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My little burns

5K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  Dandyboy 
#1 ·
This is my 1965-ish burns tractor. I spotted it's front poking out of a shed a while ago and was just dying to pick it up. Finally gathered the courage about 3 months ago to ask my nieghbour about it, and he said to just come pick it up. Took our Yamaha grizzly down, used the Kodiak to yank it out of its grave (good thing we did, the shed roof would've pushed it down into the mud pretty deep), and dragged it onto the trailer. Got it home, threw out the Wisconsin (no spark, no fuel, no compression, horribly rusted piston) and the neighbor paid a visit. Asked him some things about it and figured out it's been sitting with it's nose out from under the roof since 2001, 17 years! Amazingly, the only seized things were the jackshaft and the cables. Pulled out the jackshaft, removed the chains, got the belt off. I've been wanting to do something with it but sadly no one in my area knows what the word "cheap" means. Either the engine is sold and they don't delete the ad, or they have an outrageous price on it.
My brother sold one of his cubs, and the guy who bought it has an 8 horse for me. Forgot to ask if it runs, but it does have the starter gen setup (no starter gen, though) he just wants to trade it for a set of fenders.
 

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#2 ·
As it turns out my little tractor is actually a Burns B60 Suburban, it's supposed to have a 6 hp recoil start briggs, but has a 7 hp wisconsin. It was originally green with a black frame and white fenders, but it's now orange. It was originally around 3000$ (In today's money) in 1963
 
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#3 ·
Good thing you said $3000 in today's money :gizmo: I'll bet $3000 in '63 could have bought a Caddy! (to drive, not carry your golf clubs) :mocking:
 
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#4 · (Edited)
It was around 500$ in 1962 so that would be 4000$ today. I was only a thousand off.

Welp. Didn't pick up my motor yesterday... but that was completely overshadowed by fact that now my little tractor is a freaking tractorsicle. The transmission got full of water and now since it's below freezing...well, you can guess what happened. Luckily I sat the tractor up so it's only frozen around the differential and and the gears and shift forks were spared from the icy grip. I just put a chain to the hitch and used a bar through a chain link to kind of pick up the rear of the tractor to drag it inside. Guess it'll have to be a shed queen from now on. Now to pull the transmission, split the case and thaw it out, I guess.

Experimented with the burns logo size and location. Figured out where my headlights will go.

I need to get the rust off the frame. It's like a tumor, and I have to use a hammer and chisel to scrape it off.

As it turns out my Burns is actually a first year of production tractor. A 1962. The wisconsin it had was actually a 5.5 hp ACN.

I do find it interesting that the choke setting is normal, on or off, but the throttle is also labelled as on or off.
 

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#5 ·
Finally got my motor. It's only missing the muffler, coil, and spark plug. Came out of a cub cadet. It's supposed to be yellow not blue, obviously.
 

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#6 ·
So I tried getting it running, but the spark plug hole is stripped out. I knew it would leak. But hey, my tire is holding air and there is fuel to the engine.
 

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#7 ·
Here's an update, a year later... The Kohler fell through and the rings were shot, so I sold it. I managed to source a nice practically NOS briggs 8 horse that I'll be picking up (hopefully) and I've decided to do a full restoration... Here it is now, a stripped carcass. I'm putting the 4 speed from my 210 in it and I'm going to have to repair all of the pitting. I also bought a nice rarer piece for it, the belt guard.
 

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#8 ·
Did some rearranging in our shed, which took up all weekend. We got our 455 in the heated basement to get the power steering seals replaced, which has been a job we've been putting off since August when the seals went out.

I still had some time left on Sunday, so I did some work on the Burns. I got some 80 grit sandpaper and cleaned up the steering wheel and steering shaft, uncovered a lot of original paint from the middle of the shaft to the steering wheel, and I found only a tiny bit of white left on the steering wheel. I also cleaned up the lower rack and pinion bracket with a wire brush on the drill, it had a ton of thick, crusty grease on it, and in the grease zerks, which plugged them up.

On another note, I found a craftsman snowblade that we still have from the LT1000 that I sold, I'm gonna modify it to fit the Burns to replace the original rotted blade.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Did some cleanup on the Burns frame, got the plow test fit. It's gonna need some holes redrilled, and I need to figure out how to lift it.
I also finally got the mushroomed spindle out. Ended up sticking a grinding wheel in the drill and using it to precision grind the mushroomed part off... After struggling for 2 hours with a file, of course.
 

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#10 ·
Set the blade up again... Had to ditch the side brackets because they got in the way of the tie rods and front axle. In the place it's getting mounted, I get about 7.5" of lift max and it sticks out about 19". Now to figure out how to bolt it up without interfering with the axle channel and how to lift it with the stock lift handle.
 

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#11 ·
We have a motor! Number, uh...6? I think. It actually runs! Even cold, started first pull. No smoke, no knocking, no nothing, and it's really low hour. It was on a chipper, but the previous owner was chipping branches and accidentally chucked a mower blade in with the branches. The engine survived, but the impeller needs the knives replaced due to them being broken off by the mower blade, but they're outrageously expensive. I'll keep the chipper body, but It'll need some work, more then the engine.
 
#12 ·
I'm back! Been neglecting this thread for over a year, wow.
After a while, the 5 horse gave up and just stopped running (would only run for like 4 seconds, then backfire and die) so I found a generator engine that is in really good shape to throw in, fits better and also just overall looks nicer under the hood. Not gonna throw away the 5 horse though, just gonna keep it off to the side until I need it again.
Just need a longer main drive belt (current belt is too short for the higher crank) and a tapered shaft adapter to go from the stubby tapered shaft to a straight 1" shaft.
You can see the slow scratching of my camera lens as the images progress.
Automotive tire Hood Motor vehicle Automotive lighting Bumper
Tread Automotive tire Barrel Tire Gas
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Motor vehicle Tread
 
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#13 ·
Following to see what motor you end up getting for it next!
J/k, I'm looking forward to seeing it all done 👍
 
#14 ·
Hopefully over the winter I'll get around to painting it the green it's supposed to be, it's getting filthy so I'll have to clean it all up again.
 
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