[24] Creepycrawler’s “Bonanza” mini crawler build

#Buildoff2024

Hi all, figured it was time to throw my hat in the ring since I was building this anyway and hopefully bring a part of the build off will keep me motivated to update the thread here as I’m pretty bad about that
Entry pic



The plan is to build up this little truck bed mini mower called a Bonaza for my daughter to ride with me and my wife. I struggled finding a engine, as I didn’t want something big and heavy in case she flips it over, so I wanted something under 5hp, but she also really loves to use the key to start my quad and her moms and my tractors when we take her rides so I really wanted a electric start option. A few hours of searching showed me that Honda actually made electric start push mowers for years, but it was a fairly rare option, couple weeks of scouring Facebook marketplace and I hit the jackpot, a late 80s Honda HR217 popped up and the guy actually needed dome ag tires for his sears garden tractor so a deal was struck and a trade happened. Now this little motor is wild, only 120cc but has a driveshaft coming out the side of it that runs the self propelled gearbox. After checking it out I think it will make a really cool little pto winch so that’s on the build list now. I’ve stripped it all down to make the work easier and I’m gonna build the hood and possibly the dash from scratch, but I’ll update that as I go


Approved MightyRaze - 1/26/24

[adm]Welcome to the 2024 BUILD-OFF!


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Yea, I always wondered about the Hondas. I have a Honda RM216 self-propelled with only 140cc (electric start option available) and it cuts so much better then the (6.5 HP - 190cc ?) Craftsman. I ended up keeping the Honda and selling the Craftsman. That little Honda actually cuts the grass better then my riding lawn mowers. Maybe the double mulch blades are the reason? My neighbor has the commercial metal decked RM215 (?) it cuts swell too.

They must have some mighty fine looking lawns in Japan!

Good thing is even OEM Honda parts for your engine are fairly inexpensive. Honda motor as the basis of the built is a good start, especially since you already have 4 wheels :-)

Welcome to the Build Off!

Sounds like a neat project, is that bed factory? I have seen the existence of a couple, one being here (think it was known as a Klondike).

I’ll have to say I was completely blown away by how well built that mower was, it had a actual car type clutch to engage the blades, shaft drive self propelled etc, that a felt bad taking it apart to be honest but it’s gonna have a good life on this tractor so it’s worth it. I got a good bit done tiday, pulled apart the 700 and cleaned it, but to my dismay it’s only a 3 speed, so I’m gonna dig through my spare parts as I’m pretty sure I have a couple 800 peerless transaxle sand the gears look the same.



I looked it up and there was a huge range of gearing options for the 700 and mine doesn’t have the lower 1st gear and it doesn’t have the tallest overdrive gear either, so fingers crossed I have those in the parts bin, this was the result of me doing the math on my gears



I made this little templet by tapping on the holes with a ball peen hammer, and it really helped to line up the new holes on the frame




This post is getting a little long and I need to clean up my mess so I’ll post up more later

Made up one for the motor too, I will say this motor is the most miserable thing I’ve ever tried to bolt up, the mounting bolts are on a different plane than the bottom of the motor, and the clutch mount bolts are above that, but to small to mount the motor, so I had to grind them off and the motor still won’t sit flat because house the sump is made, and the pattern is sorta circular but not exactly, just a terrible thing to work around, but I got it done, except for two bolts that mount where the big hole is cut in the frame for the original engine, so I’ll have to plate that back in and drill those later

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This is the steering box, it’s out of a John Deere 111, spare for the wife’s I got out of a parts tractor, but it’s a nice little cast aluminum gear box with big steel gears inside so definitely shouldn’t have a issue on this tiny thing




Here it and the peerless 700 are sitting where they go, the 700 has all the holes drilled but a couple need braced underneath as they didn’t hit the factory bracing and this is a thin frame. The steering box needs the mounting holes drilled but it’s locked in place by the two snouts that come off the bottom that I had to drill holes in the frame to clear as seen here



Well I think that does it for today prolly won’t work on it again till next week by
It I’ll update when I do

Kind of interested to see how that PTO shaft is geared in there. I had a Craftsman push mower some years ago that had a PTO for wheel drive but never opened it up to see how it all worked. Not sure how tough it would be to handle winching.

You had me at pto winch, I'm sure the low speed will work great in this application. Really interested to see how you set it up. Lucky girl!