308 repower and upgrade

[Elkskin's mower junkyard 1,117]

2 hours ago, aHorseofCourse said:

There's nothing like a freshly painted horse!  It's so much work tho, I dread doing it every time.

i done a sears suburban a few years ago i know how that is lol

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Got the lift on today.  It works great.  I still can't believe I actually found one of these.  Only down side is it doesn't lift my blade up nearly as high with the solid down pressure bar on.  I had to put the standard mower linkage with the chain on.  I never needed down pressure with snow anyway so this is no big deal.

 

Difference in the clutch linkage.

 

The plate on the front of the battery compartment needs to be cut.  The original kit came with a new plate.

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Got my gauges mounted.  Had to patch up the cut-outs where the dial-a-height was.  Also put the switch for the lift in the wrong spot and had to patch that and re drill.  Turned out pretty good considering it's thin metal and I have a stick welder.  Everything needs sanded and painted yet.  The tiny tach is screwed to a piece of flat stock then welded to the dash.

 

Edited March 18, 2017 by aHorseofCourse

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Ok so work has picked up and the kids keep me busy, but I did make a bit of progress over the last month or so.  Found a front swept axle assembly with reduction for the swap.  Got everything shimmed and painted.  New tires I found at the big show.  Engine is ready, tractor will go under the knife shortly!

Needed new bearings and races.  The old ones were rusted pretty bad.

Put a .004 shim in the bearing block and .001 on each side of the pinion gear to tighten everything up.

16 7.50 8 OTR Lawn Trac.

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Work has been slow and I got a lot done lately.  It's almost finished now.

Little Kohler removed

My supervisor checking my work 

All cleaned and painted

New vs old.  I can't believe how heavy duty that swept axle setup is.

Shorter reduction rock shaft vs stock.  Still had to grind a little off so it would clear the steering gear.

welded 1/2" thick plate under the dash so I could use a flange ball bearing instead of the cheap stock unit.

steering and axle done

Finally set her in her new home

 

[Aldon 4,826]

Looks great !

[mike416 14]

Looks great friend! I really like the bearing upgrade on the steering shaft. I recently modified my 314-8 to the swept forward front axle. The red accents on your engine are a great touch as well. Keep up the great work!!!

[19richie66 17,508]

Looks great. Bet it lacks no power now!

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Thanks for the kind words fellas.  Feels good to finally be putting it back together.

[aHorseofCourse 261]

More pics.

Replaced both pto bearings

New tires.  Found the elusive 8.5" rear wheels on flea bay earlier this year.  Tires are 8.5 vs 10.5 wide.  10's are about an inch taller too for some reason.

New dash

Getting there.  Belt guard from an 1848

Custom exhaust work.  I love the look of the old iron pipe exhaust, but there aren't any good fittings for a collector.  Decided to make one, 2 90's cut off with a piece of sheet metal between.  Welds on the cast iron are ruff to say the least but seem to be holding.

 

 

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Just about done.  Still a few odds and ends.

[ACman 7,618]

That's one sweet looking horse !  

Edited August 21, 2017 by ACman

[clueless 3,002]

Damn fine work sir. I'd be interested in the 8 hp kohler, if your thinking of selling it. Chris.

[aHorseofCourse 261]

8 minutes ago, clueless said:

Damn fine work sir. I'd be interested in the 8 hp kohler, if your thinking of selling it. Chris.

I am thinking of using it to power a log splitter down the road.  I'll let you know if I ever part with it. 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Great work!!! Lots of custom touches yet still keeps an original “feel”.  I think it is totally great that you had “the inspector” out there with you in the shop.  This is a fine machine that is built precise enough to be a show queen but durable enough to be used daily.  All around—sweet!

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,317]

I just reread this thread , you did an amazing amount of work on this project all I can say is .

[mrc 812]

love the exhaust work!  tractor looks great. nice job. mike in mass.

[littleredrider 409]

Awesome work, I’m jealous!! I can’t get anything done to mine lol. Exhaust setup

is nice, curious why didn’t run duals? Make that twin sound mean! I put two hot dog type mufflers on the 518 repower and sounds like a harley. 

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.  Lots of work but I'm happy with how it turned out.

 

11 hours ago, littleredrider said:

Awesome work, I’m jealous!! I can’t get anything done to mine lol. Exhaust setup

is nice, curious why didn’t run duals? Make that twin sound mean! I put two hot dog type mufflers on the 518 repower and sounds like a harley. 

The thought crossed my mind but I wanted more of a tractor look than hot rod, plus I didn't want it too loud and have the neighbors throwing things at me .  It's still pretty loud, these briggs flat twins are beasts!

[aHorseofCourse 261]

Figured I'd throw my latest pics up here.  Added front wheel weights, 2" receiver hitch, led tail lights, and a ROPS off a mini excavator.  Also got the belt guard painted and lengthened the plow frame for the swept axle.  The ROPS not only allowed me to mount the lights nice and high but also adds 85lbs of rear counterweight.  Next up for it is electric pto clutch and then a full time hydraulic setup.  Want hyd lift and eventually (like years away) a loader setup.  Only difference is the pump and tank will stay on permanently.  

 

These weights are a dime a dozen and cheap so I figured I'd take a chance they'd fit.  Of course they didn't and the hole had to be made bigger to accommodate the bearing housing of the wheel.  Carbide tip hole saw and a few whacks with the chisel later and they fit.  I think they would work on the standard 8" wheels with no mods.

Lots of spaghetti

Switch for front fog, rear fog, and strobe.  One empty for future whatever and two direction switches for future electric chute mods on the single stage.

 

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Thanks for sharing the updated photos!  This is a great machine and your hard work has paid off. If you have someone around who can video for you, you’ll have to get a shot of it in action and post it here.  

[aHorseofCourse 261]

19 hours ago, PeacemakerJack said:

Thanks for sharing the updated photos!  This is a great machine and your hard work has paid off. If you have someone around who can video for you, you’ll have to get a shot of it in action and post it here.  

I'll get a video of it sometime.  I was hoping to test the blower out and see what the big Briggs can do but we haven't had much here yet.  

[ebinmaine 67,592]

On 1/13/2018 at 12:04 AM, PeacemakerJack said:

Thanks for sharing the updated photos!  This is a great machine and your hard work has paid off. If you have someone around who can video for you, you’ll have to get a shot of it in action and post it here.  

I'll second that! 

On 1/13/2018 at 7:55 PM, aHorseofCourse said:

I'll get a video of it sometime.  I was hoping to test the blower out and see what the big Briggs can do but we haven't had much here yet.  

 

Wonderful rig you have there.

Like many others on this site, yours is  an inspiration to work on my own. 

Looking forward to a video when you can.