Coot questions

Groo · Jun 14, 2018

a wild shot here;
Does anyone have experience with Coots?

I may be going to look at a couple in the near future. I was considering setting 1 up as an amphibian (maybe raising the tub walls and baloon tires for higher water capacity) and one up as a mini tractor, since the footprint is about what I'd prefer and the low height with 4 wheel steering.
I think they'd both need new engines. Can the transmission/driveline take more torque than the 18hp OEM engine?

Anything to watch out for with these?

arlen4720 · Jun 14, 2018

How much does a well used one cost? What do they have for an OEM engine?

bcp · Jun 14, 2018

Have you been to...

Repair and Mods - COOTWORLD

Bruce

MickeyDBC · Jun 14, 2018

I have one. In the middle of swapping in a chinese diesel one banger motor (seems to be the popular internet swap). These things are pretty crude and an air-ride (or at least spring-ride ) seat is a must. I don't think you can go much over the factory motor (and there is a lot of doubt if it was really 18hp to start with) - the reeves drive that acts like an automatic transmission is not very big. The big thing to watch for is rust - if left out they collect leaves and the bottoms rust out which does not help the flotation. If you want bigger tires you can go with terra tires which are about stock diameter but something like 16 inches wide but they are a little hard on the bearings and axles. Mine has a set of terra tires and a set of skidsteer tires on it - the p.o. bought them because it was too wide to fit on his trailer with them.

John_Mc · Jun 14, 2018

I have two of them running (one beater, and one nicer one), and a 3rd for parts. For most of the production run, they shipped with a 12 HP single cylinder Tecumseh engine. They are geared for power, not for speed. Top speed in mine is about 20 MPH - and you would not ant to go any faster: the only suspension on the thing is the low pressure in the tires.

A 16 HP Briggs Vanguard V-Twin is one of the more popular engines for retro fit (some people us an 18 HP). It's a bit taller than the original, so you will likely have to raise the seat up a bit.

The early Coots were 2 wheel steer. Since they have no differentials, they need a bit of room to turn around. An option on later models was 4 wheel steering, which improved cornering a good bit. Both of my running Coots are 4W steering

I'd recommend taking one for a drive before committing to buying one. They can be great machines, but they are quirky. They'll either fit your needs, or they won't.

If you really want to learn about them, start at COOTWORLD (This takes you to their tapatalk URL. The old Cootworld.net URL is not working at present, but they are working on fixing it).

My beat up one, before I put the roll bar back on. Right rear wheel is up on a rock, showing the articulation between the front and rear tubs, which keeps all four wheels on the ground even in rough terrain.