ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[zmotorsports]

I've never stayed there. We've stayed at the city park in Telluride and the State Park just out of town. We've also stayed at the little park on the lake in Durango. The new rig won't fit in any of those places, so we'll have to look into the KOA.

I prefer to stay in Ouray as it is closer to the trails that we like to run. Many in our group also stay at Centennial RV Park in Montrose. There are also two RV parks in the town of Ouray but one is a bit tight for a large rig and the other is a gravel parking lot, neither of which appeals to me.

As for Telluride, I am NOT a fan so I avoid at pretty much all cost. Even after running down Black Bear Pass and/or Ophir Pass, both of which drop you right into Telluride, we will turn and burn and get the hell out of there.

 

[Arclitgold]

Why not a fan of telluride? Out of curiosity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zmotorsports]

Why not a fan of telluride? Out of curiosity.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't care for any of those yuppie/hipster resort style towns. Too many fake ***** and real assholes for me so it's best I just stay out of them.

 

[Ohmthis]

I don't care for any of those yuppie/hipster resort style towns. Too many fake ***** and real assholes for me so it's best I just stay out of them.

I love this quote! Too funny!!! I loved your pictures Mike. What are you taking them with? Camera, phone, tablet? Thanks for posting them. I tell my wife I’d love to go out west and see the natural beauty, but she’s not interested. Maybe a road trip with my son one day???

 

[zmotorsports]

I love this quote! Too funny!!! I loved your pictures Mike. What are you taking them with? Camera, phone, tablet? Thanks for posting them. I tell my wife I’d love to go out west and see the natural beauty, but she’s not interested. Maybe a road trip with my son one day???

Thanks. You'll love the scenery out here as we really are pretty spoiled by Mother Nature as she seemed to bless us out west here a bit more than others.

As for the pictures, most of those were merely taken with my iPhone 6. I have a small Canon Powershot that I use once in a while and I just tried out my new GoPro 7 Black but haven't downloaded the footage yet. I have the GoPro mounted on a Vector Off-Road dash mount in our Jeep.

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night after mowing the lawn I racked the Jeep to give her a good once over after putting her through her paces last week in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. I had only one real issue that wasn't a "real" issue at all but drove me absolutely nucking futs. My analog oil pressure gauge on my A-pillar started going haywire and the needle fluctuating throughout the short sweep so I knew I had an oil pressure sensor issue after toggling through my Aeroforce Interceptor gauge and seeing that my oil pressure was actually fine. When I installed the A-pillar gauges in my Jeep back in 2011 right after purchasing it I used all Auto Meter gauges and sending units. When I removed the 3.8 liter V6 engine nearly 10k miles ago and replaced it with my 6.2 liter LS engine I removed the sending unit and installed it on my 6.2 liter V8 so I could keep my analog gauges and monitor my oil pressure discretely as well as used the OEM GM sending unit for the ECM monitoring. The Auto Meter sending unit now has approx. 100k miles on it so I figure it was just time to be replaced. I probably should have installed a new one when I installed the new engine earlier this year but just opted to swap it from one engine to the other.

While on vacation I ordered a new Auto Meter sending unit so it would arrive by the time we returned from our trip. Last night I installed the new sending unit and checked things over under the Jeep. While it was on the lift I also removed my front bumpstops and machined just a little off of them.

The second day we were in Ouray it was drizzling a little bit and I had found an obstacle to get it flexed out on. Upon crawling my front end up on the rock I asked my wife to hand me the tape measure from the glovebox and I hopped out and measured my clearances under the front end. I figured I had nearly 3/4" at the tightest point between my tire and my bumper and fenders at full stuff and turned full lock. I told my wife I would remove about a half an inch when we returned home. I know I could get quite a bit more up travel if I would install flat fenders but I simply can't bring myself to do so as I like the clean OE lines the Jeep has.

