Roper "TrailBlazer"

Yet ANOTHER update on this beast! I was done work early today so I stopped in at a scrapyard that's on my way home and scored a small pile of goodies for $40!

The side panels both have some damage but they're made of fiberglass and that's something I know how to work with so here we go!


A couple pics to show the damage.


I got the matting cut so it was ready to go, mixed up the resin, poured some behind the mount, put a piece of matting around it then clamped the mount down, taped the outside of the bottom corner so I could pack the hole with wet matting, put matting on the inside then peeled the tape, put matting on the outside and kept playing with it until it started to dry and would stay in place. I hustled and did the whole process in about 30 minutes having to mix only one small batch of resin.



About an hour later it was dry enough to drill a new hole in the bottom corner but until I do some sanding and shaping it won't properly fit but at least it's on the tractor so I can have a look, it may be faded but I got one!


I scored factory original hood straps that are in great shape (I did paint the buttons though), not sure why they would be needed for mowing the lawn, the hood is heavy and very unlikely to open on it's own or why mine didn't come with them (from the factory) but I'm happy to have scored them! Really easy to install that's for sure! (I only had to drill 4 holes). I know they're factory because both of the Ropers in the yard had them.


I also found a clutch/brake pedal pad in excellent shape...


...and an actual Roper key!


I also found the Roper running board pads (not sure if I'll use them or not), an almost new ider pulley to replace the worn out one, a Silver Bullet badge for my silver MTD squarebody (I've been calling it the Silver Bullet for a couple weeks now - it will be a race inspired build) and a oil dipstick assembly for an old Briggs flathead vertical shaft.

All in all I'd say that was a ridiculously successful impromptu stop at the yard, good thing I carry a few tools in the work vehicle! Lol.

Well, the last couple evenings I've manged to do a pulley swap on the transaxle! I went from 10" down to 6.5" in hopes of picking up a little speed while not killing a slow 1st gear TOO much, I'd still like to have a crawl speed. The original pulley was a real nightmare to remove but I got it after about an hour and it's undamaged!


I got a weld-on pulley and hub, welded and painted it last night after using rope to figure out approximate belt length...


...and installed it today with a 86" belt. Turns out it not TOO difficult to replace so I went with a low cost Kevlar belt from Princess Auto and will get a spare also. Guess I'll have to make new belt guards which is no big deal, I'll probably tackle that tomorrow and test out the new pulley!

I made the belt guides today, I used bolts on the original bar and it's worked perfect so far!

Once I drilled the holes I welded nuts to the underside of it...


...I welded the upper nuts to the bolts (the washers are floating ones)...


...then cleaned, painted, installed it all and tested it out without the fender pan on so I could keep an eye on it. Of course I forgot to get a picture then so I had to sneak my phone in to get a picture of it installed! Lol.

All I need is a 1/2" socket on a ratchet or a 1/2" wrench to remove the bolts if I need to change the belt, easy peasy! The pulley swap itself is also perfect, in 5th gear it's picked up to a decent pace and 1st gear is still pretty slow for crawling over obstacles. Also my 5th gear, revved up, dump the clutch pop-a-wheelies have gone from 1-2" high to about 5-6" but what's great is I can still ease the clutch out without it instantly grabbing for a smooth takeoff! Hopefully I'll remember to get a picture of me popping a wheelie tomorrow, I was having too much fun to think about it at the time! Lol.


I also made a heatsheild for the exhaust out of leftover galvanized steel that I used to make the rear fuel tank bracket for the Mud Duck. A couple of rivets hold it on and there's about a 1/2" of clearance between it and the floorboard, it's definitely helped ALOT!


Then I decided it was time for some handles! The side handles where parts for a boat ladder (the folding kind) and the rear grab bar was a handle also from a boat which I riveted on. It's meant to be for pulling and not for lifting or it would bend the fender pan.


This rig seems to be working pretty well but I need to get it out on some trails to really test it so I can figure out if it needs the rear end locked or not, those tires hook up really well once I lean my weight over to the side losing traction and I'm not having much trouble getting over stuff.

That's all for now!

Looks great @Brianator!  Not being locked should be fine as long as you don't have to deal with steep hills.  

otherwise...

