rescued sears suburban from scrap yard

[Ryan03]

About a week ago, I was taking a load of scrap to the recycling yard for work, and as I was backing up to scrap pile I spotted an old sears suburban 12 riding mower sitting all by itself as the guy before me in line had just rolled it off his trailer. The first thing I noticed about it was how original and unmolested it was. The cutting deck was even still in good working order, although it had a couple of sloppy fiberglass patches, it was still very sound and would be a quick and easy fix with a mig welder. all the tires held air, the steering was tight the trans seemed to work well and there was not a dent to be found in it anywhere. The paint was pretty rough though, but it was original and not bad for 38 years old. the engine was very tight, but being a mechanic, this did not scare me away, and I struck a deal with the scrap yard and bought it on the spot fo 75 bucks. I was originaly going to build it and run it in our mower derby, but the more I looked at it, the more I thought it would be a neat tractor to restore, or maybe to flip and sell on ebay. So my question is, are these valuable or collectable, should I restore it, sell it, or demo it, what do you guys think

 

[Fordlords]

Restore it. They are excellent tractors built in a long lost time of the past where things were made like they should be.
-Fordlords-

 

[bontai_Joe]

My vote is restore, just because I like to see old machinery preserved, and these were very good tractors in their day. However, in my neck of the woods, these are sought after by guys that compete in stock catagory garden tractor pulling. Seems the old manual trannys are quite strong as were the rear axles.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

i remember my dad having one about 20 years ago. That thing sure was tough. they dont make them like that anymore...

 

[Ryan03]

yeah, thats kind of what I was thinking, I dont need it, I have a kubota G5200 diesel for my mowing duties, but it did strike me as a cool old tractor that had stayed in remarkaqbly original and good condition or a survivor as we call them in the musclecar world. I just did not feel right about smashing it up, but did not want to put an additional 300 or so into a 150 dollar tractor, but you guys have set me straight on that. Just to set the record straight, some of you may have read my posts about the 782 cub demo tractor, I am well aware of the loyal following and collectability of the cub and I was when I built it, however, it was in very poor condition when I bought it and though it was complete, it was very badly rusted and cobbled up, and I did strip it of almost all useful resto parts before armoring it, Hey, I'm not a monster!!!

 

[Thomas]

There must be forum somewhere on the net you can offer the unit to someone at fair price....one mans junk is another mans treasure.

 

[Fordlords]

At the time of the Suburbans Sears made a pair of big garden tractors called the SS16 and SS18 that were powered by huge Onan BG twins. These had some rhino-snorting power that has never been seen in a tractor with the Sears name on it since
-Fordlords-

 

[buddy dog 117]

Got one also. Sears ss 18 with twin onan motor, but I rescued mine from a lawn mower dealer, who was going to pull the motor and scrap the rest. Only problem I am having is finding another dash for mine. Plastic does not fair real well over the years as it was broken in several places. Maybe someone has one for sell that is good, or knows where i can get an aftermarket. Restore is the way to go on these old tractors, they are coming hard to find. I have restored a Ford 80, international cub cadt 129, and it can be fun trying to find parts, and also be a pain. Any one doing a resto on cubs you can use, federal yellow instead of, IH yellow it is a whole lot cheaper per quart, and is the same color. Good luck on restro, and any one know of dash, give me a hollar.