Well,

I am ready to admit that I have started the restoration of my Moto-Mower this week. Didn't want to say anything until I was certain my purchase of the missing piece was finalized. The part I was missing was a working Moto transaxle, which after a huge investment, I now have one coming on Wednesday. It is safe to say my Moto-Mower has about 4 donors: 3 different Moto-Mowers and 1 Springfield (only pair of 6-12 lug tires I have LOL).

I had a complicated front hubs setup going on because I didn't have what I needed, and on a research visit to Tractor Supply I noticed that the 4.80/4.00-8 wheelbarrow wheel tire combos with tubes and 3/4" bearings that I had been scouting for almost 2 years finally went on sale again. They are normally $20 each, but they were on sale at $10 each. They just happen to fit the Moto spindles and I decided I wanted to stock up enough for my next project so I left the store with 4 of them, might go back and get 2 more tomorrow though, thought of another project LOL. I know they aren't the greatest tires in the world but I see it 2 ways: 1) what in world could I possibly do to those tires, and 2) everyone else can either like them or love them. I don't have any other rims that fit the spindles, but I do think those wheel tire combos will look real sharp on this tractor, especially with 6-12s out back.

Sunday, I spent the day tearing what was left of the better chassis down to just the steering gear and tierod (I took off the front axle to check the pin). Yesterday I went on paint and supplies roundup, purchasing the Duplicolor 500 degree series primer and paint, it has ceramics, and good colors, went with orange. I spent time today cleaning up the entire frame and getting it in primer, looks awesome just in primer, can't wait to see the finish coat on it, that's tomorrow I hope. I haven't taken any pics of the progress today, but might later on. I have to go to ebay and buy my Moto-Mower hood decals now, the guy finally relisted them. I may post pics here later though.

We want pics!

Buzz, Glad to hear things are coming together! Is trouble in the transaxle a common problem with these machines? The reason I'm askin' is I've seen several posts on this site about transaxle problems. The Massey Executive in my avatar has the right axle splines stripped clean. Just wondering if that is thier weak spot or if it was a fluke. Everything else in the rearend looks to be in great shape. I find it a little strange that the 7 horse Kohler and 6X12 turf tires had enough umph to shuck my axle splines.

Well you know what I have to say!!! [img][/img]

Thanx Buzz, I'll let you know if I need the axle for sure. My brother is supposed to be making me a new one since he has access to a full machine shop at his job. I'm glad to know not every one has the same problem [weak spot] with thier transaxles. Who knows what these little tractors have pulled or how they were treated over the last 40 years.

Well, progress for today, I got the frame painted up orange, and believe me, this thing will be sweet, I took pics of it and will post them here after bit. I will warn you, wear sunglasses to view the frame pics.

Also, my new Motomower transaxle arrived today, and was packaged exceptionally well. I openned it and took pics along the way. It has a really cool parking brake setup which works very well, not sure how many Motomowers had that setup, but very cool. I also tested all the gears and after realizing I wasn't in the shift forks when I shifted to reverse, all was fine.

Anyway, out to flip the frame and paint the underside, I know I did it backwards as you all would, but I was tired of flipping the frame over a million times.

Alright, time for the pics to start rolling in. I will start with the balancing act of parts and pieces. The front wheels/tires/hubs in the pic will be substituted for the $10 dollar each TSC wheelbarrow wheel/tire assemblies.



Here is the frame all primed.



Then we come to the part you want sunglasses for.



Now that those progress pics are out of the way we can get to deliveries.



This was a great packing job, the box alone was double corrugated wall, the package weighed 90 pounds with the 80 pound transaxle in it.



The box had foam at the bottom.



And here is the working transaxle out of the box. Check out that ingenious parking brake system, still works great.

Thats better looking good!!!! Why are you changing the front wheels??

Well thats lookin' pretty decent. Transaxle looks good too! Hopefully it works as good as it looks. FYI, all tractors that used the seperate clutch/brake pedals like both of yours used that style of parking brake with the lever on the back. The tractors like mine that have the clutch/brake combo used a small rod next to the pedal that you can use to lock the pedal down after it is depressed. The brake pawl is interchangeable on both tractors though, as the lever is a seperate piece. I don't know where the brake band setup came from on the one transaxle I gave you...not sure if someone adapted it for that or what. And I'm not entirely sure how the tractors with the seperate brake pedal have linkages to make the brake work. So where is your other foot rest/ clutch pedal? Looks like you didn't get a big enough drop cloth down on the floor...you'll have to refinish your hard wood floors!

Dad always gets mad at me wit over spray so i try hidin it wit primer or silver