Lol nice one @MightyRaze!

It was a BIG day for this rig (and me)! Not only did I get to do a shakedown romp but FINALLY I get to ride a tractor offroad instead of just working on them! Lol.

My buddy Jace got ahold of me to see if I wanted to go for a ride so I was scrambling to get a tools/supplies box installed while he was on his way to get me (and the tractor) and this is what I came up with in about 30 mins. I'll admit I had already thought it out but didn't once test fit anything.

I installed a Honda Civic battery tray in the tractor that clears the oil drain contraption I built and to get the box up high enough for the latch to open and close...


...and mounted the box with 1/4" studs.


It's a small, plastic ammo box but was able to hold a tow strap, vise grips, pliers, allen keys, screwdriver, a small bicycle air pump, a pack of smokes, lighter and 2 bottles of water so I think it's perfect!


A little pre-ride photo shoot.


After hitting some mudholes and trails...


...it was time for a break and to give the machines a little cool down.


I wish I got this on video, the tree stump he ran over literally disintegrated under his tire it was awesome!


Then he buried that Sears deep!


I was able to get past him, hooked up with the tow strap but he was buried to the frame so he had to push his tractor from behind too. Well, he had the throttle pinned while in 3rd gear so once it hooked up it launched out of the mud hole and (luckily) I realized quick enough it was rocketing towards me and I was able to dump the clutch and JUST get out of the way as it clipped my tire and stopped on a tree!  Lol. Omg we were laughing so hard!


The machines (his especially) were pretty dirty at this point so it was time to head back to the water hole for a wash! He got hung up on a big branch and I actually got it on video, I'll upload that video soon.


We hit a mud hole on the way back to his place so I could get a short video, sorry it's a little shaky it's hard to tractor with one hand and film with the other! Next ride I'll probably take my GoPro to get better footage.
 


So that was a ton of fun and I learned alot about the machine! I need to get the slop out of the front axle, it rides on a steel bushing and the hole in the axle is wallered out so I'll have to come up with a plan for that, I need to limit the steering a little more than the stops provide, I need to add tension to the clutch spring and I need to tweak the governed speed to gain a few hundred rpms. The pulley swap is perfect for what I'll be doing with it but I did a top speed run, got a blistering 8mph and I'd like to reach 10mph because it's a nice round number! Lol. The heatsheild for the exhaust works great, even after a long run the corner of the floorboard is only warm and that big fuel tank is awesome! It didn't even burn the top half of the tank in the 3 hours of riding we did!

The tires worked amazingly everywhere I couldn't be happier with them and the motor runs really strong but is lean popping alot, probably due to the exhaust and the fact it has a EPA non-adjustable carb so I'll need to work my magic on that as well but overall it was a really successful shakedown run for the Trailblazer and we had a blast!

I'm going to sleep good tonight! Lol

I fired up this beast and had a little fun with it today! I'm still seriously impressed with how good this tractor works considering all I really did was toss on ATV tires and do a motor swap. I still have alot of work to do to strengthen and tighten the front end but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Well, I was having some fun messing around with this beast this weekend!

@CodeRed and I took our tractors out on the lake to the bewilderment of the ATVr's that showed up a few minutes later, it was pretty funny seeing them come to a dead stop and just looking at us wondering what the heck is going on!  Lol.


A little problem I've had ever since the motor swap is that the bottom of the fuel tank sits at about the same level as the inlet of the carb so the fuel line sits basically level and the carb can start to starve if I'm off camber to one side or climbing upwards for too long.


The solution: a Briggs and Stratton style fuel pump plumbed into the oil dipstick tube (for pulse)!


I put it to the test by doing a long, slow climb up the hill on my road and then riding off camber on a snow bank for at least 2 minutes and the motor didn't even flinch! It's also starting up 10x easier than it's usual grumpy self so I'm really happy I ordered that fuel pump!


But wait there's more! I FINALLY installed the front bumper I have for it which, is actually a ATV rack lower support brace! I wasn't liking it so much at first but it's quickly grown on me.

