Project D-220

[82Caddy 851]

I alluded to this tractor in my other project tractor thread but figured it should have it's own to for future reference.

 

What I started with was a D200 that I was told had a locked up rear end and no engine.  Turns out the parking brake had been set and there was enough play in the motion control lever to allow it back into the forward/reverse space.  Undid the parking brake and there is no more grinding noises from the rear end.  I'm calling this a win.

 

Ag rear tires

3 point

rear PTO

Spring assisted seat

Seat with arm rests and slider to accommodate different size drivers without unbolting anything.

 

Looked like this when I picked it up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The steering was worn out to say the least.  The front axle was also missing many bushings so that is why the front tires look like they have so much camber.

 

I decided that I didn't want to rebuild or reuse the ross steering column or wheel horse front end.  From my experience with my D160 is it takes a parking lot to turn it around in.  I wanted something tighter and a bit more nimble on the steering front.  Enter John Deere and Cub Cadet parts.

 

Picked up a cub cadet super steer front axle.  These have a 3/4" front mounting hole where the wheel horse one is 1".  Leaves a few options:

 

1. Bore out cub axle to 1" for wheel horse front axle pin.

2. Make the wheel horse axle pin 3/4" on the lathe

3. Combination of the two which is what I did.  I turned the wheel horse pin down enough to ensure it was round and I opened the cub cadet axle up to match what I made the wheel horse pin.  I believe it was 15/16".

 

If one wanted you could easily just bore/drill the cub axle out to 1" and stuff the wheel horse front pin in place.  The cub axle is also a bit narrower so a spacer was required to prevent the axle from sliding front to back.  I used washers as a temporary solution until I determine exactly where I want the front axle to sit.

 

Wheel horse wheels on a cub cadet front axle is a no go.  Different length spindles.  Opted for some new high speed 1" spindles/bearings and trailer wheels with lawn tires mounted on them.

 

This cub cadet front axle is also designed for power steering.  I figured as long as I was doing this, might as well go for broke so to say.  Picked up a 5 port John Deere power steering column and steering cylinder.  Mounted the steering column as many others have.  Decided to put the power steering cylinder on the left side (by the clutch pedal).  I'll get pictures of this and the mount once I finalize engine placement.  I removed it all to avoid unintentionally damaging it moving the engine and such around.

 

Which brings us to an engine and where this project currently sits.  I searched for a  kohler single cylinder or a twin of some sort.  Couldn't find anything I was willing to pay for.  Things that needed rebuilds were more then a new Harbor Freight 22hp twin or the same price with low hours.  People have been having good luck with these HF twins in the John Deere world so figured I'd give it a try.

 

Test fitting a few things here to see where they need to be lined up at

 

 

 

 

Adapter from SmallEngineWarehouse for a Honda GX630/660/690 to Kohler flywheel adapter.
 

For the electric PTO I used a clutch from kohler twin with dual pulleys.  I had to use a sleeve adapter to get from the 1" shaft on the predator to the 1 1/8" on pulley.

 

For the pump (mine had no splines and already had a key and key way cut into it) coupler, what I had originally planned was to use a stub shaft from a kohler engine mated to a jaw coupling.  However, that won't work now that I slid the engine back farther to the rear to line up both of the PTO pulleys.  So, I'm going to have another piece added onto the SEW adapter that is a piece of 1" round stock with a key way cut into it.  Probably won't get to that this evening but hopefully soon.

 

That's as far as we have things.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2016 by 82Caddy
spelling

[tractorhogg 612]

I don't think it was a D200, I think it WAS a D160 single cylinder kohler. The cast iron base plate and the throttle guide give it away as a pre1975

[82Caddy 851]

10 minutes ago, tractorhogg said:

I don't think it was a D200, I think it WAS a D160 single cylinder kohler. The cast iron base plate and the throttle guide give it away as a pre1975

 

Hate to tell you but you're wrong.  Dash plate says 1-0630 which is a 1974 D200 tractor.  The base plate was something the previous owner pulled out of a stack of parts from one of his other wheel horse tractors and included with this one.  The throttle and choke levers are generic cables and non wheel horse.

 

Either way, what it was doesn't matter since it's never going to be original again.

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

Awesome project!

Mike....

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,175]

Looks like an interesting build....Looking forward to following your progress. 

