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sgtsampay

1975 B1300 Auto Custom

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sgtsampay

So today I'm showing my latest project. A 1975 B100 Auto which I got on a good price but as you will see later needs a little bit of work, to say the least. The tractor's history was told to have come from a family who bought it new  but used it evey year for different things. They at one point replaced the old 10hp Kohler and placed a K301 on it but after some time this motor broke a rod. They did repaint the tractor at least once and really weren't scared to use a grease gun on the chassis. The tranny had no water in it and now visible leaks. The oil was nice a clean motor oil but I still drained it all out after fighting with the drain plug and removed the oil filter as well. I have a brand new Wix 51410 filter that I picked up for $10 along with 5 quarts of Mobil 1 10w-30 synthetic, as I'm a firm pusher towards synthetic oils vs. dino after working in the oil world and living in Maine's extreme temperatures. (-30 to -40 in the winter to 90 in the summer) I also picked up some plain dino Supertech 10w-30 oil for the next engine which will be on this custom B100.

 

Here is what I went and look at about one month ago. Not really much to look at but I saw pontential. Lots of it.

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sgtsampay

So I paid for the tractor and left it there till two days ago when the snow finally melted enough for me to drag it out of its rested place and to my trailer for travel to it's newest home. During the month waiting for it to thaw out I took the engine block to a machine shop to have measured. It's a std bore and needed to be bored to .20 over in order to be rebuilt since the bore had a nice amount of rusted. The crank also needed to be under sized as it two was rusted and scored from the rod damage. I looked up the cost for all new parts plus machine work and had an estimate of around $550. I felt this was a bit much for my budget so I parted out the engine on flee bay and made a little money to pay for the tractor and a good condition 36in RD deck to go along with the build. The engine I looked around and found this 13hp Predetor engine from Harbor Frieght on sale with a 20% off coupon for about $289. I then got an extended warrenty on it should anything go south with the engine for a few dollars more. I fully understand this is a clone chinese engine, however I feel its not a bad route to try and try i will.

 

The engine came in the mail about a week ago. It came in a large box with plywood bolted to it base and top for extra support during shipped. The engine seems to be in good shape, with no dents in it. Also all of the bolt on the engine have blue marker dots on them from the factory. I did test the torque of a couple bolts to insure proper torque and they all checked out fine. I also read on the web that some of the engine come from the factory with the wrong valve clearances. So I popped open the valve cover and the spark plug out, placed the engine to TDC and check the valves. Sure enough they were way to tight. I set them to the factory specs and turn the engine by hand over to ensure my measurements. I was right on the money. These engine come shipped with no oil in the cranks so I this is why I bought the cheap 10w-30. Since its a new engine it has to be broken in in a special way according to the manual. It states the engine should be ran at about 1/2 to 2/3 trottle with no load for 3 hours. Then run the engine normally for the remainder 17 hours and change the oil. After this the rings should be broken in and the oil just changed every 20 hours after. Since I like to use synthetic oils I will put this motor on a diet of Mobil 1 10w-30 oil after the break in period  and in the mean time use dino cheap oil to help with the breakin. I will also go one step further and change the oil twice during the 20hr period in the beginning, once after the first 3 hours incase there are some metal shavings and then 17 hours later. Both of these oil changes with be with the same oil. After all of this the motor should be good for many hours to come.

 

The motor placed in the tractor for looks. I think some work will be needed here:

 

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I also picked up a sleave for the crank to turn it to 1 1/8th so I can reuse the old PTO hardware.

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scotty

I like predator motors. The 6.5 hp predator one has a lot of power for a hundred dollar motor. Ive used it for a while with no problems.

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sgtsampay

In the mean time I also took off all of the wheels as they were all cracked and flat from the sun. I had to replace the front tires since they were very weak, with new ones for $24 bucks each at Tire Wharehouse. I was also able to put tubes into the rears and reused the old tires. This is where i discovered my first major issue with the tractor. After I removed the rear tires the hubs seemed very loose. So I unscrewed the set screw and pulled the hubs off with my hands and some light taps with the hammer as I didn't want to disturb the clips inside the transmission. Both axles move only side to side a total of 1/4in. Which would be right in spec since the normal is 1/8th per axle and two would make 1/4in. (Please correct me if Im wrong you guys)

 

The hubs are both very worn in their key ways so they will have replaced with new ones. The right axle has no damage to its keyway slot but the left does. Here comes my first question. Any idea on how to correct this without replacing the whole axle shaft?

