Building a New Hill Mower

Started the end of last week in my spare time building a new hill mower and something that will prob get a dozer blade for Winter use, my 414 is like me, it doesn't like the cold and needs to stay inside lol.

I have a smokey 312A that I got from one of my friends + customers Nathan Stockhoff this Spring when working on some other things for him. I mainly like the old fashioned movement stick as well as the fact it moves pretty fast, and the hood grille is cool too, so that is what will be the finished piece. It needs some rewiring, fuel lines , filter, maintenance, etc, and the push button starting switch removed along with some other things but not a whole lot. Not restoring it now, just putting together another good dependable worker.


The donor is a newer 312-8. Since it's going to spend most of its time on hills I wanted the Kohler Command Pro with the pressure lubrication so it will last. The newer steps, adjustable height setup + panels, and a few other things are going on the 312A. It's also getting a front wheel change from the 6" to 8", tractor treads all around and rear weights. The deck will be the 48" that was on my 414 forever. It will make a good little tractor, I'll keep you all updated as it happens.

Here is the 312A at the start.

Here is the donor 312-8. The motors are all loose and ready to change, I'm just trying to get a break in these weird heavy downpours today to get the steam cleaner out and do some cleaning before making the switch. Of course there was suppose to be no rain today, so much for the weatherman...

I've had a foam cannon here for a few months but never used it so I thought today would be a good day. I never used a foam cannon before but let me tell you, when they say cannon they mean CANNON...

The amount left in the bottle on the saw is after doing both tractors and the tires on both sides. I turned it to max foam and it didn't even use a cup of purple power to do all of what I did. When I first started I was a little too close to the tractor and the first thing I thought of was the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man on Ghost Busters, I prob looked a little like him too, the stuff just went everywhere lol.

Anyway... The tractors are clean and I highly recommend a foam cannon, I got it from Amazon.

Tractors are dried out and just got moved in the shop, just in time to wash up and get some supper.

Didn't get a lot done today, someone was here this morning picking up a motor and I had to get out and mow a bunch of wet grass before it got any bigger...

I brought another donor in for the 8" front wheels, the new motor is mounted, there's a stud kit and new axle locks in the back, and the newer style mid tach-a-matic handle is on. Other than that just some figuring on what all needs to be changed. I'll have to do a little grinding on some unused bolt bosses to get the big drive pulley on it, it only needs about 1/16" but I'll prob take the whole 1/8" or so boss down to the next one below it. That will be the morning job then it should start moving along.

Well I got off track, again...

The morning was busy, then I had to go to the farm for a bit, then I decided to get it running. It ran fine with my tank setup, then I replaced the fuel lines + filter and fired it up and it wouldn't hardly run. Soooo, I pulled the tank off and carb bowl to get all the water out of it, replaced the fuel shutoff and rubber bushing while it was off, put some fresh gas in it and turned it over until I had good gas coming out of the carb, put the bowl back on and wala lol.

It runs great now and after tweaking the carb adjustment I moved on to the wiring, making a new harness for the engine disconnect that is now at the front on the new engine, getting rid of the push button start, getting the safety switches right, replacing a few, and started on getting the diagnostic lights back to working. There went the rest of the day of course cleaning up electrical messes and it's not quite done yet.

I'll get some pics up in the morning and go through a few more things I found and fixed.

Just some pics from yesterday's work, and I did get some quiet time this morning to knock the bosses back on the block so the pulley has plenty of clearance.

Had some time today so got a few more things done. The PTO clutch and bell have been refaced, a few more parts are on, and I happened to look at the shelves in here and saw where I had a lot of wheels in here on the new pallet rack shelves. I forgot I was this organized now so I grabbed some off of the pallets instead of using the nice ones that hold air in the tires, they can be used somewhere else. I'm still getting used to the last batch of organizing lol.

The new wheels are blasted and will get painted 1st thing in the morning while it's still cool out, dad, peeps and phone permitting...

This morning was really nice so it was time to do a little wheel prep and painting. I've been experimenting for awhile but it seems with the medium gray put on before the new metallic silver it makes it very close to the original with just a little more metallic. As you will see in the pics lighting and angle is everything but the newly painted wheel is a tad darker than the original, but there is some fade in the wheel, in the comparison pic the one wheel with the tire is off of the donor tractor, and the red was already faded pink lol.

The belt guide rod welded to the block bracket also had to be removed and moved up about 1/2" to make it work right with the new larger pulley, and I had just got most of that together and thought I was done lol.

Geno wrote: This morning was really nice so it was time to do a little wheel prep and painting. I've been experimenting for awhile but it seems with the medium gray put on before the new metallic silver it makes it very close to the original with just a little more metallic. As you will see in the pics lighting and angle is everything but the newly painted wheel is a tad darker than the original, but there is some fade in the wheel, in the comparison pic the one wheel with the tire is off of the donor tractor, and the red was already faded pink lol.

The belt guide rod welded to the block bracket also had to be removed and moved up about 1/2" to make it work right with the new larger pulley, and I had just got most of that together and thought I was done lol.

I think you need a vacation away from hill mowers and horse mowers and take a break on a nice beach somewhere..........anyway wheels look great also...........