[Fred's 123]

"tick tick tick... bang!" That's all she did this morning, just a few minutes into my planned day of spraying 4 acres. Engine freewheeled to a stop. Turned by hand, felt no compression. Pulled the plug, and indeed the piston is not moving when I turn the crank. Looks like the connecting rod failed... which would explain the "ticking" I asked about a few days ago.

Trouble is, I'm swamped. Simply no time to pull and rebuild an engine. What are my options? I don't mind throwing money at this problem to get it done, but don't like throwing good money after bad. I'm tempted to run over to Home Depot and (gasp!) buy a new sheetmetal tractor. Problem is, I have a whole army of implements for this Cub, and I use all of them.

Crate motor? Hot rod motor? Send it somewhere to get rebuilt for me?

Thanks, guys!