 

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After cleaning the tractor a bit with the air gun and shop vac. I discovered the lever system for the transmission be in fair shape. I feel with a little oil and mabye some adjustment all will be find in this area. Seems very simple setup as well.

 

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Edited by sgtsampay

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sgtsampay

Update:

So i did a little work in the garage and here is what happened:

First I took my grease gun and completely greased the steering set-up. Its all moves nice and smooth now and I also raised the steering shaft collar a hair to firm up the steering wheel.

 

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Then I removed the old wiring and gauges. Since the new motor has all of this self contained in a nice little box, I stripped the tractor down to just the throttle cable. I then took the choke handle and put it on the throttle lever shaft so I can grip it better. I then placed the new non bypass Wix filter onto the tranny. I still have to get a new drain plug before i fell the case up with Mobile 1 syn but I'm getting there.

 

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Now the best part of the day was me getting a little closer to figuring out how to mount the engine. Well I did some removing of the engine gas tank along with the electrical box down. I also removed the battery box on the tractor and this allowed me to move the whole engine in more and the hood now completely closes and the tractor hoop I think will work fine with an idea I have cooking.

 

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I finally used my impact and removed the blades off the deck. I then used the flap disk on my mini grinder to remove all of the rust from the blades. I then sharpened them and painted them black. While waiting for the paint to dry I used my wire brush and removed all of the old grass clipping from the deck. No rust holes! Yeah. I also took the air compressor and blew out all of the old grass and mud from inside the baffles. They are much cleaner now. Lol. To top it all off I lightly coated the whole deck with some used motor oil. I heard from lawnsite that some of the pro do this to help down the rust on their decks and such. I don't know but will find out. Well, that all for now. Hopefully this weekend some magic will happen with that motor. Hint, hint.

 

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Edited by sgtsampay
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slammer302

I've done a couple repowers with the predator motors and had to remove the gas tanks and I make a plate to go across were the gas tank would of set so the air from the flywheel still goes across the motor like it should and I think it makes it look better68ed733cc53c365fd06fa2eba394d3c1.jpg

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sgtsampay

Hmm any more pictures of that cover?

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Don1977

A good used axle might be cheaper unless you have a good friend  that is a machinist. To save that axle weld up the keyway turn it back down and cut a new keyway  on the other side.

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Racinbob

Very nice Bobby. You're being finicky, I like that :handgestures-thumbupright: I recently partially stripped down my deck and coated the underside with Por-15. I've heard that it holds up well to the violence under there. I've only mowed a couple times with it so time will tell. It does shed the stuck grass much better. Por-15 is expensive but I easily did 2+ coats with a pint can (42" SD)

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slammer302

i dont have any more picks right now i can try to get sum more when i get the suburban out for mowing duty and i use motor oil on the bottom of my old decks too seems to be the cheap way to save them from rusting when i can't afford POR-15 i do not recommend the EZ slide graphite coating or at least i was not impressed

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sgtsampay

Thats for the review about the EZ glide. I was curious about that as well. Glad I didn't  bother with that and just used old motor oil.

 

I would love to take out the axle shaft and bring it to my local machinist and see about him putting a new keyway into it. However, that a project for another time. For now I will jsut try the JB weld idea with my special mismatched hubs for now. I say special because I have a rabbit in my hat about what i did to them.

 

I did pick up 4 new sealed front wheel bearings. They are sealed so I don't have to waste a whole tube of grease anymore tring to keep the open bearings clean. LOL. IZ also grabbed 4 new hardened new set screws for my special hubs along with a new square head pipe plug for the tranny. I old one is all destroyed from me tring to get it out with the vise grips. I did get it out and saved the threads on the tranny so thats all I care about.

