Been lookin around and found the ebay plans, and was wondering if anybody has used these and if there are any more plans out there for homemade LTs? I looked at there videos on youtube and didn see how the worked the throttle?

And are these plans good or are there better plans out there? Do u need a welder? Is there a throttle setup included in the plans? And how hard and time consuming are they to build??

Thanks for any input

The plans arent difficult to understand and building the motor isnt too hard the most time consuming part is actually getting all the parts.You will def need a welder and as far as the throttle the plans do not show a setup but a bike brake will work just fine.

I will warn you to make sure you think all of the parts list out and not just go by the plans because there are alot of typos throughout and you need more metal than what it says in the back. My advice is to read through make your own parts list and you will probably make some tweaks to it but its a good start to the process. If you have any welding experience youll be fine.

I actually have very little welding experiance but i have an uncle thats been welding and building dirt track cars for 35+ years. Im not so much worried ab the welding to much cause i can get that done.
What I was worried about most was how much time does it actually take from start to finish does it really take to build it. It says on the website that it can be done in a weekend, but thats kinda hard to believe. Ive nexer built one nor do i know anybody that has, but it seems like thats not very long to spend on something like that.
Are the measurments for the bearings and seal sizes what has to be tweaked a little bit? The throttle I'm not worried about to much cause ive got a 2 parts dirtbikes laying around and i might even be able to figure out a twist throttle setup on it. And is mostly the metel u have to have sheet metel or steel rods of differant sizes?

No stick with all the bearing sizes and seals thats all fine i meant things like how to do your supports, your cav plate, and how to mount the motor. I used an 11 hp motor the plans are for a 6.5 so i had to recalculate all of the measurements because the motor was bigger.

I built mine in about a week but i was waiting on parts, the prop, and for the shaft to be threaded. If you had all the parts and knew what you were doing you could easily get it built for the most part in a day. Now if its the first time youll prolly run into some glitches so two full days would be a min. I would think.

Plus there are typos like it tells you to get a six foot piece of metal for the handle but they only use four feet of it and there are other things like they get the ID and OD measurements mixed up on some pieces. Nothing really that catostrophic but there are errors.

Ok that much i can handle. How do i choose my prop size/pitch tho. Ive never built one or even been around them much. I'll be using a 16hp motor from overstock.com. It's a off brand company called duromax. It aint the greatest choice prolly, but im on a strick budget of "as little as possible". Lol

I am currently finishin up my homebuilt using a durostar 16hp single cylinder (same thing as yours I think just yellow housing, thats what maxtool.com told me when I bought mine). I had a guy that I was introduced to that had built a longtail a few years ago, and I got a hold of him and basically copied his design. I enlisted the help of my grandfather who used to weld on the pipeline for a living and we tweaked his design a bit but other than a few different measurements for shaft height its basically the same. I think I spent a total of $400 in materials (iron, bolts, yokes, ect) and the engine was $300, buy a 8x4 ron hill prop $160 and you should be pretty close to all the parts. I would guess Ill have about $1000 dollars invested in it total, but you could probably do it on a cheaper budget than that.


Kinda crude still, but hopefully we can get the mount finished this weekend.

Looks awsome! Did you buy the plans or Just go off of pictures??

We went and got this guys motor and basically just copied the idea. It can be done by just looking at pictures, make sure you learn how to use the search, it will become your best friend. Sketch something up and come back and put in proper measurements and angles. I imagine having a parts list would be nice, but if you can dissect the motor you should be fine. If you got a question you can ask it here and get a forward answer. Which is great when you have serious questions and are clueless... These other guys really know their stuff and Im still on the learning curve. Look at it this way, motor, yoke, u-joint, yoke, shaft, bearing, bushings, seals, nut, prop, nut; all on a frame with a fixed tiller handle on the transom of a boat. Good luck!

Thanks man. Ima do some more researchin and try to figure out exactly wat I want to do. I took a look at your boat and that's prolly about what ima have to do is just find somethin that's in rough shape and redo it. Thanks for your help when I start making progress ill post some pics.

the ebay plans make a nice finished product, and work well. yes there are a few typos and small errors in the plans, but common sense should be enough to figure them out. you have to do A LOT of welding and cutting, and that is the most time consuming part. i built 3 at the same time, as i figured this was the quickest way to do it if i was planning on ever building another. built a jig to put them on to keep all angles correct and shaft aligned while welding. all in all, i'd say it probably took 2 days to build 3 of them, so it'd probably take about a day to build one. the thing that takes the longest is gathering parts and waiting on them to come in. And if you're like me, some extra time finding the best prices on the parts.

Those guys on Ebay must be doing something right, 383 positive feedbacks and no negatives!!!

Can you post a link? I couldnt find them. I've got a 14 ft boat I'm messing with and could use a motor build.

You can get a lot of information on http://www.madmudmotors.etsy.com. You can also just type mad mud motor and that will give a lot of information. They are the ones that have the plans for sale on ebay. I built one on a 6.5 hp frame and works like a top. No vibraition and will run around 10-12 mph up stream on the small creek that I've tried it on. The only thing is I had a 14 ft. boat ,with a 30" bottom and that's tooo narrow for me ( too tippy). I tried it on a 40" bottom and it works just fine but I'm looking for a 42 or 48 inch bottom for more stability. I used most of the references that they gave in their plans and it came out ok. I used a 4x7 Backwater prop on it also.

Me and my buddy saw these plans a few weeks ago and we bought them just for a refrence in case we get stuck in the building process. I just started welding a few months a go so I am looking forward to my first project being my go devil. And thanks to Swampdonkey I found a really nice 16hp on maxtool.com for under 300 dollars. I will post some pics through out the process to let you see how ours is turning out.

The plans off Ebay or Etsy from MaD Mud Motors are well worth the money! Easy to follow directions with lots of pictures to help you understand and they include a parts list. Don't struggle trying to figure it out, just buy the plans and follow the simple instructions and then enjoy taking your boat wherever you want rocks, tree's, mud, stumps, gravel all no problem!