A tractor I could fit in the back of my vw golf!

[JUSS10 250]

So a while back I was looking for some tractor parts and stumbled across a guy that had a bunch of old mowers. Well in the way back he had a little riding mower from the 60s. Not sure why it caught my eye but I just thought it was too cool. He said it wasn't his so he couldn't sell it. Well After a few parts purchases since then he finally said he'd sell it to me.

Today I went over with $40 in hand and picked it up. Folded down the seats in my car and it fit quite nicely!

Definitely been sitting for a while but the engine, trans, and axle are free and moving. Tires appear to be original, unfortunately the front rib tires are nearly shot.

My plan is to just get it running for now and driving then do something with it later. Not sure if I want to restore it to stock appearance and color or have some fun. I'd like to put a set of small AG tires on the back and tri ribs on the front. Guess we'll see what happens!

[tomtractor 71]

Nice style. I am hoping to purchase a Beaver tractor. Take off the tires and slip it into the back of my Toyota Matrix. I am hoping it will work. Attached is the first RJ I purchased. It wouldn't fit into my car! There are always options.

[AMC RULES 36,941]

So...how much did that ticket cost you?

[Jake Kuhn 1,547]

very nice deal justin! Those are neat little tractors. ~Jake

[T-Mo-(Moderator) 4,337]

I know of one guy who put a Cub Cadet Original in the back of his Honda Element.

[Ken B 3,116]

That is a very cool looking lawn tractor. It's got convert me to a race tractor written all over it!

[JUSS10 250]

I already build a race tractor out of an old wheel horse with a 250 Suzuki under the hood. This one is going to get back to normal... More or less

[VinsRJ 721]

Looks like a Bradford Pinto I once had.

[JUSS10 250]

from what i have gathered online, its a huffy mower. its called a broadlawn and appears to be made between 1966-1968. Its a pretty cool and robust machine. cast front axle, gear reduction steering, separate 3 speed gearbox with reverse, chain drive to a rear axle with differential and drum brake. usually i find these things kind of ugly but the hood on this one is just too cool, kind of reminds me of a miniature version of my 1054. that last picture i posted was the only picture i could find of how it would have looked originally. It had a bright metallic blue frame and white hood, engine, and wheels. not sure if i want to paint it like that or just wheel horse red as i have a gallon of that stuff haha.

[Wishin4a416 2,185]

^{When I first saw it, it reminded me of an old Penncraft. Pennys line. Then I saw your closeup of the name. Nice haul!}

[Wheel-N-It 2,967]

That is one SWEET little tractor! Congragulations!

[roscoemi 245]

Tomtractor, that is redneck as hell. I like it. :greetings-clappingyellow:

[speedyleedy 205]

That's one cool little tractor justin & for 40 buck's you can't beat that ! :bow-blue:

[JUSS10 250]

Well I'm glad you all think its cool because my girlfriend thinks its silly and my dad sees it as a waste of space... Oh we'll I think it's pretty sweet!

Been slowly messing with the engine. It's not seized but its in rough shape. Muffler is all rotted out. Pulled the gas tank with the carb and I think this is the most rusted and gummed up tank/carb I've ever seen. Carb is soaking and will be for a while most likely. Not sure what to do about the tank. May just try and find a new motor. Guess we'll see

The steering is seized up so that will get some attention next.

Will post updates and pics

Justin

[6wheeler 585]

My dad traded some furnace work to a guy in 1971 and his payment was a 5hp broadlawn rider. I think t had a 28" deck if I remember it right. My mom didn't want us boys to use it because she had heard" you could fall off and run your foot over" . She never minded us pushing them old Majestic 19" mowers around (we had 2). Or the Jeri sickle mower around either. I remember when I first got to use it, I was 10 and in my mind? Them guys that walked on the moon a couple years earlier didn't have nothin' on me . Suddenly, it seemed the 3 acres we had to mow didn't seem so big any more (I didn't think that we had 3 mowers going instead of 2 was the reason why). It was white and blue and was the worlds greatest invention in our eyes. One day my older brother came up with a brilliant idea. We tied 2 ropes to that little angle iron drawbar and each of the other ends to each of the majestics. He pulled us around while mowing so all we had to do was steer them. See? I always knew he was a genius . My mom damn near died when she saw our awesome lawn equipment. A 65" cut (more or less). We didn't know the pushers would keep trying to go right behind the tractor, so it ended up being alot more work. Maybe that is also why the rear end drive sprockets teeth had such a short life span.

[JUSS10 250]

great story 6wheeler!

I have been slowly working this machine as time allows.

Everything was seized up, and i really do mean every thing! I have since broke free the spindles and axle center pivot, re greased and installed those. I cleaned up the reduction steering and was able to break free the 2 piece steering shaft. That has all been cleaned up and re assembled. The steering is now fully functional. Unfortunately the front wheels and tires have seen better days. i really like the original tires but they are splitting apart at the ribs. the hubs were also drilled out at sometime for a 3/4" axle (or that seems to be what happened) so my plan is to just get new front wheels and tires. harbor freight has some pneumatic "saw tooth" tires with bearings for $8 a piece. these use the 5/8" spindle size and should bolt right on. The rear tires are actually in great shape but i can across the opportunity to buy some 4x8.00 AG tires for less than $20 with wheels so i will machine a set of hubs at work to bolt those on to the rear to make it a "real" garden tractor.

