Save The Scag - It is Now Toast - Literally

[pjm123a]

More progress - steering controls are done (except for grips). Battery box is in and the deck controls are done as well. That helper spring for the deck was not easy. Had to wrestle it on with a big honkin screwdriver.

[blabarre]

Looking good! So are you still on track for staying below what you were expecting to spend?

[pjm123a]

Thank you blabarre. Yes, I am quite happy with what I have spent so far. It was never my intention to pay retail for the major components. I had intended to ply ebay junk-yards, etc. Finding the wrecked mower however has eliminated the need to do that since it had all the major components I needed. It suffered frame damage resulting in bent frame parts. The frame parts on my burnt mower however were actually the most useable parts so things are working out pretty well so far. A great example are the brakes. The brake handle and brake shaft are from the burned mower. The brake bands, linkage parts and fasteners are from the wrecked mower. As a bonus I have an extra brake shaft for sure and possibly some linkage parts to sell or use as spares. Including the cost of the wrecked mower my total expenditures so far are approximately $1169.22.

[dboyd351]

That's the way to do it. Doesn't take buying many parts retail to go over budget. Having a parts machine is usually much cheaper and hopefully you have the parts available as you realize you need them.
Great job on the rebuild!

[blabarre]

I agree. Are you going to be able to use the engine from the parted out scag? Or will you have to buy a new one?

Brian

[LawnGuy73]

Originally Posted by dboyd351

That's the way to do it. Doesn't take buying many parts retail to go over budget. Having a parts machine is usually much cheaper and hopefully you have the parts available as you realize you need them.
Great job on the rebuild!

Very true.

[pjm123a]

I will be using the engine from the donor mower. I had it running on the donor already. To get it running I had to do some serious carb cleaning and some of the gaskets did not survive the removal of the carburetor. Other than the gaskets however, the engine is in really good shape. I plan to replace the gaskets with the engine on the donor and fire it up one more time. Assuming all goes well, I will then move it to the rebuilt mower. If there are any problems after moving it and troubleshooting is needed, I want to go into the troubleshooting knowing that I had a good running engine to start with. That's the plan anyway. I am now about mid-way through the mower. from the hydro pumps forward all is done. My next big item will be the pump drive idler arm assembly. After that I will look to go under and add the pulleys to the pumps. I am waiting for one part to come in for that. Once the idler goes in and I can get some help, I will look to move the engine and the wiring harness. I'm a little leery of the wiring harness as I have never done anything like that before and sometimes electrical systems give me some trouble. I have all the safety switches closed with wires and plan to connect them to the actual switches one at a time so if one is bad, I will know right away which one it is. Thanks for the words of confidence dboyd and lawnguy!

[Darryl G]

Looking good. I don't know if you're already doing this, but I find that taking pictures before and during disassembly can be a big help, especially if there's some time between when you take it apart and put it back together. It's sometimes hard to tell exactly what is where from an exploded parts diagram.

[teckjohn]

Thats what I do, Take pics before during and after. Then you can always refer back to them if you have a question

[bshustack]

Great job makes me want to go out and build something.. Keep up the good work.