[c] [24] RROD’s Sears Custom 6

Sears did great down at coalmont today


Behind me in this spot I accidentally showed up some jeeps that were recording a youtube vid and blasted through all the rocks they were fighting with


Most of what you can see from this view is part of the offroad park. Place is huge!


One small problem i guess, after being slammed on its side several times (the tractor is hard to roll backwards, it goes backwards and then falls to the left), it seems i busted the roll pin that stops the front wheel from sliding in on the spindle. Can’t really complain if that’s the only problem from hard riding for 6 hours straight!


More evidence of abuse lol. The steering wheel is a bit bent up too.

Welded the washers on the spindles. Moved them in a bit actually, since i took the bearings out of Mutt’s old front hubs and put them in these wheels, and the flanges on those bearings are a bit thicker than the old bushings. So now the front wheels are nice and tight on the spindles.

Ok reupload this one actually has audio

Dropped the trans to put the new 5.5” pulley on (4.5 previously). Went to a 1/2x80 belt. Moved upper belt guard with the slots in it, and did the same in the bottom after i pulled it out and put slots in it.


You can see here that reverse is between 2-3 and 1st is far removed from the rest of the gear ratios. A 2300 is better described as a 3 speed with creeper than a true 4 speed.


Anyway, the gears feel much more appropriate now. Reverse is now useable, 2nd is a nice trail cruising gear, 3rd is a nice takeoff gear and 4th is great on the roads. 1st gear is still just crazy slow lol. Top speed is now 21.7, down from the previous 24.2.

I'm curious of your pulley size research.  I run a 7 engine 5 trans on the 2300 on dirty rat.  I forget it's top speed, but sometimes I want more. I run into belt slip if I go smaller on the trans when wet, and going larger on the engine messes up the clutch.  I need to rework that one day if I do want to go faster.  Works well now, so I leave well enough alone.

Top speed with 6.5 to 4.5 was 24.2mph @6200rpm on 24” tires. Down to 21.7 now. I think i was expecting about a 18% decrease in speed, this wasn’t quite that. More like an 11% decrease. This is probably due to the fact that I’m calculating by pulley ODs and not the actual “Pitch diameter” that drives the belt.

Nice thing about pulley swaps, once you have a top speed with one ratio you can calculate the % difference between the old and new ratio and then multiply your known top speed by that % to get a new theoretical top speed. Since this pulley is a deep groove it didn’t actually go that much different on diameter than the old one so i didnt see the difference that i calculated by the OD.

I did find my top speed was 18 @ about 4800 I think. The old oppy with stock carb and valve springs starts falling on it's face at that point.

I’m surprised your top speed is that low. I suppose the math does work out at that RPM.

This one definitely doesn’t breathe enough to make power over 5k, 6200 is just me holding it flat out on the road just to see what i can get lol. The low to mid range on this engine is definitely a perfect match for this tractor. Powerful yet very controllable. I don’t have a chance to use the top end much, most of my technical riding is slipping the clutch at mid throttle to keep smooth power delivery to the tires, instead of chugging at idle. The times i get into the higher rpms, it is mostly to use the momentum of the engine spinning down from high rpm to give a jolt of power when i let off the clutch- not being in the throttle until i need extra power makes things more predictable when lifting the front end. If that makes sense. It’s easier to demonstrate than explain.

I'm really contemplating giving those same tires a go on the front of The Green Machine when I complete my minor refresh.  I think they will work well.  The wide tires I have now seem to be a bit of a drag when it comes to soft ground or mud.

They’re a nice option for a taller pizza cutter than the stock 4.80s. They did just ok before i cut them, now they’re pretty great. Fit my narrow rims good too. For the price and actual intended application i cant complain.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

They’re a nice option for a taller pizza cutter than the stock 4.80s. They did just ok before i cut them, now they’re pretty great. Fit my narrow rims good too. For the price and actual intended application i cant complain.

Only thing holding me back is, I think the width would look funny on the tractor.