Has anyone ever seen a garden tractor with a diesel engine swapped in, or with its original engine converted to diesel?

I saw a guy at a show at Zagray Farm in Colchester, CT who swapped a Lombardini diesel into an Allis-Chalmers garden tractor, and I'd like to find information about doing this.

I would appreciate it if anyone out there could send me a link to a web site, plans, a person who has done this. --Any information at all.

Thanks in advance!

I saw it done with a diesel that a guy found in a scrap yard..it was like a 7.25hp engine..took out the blown Onan twin and put this in..He didnt do it to use it, he built a pulling tractor out of it, quite nice...All he did was bolt this thing in and put in a new gas tank..I dont remember what brand of engine it was or anything, but i know it can be done...

If i swap a diesel into my '67 SS12 it'll be so I can work it to death without reliability becoming a concern. My original 12HP tecumseh barely runs and I want to trade up to a real workhorse that I can beat the snot out of for years to come. I'd love to be through with filing points, changing condensers and coils.
But I'm 13 years old and dont want to spend $600 on a used single-which is the cheapest they go for on ebay. I can put it in and maintain it myself, but I'm through with that Tecumseh.

AH man that 12hp Tecumseh I think is the best engine...Im 18, and build garden tractor pullers out of these sears tractors and so far use only the Tecumseh engines...I have a 10hp Tecumseh thats pushing about 13hp and it runs like a champ...If you have trouble with filing points and replacing the condensor, upgrade the ignition system to like a coil that Kohler engines use...or upgrade to the newer style electronic ignition from the newer sears mowers..We havent had any trouble after that doing these switches, and we BEAT the SNOT out of ours pulling them...Ive had those engiens so hot that they was making noises that should never come from a lawn mower engine..and 4000rpms sustained for like 3 minutes pulling about 2000lbs is rough on an engine...Now another club we pull with we crank em to 5000rpms and pull em, so we do beat em up and they is still ticking...email me off list and I can possible help ya get yours so you dont have to keep working on it..my email is joytime3@hotmail.com

Yeah, I know that I could make my Techumseh run awesome, but is is worth it? I already have about $90 into that motor, which is $90 more than what I paid for the tractor. And it still needs to have the compression release fixed, a new head gasket, a carb rebuild (AGAIN), plus little bits and pieces. On top of that, the last time i started it and ran it, it knocked, bad. For the same amount of money any labor, i could have a fresh engine in the hole purrin' away. I need to get this thing running good, and soon. Me and my buddies do light landscaping and I need a backup tractor. (Check us out www.mownblown.bravehost.com )

Do you have a screen name? Because that would be so much easier.

And by the way, Onan twin, That's an awesome engine!

I added u to my AIM account, i dont use it much but i added u...If it knocks, find a good used engine, their cheap and abundent...These things are worth rebuilding, i rebuilt mine for like $350 but i did all the labor...just had a machine shop bore it and do a valve job, i reassembled it...yes the Onan i feel is the real work horse..but a tecumseh can out work one if it tuned up right...Remember you just cant drop in any motor, the sears like yours the clutch mounts to the motor so you have to fab something up for that..hit me up on AIM and ill chat with ya their..

there is one engin i can think of,that is the hatz diesel,i know they make a 10 hp,a new one will be $2300,not cheap,but i hope this helps.

Careful with the diesel you swap in there. The transmissions are rated for the engine and a higher horsepower diesel is going to have enough torque to thrash the transmission in short order. The old HH120 is one of the most robust engines around and will last just short of forever if properly maintained. Mine had roller bearing mains and still had good compression after 25 years of hard use. It's only problem was the exhaust valve hanging open under very heavy load. At the time I worked for the foundry that made Tecumseh crankshft castings and could buy an engine for cost, so an OHV, balanced 18 was cheaper for me than rebuilding the 12. I gave the 12 away, the new owner fixed it up and it is still soldiering away on a log splitter.