MTDrider1160's Toro Rebuild

[Chris]

Well I started working on my Toro.  The engine was temporarly seized so i had to take the shrouding off and spin it

by hand,  there was a huge mouse nest underneath the shrouding.  The extremely bright previous owner somehow broke

the spark plug wire and used electrical tape and a wire nut to hold it together.  There was no ID stickers left on

the engine, the only way i could tell it was a tecumseh was by typing in the only number that i found on the

shrouding.  I took the engine off, the tranny off, and started rebuilding the engine today.  My plan is to lengthen

the frame, raise the axle, put my 12.5 briggs on for the engine, of course bigger tires and wheels, new brakes, axle

etc. and make it into an awesome ATLM.  I am going to make this a complete "rebuild" thread.  Heres the pictures

that i have so far.

-Phil

, was just about to post that aswell

jeeze, i missed that 

By ID stickers i mean the Tecumseh symbol or the word techumseh anywhere on the engine.  On briggs engines the

briggs symbol is all over the engine. 

yea, I wouldnt even bother getting it running. They throw rods to easy. I have a 10 hp tecmushe that im just gonna

sell.

Oh Im going to get it running again, then i will sell it. 

well, thats what im trying to get mine to do before i sell it, but i cant seem to figure out what the problem is

with it. I actually have it bolted to a chair right now in the shed. I found out that it had a blown head gasket so

i replaced it last week, but i didnt try to see if it would start, but ill get to it.




sry, im going off topic 

This and all the other Tecumsehs that ive worked on, all had oil seal leaks.  The whole bottom of the frame is

covered in oil.  Thats one of the reasons i dont like using them.

yep, thats one thing that is wrong with mine to, there was oil ALLLLL over the mower frame that it was on and that

chair to 

Well I added 10inches to the front of the Toro frame yesterday.  I have 2 more welding spots to do then i will be

completly done with that.  Next im going to start cross-bracing the frame.

Looks good, that extra length will help your weight balance. Before you cross brace the frame too much, keep in mind

that you don want some chassis flex since we don't have suspension on these things.

is that a extra 700 you got there???


looks good so far

hey man, thats pretty sick, pretty cool to see another rear engine offroader here. Looks like your doing a real good

job so far

looks like you got allot of work to do it I think it will turn out good  8)

Thanks I'll keep that in mind.  I wanted some extra room too, with the bigger engine.

Nope thats the 700 for my racer, I do need a backup thought.  I located another toro close to me thats sitting in

the weeds, gonna see about getting it.

Other than that I'm waiting for my gaskets for the 12.5 so I can fit that to the frame. 

I have a 500 for sale if you interested, im sure youve seen it in the "parts" section.

toro looks good! 

-Phil

Thanks but i think i'll pass for now.  Im pretty sure i can get that toro for next to nothing.

Looks like your pretty darn good at welding to

I see you added the 10 to the "front" (moved steering forward)...

Any reason you did that as opposed to "sectioning in" some room between motor and seat mount (move rear axle back)

..???

That would have moved your weight forward, given more room for motor/gas tank etc... and given a better overall

balance to the chassis..

Or do you still plan on moving the seat mount forward to match the steering and gain the needed room behind...??

I'm going to move the seat forward to make room for the engine.  It was just a little easier to tie into the

existing frame from the front, i could just slip the tubing right in with out cutting too much. 

I havnt been able to work on the Toro for a while with my new sears and all the snow/ice we got.  Hopefully this

week ill get back on it.

Well I got my 12.5hp briggs fitted up on the Toro's frame.  Its a pretty tight squeeze but it fits.  I was able to

use one of the original bolt holes from the tecumseh that was on it but the rest i had to drill myself.  I have a

little bit of work to do underneath where theres a lip on the engine hole- one of the washers on the mounting bolts

hits it.  But next im going to finish bracing the frame and get working on the front axle.

[Chris]

it looks like it is coming along real good

being that the motor is right above the rear wheels lol what i was gunna do with the baja mower was build a cage

like that bolted and unbolted from the frame or on hinges w/e then cover the sides and front and back ... with sheet

metal then on the top make like louvers so the air and heat can enter/escape. other wise u might short somethin out

with all that water goin around in there lol just thought id pass that tip along

I wanted to build an engine cage for the toro (not only to protect it, but so I can have my darn luggage rack

back!), but the engine is so damm big that it just would never look right.

That and I REALLY don't need more weight in the rear!

Thanks, Ill have to think about that.  Well today i got the 12.5 running, sorta.  I had it runnin great no problems.

I was adjusting the idle and it died on me.  THen when i started it back up it was runnin at full throttle which is

definitly not good so i ripped the spark plug wire off to kill it.  So tommorow ill try and see what the problem is.

Absolutley nothing.  Its bone stock.  The only things I will most likely do it to are a new air intake/filter design

and exhaust work.