Last night I removed my bump stops and while they were in the lathe I ended up removing .625" from them. The wife arrived home and asked why the front axle was out from under the Jeep? I explained that I was checking things out and decided to remove a little material from my bump stops to gain that little bit extra up travel and she just rolled her eyes and said "you can't leave anything alone can you?"

Not where there is something to be gained I can't....

Now I just hope I didn't remove too much.

 

[zmotorsports]

Another quick little story from our trip.

We were on the top of Ophir Pass one afternoon and there were some motorcycles coming up the narrow shelf road so I stopped at a wide spot to wait for them to complete the uphill portion, seeing as how uphill has the right of way. I could see the guys on the bikes were really struggling so I shut the Jeep off and just waited as I didn't want them to feel rushed.

Within a very short time several other vehicles were arriving and stacking up behind me, several were getting impatient and trying to pass me. I mentioned that it would be better if they wait until the guys on the bikes made it up as it is very narrow in that section and the drop off is several hundred feet to the bottom.

About this time the lead bike was coming up and was several hundred yards away from us when he went down and almost went over the edge, the front tire was in fact hanging out over the drop off. I jumped out of my Jeep and ran down to help, well maybe I didn't run but briskly walked as the shale rock was hard to walk in and much deeper than previous years due to freshly coming down off the mountain side with the winters heavy snowfall.

As I approached the bike I could tell the rider was winded and out of his element for certain. He was very pissed to say the least at one of his buddies as he had planned the trip and failed to mention what kind of terrain they would be riding on. I told the guy that this wouldn't have been my first choice of trails to ride a motorcycle on, especially a large KTM Extreme Adventure heavy *** pig of a bike. That would be like riding my Harley Ultra up that mountain. Even 20-years ago when I was in my prime and riding dirt bikes that wouldn't have been my trail of choice to ride on. While I was there helping him pick up his bike two other gentlemen came down from the top to help and we were able to get him up and going only to have him fall hard again only this time into the mountain and bust the windshield, mirror and bent the hand guard into the clutch lever. We were able to walk his bike up the trail to where our Jeeps were parked while me and two others went back down to get the next guy and help him up. This ended up taking us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get them up the mountain to where the trail was more hard packed but these guys were spent by this time. I tried to convince them they should turn around and go back down into the town of Ophir as it gets worse the higher up they go but they weren't listening. I grabbed a few tools from my toolbox and was able to straighten the guys guard so he could work the clutch and got them on their way.

I walked back to talk to a couple of the guys who had helped and we were joking around and by the time I got back to my Jeep where my wife was still sitting inside, there was a crowd around my Jeep. I got a little worried so I picked up the pace again as I approached our Jeep. Only to find that my wife was being inquired about the Jeep. Evidently while two guys were standing next to our Jeep watching me and the other two guys help the bikes up the mountain one of them noticed the LS badging on the side of my Jeep and asked my wife "does this thing REALLY have an LS engine in it?" She replied "yes it does" then they started drilling her with questions. They had walked back to their group and evidently spread the word and by the time I got back to my Jeep there were about 8 guys standing around it and talking with my wife about it. She then told them "here's my husband he should probably explain more about it." I spent another 45-minutes talking with these guys and showing them the engine as they wanted to see how it fit under the hood. I then had to explain that I didn't have a specialty shop do the install but I installed it in my home shop which they had a hard time believing.

I'll have to admit it was kind of cool. One guy had a brand new JLUR and was just going ape **** over my Jeep. It was kind of cool to have my wife see first hand the kind of attention it can get by those who know what they are looking at. She had no idea it was that unique to get that kind of attention on the top of a mountain on a trip. As we were driving down and these guys were passing me giving me the thumbs up my wife turned to me and simply said, "I never question your abilities and what you do but I had no idea this Jeep was that unique, it's just a Jeep."

 

[gearhead1960]

"it's just a Jeep."

