# '90 MTD Task Force project



## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

I mentioned about some issues with the Task Force , had some time to tear it apart today.

After removing the seat plate, started cleaning up the chassis/trans and found plenty of rust....










If you look close on the left side, the trans is actually not even attached to the chassis - rusted clean thru. Im guessing it moved slightly back and forth when i pushed the clutch , causing the driveline issues.

Most of this i guess can be attributed to the PO leaving it outside uncovered for 3 years.

I looked over my ex mod 91 MTD's chassis and i believe i can strip the chassis and just swap the pieces over off the Task Force- looks to have all the same bolt holes and everything: 











Good thing MTD doesnt change much over the years.

Ill prep and paint the donor chassis before doing any swapping of parts. Ill probably park the Task Force under a tarp while im getting things ready - that and i have other projects i can do quickly first before tackling it.

More updates when i get em....


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Update: stripped the donor chassis, plan on swapping everything over. I washed and cleaned the grease off it and noticed some demon rust near the trans bolt holes - not as bad as the task force, but some is present. Ill have to grind the metal to tack weld on some reinforcing angle.

I was hoping my nearly new 03 bolens chassis would work, but its totally different then the older ones- i take that back must be after 2000 they changed the chassis design.


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Update: No pics, but i decided to ditch adding new metal over the old, instead i hacked out the rotten stuff and added new metal n the form of some thin angle iron i scored for free from work. Cut out and welded in the new metal , a lil bodywork will need to be done ( new metal is a hair thicker then the original chassis) - when its done it should look better then brand new after sanding/painting the whole chassis.


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## wjjones (May 28, 2010)

dangeroustoys56 said:


> Update: No pics, but i decided to ditch adding new metal over the old, instead i hacked out the rotten stuff and added new metal n the form of some thin angle iron i scored for free from work. Cut out and welded in the new metal , a lil bodywork will need to be done ( new metal is a hair thicker then the original chassis) - when its done it should look better then brand new after sanding/painting the whole chassis.



Is everything going to be original except for the repair to the frame? Looks good so far..


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Pretty much - id like to actually repaint the whole thing, i just dont have new decals for it yet. Ill go thru and paint everything in the chassis, rear fenders and the rims. Im still using the donor chassis from the 91 MTD - original is just too rusted in the back- that chassis will most likely wind up on a mod tractor sometime.

I saw on another site a cool paint scheme for the rims- black in the deep part and a silver/chrome paint around the edge- it looked real sharp- should set it off nicely. The PO painted the rims black, normally itd be a argent/silver , white or grey- i sorta liked the different black paint- ill clean em up and redo them on both sides.

Instead of cobbing it together from both tractors- im just transferring everything off the Task force over , so itll be virtually the same machine. I suppose since im redoing it, might try to polish the transaxle - ill haveta see how things go. Ill also repaint the motor.

Itll be good practice for when i work on my MTD lowes machine

Just what i need tho- another 'trailer queen' tractor - so clean i wont want to use it......


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Still working on the donor chassis, used some JB weld to fill couple holes i missed, smooth the surface out - went to crack open my can of bondo and its all dried out ( just to smooth things out a bit more) - looks like ill haveta get another can. I can tell adding the fresh angle is way stronger then the factory metal- no way that will bend or rot.

Then can prep the chassis for paint and start trading parts.


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Finally a update - been working on the donor chassis off and on since last post, got some basic bodywork done on the panels ( good enough anyway) , some paint applied on it - almost ready for the chassis to be put back together, ill get some pics then.


I also tore out the original transaxle from the rotten chassis - it was worse then i thought- whole thing was held in there by a lil bit of the chassis on the back and the stabilizing crossmember. When it came out, the idler pulley was pretty much shot as well, so ill find a donor one.


Im going to attempt to pull the wheels off - im thinking about putting the bolts into the axle ends( all the way in) then using a piece of metal tubing pound on them to release the wheels - ill do my 'trick' to make em slide on and off like butter- lightly grind the axles down smooth and use alot of never seize - the axle end bolts will hold them on.

To help remove the wheels, ill crack open the transaxle and pull the axles out - i need to get in there and check things out anyway ( has some slop in it) and regrease it - ill probably also put some grease zerks in it as well while im in it.

Eventually i plan on painting the whole tractor up nice, for now itll just be most the inside stuff and chassis- im debating on possibly polishing the motor and transaxle while its apart - ill still use it to mow ocassionally even after all this work is done.


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Wow- it has been a while since last update..... Ive had a lil time lately to work on the task force - old chassis is totally stripped , replacement chassis is done and all painted .

As usual going this deep into a rebuild, things dont go as planned - originally i planned on just remove and replace parts onto the new chassis........ well, things were dirty, rusty and greasy , couple cotter pins and stuff were in bad shape.... so bot a cotter pin assortment box from harbor freight , decided to clean and paint EVERYTHING. Had a few issues putting the deck floater bars back in ( put em in backward)- im greasing and cleaning, painting stuff as i go , taking my time rebuilding it - unfortunately i havent gotten any pics yet of the progress , BUT its a vast improvement over what it was.

Might be TOO nice to mow with again......keep posting updates when i can.


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Its comming along - i took the trans apart, did my grease fitting mod to it - even put a polish on it ( after some sanding, brasso polish, more sanding...)
- painted the wheels on the trans - they look sharp! Pop gave me a small brush and i hand painted a silver ring around the black rims - set it off nicely. Some more work and itll be back on 4 wheels again - more i do, more i look at it- it might not see mowing duty again.....


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Teaser pic : still working on.....


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Still working on it - painted the other footrest yesterday , started taking the outer bits of the motor off to prep/paint ( maybe polish?) it - hopefully ill have time to actually have it running before the year is over at the rate im going with it. Other projects are ready to take its spot in the shed.


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## Pipertec (Jan 12, 2012)

Got it looking good....I know what you mean about getting it finished....I got another Massey Ferguson begging for attention too!


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## dangeroustoys56 (Jul 26, 2010)

Thanks for responding - I had some time yesterday as well to tinker with it - i ended up painting the motor, bolted it on, and finished with putting the non painted hood on ( id like to get decals remade for it before painting it) - just have to do some touch up painting, put the deck back on ( after cleaning/touching that up as well) and should be ready to fire up. Also need some updated pics as well.


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