I decided to restore and repower (apologies to the purists) a Cadet 60. The original engine which had performed well up to 2014 was just too far gone to revive, and no needed parts or engines with a camshaft takeoff were to be found. Equally rare were stories of repowering the Cadet 60. Hopefully this post will provide some inspiration to get some more of these fine little machines back into operational status.
The selected engine was a new Briggs and Stratton 121S12-2008-F1 which was shoehorned into the available space by some careful mounting plate trimming. To gain reverse capability, a Peerless 700-026 transmission was sourced from a local equipment company. While it mounted quite like the original transmission, several adaptations with available parts had to be made to accommodate the chain sprocket, parking brake, shift lever, pulley modifications, etc.
One of the requirements was for the mower to again return to regular service. The need for a brake became clear after unintentionally taking out a good part of the wife’s garden. The unused left side pedal was then rigged to activate the existing disc brake by pulling the caliper lever to the front, while the original parking brake is still applied by pulling the caliper lever to the rear. In hind sight, a second caliper would probably perform better, but the installed system is far better than nothing.
The final result was a mower that performs quite well with what seems like much better torque than the original, has an added forward gear, has a speed range extended beyond the original minimum and maximum speeds, and replacement of most of the hard to find wear items. Of course, the total cost was far higher than what most people would consider to be reasonable or prudent. But the “resto-mod” has been proven with about 4 years of regular use on a 1 ¼ acre lot.
Some pictures taken immediately following the work appear below.
The selected engine was a new Briggs and Stratton 121S12-2008-F1 which was shoehorned into the available space by some careful mounting plate trimming. To gain reverse capability, a Peerless 700-026 transmission was sourced from a local equipment company. While it mounted quite like the original transmission, several adaptations with available parts had to be made to accommodate the chain sprocket, parking brake, shift lever, pulley modifications, etc.
One of the requirements was for the mower to again return to regular service. The need for a brake became clear after unintentionally taking out a good part of the wife’s garden. The unused left side pedal was then rigged to activate the existing disc brake by pulling the caliper lever to the front, while the original parking brake is still applied by pulling the caliper lever to the rear. In hind sight, a second caliper would probably perform better, but the installed system is far better than nothing.
The final result was a mower that performs quite well with what seems like much better torque than the original, has an added forward gear, has a speed range extended beyond the original minimum and maximum speeds, and replacement of most of the hard to find wear items. Of course, the total cost was far higher than what most people would consider to be reasonable or prudent. But the “resto-mod” has been proven with about 4 years of regular use on a 1 ¼ acre lot.
Some pictures taken immediately following the work appear below.