Mike,

I had to chuckled over that last comment. Our wives, no matter how much we try to explain our motorhead ways, will quite never reach an understanding of why we love mechanical things and all the variations and uniqueness we build into our rides.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

I had to chuckled over that last comment. Our wives, no matter how much we try to explain our motorhead ways, will quite never reach an understanding of why we love mechanical things and all the variations and uniqueness we build into our rides.

Boy you said it Mark.

Even after her comment saying "it's just a Jeep", I had to correct her in the fact that technically there is not much that is still "Jeep" about it. I told her to think of it as driving a Denali with a Jeep body on it as that would more closely represent its existence.

Funny thing is she should know and understand all of this as this is far from my first experience with modifying our cars. I have been doing this from before we met and we have been married now for 30+ years.

 

[gearhead1960]

Boy you said it Mark.

Funny thing is she should know and understand all of this as this is far from my first experience with modifying our cars. I have been doing this from before we met and we have been married now for 30+ years.

Yeah, sometimes they just don't see it, however I will have to give my wife a little credit for appreciating my gearheadedness. When we were in the minivan stage of our lives, we were in the market for a Dodge Caravan. I wanted the "SPORT" model at the time because it had larger sway bars than the standard model and figured with a top heavy vehicle this would be more stable and safer for the driver (the wife). Since she is also vertically challenged, we wanted the power seat option which so happened to come with the larger more powerful engine. Around the same time, her sister bought a Caravan also, but it came with the smaller engine. Everytime we road tripped together, anytime the route had to deal with significant terrain changes (read serious mountains or hills) the sister's Caravan could not keep up with ours. My wife commented that she was glad we opted for the model we did as ours never taxed itself in these situations. Going forward, whenever we car shop, usually I try to make sure we get the better engine option as my wife has come to appreciated the "extra" power option.

 

[zmotorsports]

Yeah, sometimes they just don't see it, however I will have to give my wife a little credit for appreciating my gearheadedness. When we were in the minivan stage of our lives, we were in the market for a Dodge Caravan. I wanted the "SPORT" model at the time because it had larger sway bars than the standard model and figured with a top heavy vehicle this would be more stable and safer for the driver (the wife). Since she is also vertically challenged, we wanted the power seat option which so happened to come with the larger more powerful engine. Around the same time, her sister bought a Caravan also, but it came with the smaller engine. Everytime we road tripped together, anytime the route had to deal with significant terrain changes (read serious mountains or hills) the sister's Caravan could not keep up with ours. My wife commented that she was glad we opted for the model we did as ours never taxed itself in these situations. Going forward, whenever we car shop, usually I try to make sure we get the better engine option as my wife has come to appreciated the "extra" power option.

I guess I'm lucky that way as whenever we've been in the market for a car or RV she's never said a word other than saying "you get the chassis/platform you want and I can live with the color, floorplan, options, etc".

Upon talking to her a bit more today she just commented that she realizes what I do is not the norm among most guys. But what she didn't realize was that even within the small niche of gearheads what I do is still so far outside of the norm. She said she didn't realize it until we were around all of those Jeep guys on the side of the mountain just how out of the norm I was. I took it as a compliment.

 

[gearhead1960]

I guess I'm lucky that way as whenever we've been in the market for a car or RV she's never said a word other than saying "you get the chassis/platform you want and I can live with the color, floorplan, options, etc".

Upon talking to her a bit more today she just commented that she realizes what I do is not the norm among most guys. But what she didn't realize was that even within the small niche of gearheads what I do is still so far outside of the norm. She said she didn't realize it until we were around all of those Jeep guys on the side of the mountain just how out of the norm I was. I took it as a compliment.

 

[casmurbax]

Mike,

Great pictures and stories about your recent trip. I recall when I went to Glacier National Park in late May one year, my friend and I were amazed at the size of the trees that were pushed over like matchsticks.

