bed is giving me great sheet steel for my builds. Keep an eye out for ‘junk’.