 

Finally I have planned to replace the axle seals on this ole girl just to make sure no oil seeps to the axle towards the hubs but I can't find any replacement seals. Does anyone know the true measurements of the seals as I would like to try one more place before I go to plan B. Thanks all for your interest in this. :)

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sgtsampay

Update:

The seals I found at a local motion industries for 4 bucks each. They are the cross referenced at 1in Internal, 1.499 and 1.503 OD with .25 width. Not sure if it will work so for now I will just keep these on hand for when the old ones start leaking I will replace them. I also got the machine shop to add another set screw hole on top of  new key way slot at a 90 degree off set from the original. So I now have two set screws along with new key way slots in the hubs. The right axle I just installed a new keyway into it and tighten it all up. I gave the hub some love taps with the hammer to get them on since I didn't want to keep using my palm to tap it in place. The left side I also got the hub installed the same way with no issues but only after I did the JB weld idea. Seemed to work great once it dried. I'm very please with the results.

 

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I also mounted the front tires back on with the new sealed bearing. One side needed a little extra shiming but otherwise worked find as well. Both spin very well with no more play and very quite. I know think later in the summer I will be needing to replace my tie rods as they seem to have the play now the steering wheel is nice and tight and the front wheels.. Always something right?

 

Next I used some 3/8in rod and made a new PTO rod so I can move the truion to any position I will need it to be at. I then finally made a plate after much measuring and lining up the PTO setup. I installed all of the parts first to make sure it all works before I measured where the mounting holes will on the new plate and part of the frame. Then after some drilling and cutting bam, the engine now finally has mounting hole. I just don't have long enough bolts so tomorrow I will get those, install the gas line from the tank to the carb along with the throttle cable and hear this thing run..

 

I did fix the lift lever as it was sticking with some oil as it was very rusted and dry. I then took the nails out of the lift linkages and replaced them with new clips as it should have. I replaced the tranny oil plug after some more old oil came out of it and then refilled it to the full level with nice clean oil.  The amazing wife also came visit this morning and said I had to organize the shop better so I had to complete that task before even started today's work. LOL. It does look great and its so nice to have one's own garage. I never had my own before and even though this is just a storage unit its great. Hope you all enjoy its progress so far.

 

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sgtsampay

Please know I would completely strip this machine down and paint it all up but since its to cold, I'm low on funds, and this machine needs to help make money first before I can shut it down for a full make over. So please forgive me for not showing my best work this time as I have in the past. I promise I will make it right one day and hope this machine will do well for my small lawn care as my old horses have.

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sgtsampay

i dont have any more picks right now i can try to get sum more when i get the suburban out for mowing duty

That fine about the pictures. When you get around to it, please do as i will try the plate idea and install a electric fuel pump on it. I think it would be the cats meow for this engine. :)

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sgtsampay

It Lives! It Lives!

 

http://vid177.photobucket.com/albums/w224/sgtsampay/1975%20B100%20Auto/20150405_161137_zpssxuly27b.mp4

 

So today my amazing wife wished to spend a little time with me and wrap up this project. Well, we manage to attach the gas line, throttle cable, bolt down the engine, put on the pto system for the last time I hope, fill the crank case with fresh oil, and prime the engine. Then the magic happened and on the first pull it started to life. No smoke, no surging, nothing odd at all. Just a smooth running engine. It goes well trottle up and down and overall isn't load at all. Was very very pleased and hope to have many more hours with her. So now its time to measure and order a new belt for the drive system and mower deck. Then let them run. :) I will also try and mount a engine hour meter but that about it. I think its going to be a winner. :)

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Sparky

Congrats!

It looks good and sounds good!

Mike.........

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bo dawg

Looks nice, great fab there with the PTO.

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dennist

Looks great Bobby. Can't wait to see a pic of you running it around.

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sgtsampay

Wife isn't home to take pictures of me driving but wow. Never owned an auto before but this thing moves. After one or two min letting it warm up and such it nows moves great. My gps says 6 ish forward and 3ish backward. Doesn't do .mph. lol. After driving around for a good 20 mins I still had great performance. The filter is nice and warm feeling. The engine at full throttle doesn't even notice the tranny unless I stop then go forward really fast and the engine would use the governor for a sec then purr right along. The lever needs go be move alot though in my opinion until it moves. Is that normal? Also the parking paw thing seems a little worn as its not super strong but still works. I'm amazing a 75 tranny works so well though.. when I first started learning it today I moved the lever forward to fast and the whole front end lifted up about one foot. I was like woe horsey. Lol. She is so ready for action I think.

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