I do have a question about your grease guns holder. I am surprised that you did not put a little cage in the bottom of the tube to keep grease gun from resting in the leaked out oil on the bottom. Are the grease guns resting off the bottom by their handle on the top of the tube?

John

 

[bmxdad]

Is that a water conditioner?

 

[4 FN 27]

I don't care for any of those yuppie/hipster resort style towns. Too many fake ***** and real assholes for me so it's best I just stay out of them.

I keep a roll of sod in my RV just so I can say anywhere anytime "Get off my F'ing Lawn!!!".

I have to add...

Back in 2010 my buddies and I parked the RV at a KOA in SD. We came back from one of our "Hunting Outings" and a started transferring firearms from the Pick-up to the Trailer (When I had the old Transporter). A few of the neighbors (hipsters & yuppies) defined by there attire and camping methods vacated immediately and complained to the KOA Manager.

Apparently they were offended by our Firearm Cleaning Station we set-up on the picnic table...only comment the Manager made was "What do you hunt with a 50 Cal?". My Answer "Prairie Dogs a long long way out".

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

Great pictures and stories about your recent trip. I recall when I went to Glacier National Park in late May one year, my friend and I were amazed at the size of the trees that were pushed over like matchsticks.

I do have a question about your grease guns holder. I am surprised that you did not put a little cage in the bottom of the tube to keep grease gun from resting in the leaked out oil on the bottom. Are the grease guns resting off the bottom by their handle on the top of the tube?

John

John, thanks for following along with my thread.

As for the grease gun rack, they hang by the handles so they are not resting in a pool of lubricant. The bottoms are also not glued on, simply a slip fit, so I can simply remove them once in a while and clean the dripping out. Same with the coupler holder.

 

[zmotorsports]

Is that a water conditioner?

Deionization tank.

It is actually the same tank that you had commented on several pages back when I built the cart for it.

 

[zmotorsports]

I keep a roll of sod in my RV just so I can say anywhere anytime "Get off my F'ing Lawn!!!".

I love that Pat. I may have to actually use that as I already say that at home. My RV is merely my home on wheels or an extension of my home so it will work perfectly.

 

[TimeWarpF100]

My wife and I just returned from our annual Ouray, CO wheeling trip. This was our twelfth year in the area and by far the most interesting. The amount of damage and carnage from many, many avalanches was staggering. We’ve seen an occasional slide or avalanche area here and there but we counted about 17 this trip and that was just from one heavy snowfall season. Upon talking with a local who works at a historical museum in the area he said this was the highest snowfall on record since the 1880’s and by what we witnessed I have no reason to argue the point.

Many of the trails in the area were similar to years past with a few sections here and there that had larger rocks exposed and a culvert exposed that required some careful tire placement but overall a great trip. Two trails that I like to run were not open, Black Bear Pass and Poughkeepsie Gulch. I talked to a Forest Service ranger one day and was informed they were working to get Black Bear Pass open within a week or so but had no plans to work on Poughkeepsie this year as they didn’t have the resources to work on both this season.

For the last four years my wife and I had hosted a small gathering in the area(12-15 couples/RV’s/Jeeps) but this year we weren’t 100% sure we would be able to make it with our son’s home purchase and wedding so we didn’t organize anything. We were able to get away and it turned out to just be the two of us although we met a few people in the campground that had asked if they could tag along with us after discovering that we were familiar with the area.

Now for the pictures.

Our campsite for the week.


Day one it was raining and upon driving over Corkscrew Gulch, Hurricane Pass and California Gulch the damage was very evident.







And with the heavy snowfall last winter the sheer amount and size of the waterfalls were probably a once in a lifetime experience. We have never seen so many waterfall in this area. Around nearly every turn we would comment about seeing “another” waterfall.






Thanks for looking.

Nice Photo's Mike!

What is the elevation up there?

Edit Add: I commented prior to finish getting caught up. Over 12k foot elevation.

Nice story about the V-8 Swap.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice Photo's Mike!

What is the elevation up there?

