Off Topic Anything 2023

Thanks at @MightyRaze I haven't found a listing for a full kit in any of the diagrams so that's a huge help!

Why you hating on John Deeres there @TechnoChicken? Lol. Sure the economy ones are junk but I'd love to get my hands on an old JD GT they're pretty tough and look cool in my opinion.

Hey check it out, apparently the 2300 came with racing brake(s). Definitely going to be wearing the confidence antlers with that on board! Lol 

That may be something I could be interested in. How it was installed. TDR or Kal could benefit from an upgrade.

@MightyRaze It's mounted to the front left trans mounting plate, I'll get a picture this afternoon for you. Is it safe to assume your 2300s have a band brake? The brake output shaft on this is 1"

My 2300's have disk.

TDR



KAL

Your calipers actually look better they they use pads, this one has silver dollar sized pucks. You win! Lol

Brianator wrote:

Your calipers actually look better they they use pads, this one has silver dollar sized pucks. You win! Lol

LOL

Brianator wrote:

Thanks at @MightyRaze I haven't found a listing for a full kit in any of the diagrams so that's a huge help!

Why you hating on John Deeres there @TechnoChicken? Lol. Sure the economy ones are junk but I'd love to get my hands on an old JD GT they're pretty tough and look cool in my opinion.

Hey check it out, apparently the 2300 came with racing brake(s). Definitely going to be wearing the confidence antlers with that on board! Lol 

John deeres are like fords, they just fall apart while you drive them.

My grandfathers old 2520 begs to disagree.

Budgie came from MTD with a airheart go kart brake caliper. Worked super good. I don’t think those pads had hardly any wear on them.

Rustbucket Garage wrote:

My grandfathers old 2520 begs to disagree.

If you are going to buy anything you buy Kubota, Fendt and Chevy.

To be fair, that old 2520 (new gen, pretty sure she was a 69) lasted nearly 50 years for him pulling logs and maple sap from the woods. Never any breakdowns or anything in that time, I believe all the work he ever had to do to it was a carburetor rebuild and a paint job. That tractor did a whole lot of work and started dang good for her age too. Sold her a few years back for a smaller cab tractor for the snow… we all miss her. There’s a heck of a lot of 2 cylinder John Deeres out there still and they run pretty much forever. Detuned as snot and they’d pull a good 2 loaded hay wagons up hill or a 4 bottom plow. Nice tractors. The 300 and 400 series Deere are super nice also.

Bought some stuff...







I need a few odds and ends yet, but this stuff is to swap the 3 speed transmission in my truck to a 4 speed. Because 5mpg is hard on the wallet, and maybe 8mpg wont be so bad.

So, I have one for you guys.  Back in the late 80's early 90's when craftsman was the GT18 maybe even the newer GT6000 styling.  I remember seeing a RED Craftsman version at the local SEARS store.  It always seemed like it was their top of the line model and had a sleeve hitch and they always surrounded it with implements.  Anyone else ever remember seeing a Red square-nose Craftsman instead of grey from the factory?  I asked my dad if he remember, and he did.  I cannot find one of those online anywhere.  Almost like I dreamed it, but like I said.  My dad remembers it too.

All I remember in terms of red AYPs is the Yard Pro, but they had the big ugly hood, not the craftsman square hood, at least to my knowledge. The red fenders on mutt came off a yard pro and just happened to match the snapper hood.

Maybe a rural king model or something? One of the box store rebrands.

@MightyRaze Maybe it was custom painted for the in store display? I'd be interested to see what it would look like.

@RichieRichOverdrive like this?
I wasn't fond of the hood at first either but it quickly grew on me, @Murraymountain loves them and has a Wizard version!

As some of you may know, @CodeRed and I have been swapping a Peerless 2300 into his 2006 Craftsman/AYP DGT6000 so he can ditch the Hydrostatic. It's been going really well, the trans is in and the shifter is clearing everything without any modification. Between yesterday and today got a clutch/brake set up, it will need some fine tuning I'm sure but I have built in some adjustability!


As you can see the clutch will engage the brake so they're still on the same pedal and the original parking brake lever will still work! The clutch is built from his original clutch with different pulleys, the gold plate and belt keeper are from the parts mower I bought several weeks back. The clutch linkage rod is a steering rod from a squarebody MTD and I built the rockshaft for the brake from a MTD squarebody deck lift shaft, a piece of a ATV frame for the pivot and scissor deck lift bars also from a MTD squarebody.