Well I had some time to do some more messing with the engine and it looks like i have to take it apart again,

somthing is wrong with the governer.  I tried every adjustement possible on the outside and couldnt fix the problem.

 At low idle if you hold the throttle arm on top of the carb closed(against the idle screw) then let it go, the idle

just starts climbing until it reaches full throttle (not high speed full throttle but max RPM allowed by that carb).

 

are the linkages hooked up???

Yup.  I used my 14hp as a reference as they have pretty much identical governer setups.

did you put the spring back in? thats behind the governer plate

Never took it out, but yea its in there.  And its not overstreched or anything.

does it rev to the point were if you dont push the throttle back to idle it wil blow? or to the governer??? mabey

try holding the part were the cabel would hook to and see if it does the same thing??

It revs to the point where its going to blow.  I had a throttle cable hooked up and when it was reving high the

throttle lever did nothing to lower it.

mabey its set wrong?? completly unhook the throttle and see what happens!?

I did that, didnt work.

Well it looks like I might be using my 14hp for the Toro and my 12.5 for my Racer.  I'm working on plans for the

front end and the rear end.  I might end up widening the frame a couple inches for the OHV.  .

what made u decide that?

Well I have to use one of those engines for my F/X and its $500 for the engine mods for the 12.5 and $600 for the

14hp.  I need the extra $100 for the rest of the mower.

well thats a good reason

Stronger spring?  I had that happen on my go-cart.  Then when I put the spring on, one of the throttle linkage rods

got bent so it revved up a little higher than it should've.

Wait what? The spring never came off.

Sometimes they can get weak.  Or if you get a longer throttle cable, it takes a spring with some more 'ungph' to

pull it all back.

The spring dosnt pull the throttle cable back, the spring is just on the governer arm.  Dosnt even conflict with the

cable.

Well your governor must be different than any of mine where the throttle cable goes DIRECTLY to the governor.  If

it's still sticking, put a return spring on both ends of it.

Its not sticking, the govnerner isnt doing what its supposed to do-limiting the RPM.  Instead it just keeps going up

and up until the engine is ready to blow.

Well I started on the front axle today.  I got a piece of 2X2 Thick wall square tubing.  I cut it 2' long welded it

on with 13degrees of caster.  I only got the top welded on, tommorow ill weld the bottom.  The beads didnt turn out

good at all, might grind them off and redo them.  But next ill be getting a set of spindles and get working on this

thing!

Well I got the bottom welded today, it looks great.  I found some spindles that I'm going to use and hopefully will

get those on soon.

sounds like everythings coming along well, youve done some nice work! keep it up

-Phil

I got the old tecumseh engine that was originally on the toro put back together and running today.  I took stripped

it all down, cleaned all the sludge out in the crankcase and rebuilt the carb.  It runs great except im missing a

part for the governer so i just didnt hook it up-yet.

My parts came!!!!!!!!   I had to turn the bolts on the wheel hubs the other way, and the tierod ends are all left

handed thread so I will most likely end up sending them back.  Dont ever order from MFG Supply!!! Thats the last

time i will!.  Tommorow i'll take my rims and wheel hubs over to the machine shop and get the hubs put in. 

One question....

You're turning those wheels into a 4x4 bolt pattern? Why bother when golf cart wheels are so cheap (free even if you

have any local places)?

Well by the time i payed for shipping and the rims i could have probaly done both of them, i get a pretty good deal

at the shop.  Its just cutting that center hub out and drilling four holes.

How much are you being charged to do that? If it's cheap enough I might have ti done to my rims, just to see how

it'll work.

I'll let you know tommorow afternoon after I take them over.

[MTDrider1160]

Its been a while since i updated this because of the new forum work.  But I got the 14hp fitted on the frame, had to turn it so the valve cover faces backwards.  Theres been a delay in my wheel rims/hubs and i havnt gotten them over to the machine shop yet.  But hopefully tommorow after school or tuesday I'll get the front spindles welded on.

[MTDrider1160]

Got some work done today on the Toro.  I took the engine plate out of one of my MTD's and cut the toro frame so the plate could fit into it, and that way i wouldnt have to drill new holes.  Its just tacked on now, but tommorow im going to weld it permantly on.  The valve cover sticks out pretty good so im going to build a pretty heavy duty rear bumper.

[MTDrider1160]

Well I made a big leap in the progress of my build.  I got my steering all set up. The spindles dont give me as much ground cleareance as i want them too, but that just gives me a better excuse to get bigger front tires!   The steering works great, turns easy, no play.  I had to slightly modify the gussets on the spindles so i could put the tie rods on.  The next step is to get my rear axle set up.  Those tires are not my permanent front tires, just mock up ones.  I will probaly end up using rear wheels for the front.  THere already a 3/4" bore and all i need is a bushing.

[Chris]

You'll notice a big difference when you put the larger tires on the front. I sure did!

Things lookin' good! Wish I could get some progress done on my mowchine