Edit Add: I commented prior to finish getting caught up. Over 12k foot elevation.

Nice story about the V-8 Swap.

Thank you.

As for the elevation, yes, elevation at Ouray (campground) is approx. 7800' and goes up substantially from there. Many of the mountain passes are at least 11k feet with several over 13k. Average trail time is probably spent in the 8500-10k foot range.

Interesting note about the elevations. Me and several other Jeepers had a lengthy discussion while sitting around camp one evening. The topic of cooling came up as several of the guys were having issues even with the stock drivetrain configurations. They couldn't understand why because daytime temperatures were in the high 70's/low 80's most of the week with a couple of days in the high 80's. I tried explaining that keeping things cool at these elevations is actually a bit more difficult that people think. Common thinking is that being higher elevation the temperatures are cooler and therefore should be easier to keep engines and transmission cool but the elevation actually works against you as well.

The air is less dense and therefore doesn't have the ability to carry heat away from the exchangers. This is also why keeping the airflow unobstructed through the radiators, A/C condensers and trans coolers is so important. Sinking those winches down into the bumper and nestling them between the frame rails and keeping the grilles unobstructed becomes critical to cooling efficiency.

I was very pleased with the way mine had performed all week with the temperatures in the area slightly higher than they have been in years past. On the very long steep pulls going up over the mine tailings my transmission temperature pretty much sat at 180-degrees and my engine temperature hit a max of 226 with averaging around 210-217 most of the time. The biggest take away was that my fan percentages never exceeded 60% which told me everything was operating efficiently and not up against the limit on the fan percentage.

The biggest concern when fan percentages start getting much over 80% is there comes a point that the fan actually starts to slow down and goes into diagnostic mode which then will let the coolant temps start running up out of control. Some tuners think it is best to just force the fan percentages high early on so they keep the temps lower but this can come back to bite a person in the *** because the fan will pull back when it starts nearing the 90-100% range. Also we must keep in mind that newer engines are actually designed to run at higher temps than engines of 2-3 decades ago. In today's vehicles many manufacturers allow coolant temps to get near 250-degrees with hot protection modes set around 265*. Personally I would start pulling back around 240* and looking to stop and bring temps down at no higher than 245* but that's just me. In years past a couple of the Hemi Jeeps we were running with were hitting 245* on these same grades and having to pull off and let them cool so I am very pleased with mine staying nearly 20-degrees cooler.

Back to my discussion with the fellow Jeepers, several thought I was nuts about the elevation and temperatures as well as where engines are allowed to run but everyone is entitled to their opinion. One guy was pretty open minded and actually wanted my opinion on what he could do to bring his temps down so I did a walk-around on his Jeep and gave him some ideas to work on and he was very receptive.

Anyways, sorry for the lengthy diatribe but thanks for following along and commenting.

 

[aka Larry]

TBack to my discussion with the fellow Jeepers, several thought I was nuts about the elevation and temperatures as well as where engines are allowed to run but everyone is entitled to their opinion. One guy was pretty open minded and actually wanted my opinion on what he could do to bring his temps down so I did a walk-around on his Jeep and gave him some ideas to work on and he was very receptive.

I don't get that mindset. If someone is saying something you don't agree with, but have evidence to support their claim, why would you not listen? IOW, you (Mike) claim that doing "X" makes your Jeep run cooler, yet I don't listen, because I know better, yet Mike's Jeep runs cooler than mine.

Related, when we built our current race car, I had to move the gauge cluster to make room for the dash bar. This caused the speedo cable to not reach, but no matter, because we don't use speedos in race cars. A fellow racer who runs the exact same car, said the speedo (old mechanical type) must be connected for the engine to function correctly. I looked over the schematic, called BS, and moved on.

Before our first race, we took the car to a local track for a test day and it ran like ****. Almost like it was starving for fuel, but at random times. At a loss, I remembered the speedo conversation and decided to give it a try. After I reconnected it, the car ran like a top from that point on. Even though the schematic doesn't show it, apparently there is a VSS signal produced via the cable inside the cluster.