The engine that was on it does turn over and i did get spark but the tank was completely trashed and the carb was in pretty rough shape too. i was lucky enough to fine the exact same engine on CL for $20 that was in MUCH better shape so i know have that home. The previous owner said if i didn't want the engine he would give me $20 back if i return it to him. So that will work out perfectly.

I decided to split the transmission apart this past weekend and found out it was full of water. Luckily it was also caked full of old grease so there wasn't any rust issues. i was able to scrape most of the great out and free up the input shaft (it spun but was very stiff) i plan to pour some 90 weight gear oil in it once i get everything running.

I also had to pull the rear axle as one of the rear bearing carriers was shot. I am in the process of trying to get the rear wheels off the axle and then remove the one bad bearing and try and find a replacement for it

So all that said, progress is being made and if i can get the new motor running good, i could probably have a moving machine by the end of the week!

[Wheel-N-It 2,967]

Good work JUSS. I like these old oddball LAGT's too.

[JUSS10 250]

so i got a bit more work done on it in the last few days. my plan was to get the tractor rolling tonight and the engine running as well.

Today at work i took a little time to machine up some new rear hubs that would allow me to use the new new tires i picked up for the tractor. i took some tubing and reamed it to 7/8" and some 1/4" plate and welded the two together. i can still swap on the turf tires just by pulling one bolt on each side but now i also have the rear AG tires on it. I also took time to turn some adapters for the front spindles. The original tires appear to have been bored out to 3/4" even though the spindles are 5/8". I turned some sleeves that i could slide over the spindles and allow for the wheels to fit right again. maybe it originally had sleeves like this? who knows, but now i can use the ribbed fronts. one tire seems to be in OK shape the other is splitting at the ribs. not sure if i can patch that from the inside or if i should just start looking for new tires.

Next was the "new" engine i put in. I knew i was having an issue with the ignition system so i started by looking at the points. I pulled the flywheel and points cover then cleaned and re-gapped them. I also pulled the "kill" wire off the throttle lever by the carb. i have no clue if it was working right and i figured one less thing to go wrong. I also don't mind the idea of using a kill switch up on the dash anyway so thats what I'll do. I spun the flywheel by hand and was able to get a nice blue spark on the plug. put it all back together, poured some fuel down the carb and she fired right up. I poured some gas in the fuel tank but i wasn't able to get anything working that way. I figured it was a long shot. Guess I'll be pulling the carb and tank off. I'm hoping there isn't too much rust inside. Not really a fan of these carb/tank combo engines.

Below are a few pictures of the progress over the last few days. I'm pretty happy with the stance from the new tires. I threw the hood on just to get a little perspective of the overall machine. The rears are a little skinnier than i wanted but they are wearing on me. I'm wondering if a wider 8 inch wheel would shorten the tire height and make it a bit wider. What are your thoughts? keep it tall and skinny or try and remount on wider wheels?

next to the 1054 it looks down right tiny!

[JUSS10 250]

I picked up some tires from harbor freight. They fit perfectly and even have bearings in them. They are the same diameter but skinnier. Not sure how I feel about them yet... Too skinny?

[Kelly 1,028]

All skinny tires looks better than the fat on the front and skinny on back, Paint it red and call it your baby 1054

[Wheel-N-It 2,967]

I'm with Kelly. Once the seat is on it and all painted up, you won't concentrate so much on the tires. I'm liking it so far!

[JUSS10 250]

yeah I like the look too. I think i may order up some of the v60 tri ribs for the 4 inch wheels. they are only listed at $15 a piece so thats not too steep. just need to decide if i go with 3 or 4 inch wide tires.

I also need to try and track down a seat. I want to use the older style seat pan like you see on the RJs. i have one on a 654 that i might steal.

my plan is to just get it running and driving then probably park it for the winter. I may make a little snow plow for it using the blade from my brinely back blade. the blade unbolts from the frame its on so it would be easy to make a new frame for this tractor to just bolt the blade to. I have seen some of these with snow plows i know its possible...

[Wheel Crazy 23]

The tractor looks very cool! The new rims and tires make it look sweet!

[JUSS10 250]

threw a seat on it but I dont think I'll use a square pan, it just doesn't look right to me. still trying to track down the old school style tractor seat. either way, here is a picture of it outside finally. I did get it running and it runs pretty good, however, it appears to smoke. The engine i have on it now was one that i bought on a whim to replace the original. Since they are the same engine, i might strip the old one down to a "short block" and pull all the parts off the one i bought and see how the original engine runs.

[JUSS10 250]

update on this little machine. I tried to get the original engine running using the parts from the extra engine i picked up. had spark but it wouldn't fire. swapped out the condenser, reset the flywheel and she fired to life with the original engine which is pretty awesome! I picked up a tractor style seat pan and threw that on a while back. found a chain in some spare parts, tied a few lengths together to make that complete. Got the original pulley mounted back on it and after a little trial and error I found the right belt size. fixed up all the linkages, added a few springs and hoped on for the first test drive. It moved! always love that feeling of the first time something moves especially after nearly everything was seized up on this little beast. below are some pictures of it as is. Its not pretty but it runs and drives. Also have a video which is pretty hilarious as I am 6'3 and driving this thing around the back yard. I actually think i may loan it to a friend at work with some younger boys for them to play around with as it would likely just get tucked in the back of the barn now or under a tarp outside. Fun little machine but its time to get working on my RJ-35....