simplicity walk behind

jr1983

Member
When I was a kid I "restored" a simplicity walking
tractor. It was essentially a krylon overhaul but at
the time I was twelve. I have gotten the old girl back
home and im trying to figure out exactly what I have.
It origionally had a cast iron briggs on it. I think it
was a 6s. This was what was on it when I got it
anyway. I can't read a model on the tag. The serial is
71999. It does not have reverse. Its supposed to
have a six speed trans that uses movable belt
pulleys. It has a five horse on it these days. I have a
plow disk dozer blade two kinds of cultivatior a reel
mower sickle mower and a planter (modified other
brand). I have two questions. What model is this and
what other implements do I need to complete the
set. I will try to post some pics in a while.
 
I
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Whoa never saw one of these with wheel weights. Cool. Someone will know. Heaven help ya if you ever want to get that pot metal pulley off! Nice old little toy. Just a hint, go on flea bay and look into advertisements that are listed. They cut up old catalogs and sell them page by page.
 
Lol. The pot metal pulley has a release inside so it can slide back and forth so you can change gears. Its stiff but its soaking in wd 40 right now. It still moves
 
I believe that's a Simplicity Model M built in the early 50's. There was a belt tensioner pulley on those that appears to be missing. That 5hp Briggs was a good engine. Bought one new in 1970 for about $75. Should be fun collecting the attachments.
 
When I was a kid my buddies talked about those and I wished we had one too but never did. In more recent years I found these (cheap) and have had fun with them. The lighter one does a good job on plowed ground with a "field cultivator" & 4' leveling blade I made.
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On the one he has the pulley mechanism pivots to release and tighten the belt. Notice the notches next to the pulley in his first picture. I added extra notches on mine so I can use a variety of belt lengths. On the heavier Simplicity with 3 forward gears and a reverse there is a belt tensioner idler.
 
Do you have a pic of the control handles on the smaller one? I think its like mine but I have two of these one has cast iron handles. This one has steel ones. I have no idea what my other one is either but one issue at a time. I haven't seen many with controls like mine.
 
You are very lucky on that one. Glade it still moves. My Grandfather had one with a reel mower on it and he had the pull behind cart too. It even had BRAKES! You had a little pedal you pushed and it had two metal plates that dragged on the tires. Wow power brakes. ha ha ha The cart was a nice medium green color with a stamp steel seat. It was pretty big like ten cu ft or just a bit bigger. Rope start like yours. It had that big honker of a Briggs like your bigger machine. Talk about bark. He traded it in on MY baby. He got talked into buying a Gravely model "L". Had sickle bar, reel mower, and 30" brush mower. He lasted about one summer fighting with that machine before going out and bought a plain push mower. You must learn to work with a Gravely cause you will lose if you fight with it. I was the crazy one who used that machine and I STILL have it. Have two Gravelys and just love them. Have the { dog eater } snow blower and that thing will heave snow almost to the moon. The ignition on yours being magneto should be very reliable so long as the points don't get crud on them. Have fun!
 
Got it in storage, went and took pictures. In the first in the middle of the handlebar I added a kill switch button. It's handy to be able to shut it off from there. I made a sulky that's fun to ride around on.
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Dad got me one back in the 70's. has the Briggs model 9 engine on it. There was a similar model that used either the model 6 or 8 briggs. Sorry, no pictures.

To get 6 speeds, there should be a 3 step pulley on the engine. Needs some kind of belt guide to keep the belt fairly tight around the engine pulley when the clutch is released too, otherwise the belt will continue to grab and you won't be able to stop it.

Mine only had the left side control lever, but there was a place on the handle for another, I don't know what the other one would do.
 
The right side handle which I have but is not currently installed is for the reel or sickle mower. It is the belt tensioner so you have a pto.
 
Pretty sure you have the L 1, the M 1 would have steel bars welded to the frame so that the briggs model 9 wider and longer base could be bolted down,
the motor needs a three grove pulley ,2 which are used for drive and the outer pulley used for front pto, there is also a belt guide that is missing,that bolts to side of
engine block,
 

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