Poor man's Gator

[IMCA38]

Thought I'd share the culmination (somewhat) of a long running project. I bought this Cushman turf truckster nearly two years ago. I had been looking for something to use for odd jobs on the acreage for some time. Gators and Mules were waaaay out of my price range unless they were basket cases. The Cushmans are a nice alternative, but most of the ones you see have been owned by golf courses or city park departments, and thus have a lot of use and are basically beaten to death. I saw one at an auction a few years ago that came from a city park department that was nothing more than a pile of parts and still brought about $800!
My dad works part time for a local funeral home, and found out that they had this truckster, an early 1970's model. They bought it back in the day when the local funeral home did everything, including selling and setting headstones. They used this to haul the headstone, sand, concrete, etc. across the cemetary to the grave. As time passed, this work moved from the funeral home to monument companies. Eventually this unit was parked inside a windowless garage behind the funeral home, probably in the late 1980's and it sat there until I bought it. The hour meter shows only 256 hours! The mortician gave me a good price on it and even threw in a 5'x10' Snowco tilt bed trailer to haul it on. However, since it had sat for upwards of 15 years, it needed a little work to be operational.
The gas in the tank was AWFUL! I have never smelled anything so nasty in my life. We dumped that out, and flushed all of the nasty crud out of the tank, and threw a quick coat of paint on the tank before it was re-installed. All of the fuel lines were rock hard. Those were removed and replaced and an in-line filter was added. The carburetor was removed, disassembled and cleaned. Luckily, I had a gasket set leftover from overhauling my JD lawn tractor several years ago and had all the gaskets I needed for reassembly.
The battery had all kinds of corrosion which had spilled onto the cables and battery tray. The battery and cables were replaced, and the tray was removed, cleaned and repainted. A new tie down bar was fabricated from aluminum angle. All of the fluids were changed and we finally fired it up the other night. Once we got gas to the carburetor, it fired right up. I am eternally greatful to my dad and my friend Keith for their work and assistance on this project!
This particular unit is a bit on an oddball as it has a 12hp Kohler K-301 engine vs. the more common Cushman/OMC piece. I'm OK with that though as the Kohler parts are still easy to come by. This thing has large dump box- 4'10" long x 4'4" wide x 12" deep. That's over 3/4 of a yard! It is rated to carry a load of 1000#. It also has a pretty substantial looking trailer hitch.
I'm looking forward to having something to use for odd jobs like picking up tree branches, hauling small amounts of dirt, and running things back and forth from house to shop. I will probably get an ATV sprayer with a boom next spring to mount in the box.
Here are a couple of pics.

 

[Skipholiday]

Awesome.

Any pics of the engine?

 

[johnray13]

That sounds like such a fun project. Great job on the restoration. I, too, would like to see some more pics.

Well done.

How much did you end up paying the mortician for the Cushman?

John

 

[ultrarunner]

There one on Ebay... might only be good for parts... last I checked it was going for a couple of hundred dollars.

I search antique cars a couple of times of week for 1920 and older and I saw it listed as a 1900 year model.

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

engine ??there are 5 rubber bands that you wtist and then let them go all at one time .lol just kidding i would like to see the engine too it looks well kept up.

Awesome.

Any pics of the engine?

 

[TWO GUNS]

IMCA38

Glad you got it going, for it being a Cushman, should keep on ticking for a long time.

Back in the late '70's, purchased two Cushman vehicles, both were Tracksters, the all terrain vehicle with tracks. They were very tuff vehicles and served me very well until having to sell them ( and many other things ) during a divorce settlement in 1985 >>>.
Sold one to a man from out of town, didn't know him, but , the other was sold to a gentleman about nine miles from here. And he still runs it all during the hunting months from Sept. till Feb every year, even up to this day.
Wish I could of kept it, but, at least I get to see it all the time, we joke about it all the time >>> ( got to laugh, to keep from crying ) But back then Cushman had all their vehicles figured out to a tee. They were and are very dependable vehicles, and I know you will get great service out of this one !!!

 

[TOMMYHPX4X4]

it seems like cushman might have given john deere the idea for the first gator. the amt i thinki it was.

 

[IMCA38]

Wow, people want to see pictures of my engine- Sounds kind of personal!!
I didn't have time to get out and take pics today, but I found this on ebay. Exact same setup, even same color of paint.
As far as calling my work a "restoration" that is an extreme overstatement. I fixed the mechanicals so it would run. There was no body work, repainting, cosmetics etc. It is in good shape, but has a few dings. I plan on using it, so it may get a few more. One thing I didn't mention in the first post was the brakes. The brake fluid was yucky and the master cylinder was stuck. Had to overhaul the master cylinder and replace some lines, flushed everything out and got some working brakes. That was probably the most involved and time-consuming process.
I do still need to do something with the box dumping setup. It was equipped with a bumper jack mounted on the right side that pulls on a chain hooked to a half moon on a shaft welded to links under the box. Works OK except that the rack on the bumper jack has some teeth stripped off in the middle of the run. I can't find out what brand of car the jack came from. I think I have a lead on a 12V linear actuator with a 500# capacity. If I can get one of those, it will have electric dump!
One other thing about Cushmans, they were made nearby in Lincoln, NE and I know some people who worked in the factory before Textron closed it down a few years ago.