[23] MrBrucie22's Trail Rig "ZEUS"

Starting our first project which is a old 80s ford yt16. All stock as of now but we have been brainstorming and have some ideas in mind. The first thing on our list was to concery this old barn in our back yard into a mower garage. Been using my spare room as a workshop but a mower wont fit through the door so we are currently running a couple extension cords from seperate rooms/breakers for now. Propane heater on black friday sale for 70 bucks and some spray foam from my car audio stash and I've got the shop up to 67 degrees on a 19 degree morning. Next was getting my work benches moved from the house to my shop. Looking into some diy overhead lift options since my low pro jack doesnt lift my mowers very high. And for the record the "we" in my post are my son(11) and myself. I'm mrbrucie and my son is lil bray.

But to start we are stripping it down to the bare frame to clean up the years of build up and neglect. Then to get the frame braced up some and stiffen up the extremely loose steering. But here we sit. Mower up on blocks, console/dash removed and oil draining as of now. Next to remove engine and start planning fabrication work!

Looks like a good start! Those ford yt16 mowers seem to be a good for an offroad mower, plenty of people use them. I think Doc Sprocket's first MULE was a Ford. Of course it was barely Ford when he got done with it, funny that's how the gradual modifications go lol.

Looks like you've got a Briggs and stratton opposed twin, those are pretty strong engines and parts are still easy to come by. Any idea what transaxle it has?

Yea it had the peerless 801 5speed transaxle. And I actually have 3 of these fords. 2 yt16s and a 16H.

Progress. Got the engine out. Next step is to put the front wheels back on and wheel it out the shop to be preaaurwashed and cleaned. I have a feeling this mower has never had a shower lol. Also looking into the front axle. There really isn't a whole lot of articulation on the front axle so I've been looking into options to allow for alittle kore movement. Either fabbing up a new articulation point on the top of the axle or notching frame and adding additional support to keep the frame ridged. As for steering, these have a decent stock steering setup but it's all old and worn so going to go with new tie rods and steering link as the stock one is slightly bent. The steering gear piece has alot of movement in it in all directions so another thing to consider. I'm always open to ideas and inspiration as this is the very first time ever working on a mower/tractor.

Getting this old guy cleaned up today and do alittle work on my shop to make alittle more room. Little 12x14 shop can get crowded quickly if everything doesnt have a place lol. But me and my boy is going to haul it. Back into the shop when we done and finish taking it apart! Once its tore down to the bare frame we will upload the video!

There’s never enough shop or garage space when you need it.

Looks and sounds to me like you should consider pacing yourself until the end of the month and entering into the 2023 Build Off competition! (Which I assume will be happening)

Click HERE to see the rules in case you're interested. Lawn and garden tractors in all trims are welcome (eg. Offroad, pulling, utility ect.)

Brianator wrote:

Looks and sounds to me like you should consider pacing yourself until the end of the month and entering into the 2023 Build Off competition! (Which I assume will be happening

I thought about it but we are anxious to get started and get our youtube channel off the ground. Kinda a winter project but I'm sure it will take longer than just the winter but I'll check out the rules and such and see what we can do

Last pic before I start editing video. Zeus is just about completely stripped. Funny how you find some crazy repair work previous owners have done on these old mowers just to keep the going lol.
Once completely stripped we are going to start checking out the transaxle and assessing any damages that need repair then probably start getting the dynamark or one of the cubs going and use Zeus for the 2023 build off.



Also Admin- am I allowed to have multiple active build threads at the same time? For different machines of course.

Lot of people keep multiple threads going. @AllisKidD21 and @Brianator seem to do just fine with it! Perfectly acceptable round here, we all like reading about tractors.

Just uploaded our very first video! Go take a look! And take it easy on me this was the first video I've ever made lol

Looks exciting! Great rig it looks to build on!

Out putting in some work today. Near the stopping point. I figured we would get it stripped down completely and put the build on hold until the 2023 build off begins. But ill be getting started on one of the cub cadets while waiting. 