 

[Phatboy 565]

Man thats awesome and way above my level of mechanical ability , with the upsizing this and that and adapting this or the other lol. My hats off to you buddy ,, real nice work !

[SylvanLakeWH 25,485]

Very cool!

 

[HorseHead1089 99]

This is awesome!!! i want to build somthing similar to a cub cadet super garden tractor out of wheel horse parts

[82Caddy 851]

I'm sure it looks like I just whipped this all up overnight.  Truth be told I've been picking away at this for the better part of the last 3 months or more. Between researching what parts I'd need, measuring things (most of the time wrong) and a bit of dreaming how things would work (or not) together.

 

It's finally at a spot where there is something to show for what I've been working on.

 

Plus with what I have invested in this tractor and engine, it's not so much that I can't get out of it fairly easily with a part out if all else fails.  Which is entirely possible if I get distracted and start working on other house projects for my wife

[SylvanLakeWH 25,485]

82caddy - What are the 3 little dudes in your ID photo "saying"??? Can't read it on the iPad...just curious.

[82Caddy 851]

It's silly and fun.  I'm sure as kids we all dreamed about being a super hero or something.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,485]

7 minutes ago, 82Caddy said:

It's silly and fun.  I'm sure as kids we all dreamed about being a super hero or something.

 

Love it! Cape is the correct shade of red as well... Perhaps a play on: it's a bird, it's a plane, no...it's Wheel Horse!

[Retired Sparky 526]

That's a great project. Like others, I can't wait for more input. But don't hurry on my part. I like a good story as it unfolds.  Your abilities are above mine.

[82Caddy 851]

Here are a few more pictures.  I made a few modifications to the engine mount square tube to make it easier to access the hardware on the inside.

 

 

 

 

Power steering stuffs

 

 

 

Brake pedal isn't attached with a roll pin.  It's just sitting on there with a cotter pin to make sure nothing is going to hit each other.

 

 

I have another piece made up to go from the top front of the steering column to the cross piece for the rear of the hydro pump.

 

 

I'm thinking that I'll end up replacing the hard lines with some soft ones to make it easier to get the column in/out if I ever need to.

 

I don't know if I have any more ability/skills then others do.  I am very fortunate that I own (cnc plasma table, bridgeport vertical mill, lathe, some welders and a warm place to work) and have access to some useful tools thanks to some of my friends professions.  I didn't go to school for any of this stuff, just something I started doing because I thought it was fun.

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,300]

Maybe I missed it but what's the plan for that muffler....I don't think it's going to fit under the hood.

Mike.....

[82Caddy 851]

Muffler will not fit under the hood or past the front grill support piece.  I haven't decided if I even want to use the hood, but I would like the front grill part.  I haven't made it that far yet.

 

My initial thought was to remove the stock  predator muffler and do a pipe out the bottom with pepper pot mufflers (since I already have them) or find a muffler that will fit similar to what a D200 originally had.  I'll have to check out what the local places have around.

 

I was going to worry about that after everything mechanical was doing what it should.

[82Caddy 851]

Something like this maybe.

 

• Inlet ID 1-3/8" Outlet ID 1-3/8"
• Canister length 11-1/2", Overall length 16-1/8"

 

We'll see what it looks like when we get to that point.

[82Caddy 851]

Dropped the flywheel adapter off with one of my machine shop friends.  He builds dirt track engines for most of the local drivers and has way better equipment and skills then I do.  He's going to add 1" diameter piece of aluminum that's about 1.5" long  and cut a keyway into it for the jaw coupler. Hopefully will have it back in a few days.

 

I also got the new to me electric pto, and once I get the PTO adapter back, I can finalize engine placement.

 

Pulled the big honking muffler off the predator and decided to toss the hood/front support on to see what kind of space I had to work with.  

 

 

Kind of hard to tell, but there is plenty of clearance between the top of the engine and bottom of the hood.

 

 

Finding dimensions on mufflers is incredibly hard on the internet.  Going to have to visit a few places to see what I can come up with.

 

I need to get a few more adapters for the power steering.  I seem to forget when I get to the store what sizes I need.  Wrote them all down this time.  I ordered a hour meter to keep track of the hours on the engine and help with break in.

[WNYPCRepair 1,914]

What if you made the hood longer, moved the headlights forward, and re-fabricate the grill at an angle from the headlights down to the frame. Would the factory muffler fit under the hood? It doesn't appear to be higher than the engine. 

