My mower project

Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#1
#1
So last week, a riding mower came back to me. I had gotten it cheap, fixed what was wrong, and made it a working mower. 70's Simplicity Grabber. Like this one:




I have the same one without the catcher. 30" cut, single blade.

After I fixed it, a buddy bought 5 acres and didn't have a mower. He borrowed it and proceeded to beat the snot out of it. Blade is now out of balance, all the bearings toast, 3 flat tires and the motor smoking blue bad last time I saw i running. Since then he also broke the recoil, took off the blower housing and then lost it. Grrr. That is when I decided to take it back.

I have another blower housing, but I don't have a recoil for it. Need one with square drive and 6 3/4" across the mounting bolts. Anyone have a spare?

Yanked the deck off(two bolts and the belt) and already stripped it down. I will be stripping the rest of the mower down soon. All parts to be sandblasted and powdercoated.

So here I am with the deck torn down and the motor torn down but I am not sure what parts to get for the motor. The shroud is now gone, so I don't have a Briggs model number or serial to work with. All I know for sure is 3" bore and 2 3/4" stroke, and the "19"s cast into the head, block, and rod. Coolbore. Amazingly, the bore looks pretty smooth, no ring ridge nor hone marks, but the ring gap is about .077"(over double the .035" reject size in my Briggs manual).

Any ideas where I can find the rings, gaskets, seals, etc, without the model/serial number?
 
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J

JKautoFab

Active Member
#2
#2
wow.... sounds like a boat anchor! i was excited i thought there was going to be a racing lawnmower build LOL oh well...

and did simplicity copy snapper or did snapper copy them?
 
Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#3
#3
It is actually light considering it's size. Dunno why I like it, but I do.

I have a racing mower chassis already. No motor and missing a lot of parts...

Don't know who copied who. I like how Simplicity has the deck independent from the mower chassis.
 
capguncowboy

capguncowboy

Well-Known Member
#5
#5
I used to have a Snapper Comet from the late 60s I believe. Best mower I've ever had. I had put a 14hp Briggs OHV on it, with an electric start.

The mower looked like a piece of crap, but it mowed really well. The only reason I sold it was that I had just bought a house with a bigger yard and it took too long to mow using it (2-3 hours).

My sister has it these days and every time I see her, I ask if she wants to sell it back to me. I'd love to do a restoration on it.
 
Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#6
#6
Boomstick said:
Get a vertical shaft V-twin for maximum fun :smile:
Click to expand...
Too bad this mower uses a horizontal shaft motor.... :laugh:

As much as more power would be fun, it doesn't need it. It came with an 8hp Briggs that was probably making 5, so the rebuild is in full swing. I have a new Predator I was about to put on it, but it wouldn't be right to me.

I have already honed the cylinder, ran taps through all the bolt holes, drilled out two bolts that my buddy broke off, mild port job, mostly cleanup of casting flash, cut new valve seats with my Neway cutters, refaced the valves, and almost done setting the lash. Oh, and I surface plate ground the head and block. The block was worse than the head, mostly right above the exhaust port.

Doing as much as I can before the rings, gaskets and seals arrive.

I also ordered the Magnatron conversion so no more points.

Considering a different carb. Not real keen on putting the updraft Flojet back on it.
 
Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#7
#7
capguncowboy said:
I used to have a Snapper Comet from the late 60s I believe. Best mower I've ever had. I had put a 14hp Briggs OHV on it, with an electric start.

The mower looked like a piece of crap, but it mowed really well. The only reason I sold it was that I had just bought a house with a bigger yard and it took too long to mow using it (2-3 hours).

My sister has it these days and every time I see her, I ask if she wants to sell it back to me. I'd love to do a restoration on it.
Click to expand...
My yard isn't even big enough for a rider. And I enjoy the walk I get behind the Honda self propelled mower. For some strange reason though, I like this rider. :shrug:
 
Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#8
#8
Picture time! Here is the rolling chassis after removing the mower deck and the engine.



One steel tube from the front to the back... The lever under the seat is the shifter. Two speed and reverse. Foot pedal is combo clutch release and brake.



And here you can see the bolt that holds the front to the back. Notice the slot above the bolt. The front is allowed to pivot independent of the rear. Kind freaky riding it.



Front tire a little worse for age... 4"ers.



And the rears. Too bad I can't save these double indian heads...

 
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Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#9
#9
The lever for engaging the deck. The small lever just behind the deck lever is the parking brake. Band brake buried up under the engine..



And a view from the back showing the gearcase on the right. There is a differential in there. No oil, just heavy grease. And no real seals... i will be adding some.

 
jeep2003

jeep2003

#10
#10
nice and simple. they dont make em like that anymore. would be nice to be able to buy a 4 or 5 hundred dollar ride on like that instead of 2 or 3k for a 25hp plastic monstrosity they all seem to be now
 
Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#11
#11
Another buddy of mine a has a rider that is about 6 years old and it is on it's last legs. We have already welded the frame several times from cracks. And he only has about 1 1/2 acres to mow. He wants me to find an old one to rebuild for him. I think he is going to try to get this one from me...

The deck and a bunch of parts are going to be sandblasted tomorrow, and then powdercoated. Hoping to have this done in a month or two.

Wonder what Kenny would think of doing this seat.... :shrug:
 
E

Eric R

Member
#15
#15
Hi Try this place called J.&S. repair 2023 Lapeer Rd. Lapeer Michigan 48446 phone 1-810-664-7270 They have Lawn mover junk yard Eric R Lapeer Michigan
 
Stangrcr1

Stangrcr1

New Member
#17
#17
Bill Ellerby said:
From what I've seen online the 5hp model was 26" cut-8hp was the 30" cut mower.
Click to expand...
Well I have the 30" blade, so....

Just spent the last 4 hours sandblasting the deck and a lot of small parts. Flywheel, engine tins, all the deck brackets and more.

Good news is there are no rusted through holes in the deck, a lot of little ones, but not through.

Bad (good) news is the reason there was so little rusting on the deck is it was galvanized from the factory. The bad part here is that my powdercoater doesn't want to coat it over galvanized because he is not sure what it would do to the finish. Is this true? I think I got most of the galvanizing off during blasting, but would it affect powdercoat?
 
RobertC

RobertC

#20
#20
Hey Stangrcr1,

Cool mower.

Not sure about this brand, but I've found a good resource in my new buddy Patrick, over in Ma at ProPartsDirect... ProParts Lawn Mower Parts for Cub Cadet, Toro, MTD, Snapper and Simplicity, they've been very helpful with everything I've called about regarding mower and small engine stuff. He's even emailed me schematics to better help describe a part we are discussing.

And when they ship small light stuff, it goes in an envelope !....got some small bits once in an envelope, and was charged like only 82 cents for shipping !

Anyway, give them a try, and keep up the good work !
 
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