The plan is to mount a winch down in there by making a plate that ties the tractors frame to the bumpers "rails" but that may not happen for a bit yet, getting all of the slop out of the front axle will be my next priority for it as is was already bad and is getting worse quickly! The main problem is with the steel sleeve welded into the axle itself, it's wallered out something awful but there's also alot of space between the axle and the pocket it sits in so I'll have to weld some metal in to act as shims or something.

Might be a bit before I do any more to it but it's nice to mess around with it every now and again!

Them darn Craftsman axles really do suck. I've seen them snap clean off several times and have had so many that have that slop you're talking about. They're annoying.

Those fuels pumps are life savers! At this point I just do it on all my off road mowers and pretty much any mower that starves lol. Done it on 2 or 3 different Kohler Commands and about to do a 4th as well as an old flathead Briggs. Love those things!

This axle is unlike others I've seen, it's literally just a shoulder bolt going through the steel sleeve with no bushing! Other than that it seems pretty sturdy.

Craftsman was made by several different companies so for the sake of argument let's call it an AYP.

I agree the steering could use some tweakin', it's not the worst design I've seen but definitely needs some work to be better!

I actually bought a pair of the fuel pumps because they were cheap, I feel the Kawasaki style fuel pump on the Mud Duck isn't giving the engine enough fuel so I thought I'd try one of these on it. (Project for another day)

Yeah. I buy them because they're cheap too but they work so well too so I'm very much sold on them lol.

Yeah I've seen worse designs too but the first gen AYP steering and their LT axles are pretty down there if you ask me lol. Same level as MTD steering and pan frame Murrays. Just my opinion. If anyone can make that axle better than new though it's you so I'll be watching to see what you come up with!

I appreciate that dude!

Quick update on this rig, I broke the "No Mow May" thing today because I was too excited to try it out! Lol

I got the mower deck on, blades installed and figured out the right belt, considering I was cruising along in 2nd and 3rd (with the rear pulley swap) it does a half decent job! Definitely good enough for the trails up north! The proper front wheels are tires are on another tractor right now but I wasn't going to swap them just to mow.


It's going to be weird not having it here but I guess it will give me motivation to go up north more often!

After last week's test the grass was cut fine but it didn't seem to get the dandelions, I cut again this week and same thing.

I really put it through it's paces this week by mowing off camber in the ditches, over uneven ground and the obstacle created by a removed tree that lifted the ground several inches.

No doubt it cuts well enough for a trail mower but the engine doesn't seem to be hitting the proper revs so there probably isn't enough suction being generated, I wouldn't mind turning the revs up a little bit which will give me more speed as well. It's also a good excuse to use the laser tach I purchased a couple of months ago!

So overall it's doing pretty well and it turns really sharp although there is minor interference at full lock and articulation so I'll have to address that as well.

Things still to do:
- Remove slop from the front axle.
- Limit steering.
- Install a tethered kill switch.
- Speed up the engine a touch.
- Install a used highback seat. DONE!
- Sharpen and balance the blades.
- Install a winch mounting plate.
- Install auxiliary light(s) (switches already in place).

There's more I'm forgetting I'm sure! Lol

If you’re looking for a cheap solution to a tether kill, one of the stock safety switches works really good as one. Push the button in, drill a hole for a cotter pin(keep the end straight, obviously) and just add a lanyard with a clip. Wire the kill so it shuts off when the button is released. The one on mutt works great,  when I bother to clip it on.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

The one on mutt works great, when I bother to clip it on.

 Ah and the truth comes out! Lol. You'll be wishing you clipped it on when it tosses you and keeps motoring towards a lake or gully! Lol.

In all seriousness that is an excellent suggestion and I appreciate you sharing it, I don't mind paying $23 for a pair of these though, I love they have a built in kill button along with the tether.


While I'm here I forgot to showcase the min and max cut height(s).

Minimum (which is adjustable all the way to max)...

...and maximum which is about 5¼". I might be able to squeeze another ¼-½" out of it yet.

No pictures but I'm still using it to cut the lawn while it's here, it does a great job of the ditches because I can literally drive right in and across them! Lol. I installed the seat from the stripped down GT18 for a more comfortable experience and quickly tried to raise the revs at full throttle but nothing was happening interestingly enough, maybe it's already maxed? Nah can't be at that normal sounding speed, oh well I'll get into another time!