Yeah, I learn everything the hard way!

Great pics Mike!

 

[zmotorsports]

I don't get that mindset. If someone is saying something you don't agree with, but have evidence to support their claim, why would you not listen? IOW, you (Mike) claim that doing "X" makes your Jeep run cooler, yet I don't listen, because I know better, yet Mike's Jeep runs cooler than mine.

Related, when we built our current race car, I had to move the gauge cluster to make room for the dash bar. This caused the speedo cable to not reach, but no matter, because we don't use speedos in race cars. A fellow racer who runs the exact same car, said the speedo (old mechanical type) must be connected for the engine to function correctly. I looked over the schematic, called BS, and moved on.

Before our first race, we took the car to a local track for a test day and it ran like ****. Almost like it was starving for fuel, but at random times. At a loss, I remembered the speedo conversation and decided to give it a try. After I reconnected it, the car ran like a top from that point on. Even though the schematic doesn't show it, apparently there is a VSS signal produced via the cable inside the cluster.

Yeah, I learn everything the hard way!

Great pics Mike!

Thanks Vincent. I appreciate the comments and I understand your story as I've been there myself. Back when I was younger I knew everything. As I've aged I had the learn everything else the hard way.

I too try to be a little more open minded these days, especially when someone has emphatic proof to something and I am only giving my best hunch. Once I prove/disprove it then that's another story but until then I am trying to be more open minded to things.

Also, like you I'm sure, we have a sixth sense about us much of the time when we can tell someone really knows their **** vs. those that just talk (or type) and really don't have the first hand knowledge.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Mike, great pictures.

That area of CO is one of my favorites. I grew up in Western NE, and we spent a lot of time hunting/fishing the mountains of CO.

Glad the Jeep performed as you hoped. In regards to the cooling department, I have always been amazed at how cool my LS swaps run, especially in my '49 with the tiny radiator.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, great pictures.

That area of CO is one of my favorites. I grew up in Western NE, and we spent a lot of time hunting/fishing the mountains of CO.

Glad the Jeep performed as you hoped. In regards to the cooling department, I have always been amazed at how cool my LS swaps run, especially in my '49 with the tiny radiator.

Thanks Marc.

Agreed, your '49 has a small exposed surface area much like my Jeep. My Jeep only has about a 25"x23.5" area, so less than 600 square inches to dissipate heat therefore efficiency is key as you can't just throw size at it.

Thanks for stopping by and following along with my thread.

 

[LXCam]

“It’s just a Jeep”

Is like saying Mike’s “a mere mortal”


BLASPHEMY!!


As always Mike, I’m luv’n following along.

 

[Finallygotit]

She said she didn't realize it until we were around all of those Jeep guys on the side of the mountain just how out of the norm I was.

Understatement of the year!

 

[zmotorsports]

“It’s just a Jeep”

Is like saying Mike’s “a mere mortal”


BLASPHEMY!!


As always Mike, I’m luv’n following along.

Understatement of the year!

Thanks guys..... I think.

 

[zmotorsports]

Great night tonight as my son came by to service his Jeep.





It was great to hang out and spend some time with him in the shop. I REALLY miss that the past several months.

While my son was working on his Jeep I took the opportunity to rebuild one of our spare Johnny Joints so I could put it back on the shelf as a backup.


Disassembled, cleaned and rebuild kit standing by.


Damaged/melted components removed.


A little lube on the OD of the poly bushing prior to pressing into housing.


Lithium grease brushed in the bushing prior to installing the ball swivel.


Lubing the OD of the outer half of the poly bushing prior to pressing into place.


Outer washer ready for installation.


Retaining ring at the ready.


Spare Johnny Joint rebuilt, greased and ready to place on the shelf as a spare.


Thanks for looking.

