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Posted on July 20, 2025:
Hello again folks, it’s has once again been long time since I have written anything for the site (a little more than five years) and I have a lot of catching up to do (again!!!). Looks like I am writing articles every five years now :0/ Since my last article we had sold our home in Southern California and made a bold life change by moving the family to middle Tennessee. This move was inspired by a desire to escape from California’s failing policies and skyrocketing taxes in which the “mid-south” would be the cure.
We have now lived in Tennessee for almost four years and so far we really love it. No state income tax, low property taxes, low “DMV” auto fees, no smog checks (no smog), cheap gasoline (+-$2.75 per gallon), cheap auto insurance, cheap electricity (9 cents per kWh), constitutional carry, Christian conservative values and great southern cooking. Outside of the whole “tornado season” thing there isn’t much to not like about Tennessee ;0)
After our move to TN in November of 2021 we had a lot of work painting and furnishing our “new” home. It took us six months of continual work (I was unemployed at the time) to set up the house and the workshop that would house all of my tools and hobbies. It wasn’t long after that that I found a job and started making a few friends which helped me settle into my new environment.
After a few months of working at the General Motors plant I met a UAW millwright (Steve) that was into “hit and miss” engines. I had previously built the Red Wing Engine Project so I had common interests with Steve and we talked about engines quite frequently. I had mentioned that I liked diesel engines and he said he had a diesel powered fuel transfer pump that he would sell me for $100. He brought it to work and sure enough it was in my truck and headed home with me that night.
The pump apparently was military surplus and was used to transfer jet fuel into aircraft in remote areas. It had a 4 HP Yanmar diesel engine (no spark plug) that drove a Scot Ardox 1-1/2” centrifugal pump (not shown). I took the pump off of the engine and got it running but had no idea what I was going to use it for. That is, until I got the idea to restore an old lawn tractor and use this engine to power it.
A few months later I had asked Steve if he knew of anyone selling and old lawn tractor and within a day he found a 1971 Sears Custom 10XL that his neighbor had for $100. Needless to say I got the tractor home and started making plans for my new build...
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The Sears line of tractors started out in the late 50’s and were in production under the David Bradley name until 1964 where then they were made under the Sears or “Craftsman” name until Sears went bankrupt in 2017. The early models were made by the David Bradley Mfg. Co. (owned by Sears since 1910) of which the company was made famous for making walk-behind tractors in the late 40’s and 50’s. In 1966 George Roper & Co. assumed control of Bradley from Sears and made riding lawn tractors for Sears until 1988 where Electrolux appliance picked up their lawn and garden division (AYP).
Murray Bicycle Company was also responsible for making a couple of Sears lawn tractors in 1988 until they were bought out by Brigs & Stratton in 2004. Honestly, lawn tractor history is confusing to say the least :0P
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This particular lawn tractor was made in the Roper/Bradley factory in Kankakee/Bradley Illinois to be sold as a 1971 Sears Custom 10-XL (to the best of my research).
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The Sears “Custom” line of tractors were made from 1964 through 1973 and then again for one year in 1966. They are mechanically related to the “Suburban”, “SS” and “ST” line of Sears tractors which were considered a heavy duty version of the “Custom” line.
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The Sears Custom line featured a 38” mower deck (not shown on this tractor) and a six, seven, eight or ten HP Tecumseh cast iron engine. The tractor originally sold for $790 which in today’s money is about $6,300 !!!
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This particular tractor was in fairly rough shape and it looks like it spent the last 20 years in direct weather. The one good thing is that the chassis is made from 3/16” stamped steel with some parts being 1/4” so the rust did very little structural damage (except for the hood and fenders).
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The tractor had a set of concrete/plastic wheel weights that were pretty beat up so I opted to discard them. I may consider replacing them one day with solid cast iron ones if I can find some later.
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the exposed steel wheels showed some rust damage but not too far gone to need replacing. The 23 X 8.50-12 Denman skid steer tires (seen below) has some weather cracking but still look good to me considering they are very expensive to replace these days (about $150 each !!!).
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At this point I used my pressure washer on the wheels to remove anything that wouldn’t wash off and bolted them back on the tractor for now.
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The style of the 1971 Custom 10XL is pretty cool with it’s louvered hood and forward leaning front grille :0)
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This particular build I really didn’t have a “plan of attack” so I just worked on what interested me at the moment. I was very curious why the steering wouldn’t work so I jacked her up and found the issue.
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Turns out that the bevel gears that work the steering were poorly aligned and were damaged from the teeth “jumping” each other.
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To get the assembly off of the tractor I needed to remove the steering wheel.
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there was an “E” clip on top of the shaft that was rusted into the steering wheel which needed to be chiseled off (not shown). Once that was done I tried to pull the wheel off but no luck.
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To get the steering wheel off I had to cut a slot along the side of the hub and use a ball joint puller to free the hub from the shaft. Notice the cold chisel I used to spread the gap on the hub to free the wheel (seen below).
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The steering column tube could now be removed from the frame...
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Lots of rust from where the lead-acid battery was sitting for 50+ years.
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Before I continued on to the steering gear I wanted to work on the steering wheel as it was in really bad shape. It was bent, broken and sun bleached to pieces. It would of been reasonable to find a used replacement but not as much fun to repair myself ;0)
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I used a pair of Channel locks to wrench-off the chalky rubber on the spokes as its really not needed. I then used my MIG welder to weld one of the spokes back into the wheel as seen below.
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I also welded the slot I cut in the hub and then ground it flush...
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Next I used some Bondo body filler to fill in the missing chunks of rubber from the steering wheel.
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A little shaving/sanding and good as new !!!
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To finish off the wheel I painted the spokes black and use “friction tape” to wrap the grip of the wheel as seen below. The friction tape looks good and will look even better as the wheel gets used.
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Now for the big issue, the bevel gear. The abuse to the gear is evident below and will require some welding to the teeth to add material.
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Misalignment to the gears caused this issue along with grass and dirt clogging the root area of the teeth.
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After cleaning the gear I used my protractor to measure the angle of the teeth (to the shaft) so it could be cut correctly after welding (about 12°).
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Using my MIG welder I “globbed” on some metal to each tooth so they could be reground to a useable profile. I do remember a time when I was better at this stuff :0P
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I set my compound tool rest to 12° and cut the bevel of the gear back to where it should be.
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Now I just had to grind the sides of the teeth to resemble the original tooth profile...
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I used my angle grinder with a cutoff wheel (not shown) to shape the teeth so that they have more “bite” on the larger bevel gear when in mesh.
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The gear isn’t perfect but it will do the trick without having to find a good used one to replace it.
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At this point I decided to remove the front wheels to make more room for the next few steps. Unfortunately the wheels/tires are completely shot and will have to be replaced :0/
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The front axle beam on this tractor tilts to allow for uneven ground however this design has worn a groove in the back of the beam (not shown). I will have to fix this issue later on...
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The tie rods and linkage on this tractor are worn out......
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The bevel gear that drives the Pitman arm is made of cast iron and is “crowned” into place on a hexagonal steel shaft.
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The teeth on the big gear did not have severe damage as on the pinion gear however I wanted to have better engagement to eliminate “skipping” in the future.
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