A new addition to my now growing collection

[aeallison 1]

I managed to talk a friend out of the remains of a once magnificent GT-1100 Workhorse. Other than the usual rust and rotted tires it is mostly complete minus the 8 speed gearbox that he sold me a couple of years ago that I put on my 312. I had never noticed that this has the 8 inch front wheels with the shortened spindles and the wider rear wheels. All I had to give for it was some light welding on his truck using his equipment.

Hear is a picture of it that I took after unloading it from the truck, I call it a Well Hung Horse.

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,269]

So what are the plans for this poor soul? Resurection?

Mike..........

[AMC RULES 37,207]

Ooh's and aah's. Looks like that horse is hung well.

[AMC RULES 37,207]

Vs. a well hung horse of course. :dunno:

[aeallison 1]

So what are the plans for this poor soul? Resurection?

Mike..........

Right now I am in the process of disassembling it. (evaluating possibilities) I am not sure how good the engine is, it seems to have good compression but the carb was just hanging by one bolt and was full of dirt. I plan to try starting it tomorrow. I don't have a complete transaxle for it but I could rebuild the one I have in pieces if I can find all of it. For now I think I am going to put the 8" wheels and spindles from the GT onto my 312 and mount a pair of 26x12x12 ag tires that I have on hand on the 12x8.5 wheels. I did manage to get the tire on the wheel and aired up, does anyone know what kind of problems I might have by doing this? I know I will need to raise the fender pan to fit them under the tractor. Should I leave the longer height stock 312 front spindles on it with the 8 inch wheels to level the tractor better?

It will most likely wind up as parts for my 312, I am thinking of restoring the parts and hang them on my walls until I need them or someone trades me out of them. :dunno:

[Kelly 1,033]

As for mounting 26x12x12 tires on 8.5" rims and clearance issues, first it depends on the drand of tire not all brands are the same size, the cheaper the tire the smaller they run, but I can tell you MY 26x12x12 Carlisle tires on 10" wide rims I had to raise the fender 3/4" they clear the foot rest just, but on a narrower rim they would rub, the wide tire on a narrow rim makes the tire rounder, it does not lay the tread flat, in turn makes it taller, like I said brand of tire will be a big factor, Duro's run very small and if that is what you have they may fit.

[aeallison 1]

Thanks Kelly. The tires are made by Nankang, they are 26x12x12 4ply. I made them fit though by raising the fender pan and cutting a curved notch in the rear lip of the footrest. I have included some pictures below...

Now it gets so much traction that its hard to keep the front end on the ground at take off. :wh:

[Kelly 1,033]

They look good, this is how they might look on a 10" wide rim, these are Carlisle tru power 26x12x12's see how they are flatter, and I only had to raise the fender, they clear the running boards being flatter.

[aeallison 1]

They look good, this is how they might look on a 10" wide rim, these are Carlisle tru power 26x12x12's see how they are flatter, and I only had to raise the fender, they clear the running boards being flatter.

Thanks I may have mine over inflated. I had some trouble getting the left side tire's bead to seal so I put bleach on it and added air until the bubbles stopped. as I look at the picture that one seems taller. I know they only need 10 lbs but I figure the added pressure will help to seal them overnight. If they are still holding air tomorrow then I will bring the pressure down to specs. These tires were on rusted out 12x12 wheels that were mounted on some junker 4 wheel drive amphibious atv powered by a snowmobile engine (really bad hillbilly mod) that had been sitting around in my junk pile for about 10 years. The wheels had rusted so bad that the rims actually crumbled. The beads of the tires were impregnated by rust and I had to use coarse sandpaper to get down to the rubber. When I finally do my full restore/mods on it I will buy new tires. Yours look really good and I am sure they will perform better than my semi-flat ones. I would like to get tires like the ones you have on the front, what make and size are those?

[Kelly 1,033]

The fronts a Firestone tri ribs, 16x6.50x8 the only place that sells them is Miller tire, they are not cheap, about $165 shipped, a pair.

[aeallison 1]

:dunno: Again for the info. I will put that information in my wish list for now.