The next project I worked on was the three point hitch. These tractors were designed to do more than mow lawns and so some were fitted with three point hitches to be used with plows and other farming implements.

       I want to use this tractor to pull my yard equipment (sprayer/aerator/leaf sweeper) and save my zero turn mower from the abuse of pulling equipment. To further beef-up the hitch I welded a square washer on as seen below. This will be the primary point of wear for what I will be using it for.

       I don’t have any real plans to use the three point hitch however it looks cool so I cleaned up the parts to put back on the tractor.

       I added a spring wire to keep the turnbuckle up and off of the hitch pin hole so that I could use my yard implements without interference...

       The next step was to sort out the front wheels. The wheels and tires were far too gone to save so I needed replacements.

       I had a hard time finding 8” wheels that were 4” wide other than used ones from other Sears tractors. I did however find some really nice 6” wide ones that were super cheap surplus on eBay ($15 each - shipped). They would need to be cut down though...

       I used my 10 x 22 lathe to cut out a section of wheel to make them 4” wide as needed.

       I tack welded the wheel and tested for runout on the lathe (not shown) and then welded them up...

       After I finished both wheels I mounted some new agricultural style Deestone 4.00-8 tires ($42 each) which really look nice on the tractor :0)

       The next thing I wanted to work on was the seat. The original seat has long lost it’s padding so I needed to find a comfortable replacement.

       I found a similar seat on Amazon that really doesn’t have that vintage charm one would like but it is comfortable ($80).

       I had to make a mount for the seat to mate with the seat spring so I milled out a piece of channel steel as seen below...

       I cut a few pieces of angle iron to make the side brackets as well...

       I added a captive bolt holder to make adjustment possible with the seat mounted.

       The seat has a higher back than the original but my back will be thankful for the support ;o)

       The next project to work on is the engine swap....

       The original engine was made by Tecumseh (HH100) and it is a beast of an engine. The HH100 is a air-cooled 389cc four stroke engine making just over 10 HP. The engine is largely cast iron (96 pounds dry!) with tapered roller bearings for the crank. The engine also has an oversized oil sump for about 1.4 liters of oil capacity which allows the engine to run longer between service intervals.
       The Tecumseh engine was part of the “XL” line of engines which is most likely the reason Sears called this tractor the “Custom 10XL”.

       The engine is in really good shape and has good compression however the ignition and flywheel are no good unfortunately. Apparently the ignition systems on these engines were sensitive and burned out due to voltage fluctuations and wires shorting out. I may consider working on this engine later and adding a better CDI ignition for use on another future project. In the meantime it must go......

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