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another homebuilt jobber followed me home

4K views 34 replies 13 participants last post by  stiemmy 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Got this a few weeks ago from a fellow that said his grandfather built it. It didnt run when I got it, and the drive system needed some fab work. The brackets were busted and bent, and the upper pulley was all bent to crap. I have been very busy, so no pictures along the way, but some pics of her done will do.

Apparentlyy it's been in a barn for the last 30 some years after they busted the drive. At one time they tried to lift it for whatever reason from those brackets, and that's how they messed it up, and then just parked it. As you can see in the pictures I have added some new metal in certain places, and the angle iron verticals needed tweeking, and rewelded(one was completely missing). Up to this point all I know for sure is the front axle looks to be homebuilt, the tranny is from a dodge truck 37-40, and the engine is a 43 Briggs ZZ. It's a little scary but fun to drive. I'm thinking I'm going to add a kill switch up by the steering wheel for safety, but I just got it running, so I'll add that later.

One unique feature that caught my eye was the starter. To my knowledge Briggs did not have electric start in these, and the orientation of the starter is odd. Also, the bracket that holds it on is cast aluminum or the like which is rather odd, but cool non the less. The WHOLE engine is cast iron including the blower shroud. I had to pull the shroud and flywheelt to get to the points of clean them, and also noticed the flywheel screen is factory riveted to the shroud, so is this an oddball Briggs electric start?? Either way, it's neat feature. Here are some pics as promised. The last 2 pictures are when I got it, and if you look closely you can see the fixes I made to bring her back to life.
 

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#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Cuppo more pics. Boy, the steering wheel looks a lot like a Copar Panzer? Any thoughts on that?

Yes, I know battery needs a hold down added, and one clamp is not on tight. The clamp is rusty and it's got oil soaking on it for now.

The best part of this buggy is driving it! I was toolin around the yard yesterday, and the kids across the street were watching me, and LOL I thought their chins were going to scrape the ground. Hahaha.
 

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#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
That is very cool. Besure to write down all that they told you about it. Good Luck, Rick
Thank you!

The info posted earlier is all I know about it. The guy I got it from knew very little about it, and I guess he never asked his Grandfather about it when he was alive. He said his Grandfather passed many years ago, and I'm guessing when it was parked in the corner it was just forgotten about...outta sight, outta mind.

The front end could very well be from a carrier!!?? It falls in the correct time period. I did pull one hub apart to see the guts, and it does have inner and outer bearings that are non tapered.

Funny thing is, it was on Craig's list for a month, and I wasn't interested at first. The pictures that were posted made it really look like poo (all 2 of them) lol. I saw it was still for sale, and called on it to get as much info as possible before driving an hour one way for what I initially thought was a pile of scrap.
 
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#5 ·
Looks like you might have to do some work on the jack-shaft.The belt off of the engine pulley looks like it's pulling it down a bit.I think I would do some cutting and weld up a mount for 2 pillow block bearings instead of that 1 bearing set that actually kinda looks like a Tube frame Bolens or MTD 990 PTO.

Looks like it will pull a house.Man those old Briggs ZZ are HUGE.I have an old Clinton 2500 9 hp hand crank engine down at the farm..It will start with a couple cranks in the hottest or the coldest days.Bet it weighs a good 200 lbs.Best thing about them is you don't have to turn alot of RPMs to get the power out of them.I put it on the old water pump for the Barn water a couple years ago.It will sit there and chug away at around 900 rpm all day long.
 
#9 ·
Looks like you might have to do some work on the jack-shaft.The belt off of the engine pulley looks like it's pulling it down a bit.I think I would do some cutting and weld up a mount for 2 pillow block bearings instead of that 1 bearing set that actually kinda looks like a Tube frame Bolens or MTD 990 PTO.

Looks like it will pull a house.Man those old Briggs ZZ are HUGE.I have an old Clinton 2500 9 hp hand crank engine down at the farm..It will start with a couple cranks in the hottest or the coldest days.Bet it weighs a good 200 lbs.Best thing about them is you don't have to turn alot of RPMs to get the power out of them.I put it on the old water pump for the Barn water a couple years ago.It will sit there and chug away at around 900 rpm all day long.
The jackshaft isn't exactly level, but it ain't too far off, it's tight, and it works for now. I could have and still can redo it, but I have moved twice since last fall, so most of my tools are packed away so deep that I can't even get to them. I be willing to bet the neighborhood was laughing their butts off watching me trying to get that thing straight with 2x4's a vise grip, and a lot of sweat. Lol

Yea,you are right she is anything but light. There is so much mass there with the flywheel, starter ring gear, and tranny gear that it is slow to rev up/down, and will idle purdy low.
 
#10 ·
Neat looking tractor. I think you made a real good find on that one. Thanks for all the pictures. It was fascinating to me to see how that thing was put together
Glad you enjoyed them!:)
 
#11 ·
Looks a lot like Economy PK. Similar frame and steering lay-out. Axles are diff tho.steer wheel looks PK.
Could very well be? Too bad we'll never really know!!
 
#12 ·
That is one cool old homemade! Glad you took the time to go get it!
Thank you.
Me too. Glad I called on it, cause I'm telling ya the picture posted in the listing made it look like a waist of gas/time. I was going to download the picture he had posted when I got home, but the listing was deleted already.
 
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#13 ·
I think I may add piece of plywood to lay over the frame only when driving it when I do the battery too. That drive shaft looks very intimidating. It doesn't spin very fast, BUT I know for a fact that not any of my body parts are going to stop it from spinning, and I'm not going to try!!!:)
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
I forgot to highlight the banjo rear end in my first post. I have no idea what it's from or what make it is, so if anyone knows what it is I'd like to know. There are no numbers on it, and the front pinion snout does not look familiar, so I can only guess.
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
I worked on the old girl some yesterday. I made a batt hold down from scraps, and messed with the drive alignment. I didn't get it perfectly straight as the top bracket has a slight bend in it, but I'm happy with the results.

I pulled it under the tree in the yard, and used my come along to put light upward pressure on the upper horizontal bar. Next I removed the two bolts tieing it to the vertical bar. Then I started cranking on the winch until the drive chain tension was good, and the upper pulley looked closer than before. Finally I welded the brackets together as obviously the holes where the bolts were no longer lined up.

After I finished all of my work I took her for a spin, and She drives excellent. I do realize the proper way to have fixed the drive system would have been a complete rebuild, but I didn't choose that option for two reasons, 1. I didn't want to spend the cash on materials, cause I knew I could reuse what's there, and 2. I wanted to keep as much original steel on the tractor as possible. I'll take a video of it this afternoon with a walk around, and a little driving around, so keep an eye out!!
 

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#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thank you:)
Be sure to check out the video.

If anyone is going to the Garden Tractor Daze show next weekend, I'll have it there!
 
#24 ·
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