Sure glad I keep all the scrap parts around they're really coming in handy! Lol

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

All I remember in terms of red AYPs is the Yard Pro, but they had the big ugly hood, not the craftsman square hood, at least to my knowledge. The red fenders on mutt came off a yard pro and just happened to match the snapper hood.

Maybe a rural king model or something? One of the box store rebrands.

Yeah I actually have a yard pro, I should throw a picture up one of these days...

I found another oppy!


My girlfriend wasn’t impressed when she came out of her friends house and saw me loading it into her trunk

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

I found another oppy!


My girlfriend wasn’t impressed when she came out of her friends house and saw me loading it into her trunk

Yeah that's why I dont do girlfriends...
Those are some pretty hefty looking oppys, are they Kohler or Briggs?

That Yard Pro I was talking about:


Got a 20 hp Kohler Magnum and a 3spd with HI/LO (Also have a 50" deck)
Runs great when its warm but is a serious pain in the arse to cold start due to the starter gear not engaging properly and the carb being crap.

My 1970s era golf cart:


Currently attempting to retrofit with a go kart axle, things are a little rough with the chain though...



Just as a by the way, anyone ever trying to do this again, don't bother trying to make the chain stay on with the suspension, I tried that and it sucked, I ended up having to wedge some 4x4s in the leafs to make the axle flex less and keep the chain.
Other then that I'm running a 196cc Kohler that really just doesn't have the balls for this kart, however I might be able to get a Kawasaki Ninja and swap that motor in.

They’re just Briggs oppys. The only other oppys I’ve fooled with are the Onans you find on Sears. They all look a lot bigger than they really are.

Those are the same fenders and running boards as mutt, all the way down to the warning sticker and the running board grips. I did peel a yard pro sticker off the back of that fender

@TechnoChicken now that is an excellent tractor! Pretty beefy overall, already has 8"/12" wheel combo and a new style 633a with the 1" splined axles... very nice! It's essentially the next generation of my Roper offroader (which is a next generation suburban), what are your plans for it?

Brianator wrote:

@TechnoChicken now that is an excellent tractor! Pretty beefy overall, already has 8"/12" wheel combo and a new style 633a with the 1" splined axles... very nice! It's essentially the next generation of my Roper offroader (which is a next generation suburban), what are your plans for it?

Yeah, it's pretty beefy, I honestly dont really have any plans for it other then run it into the ground at this point, I don't want to spend the cash to be able to sell it at this point, and the deck cuts really weird so I just use it for hauling around big trailers about once a week lol.
There was some talk about making it a mud mower but I dont want to have to deal with the hassle of pulley swapping a belt twist so I'm just running it now until it explodes.

You can pulley swap the front fairly easily, basically just need to make new belt keepers. I think @MightyRaze is running a 9" pulley on the front of one of his belt twist models and I know a 10" is possible on my friends similar tractor. If that happens to have the smaller 6" pulley on the rear you're set! If not you'll still be able to get close to a 1:1 ratio which would put you at about 10mph which is enough wheel speed to clear mud from your tires. That could easily be built into one of the best offroaders you're likely to get, if I didn't have so many tractors I'd be wanting to buy it that's for sure!

My Roper offroader (with the same new style 633a) pictured above has the smaller rear pulley and just had the front pulley flipped around to drive off the 4.5" pulley and it's top speed is 10mph, because it's a horizontal shaft engine it's going to be ALOT of work to put a bigger front pulley on, that's why I haven't done it yet.

Check out this neat little guy I was given today!

I've never seen one before, it's a circular saw attachment for a drill, missing the handle but I'm sure I can whip something up. It turns nice and smooth, I'm excited to try it out!

Hmm... those frame rails are looking like a great start to an offroad trailer or something...

Here's a quickie but a goodie! It's something I've wanted to do for a long time now but never got around to it.

I wanted to get rid of these stupid wheelbarrow tires on my little yard trailer, my yard gets soft and these tires will leave grooves.

The front wheels/tires from the stripped mower pictured above sat on the axles but there wasn't enough room left to drill a hole for a cotter pin so I drilled and tapped the ends of the axle (not centered I know)...

...and tossed the turfs on!

Not only will they work better but they look better too (in my opinion).

I did the same thing with my yard trailer last year!  So much better.  I'll go out and see if I can get a pic.

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