?? for Pat Rarick

[Kent 436]

Pat, I saw in your Registry entries where you'd converted at least two of the old B-series tractors to Briggs Vanguard twins, including running one with a Vickers hydro... How difficult was it? What mods were required? Do you think you could do us a Do-It-Yourself story on it? How do you like the results? I think that we may be facing the challenge of hard-to-find or very expensive parts for the cast-iron Briggs all too soon. Having a "modern" alternative could be very helpful... I'll bet there would be quite a bit of interest, even now... Kent[A href='http://www.simpletractors.com/clubhouse/registry_disp_query_all.asp?NickName=PatRarick']http://www.simpletractors.com/clubhouse/registry_disp_query_all.asp?NickName=PatRarick[/a]

[PatRarick 1]

Kent, I would love to see a B-210 with a Sundstrand hydro and a Vanguard V-twin. After seeing your project, I have considered doing so myself. My plans for finishing it, were to get the decals made and have them read HB-218-S! Pat

[PatRarick 1]

Kent, I have been reading the responses to Msg#5855, and I understand all points of view. Personally, I do not like drilling, cutting, or welding things onto a good piece of equipment. I take every option to alter the unit being installed, to fit the original mountings, hookups, etc. I want to have the option of returning the tractor to original, should I choose to do so in the future. As to the Vanguard conversions, I have been well satisfied, with two exceptions. One is not too serious. That is the fact that the hood has to be removed to service the air filter. I am looking for ways to mount the air cleaner outside of the hood. There are options available, but they require drilling holes in the hood to mount the air cleaner. That is not an option to me. Until I find an alternative, I will put up with removing the hood. The other may or may not be a serious problem, depending on the intended use of the tractor. The engine does not sit far enough toward the front of the tractor, to allow the use of the standard drive pulley for the snowblower. The crankshaft protrudes about 1" from the grill. I "solved" this problem by having a pulley specially machined to allow me to use the snowblower. With this pulley, the belt pulls at about 1" beyond the end of the crankshaft. Evidently, this puts too much lateral stress on the crankshaft, and takes out the front main crankshaft bearing. I believe the problem to be that the Vanguard has a plain bearing supporting the crankshaft on the flywheel side of the engine. The cast iron Briggs has a ball bearing supporting the crankshaft on the flywheel side. I posted Msg #5442 on this problem, and got many options as to how to solve the problem. I believe the best option would be to drive the snowblower from the center PTO. I know this works well on the B series, as I have rebuilt a 38" MTD snowblower, and run this from the center PTO. It has run for seven seasons without a problem on my 16hp Vanguard equipped B-210. One could build a hitch such as Herb "dutch" Niewender has, but I do not think that it is necessary on the B series. I think it can be run direct, such as I did with the MTD snowblower, since the PTO on the B series is in the center of the tractor. Currently, I have removed the engine from my HB-212, and am having the block machined to accept a needle bearing on the flywheel side of the engine. That will solve the problem in my particular situation, but will not help anyone installing a Vanguard in their tractor. If someone runs across a Vanguard V-twin that needs rebuilding, it may be something that is worth looking into as part of the rebuild, however. At this point, I cannot recommend it, as I have yet to see if the problem is actually solved. The cost will be $140, including the bearing. As to durability, I have no doubt that the Vanguard will last just as long as the cast iron Briggs. After eight years and 600 hours, my 16 horse V-twin Vanguard still uses no oil. I change oil and filter every 50 hours, and the oil I drain out is dirty, but still transparent enough to see through. It runs very smooth. As to power, I plant two acres of potatoes, and two acres of sweet corn each year. I plant the potatoes with an old single row, horse pulled potato planter. I plant the corn with an old two row, horse pulled corn planter. The 16 horse handles each planter very well, but you can tell that it is working. For this reason, I use the HB-212 with the 18 horse. When I installed these engines, I had an adapter machined to connect the driveshaft to the engine. I contacted Al Eden a short time ago, and was informed the a booster fan is now made for the Vanguard. This is the aluminum starter pulley on the cast iron engines. Since one is now made for the Vanguard, that should make the conversion easier. Kent, when I reinstall the engine, I will take pictures and write a text for you to use in the "do it yourself" section. As for now, this is the best I can do. Pat

[Kent 436]

Thanks, Pat that was a good rundown, along with the information in the the earlier discussion about bearings and the front PTO. There are a lot of people who'd never want to put a snowthrower on one of these, so the front PTO pulley is really not an issue. For many, a snow or dozer blade is all the snow equipment they need, if even that.... Even those of us who have to deal with snow may have other plans. For example, I plan to put my HD dozer blade on my B-210, which is my "mowing tractor" and run turf tires and chains. I'll put my snowthrower on my my Big Ten with bar treads, and use it in the summer for tilling, plowing, grading, etc. I want to get the B-210 together and running with the Sundstrand and see how much power I've sacrificed to the hydro and whether it will adequately drive my 42" mower deck AND the vacuum. When the factory went to hydros, they put 12HP Briggs on them -- but they also went to a 48" deck... I'm not sure how a 10HP hydro with 42" deck will work... So, I'm likely going to be in the quest for more power, but I'm not sure yet. I'm really looking forward to seeing some pictures of your conversion.