[offroadohio]

A little back story. This Suburban was dropped off at my grandfathers in the early to mid 70s. It was determined that it would cost more to fix for the owner than it was worth so he left it. grandpa replaced the engine with another one that came from who knows what, and then he did it atleast 3 more times until he stopped using the thing about a year he passed away. Since I have been old enough to recall it has been used to cut his grass via a deck, dragging 3 push mowers made into a pull type mower, or running a sickle bar mower off the front. After grandpa passed away it was shoved along the fence line with all the other tractors he accumulated over the years. I decided last spring to drag it out and convert it into an offroad mowsheen, or an offmowder, ridden by a mowron... which ever pun you prefer.

Here it was as I found it. 6 years untouched

YES THE ALLIS b10, and the AMF in the above photo have been pulled out and sent off to collectors already

I poured some gas in it and hooked a battery up and it came alive. But the engine which was a 10 horse brigs with an up draft carb surged badly. I tore the carb down for a rebuild and even after that, it still surged and I determined the carb was just worn out, as there was alot of slop in the rods. $100 for a new ebay carb.., In grandpa fashion, motor swap... So I found a deal on 7 old sears tractos

None of which had an engine I was happy with. ( they got parted out, sold complete, etc, and I ended up making over $500 profit on the $250 purchase of them all, and still have a ton of spare parts)

While the engine search continued I went ahead with other parts of the project.

I Dropped the transaxle, split it apart and welded the spider gears on it for more traction.
Put fenders and seat on from one of the parts tractors.

Recentered a set of 10" atv wheels using the centers from a set of 8" tractor wheels and tossed some used 22" front tires I had from an old atv on and mounted a set of 26" tall rear atv tires on a set of 8 inch wide wheels.

( yes thats my crazy dog sitting in his garage chair)

Rear sits 39" wide, front sits at 40" and 22" tires clear full steer and full axle pivot.

Atleast an engine I like

14hp predator from harborfrieght. Picked up for $100 off craigslist.

To fit the 14 horse in had to remove the fuel tank and battery tray.

New battery location.

Had to notch the grille to clear the air box. This side was already cut by my grandpa to clear the air filter of the 10hp briggs I took off so no harm no foul.

Throttle hooked to the old deck height lever.

Its first trip out of the garage...

 

[offroadohio]

Out on the first little test run in the horse field.

Wife approved too..

Almost ready for its real first test, the trails, but first...

Quick rear bumper. Nothing fancy

First ride went great, rolled it over but no damage. ( see my video thread posted in the video section)

 

[offroadohio]

After a couple more rides, decided I didnt like the factory foot rest as my feet kept falling off. So craftsman running boards...

Running boards worked great, just a couple stuck pics.

 

[offroadohio]

Becuase of the front height I was having alot of issues flipping backwards on hills. So I downsized front tires to 20" and filled them each with 3 gallon of antifreeze for eight,

I am also not happy with my rear tires mud performance. They do GREAT on hills and crossign logs etc, but for the really mudd stuff they just dont dig.

Currently working on a "mud day" set.

They are 25x11x10 tires. I had to make a new center for the wheels to bolt onto the sears hub,

Will update more once this step is complete.

 

[HANKG]

I like it !

 

[jhn9840]

Cool projects. Thanks for taking the time to share them.

jhn9840
John

 

[jpackard56]

I like it !

Me too :thumbs:

 

[toppop52]

That's a cool thing you got there. We did some similar builds with old riding mowers years ago. What's the top speed of that rig?

 

[offroadohio]

It does 23mph out the road.
It isn't set up to go crazy fast becuase it isn't needed on the type of trails we ride. I use 3rd high mostly to build speed into a mud hole and speed shift down to second when it bogs down.

 

[toppop52]

That's plenty fast! How did you get the gearing for that speed?

 

[offroadohio]

I am running a 6 inch engine pulley.

I think somewhere along the lines my grandfather change the rear axle out with one from a Sears custom because it has a six and a half inch pulley on the trans axle and I believe the suburban should I had an eight and a half or a nine inch pulley.

With the 2 please being close to a one to one ratio it gives me that speed if I put a smaller pulley on the transaxle I could get more speed but the smaller the pulley the less friction on the belt so you get more slippage so I like to keep my pool league at at least 6 inches so that it doesn't slip in the higher gears when it gets wet.

 

[offroadohio]

Please excuse the incorrect warning in the last comment I tried to use voice text recognition on my phone and it did not work very well

 

[toppop52]

I been laughing at the wording, my good old Siri does the same. 23 is plenty fast, most of the axles, bearings, steering are not designed beyond about 12 mph.

 

[offroadohio]

Apparently my phone doesn't speak hillbilly.

The speed and the top heaviness of a Sears doesn't mix very well going fast in a straight lines okay but if I try to turn it'll flop over in an instant although I did drive it about 7 miles from my house to a tractor show this fall.

 

[warrior120]

Nice!!!!

 

[offroadohio]

New larger idler

Just showing my home brew belt guard

Mounted an ammo box for tools

 

[offroadohio]

Double post

 

[offroadohio]

Made a set of custom wheels to put a set of 25x12x10 tires on the rear

These are supposed to be 25s but the ones I took off are 26 and alot taller.

Gonna try them out and see how they do. If I don't like them I'll put others back on.

 

[TAHOE]

Not sure why my work computer won't allow me to see pics :wallbanging: :wallbanging: :wallbanging:

 

[offroadohio]

Perhaps they blocked it for being tractor porn.