1967 Rugg update #2

Just a quick little update on the Rugg, messing with the paint and other fixes

[@januaryman169]

She's gonna look amzazing!

[@RooneysSears01]

Thanks JM! I think so too, what’s here is in really decent shape. Other than the mounting points there isn’t a single crack in this hood or grill. Should be a fun one!

[@patrickshaw8595]

Fifty years of mower repair learned from my Dad who had thirty years of his own before I came along. You didn't show it but I bet your Rugg has the chain driven differential wherein the gears were visible inside. Let me tell you the story of a machine like yours . . . It began when a guy looked like John Wayne didn't have his Onan CCKA-powered Lincoln Linkwelder strapped down in the back of his Duallie. It was running and slid into his gooseneck ball an it took all the fins off Mister Onan's flywheel. He brough it to us but there was no internet then to search for a WWII-era flywheel. The unit sat on it's wooden skids in our shop for years until we found a flywheel. By that time the owner had passed on. It was ours. Cool welder. It required two of the long skinny 12v batteries to electric start it. The welder windings cranked the engine there was no separate starter. It also had a cool auto idle feature when it sensed the operator was no longer welding. After we fixed it we loved welding with it but moving it was a PITA we had no forklift back then. But we DID have the twin to your mower! It was 100% my Dad's doing to strip the Rugg down to bare frame and paint it. Overhauled the rear axle, left the chain sprocket on the differential. I helped and we grafted a folding handlebar off a floor polisher on to the steering. We now had a sort of WAGON! We bolted the 225 amp Linkwelder to the frame an it rolled like a dream - on flat ground. Used it a lot but it took four guys to get it up ramps into a pickup. During a boring snowed in winter (I think '89) I got looking at some parts saved off of a Montgomery Ward Electric Riding Lawnmower. I made mounts that tucked the motor under the big round welder. I also found a Browning Worm Drive Speed Reducer we had laying around. Mounted it tucked under other side of welder. I found pullies and belt to let the motor run the reducer. I had to buy a nine-tooth chain sprocket. We had the #41 Roller chain... I was originally going to finally buy the two skinny 12v batteries it wanted an use those to run the Wards 24v electric drive-motor. But I got a better idea. When you were running Onan at Max Governed RPM the welder put out sixty volts. At idle you got NOTHING. Hmmm.... So I grafted a cut off pair of welding leads to the motor. Then I put a chainsaw/weedeater type throttle up on the handlebars. Rope start the welder, plug in the motor (Hey - Forward or Reverse, just plug the leads in backwards!) "tickle" the engine RPMs and it FOLLOWED WHERE YOU LED IT EFFORTLESSLY !!!!! It Was soooooo gratifying to walk/motor over to the ramps and then just drive right up them into the truck bed! BEST THING I EVER DID !!! So I had to go away for a while. My Dad gave it to my brother-in-law who worked as the repairman for a large scrapyard. They LOVED it because before all they had was a giant turbo diesel welder and you had to pick it up with the giant tractor-sized rough ground fork lift to even move it. The guys there loved it. They even egged on my bro-in-law to make a little trailer for it. Then they could put an Oxy, a Propane, an Oxygen, an Argon an a CO2 bottles all in it and be ready for anything. I watched six guys load stuff on it, rope start it, plug the motor in - and motor-walk the thing through the mud to the whole other end of the yard 1/2 mile away. Well it (the Rugg rear axle) exploded after about five years of that. I machined up a totally-locked rear axle for it reasoning it would be better in the mud. When my Bro-in-law moved on (probably '97,'98) he went to take the welder back. The scrapyard said hell no what is it going to cost us? So that was how in 1998 I sold a chassis just like yours for five thousand dollars . . .

[@RooneysSears01]

That’s one helluva cool story my friend! You know what’s weird? This little guy doesn’t have the small gear box n chain set up it actually has a belt driven 3 speed, I thought it was cobbled in by someone but it looks to be all factory.

[@barryhunt5357]

It looks better, that purple was brutal, looking good brother.

[@RooneysSears01]

Thank you sir! I couldn’t agree more! I just had to do something lol I can’t wait for warmer weather and get the whole thing done

[@Chooman69]

Much better with the purple gone.

[@RooneysSears01]

Couldn’t agree more Grand Poohbah! Gotta get the rest of my painting supplies and get this one in the done column lol

[@patrickshaw8595]

I'm afraid to edit a comment that long. So this post is a correction and elaboration. READ OTHER POST FIRST otherwise this one won't make sense ! 1) I intended to say that the scrapyard boys carried an ACETYLENE bottle with them - not two oxygens. 2) I neglected to say the scrapyard was sort of hilly but the Browning Speed Reducer used a worm screw driving a worm wheel to get a lot of reduction (I think it was 22 turns input for one output revolution) so the rear wheels were essentially locked when the motor was unplugged. FREE PARKING BRAKE!!! 3) When I finally made a locked rear axle for it I also took into account that sometimes parked downhill+sideslope with motor unplugged but the Onan chugging away like mad (welding) - that the uphill wheel would sometimes turn/skid backwards. Even though the sprocket on the Rugg chain differential could not be turned - the downhill wheel/axle could then roll forwards the same amount the uphill one was going backwards. The guys used to carry little wheel chock-blocks with them back then. Problem went away with the locked setup installed. 4) My Rugg donated it's Peerless 500 Gearbox to a minibike! What? Belt-driven by a bottom pulley? Three speeds and reverse in a mini-bike??? I was getting good with my lathe then and deleted the whole bevel gear thing and plugged the input hole. Then I took out it's reverse chain and installed an overdrive pair of gears in the box where reverse was. Kept the centrifugal clutch. Kids I gave the bike to were told to stop the bike, select the gear they wanted - then proceed. The even seemed to understand not to slip the clutch too much by selecting too high of a gear. Did I mention I had to turn the engine around to drive the front transmission cross shaft BACKWARDS ? Yeah I did. Man I had a lot of energy back then . . .