1985 Cushman Turf-Truckster

A couple weeks or so ago another toy followed me home. This one needs some love. Quite a bit actually, as do most things that follow me home. This is a 1985 Cushman Turf-Truckster.

What is a Turf-Truckster, you ask? While I'm no expert, I believe these were mainly popular on golf courses and park settings. I can imagine a lot of 18-year-old kids getting on these things and being very rough with them, so they had to be built tough.

This particular Cushman has a two-cylinder OMC engine (yes, those people, Outboard Marine Corp - Cushman was a subsidiary of OMC from 1962 to 1989). The engine has overhead valves and horizontally opposed cylinders. There's an adjustable governor, hand throttle lever, three-speed synchro-mesh transmission (non-synchro first), a two-speed auxiliary transmission, a 1,900 pound payload capacity, rear power take-off (PTO), and a hydraulically-operated dump bed.

Here's a partial list of what needed sorting: engine running on one cylinder (that's a biggie - and I don't think it ever ran on both for the previous owner), choke butterfly missing, choke and hand throttle cables messed up, wire on alternator pulled out, horn non-operational, tach and fuel gauge don't work, right rear tire wadded up, and missing the PTO shaft.

I got the engine to run on both cylinders after fiddling with the coils and wiring (huge relief getting that sorted out). I fixed the alternator wiring, and I found the fuse holder was the culprit for the tach and fuel gauge not working. I also got the rear tire aired up after a lot of fussing around, and got the choke and throttle cables freed up.

Yes, that's 9,864.7 hours on the ol' hour meter. I imagine this thing has done more than its fair share of idling. Even so, the engine seems to be in remarkably good condition. When I was chasing down the dead cylinder, I did a compression test, and both cylinders showed 150 PSI. Maybe the engine has been rebuilt.

We happened to be in the process of spreading mulch in the yard when this little gem showed up, so we immediately put it to work, which made the job a whole lot more fun, at least for me.

Today I put better tires on the lawn mower, so I put the old mower tires onto the Cushman, as the mower tires were only a couple years old and I couldn't justify buying better tires for the Cushman. They suit it better than the dry-rotted ATV-type flotation tires it came with, although they are just a wee bit on the small side and traction will most certainly take a hit. The old right rear tire had an annoying leak also (the wadded-up tire), so some new tires were a nice addition. The previous owner put a new tire and tube on the front, which was a bonus.

It sits level now.

The red panel seen above is a test to see if I liked the color, which I didn't. I think I'll try to find something closer to its original green color. Below is a sample from the internet on what color the paint should be. Ooh, and I like the white seat cushions, but I'm afraid I will never be driving my Cushman in that slacks/sport coat/tie attire. Sorry, gotta draw the line somewhere.