 

[LXCam]

Was that one of the new ones you installed during the build? And if so, how many miles did it last Mike?

 

[PhantomEB]

Thanks for the tutorial. My crawler has JJ’s all around on her long arms and 4 link.

 

[zmotorsports]

Was that one of the new ones you installed during the build? And if so, how many miles did it last Mike?

Cam, yes, this was a new JJ when we fabricated the long arm suspension under his WJ. It only lasted a few thousand miles but that was because of our exhaust turndown was allowing hot exhaust to attack it and caused the bushing to melt internally so that really isn't a fair response to your question. We replaced the JJ with a spare that I keep on hand and it has been fine since we rerouted his exhaust around the suspension joint and dumped it slightly downstream.

As for how long the Johnny Joints are lasting, I have had mine under my JKUR for several years and around 30k driven miles and another probably 12-15k flat towed miles. They are still in great shape with no slop and I just put a pump or two of grease in them every LOF/tire rotation service which is around 4k~ish miles. They are a great product and I highly recommend them.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for the tutorial. My crawler has JJ’s all around on her long arms and 4 link.

You're welcome and thanks for stopping by to check out my projects.

The JJ's really are quite easy to rebuild when they start getting slop or play in them.

 

[zmotorsports]

In between a bunch of higher priority projects lately I had a small one creep up. I was mowing my lawn on Friday night and heard an intermittent noise like the blade was contacting something.

Upon putting it on the lift to take a look I noticed that the side of the deck had worn through and another larger section was paper thin. Rather than purchase a new mower I opted to merely repair this one and see if I can get another 28 years out of it.





Ten gauge steel hammer formed into shape.


Trimmed to size and deck marked.


Damaged section of deck cut out.




Sneaking up on the fitment.


Welded into place.


Ground and metal finished.


While I was at it I replaced the drive belt that was worn, idler spring that was broke and front wheels that were worn.


Sanded and ready for a little touch up paint that I thought I had but can’t find any red. I’ll have to stop and grab a small can of red paint to finish up this quick project.


She’s as good as new and I hope I can get another 28 years out of it.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Nice work Mike! Amazing how one never has the color they need! My 7 y/o Cub Cadet zero turn is down for some deck repairs also. I imagine my 3 acres of mowing is "a bit" rougher than your yard though!

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work Mike! Amazing how one never has the color they need! My 7 y/o Cub Cadet zero turn is down for some deck repairs also. I imagine my 3 acres of mowing is "a bit" rougher than your yard though!

Thank you. I could have sworn I had a can of red aerosol paint but I couldn’t find it in my aerosol cabinet do I must have used it or lost it in the move.

 

[gearhead1960]

Nice work Mike. I'm still using my dad's 2 stroke Lawnboy from 1980. Magnetos and blades and an occasional sparkplug. Keeps on going......

 

[larry4406]

Nice job on the mower!

What did you use as the "hammer form" for the mower deck repair?

 

[Boosted1]

Nice save on the mower.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work Mike. I'm still using my dad's 2 stroke Lawnboy from 1980. Magnetos and blades and an occasional sparkplug. Keeps on going......

Nice save on the mower.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments.

Nothing wrong with keeping these old things going although mine isn't as old as yours Mark. I bought this one in mid-1991 when we bought put in the yard in our first home. It's been a great mower so far and I see no need to replace it, especially when I just use it to walk around my larger place now once before using the Toro ZTR mower.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice job on the mower!

What did you use as the "hammer form" for the mower deck repair?

Thank you.

As for the material used. I had a piece of 10-gauge steel that I bent a 90-degree lip on in my little press brake and then heated with my torch in order to get the radius I was after. Once I got it close I used my curved face hammer to fine tune the radius to match the deck. Once I cut the section out of the deck I had to "tweak" the radius ever so slightly with a large hammer as I had slightly overshot the radius and had to sneak up on the fitment for final welding.