View attachment 79431
The previous owner said he thought it was a 1974 but I have not found anything to support that, I'm thinking it might be a year or 2 older. The Ridge Runner company was based out of MN and was sold to the Steiger Tractor Company in 1971 which is the last year I can find anything posted on the Internet.
View attachment 79427
This is the only thing close to the model that I have and appears to have the same under carriage with a fiberglass body and removable hood. No model year was noted on this machine but suspect it is the same year as my side-by-side. This body style may be a Steiger design since it is a radical departure from previous Ridge Runner models.
View attachment 79429
View attachment 79430
View attachment 79428
When I started the disassembly it appeared that the motor was not factory installed or someone thought it needed a bigger one. To shoe horn the larger 744cc motor into the existing front end a few modifications needed to be done. None of these mods were done in a way that any manufacturer would be proud of so I just assumed it was an owner mod. That was until I cleaned it up and found the manufacturer tag from Ridge Runner matched the JLO model and serial numbers.
Torched hole to get the exhaust through the belly pan and the 3/8" flat bar muffler mount using a large hose clamp directly around muffler and flat bar.
The welded on torque limiter to keep the bigger motor from pulling the transmission out of alignment, the bolt pushed right against the aluminum case.
The enlarged hole cut with a sawzall to raise the handlebars above the larger exhaust pipes and the odd hole placements for the brake and throttle cables.
None of the hardware holding the entire system together would be considered the 'correct' fastener for the task.
Don't get me wrong, I think this is great. I just keep telling myself how lucky I am that this wasn't Orange, we all know where those 1-off prototypes go.
The previous owner said he thought it was a 1974 but I have not found anything to support that, I'm thinking it might be a year or 2 older. The Ridge Runner company was based out of MN and was sold to the Steiger Tractor Company in 1971 which is the last year I can find anything posted on the Internet.
View attachment 79427
This is the only thing close to the model that I have and appears to have the same under carriage with a fiberglass body and removable hood. No model year was noted on this machine but suspect it is the same year as my side-by-side. This body style may be a Steiger design since it is a radical departure from previous Ridge Runner models.
View attachment 79429
View attachment 79430
View attachment 79428
When I started the disassembly it appeared that the motor was not factory installed or someone thought it needed a bigger one. To shoe horn the larger 744cc motor into the existing front end a few modifications needed to be done. None of these mods were done in a way that any manufacturer would be proud of so I just assumed it was an owner mod. That was until I cleaned it up and found the manufacturer tag from Ridge Runner matched the JLO model and serial numbers.
Torched hole to get the exhaust through the belly pan and the 3/8" flat bar muffler mount using a large hose clamp directly around muffler and flat bar.
The welded on torque limiter to keep the bigger motor from pulling the transmission out of alignment, the bolt pushed right against the aluminum case.
The enlarged hole cut with a sawzall to raise the handlebars above the larger exhaust pipes and the odd hole placements for the brake and throttle cables.
None of the hardware holding the entire system together would be considered the 'correct' fastener for the task.
Don't get me wrong, I think this is great. I just keep telling myself how lucky I am that this wasn't Orange, we all know where those 1-off prototypes go.