Lifted the rear up to have easy access to the deck parts and clutch assembly.


With alittle persuasion we got the lever out. Couple brackets still left to cut off and to remove the clutch assembly.

#Buildoff2023

Our official entry for the 2023 build off!

This will be kind of a build as we go type build. I do know that it will be more of a trail/overland rig focusing on reliability and performing well on mixed surfaces and trails. As of now we will be keeping the original briggs 16hp oppy and peerless 801 transaxle unless something better comes around. That's about it for now!




Official entry video!



Approved - Jan 1, 2023 MightyRaze

That looks like a great platform to start with and I love the steering setup, looks proper beefy that's for sure!

[mod]Topic Locked for the time being due to this tractor being entered in the Build Off[/mod]

Good luck in the Build Off @Mrbrucie22!

We'll unlock this after the Build Off and move those posts over here at your request.

[adm]Welcome to the 2023 Build-Off[/adm]

Finally holidays over and weather clear enough to accept my delivery of my free mowers which 2 are ford yt16s. Started really looking into them and come to find out one of the fords has a peerless 820 and 5 lug hubs! Also the rear body panel looks alot better than the one that was on zeus so ill be using that one instead. And our second entry is now at the shop (dynamark)

[adm]The frame swap is acceptable.  Just be sure when you swap you document it clearly. [/adm]

Nice herd of tractors there!

So it’s been such a crazy year for me so far. Got married, got custody of my son, financial hardships ext. Haven’t touched Zeus since my last update. But I’m getting back to it hardcore. A good buddy of mine sold me this 22hp Briggs vtwin for the build for only $25! Gathered a few parts I picked up in trades and trash piles as well. That being said, I hope I have not been disqualified due to my absence or lack of updates but I’m back on the grind with a fresh set of ideas and a better vision for the build wether or not I’m still in the build off. Hope everyone is doing well!

Not using the probation this year.  Glad to have you back after such a year.  Good luck! 

Discovered a blown head gasket today on the twin unfortunately. Pulled the valve covers to check clearances and they were really tight. As I'm rotating the engine I noticed a whistle and the obvious build up missing chunk of the gasket lol. So me and my boy is going pull the heads and get it going. Give him a good hands on experience.

So after talking to a couple people and my brother, I'm considering stretching Zeus about 5 inches. After doing some math and messing around with roll point and COG diagrams, I've determined due to wheelbase, rear fuel tank and the extra weight I plan to carry on the rear rack/trailer, there will be approximately 70% of the weight in the rear from the middle of the wheel back. Wondering if it would be better to mo e the transaxle back or the front axle forward? Seems like moving the rear end back would bring the roll axis about to stock specs (considering my weight plus gear weight. I know another of folks move the front qxle forward some but it seems more efficient to move the rear back some, mathematical and technical speaking. Any input on this?

Then there are people like me that move the rear back 3 inches and the front forward 8 then load the front tires.


I think it sounds plausable to me!  Some people actually do rear.  Creepycrawler did it on one of his machines.  Mister Studabaker did it on a craftsman.  Most these days are doing it in the middle on Sears suburbans.  Some tractors are easier one way over another.

I've considered dividing the strech between the front and rear. A couple calculations i forgot to factor in my math is the weight to be added to the front of the axle and Havnt figured the difference in weight between the oppy that came out of the mower and the vtwin going in. Still currently doing some math and geometry research on the offroad and overlanding groups on FB. Comfort and stability is high on my list of features with this build as it's being designed for overlanding with a balanced performance over all terrain types. Considered moving the front axle forward 3.25" and the rear 3". This would change theoretical "roll center" further forward although the rear axis is fixed. The additional work and modification will set me back a bit as far as time goes, but if I'm not going to build this to the best of my ability, I might as well just throw some offroad tires on it, call it a "build", or just get a quad lol. Do it once, do it right! There are post build modification I plan to do but in order to do those properly I need to get this weight and COG balanced and vigorous testing. Shop time this weekend so pics and updates to come soon!