[24] FullerBoyz Lily of the Trail

#Buildoff2024

The backstory
This is one of two Power Ponies (my first tractors) I bought off a Southland gentleman who kept them as runabouts for the grandkids apparently weren't getting much use.  Both came with partial 12hp Tecumseh singles and new Chinese Titan branded 17hp singles.  I paid $2k NZ all up which is a squidge over what you would pay for the 17hps new.  My 4yo named them both as soon as he saw them.  This one we call... Lily . The other one is Misty we built her up last year.  Hey I wasn't looking for two tractors but when these came up I took it as a sign.

I thought they looked cool otherwise I picked these as mud mower projects for their good bones, horizontal shaft, proper front wheel hubs, and Peerless 4 speed transaxles which seemed popular for this sort of "work".  The new motors were a bonus I figured I could get the tractors going first with the new motors and see if I enjoyed it, can always go back and work up the 12s as future projects.

Lily
I want to build Lily up to explore the trails along the Waimakariri River on daytrips or as campsite toys with my boys when they're bigger.

Coming from a coastal area there is a lot of rust I plan to disassemble and electrolysis everything.  Haven't decided yet if I will go whole hog replacing bearings seals and ball joints or not... probably yes, to me it's worth the $ on parts for all the time that goes into it.  I went so far with Misty as to frame up an electrolysis bath in the garage for the frame, warning it's very addictive bringing crusty old parts back to life!

Peerless 2306A feels ok and oil in it may take it apart give it a good clean these are neat little gearboxes!  Want to drive it off-road first before locking.

I've bought new 25x10-12 side-by-side tires you see in the photo.  Came with new 16" turf fronts OK... for now.

Need to find or make a belt guard.

Pulley wise I plan an 8" on the engine, and leave the final 4" alone it seems small enough for the B belt.  The intermediate pulley I can flip for another ~20% speed.

The 17hp hole pattern has the same width as the one in the frame but different length so I plan to add to the front crossmember which moves the motor a couple inches forward.  The fibreglass hood will need to be extended.

So, nothing drastic looking forward to getting her cleaned up and bigger tires.






Approved MightyRaze 2-2-2024 got to love the International Dateline.

Welcome to the Build-off!!!

> I picked these as mud mower projects for their good bones

5 lug rear, 4 lug front, ladder frame, I agree

Stout machine! Looking forward to seeing this one

Wow, I just looked up some photos of these Power Pony tractors, I've got to say that I absolutely love the body style, and they look like some stout tractors to boot! Can't wait to see how this build turns out!

The lesson I learned with my first tractors Misty was to just hurry up and rip everything down to pieces so that is what I'm trying to do with Lily here. the sooner I can put away the map gas torch and punches from all the gnarly disassembly the sooner I can get my parts list together and start cleaning up the shop...  I now have had electrolysis of the frame running for 24 hours at 3 amps, happy to let it bubble away a few days while I collect my thoughts.  Next to do is take the peerless apart figure out what seals and bearings I need to order and put a list together...

Nothing fatal found during disassembly so far. The front axle pivot casting was cracked and rewelded but looks sound. The upper body has lots of minor cracks nothing a few blobs of weld won't fix.

Eddie helps with cleaning



Paaaaarts...


Frame electrolysis bath setup

that sounds like you’re really know what you’re doing when it comes to disassembly. It would be nice to see some before and after pictures of the electrolysis.

It would have taken a while to wire brush an axle tube that clean. A new technique to try at some time. I know from cleaning car/truck frames unless you dip it in something, you can never wire brush or blast all the little rust dimples and pits away.

Peerless 2306 is back together and frame is cleaned up. Noticed this frame is missing 3 transaxles support brackets I have the 40x10 flat bar just need to get it done.

Winter is upon us in New Zealand, and between work and kids it's harder to find time in the shop for the tractor, but managed to get some  fabrication done.  Very close to starting to reassemble

@FullerBoyz I'm loving it so far, good welds too!!! Also winter is upon you? that must suck its just starting to get good and hot here it was only 90°f today

Spring is here in the USA and I have found no time the last two weeks to work on any LT/GT tractor project. So, I understand the time schedule as I had 5 kids myself. Looks plenty beefy!

> Frame electrolysis

Still working my mind over how to do this with my own projects.

JB_4x4 wrote:

> Frame electrolysis

Still working my mind over how to do this with my own projects.

My $.02, i
would not advise starting with a whole frame it tkes days and days at 30V 3A.
Pick a small ferrous part to start with you want to derust, the crustier the better.  Cast iron parts or things with texture or pitting are good candidates because electrolysis gets under the rust better than a wire wheel can.

Good candidates for baths are any plastic buckets, 5gal buckets, paddling pools, Rubbermaid tubs etc.

Pick something you've already tried cleaning with a wire brush and not satisfied.

I've heard people say old battery chargers work and I'm sure they will but a "bench top lab power supply" 30V 3A is better.

Find washing soda aka sodium carbonate.  Honestly though I think any electrolyte will work I think the main mechanism is the bubbling action not a chemical reaction.

Always connect the negative wire to the part you want to restore.  Connect the positive wire to a piece of sacrificial iron (connect above the water line to avoid dissolving your solder/clamp ).

Electrolysis just softens what crust/rust is in there, you'll need a wire brush to remove it it just save a lot of elbow grease.

Thanks! I have a few spare IBC 275 gallon plastic totes I could use. I used the steel cages for firewood.

Thought I could "just lever the new tires on" because old tires came off without too much drama and the little front tires went on easily. These new 25x10x12 duro power grips are a different deal. PLEASE DO NOT DO WHAT I DID! Either invest in a tire changer tool or pay a guy... Hopefully I can salvage this wheel.

I your defense, I found my tire spoons and manual machines used for light truck tires, woefully inadequate for some of the smaller tires. I have had some I put on with screw drivers, I have had others where it took my three hands and three tools. I bought a bead keeper, that I think will solve the problem, we shall see.

You must not have been pushing the tire down into the mounting groove as you were prying it down on the other side. No reason for you to have bent the rim. I usually kneel on the tire to push it down off the bead as I’m working the edges down around the rim bite by bite. If that makes sense.

Hope you get it beat back straight or something.

Richie you are right the beads were basically in place as I was trying to lever the last bit over, these new tires were just so stiff it seemed impossible to squish it down in there. With the proper tool I figure I might have the extra hand or foot free to help maneuver. Impatience got the better of me. I bought this set of tires for half price, ironically now I likely will need to buy a new tire at full price plus (hopefully) repair the rim...

Got the damaged tire off and the original old turf tires back on with tubes and managed to hammer the rim somewhat straight. Turf tires just temporary until I work out whether I can reuse the damaged power grip with a tube. The issue is that the steel wire bead has torn out of the bead rubber for about 1/4 to 1/3 or the circumference on one side. I think about running 17hp and say 1 psi on a tire designed for 100hp UTVs it might hold. Either way an expensive lesson...

> Either way an expensive lesson.

Having a second look at this, trying to figure out WHY you had such a hard time, it appears you mounted and pried on the wrong side of the rim. You were prying on the back side of the rim. You only mount tires from the front/valve stem side of light vehicle/safety rims.

Good news for the sake of a new tube managed to get the damaged tyre mounted. Then with my newfound finesse managed to get the good tyre on the good rim in about 15 minutes. Paying more attention to keeping the beads down in the groove using some blocks of wood was the key.




Also getting some parts ready she's coming together
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/svGGySdLOKk?si=F_snxAgY2W3djbmx