Frankenstien's Lawnmower

[panhandler62]

There won't be much to show until saturday but....

Yesterday afternoon I was mowing the lawn. I got through the neighbor's back yard (she puts up with our redneck ways and works wierd hours as a nurse so I mow her back yard as a neighberly thing) and about half of my back yard when my old hand-me-down, Wally-world yardman tractor siezed. I know it's right dead because it made a right ugly noise when it died and it is frozen solid. :P

In my shed I also have a Simplicity mower with a good motor and a bad transmission. Sounds like I have all the ingrediants to get one working mower out of this, though it's going to be far from a bolt-in swap to replace the 12hp motor with the 16hp twin from the Simplicity tractor.

I'll takes lots of pictures and document it, suceed or fail... should be a hoot either way.

[panhandler62]

Here is what I starting with -- the one with the broken motor:

[panhandler62]

Now... the one with the good motor and the wonky trans:

[lakeroadster]

Be honest, you do this, don't you?

YouTube - Tim Taylor on a Lawn Mower

[panhandler62]

The 16hp B&S twin is a larger engine (in all respects) than the 12.5 B&S I'm replacing so there is going to be some finageling required here. I'm going to start Saturday morning because it's fixin to rain buckets tomorrow.

[panhandler62]

I don't have a V6 to put in it... :P

[panhandler62]

Got a lot done on it... between the rain and my back I'm gonna give it a rest for today and watch some NASCAR. lol

Got the dead motor out of the little mower.

[panhandler62]

Got my tools on the custom bench

[panhandler62]

Here is the hill in my back yard (it's why I can't live without a ride on!) and you can see where I was when it died! lol

[Restrorob]

MTD actually built that style unit with 16 up to 20 hp engines. The only wire you won't need is the one for the old fuel cut-off solenoid on the carb.

Check for one of those mufflers....

From my dealer's parts look-up for a 98/99 machine;

[panhandler62]

Got the good motor out of the big mower (the one with the bad trans) and verified that the drive pulley fits (would have been game over if the drive pulley couldn't be swapped between them.)

I set the motor on the front of the motor. It will bolt up but I'll need to modify the exhaust because it interfers with the steering and since the carb is on the front of the twin instead of the side I'll need to do some custom work to get all the controls hooked up.

Nothing that looks un-doable so far. I'll get back to it in the morning.

[71swb4x4]

I only have slight small engine experience, but on the one I played with the exhaust opening on the head was threaded, so I put some threaded pipe thread on to get the muffler out a little ways. Maybe an option for you??

[brad_man_72]

mufflers?! It's frankenmower! Frankenmower needs 4" stacks! And some spinning hubcaps.....

[Restrorob]

Originally Posted by brad_man_72

Frankenmower needs 4" stacks!

I did run straight black iron pipes all the way out the back of a old twin Sears GT I once had....

[panhandler62]

I was looking briefly at the solonoid -- do I need to jump it to the ingition wire or just leave it without hooking it up?


Maybe I should plumb the exhaust out the back and run a 6" mufler like the kids do on the Civics around here... lol

[Restrorob]

Originally Posted by panhandler62

just leave it without hooking it up?

That's all, Or you can cut it up closer to the harness and tape the wire up. That would be less un-needed wire hanging around.

Believe it or not the 16 I straight piped wasn't all that loud, It had more a low tone rumble to it ! hehe


After seeing the Tool Time episode shown above years ago, I jumped on the Mow Power band wagon and put a 12.5 Briggs on a 20" MTD push mower.

It sat in our showroom for close to 8 yrs till someone wanted to buy the engine.....

[panhandler62]

Almost got it.. have some sort of a fuel problem with the 16 though. It sat in the shed for a couple years. It fires right up and runs if you shoot ether in it or dump a little gas down it but it shuts down when it runs out.

Getting gas to the carb but it doesn't seem to be getting any *in* the carb.

[panhandler62]

OK.. figured that out. Just needed to feed a switched 12v to the fuel cutoff solenoid. All that's left is to put the grill and hood back on and mow the dang grass!

[71swb4x4]

You're going to need the extra horse power to cut that stuff.

[panhandler62]

Frankenmower lives!

Rebuilt the carb today and it runs great now. Many, many thanks to Restrorob!

[Restrorob]

Glad to help out on FRANKENMOWER !!!

[WIDESIDE72]

"After" photos!

[panhandler62]

OK... lol.... I'll take some when I roll it out this weekend to mow. Nothing real exciting, just a little rider with a much bigger motor than the factory installed. lol


(do I have to grunt like Tim Allen now?)

[Restrorob]

Originally Posted by panhandler62

(do I have to grunt like Tim Allen now?)

Naaa.....You can wait till ya post the pics !

[panhandler62]

uggghhhhhhh-ahhhh!