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My New Suburban I Unburied

1K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  classic 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well, it was a busy afternoon digging out the Suburban. Both the tractor and plow were frozen to the ground, and my brother and I dug a path about 150 feet so we could push it to the truck and load it up. We finally got it home and found that a mouse made a home under the flywheel, and used the insulation off of the SSI and coil wire to build part of the nest. I pulled the flywheel, replaced the SSI and coil with a spare, cleaned all electrical connections, installed a new voltage regulator, installed a good used starter generator, and swapped out the fuel line and fuel tank...whew! Well the old sears fired right up and ran smooth with minor carb adjustments! It's ugly as Hell, but will be a good tractor with some paint and decals.
 

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#5 ·
I think you got a nice one especially having to dig it out. If you want to see ugly take a look at the MTD 990 Turf Trac I bought from the same guy. One thing about this hobby is we buy for what they can be not for what they are. You got a good story to go along with it too. :thumbs:
 
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#6 ·
I will probably start buffing with 40 grit sand paper and and work my way up to turtle wax, HA! Naa, don't get me wrong, I like the well seasoned look of these old machines fresh from the weeds, collapsed shed, or buried under a pile of junk in the garage or basement. Sawdust, I saw the pic of your 990, gotta love that grill on that thing! That's the first time I've ever seen one of those and I like it.
I found this Suburban 12 while turning around to look at the SS18 I bought recently. The weather was warm Saturday, so I figured I would go ask about it. It turned out that I knew the owner and he said to just take it. I made him take 50.00 since I didn't feel right just taking it. It was sitting in a run down shed he tore down when he bought the house last summer.
I messed around with it a bit yesterday and put a rebuilt Walbro LME 36 carb on it, since the float was hanging up on the original LME. If it were summer, there wouldn't be an insect alive for a 10 mile radius when I first started it. The cloud finally cleared and it actually runs real good, with no knocks or odd noises. I'll be tearing the engine down anyway to freshen it up a bit. I'm working on two other HH120 engines already, so I might as well do another since I know where the tools are. One of the engines is for my 69' Suburban 12 and the other is for my 68' Suburban 12 with the recoil start and no headlights. I just came across two NOS recoil start assemblies for these Suburbans. I've been looking for one for over a year and just found two within a week! I also found two NOS "Super Start" decals to put on them after they get painted. Just to mention, there is an early and late version of this recoil start assembly that I've come across. Someone took the one apart on my 68' before I bought it and lost the return spring for the starter dog retainer. This caused the dogs to chew up the starter cup which I also have to replace. So far, I've been able to source the parts to repair my original early starter.
Anyway, lot's of projects going on, so I can't complain. I'll post pics as I get further along on these Suburbans. I'm doing a restoration on a Cub 147 loader, also. I had to cut my way through the briars to get to that one, but that's a whole nother story.
 
#7 ·
Nice looking machine! I have a SS10 that looks like it! Think I saw this one on CL lately. Was it listed in Hudson Valley area, or New Jersey??
 
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#8 ·
Welcome to the forum ericjr, I'm new here myself. This 68' suburban wasn't listed anywhere. I found a 76' SS/18 sitting on the side of the road for sale, and noticed the 68' sitting in someones yard just down the road passed it. I bought the SS/18 and went back a couple of weeks later to ask about the 68'. It turned out that I knew the owner and he said I could have it. It was sitting in a shed when they bought the house. Both of these Suburbans came out of Malden NY. I did buy another 68' last year out of the Hudson Valley and it's the recoil start model. It's actually in great shape, but has been partially repainted completely orange. The dash is real nice and so are the original stickers/decals. I haven't seen many recoil start 68' suburban 12's, so it will be a good restoration to tackle. I'm just about to get started on freshening up the engine now. It ran well, but smoked a bit under load. Here are a few pics.
 

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#10 ·
That color sure does look close! Shame they messed it up. Thank God mine seemed to be a survivor! I got it in trade from a guy at work for a small JD 111 !

I got blessed on that deal! I did not even know what I got, a friend almost talked me into giving it to him! Thank God I did not! The only thing we needed to do is clean carb and oil change!! The stack was added poorly I might ad! IT was burning the paint! :( I extended the stack by replacing some of the plumbing!

DSC06512.jpg
 
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#11 ·
I wondered about the repaint to all orange myself MH. The color seems to actually be an exact match and I don't know when the repaint was done. The person I bought it from had it for a couple of years and had it given to him by a friend. His friend had it for many years just sitting in a corner of the garage. It had an excellent condition snow thrower attachment on it when I bought it, and that is now on my SS18.
Yea, it's a shame about the repaint, ericjr. I think this would have been a nice survivor if left untouched. That Suburban 10 looks great, WOW! It's great to find them clean like that. I have a 69' Suburban I bought from a neighbor that sat in a basement for most of it's life. The house was abandoned back in the 70's and that's where the tractor sat, unused. It came with the deck, rear lift with the sod buster, and the front snowplow. I have the original seat for it and it will go back on it eventually.
 

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