Any other members in greater Seattle area?

I have two old Suburbans from the late '60s, originally blue and white, with the screen-type grille. These belonged to my dad, and I used them on his property and fixed them as needed. Dad died, the property was sold, and I have just retrieved these two tractors and the implements, which otherwise would have gone to scrap. I have no use for them now, but will change oil and do whatever is needed to get them running again so I can sell them. I'll clean them up some, but won't restore them cosmetically or otherwise. They always sat outside, so the hoods and rear fenders have surface rust. They look rough, but could have a long service life for somebody. The engines are a 10hp and a 12hp Tecumseh single (see EDIT). The tires aren't great but still hold air; the 10hp has garden tires, the 12hp has tractor tire duals. I believe that each engine was rebuilt by me some time in the past; I might be able to confirm this and provide more detail when I look for my old service notes.

If you guys are only interested in pure, all-original restorations, this wouldn't interest you. The 12hp tractor ignition went bad a few years ago, and it was going to be more trouble to find a replacement than to adapt another ignition. I used a mid-Seventies Chrysler electronic ignition (with the NASCAR blue box!) which I had lying around. Made a bracket that held the box and the sutomotive coil, and figured out how to wire it in. If I knew how to post photos (I'm old and computer-ignorant) I'd show you several views of this installation, of which I was rather proud. I remember the first time I turned the engine over, sparkplug out and grounded: great big beautiful blue sparks!! I think I have to do a similar operation for the older 10hp Tecumseh; this time I might use a Sorensen aftermarket electronic ignition, also from the Seventies.

I have the following attachments: mower deck (a massive welding project to save this a few years ago), ball-type hitch, 3-point hitch, plow, drag harrow, front dozer blade, rear scraper blade, and I should be able to find the brush-chipper attachment, which was pretty cool. I have one set of the cast iron wheel weights. All these things are useable as-is, but should be sand-blasted and painted.

Though I'm glad I no longer live where I have to do yard and garden work, and own a Bobcat 630 for dirtmoving, I feel a little bad that I don't have any use for these little Sears tractors, which are pretty simple to work on.

Let me know here or via PM if you are interested in this stuff. I haven't yet figured out what I want for it, once I get it all operational.

OH, among the other old junk of Dad's that I just saved from the scrap-man is a Sears walk-behind (self-powered, B&S engine) rototiller in pretty good shape, and for the avid rototiller collector, an early Fifties Roto-Hoe tiller with a Lauson engine in poor but restorable condition. Let me know if interested.

EDIT-- Well, so much for memory. The one engine is a HH10 all right, but the other, now with Chrysler ignition, is an OH-14. (head-smack)

If only I was on your side of the country...........

But I'm not, so maybe you will get some interest if you post a For Sale ad on my Vintage Sears Garden Tractor want ad page:

http://pub5.bravenet.com/classified/show.php?usernum=426001687

Rest assured, this is not spam. The link looks a little funky because I try to use as many free resources as possible. I've gotten positive feedback from others who have sold stuff through the want ads.

Thanks for posting!

Spence
Owner
Vintage Sears Garden Tractors

Thanks, Spence, I'll check it out.

Took a look at the site, Spence; you're providing a good service! Will your program have room for me to copy-and-paste my entire entry as it is above??

To anyone, somebody on Ebay is offering new or NOS steering link-bars with the ball-joints for about $35. Anybody bought one? I was going to come up with my own replacement, but this saves time. This must be a common wear-point in old Suburbans, because the steering bars in both of my tractors are shot, and strapped together with strips of inner tube. The site admin says most of the Suburbans this old are, "Worn to a frazzle," which is no doubt true, but simple machinery like this is not hard to fix for anyone with some mechanical background, maybe including hot-rodding or motor racing, and welding and machining skills are a big plus. I would fix these two old crocks to look good if it would pay off when I sell them, but so far I'm not seeing anyone near me who is interested at any price. Maybe most collectors are in farm country or something.

I know this is a hard question to answer without seeing the stuff, or at least a bunch of photos, but can you give me a rough idea of what I should ask in selling either or both tractors and the enumerated accessories, to a non-collector who just wants a tractor like this which looks old but is rebuilt to the extent that it should provide good service for years. Cleaned up, but with faded paint, disappearing decals, and a modest amount of surface rust, not remotely a structural problem, in places. All accessories have some rust and ragged paint, but are just as functional as when new, including the mower deck that I rebuilt, including the bearing carriers. I know, you want photos.

Question: My two Suburbans have flat rear fenders, where I see photos of Suburbans with much more stylish rounded fenders. What were the first and last years for the flat-fender models? I'll have to look, but I seriously doubt that I can still find any I.D. with a Sears number for either tractor . . .

Sold the more recent of my Suburbans (with the OH-14 engine) and all accessories to an avid Puget Sound area collector and good-guy, Chuck, who might post here. Very happy the stuff went to a good home. I've kept the older tractor with the HH100 flathead engine, just to haul stuff (usually tools or pieces of welding projects) around with a little cart.