Looking back at the pictures it looks easy enough to lengthen the frame 6 inches, and the hood angle looks easy enough to copy. If the muffler would fit then, it might be easier than finding a muffler to fit.  

Edited February 17, 2016 by WNYPCRepair

[tractorhogg 612]

You need two mufflers with the inlets on the end not on the side. Then you can run muffler pipe or iron pipe DOWN to them. Start the muffler fitment from the bottom up by putting the mufflers in place with the outlet pipes going through the holes in the botom of the grill. then see what you need to bring them up to the ports, You may need to cut the inlet pipes of the predator muffler to get the right pieces to mount to the engine, then all you need will be the section between the predator inlets and the top of the muffler inlet.

[82Caddy 851]

13 hours ago, WNYPCRepair said:

What if you made the hood longer, moved the headlights forward, and re-fabricate the grill at an angle from the headlights down to the frame. Would the factory muffler fit under the hood? It doesn't appear to be higher than the engine. 

Looking back at the pictures it looks easy enough to lengthen the frame 6 inches, and the hood angle looks easy enough to copy. If the muffler would fit then, it might be easier than finding a muffler to fit.  

 

There isn't a good way to use the factory muffler.  Besides that it's huge, ugly and I don't like it.  The end goal for this tractor is to end up with a loader on it so, extending the frame or moving anything forward is out of the question.  Plus I just don't want to do that.

 

6 hours ago, tractorhogg said:

You need two mufflers with the inlets on the end not on the side. Then you can run muffler pipe or iron pipe DOWN to them. Start the muffler fitment from the bottom up by putting the mufflers in place with the outlet pipes going through the holes in the botom of the grill. then see what you need to bring them up to the ports, You may need to cut the inlet pipes of the predator muffler to get the right pieces to mount to the engine, then all you need will be the section between the predator inlets and the top of the muffler inlet.

 

Two steps ahead of you.  Ordered an adapter piece that turns the exhaust into a NPT thread. Similar to this:

 

 

I have a stack on my commando from Bud, and thought, that'd work on the predator swap upside down.  So I emailed him asking if he was up to making two more in a larger (longer) size for this project.  If not, I'll try my hand at making some up for this.

[tractorhogg 612]

Well if your two steps ahead of me, you don't need me offering any advice. Good luck

[HorseHead1089 99]

Really liking this thread this seels like you got a plan, I am interested in seeing how well the hft motor does with sideloading over an extended period of time...

[82Caddy 851]

On 2/18/2016 at 6:37 PM, tractorhogg said:

Well if your two steps ahead of me, you don't need me offering any advice. Good luck

 

Here's the thing, you jumped in here telling me what I have for a tractor and what I need to do to make this work.  The pictures you see don't show everything that is going on.  It's impossible for me to show all of the different angles and spacing that are going on.  Most of it you need to see in person to fully understand what is happening.

 

There are too many topics on this engine and no results with how anyone did anything.  What I was hoping to be able to do with this project thread is show others how I installed this predator twin and what parts I used into to make it work.  Maybe someone out there will see this and think it's something they can do.  Hopefully someone else can improve on what I did to make it easier for the next person.  These tractors aren't that complicated.  It's just a matter of finding the right combination of parts to make it work how you want.  I want mine to utilize all of the things that worked on it from the factory with a few upgrades along the way.

 

On 2/18/2016 at 10:00 PM, HorseHead1089 said:

Really liking this thread this seels like you got a plan, I am interested in seeing how well the hft motor does with sideloading over an extended period of time...

 

I have a plan, it might not be the best but it's what I have to work with.  I have spent more time then I care to admit reading about how other platforms have swapped this engine and what worked or didn't work for them.

 

From what I have read about the JD and AC community running these engines with an electric PTO there haven't been many engine issues that were the fault of the engine.  There have been failures but mostly due to poor implementation and operator usage. 

 

Over the last few nights I got the last of the power steering adapters tracked down.  I seem to have misplaced them for awhile.  I need to pick up a few more pieces to tie the power steering lines up closer to the frame.

 

 

That's all I have done for this.  Not sure I'll get back to working on this as I have family in town this weekend.

[dells68 7,498]

Enjoy your build.  It's your build and I'm loving seeing what you're doing!  I think there are a lot of us who can learn from what you're doing and might even be inspired to attempt something similar ourselves