Craftsman 10/38 11/38 12/38 builds

This is the main tractor I use for building, one is built, and 2 more are being built.

This is what they end up after teardown. All extra parts are stripped, and deck hardware/levers/mounts are junked. I use these because a 820 peerless transmission bolts in, strong frames, boxed in front axles, decent steering, and of course they are cheap. 2 were given to me, one was 60 bucks.

After frame teardown, front axle area of frame is fully welded and drilled for 3/4 bolt. Steering box is drilled to 1 in and new steel bushings installed, and grease zerks.



Old axle donates it's pivot hole to a new custom axle. New kingpins/spindles made out of 3/4 grade 8 hardware and welded.





Peerless 820 transmission with 1" go kart axle installed. Set up for oil lube, and high speed gearset from rom's. Here is a link to his gearset. Installed side shift where deck up and down lever was.



http://roms-peerless-transaxle-supply.ecrater.com/p/7186560/gearset-upgrade-2-for-peerless-820-transaxle-mower



Steering linkage is all 1/2 heim style joints. All new wiring, waterproof switches, headlights. Headlights run off the lighting circuit of the generator, so battery is not drained.





Upgraded to 8" front rims with atv style tread. Some rears are stock, others use tractor bar tires. Trick was to find a 1" hole, keyed wheel with 8" dia so we could use tires from old racers.

Clutch gets some work. 6" engine and transmission pulleys give me a top speed of 45mph with the aftermarket gearset. Belts get guides to prevent belts from coming off. Belts are 5/8.

All engines are twin opposed briggs, no governor, and gas pedal. Engines are stock.





10 in brake rotor install on rear axle, and mechanical caliper from go-kart. Separate brake pedal installed.





Bumpers installed front and rear. Front gets a roll over bar also.

Here is the first one, only 2 more to go!

Looks good im building the same style lol like your fron axle looks strong as heck

Nice looking. I'm digging your gas pedal setup.

Built 2 more axles today. That takes a while, lot of welding. Got 2 steering boxes rebuilt, and clutches done on the 2 new ones.

Gas pedal is pretty close to the standard design we are using. I figure couple of weeks before the 2 new mowers ones are done.

Went on a test run in the woods with my LT 10 and the one that is already done. They did good, only problems was when a stick got jammed in the belt on mine, and one stuck the shifter on the other. Also the other (Dan's) looks like it could use some better rear tires.

What a wonderful paint job... I wonder who did that?

I picked up a bunch of ATV tires and golf kart rims/tires from both my nephew and a couple flea markets - dirt cheep - have so many now not sure what ill put em all on.

Problem with tires is we are running a 8 in rim, and 18.5(I think) tires. Lower profile for handling. Local place has tractor tires in that size we use, they are pretty good in the mud/snow.

Got some more work done, frames are welded around the front axle, and 1/2 rod, 24 inches long welded to the bottom of the frame, from the front axle to half way back. Also welded rear of frame where it was bolted together.

Pics of the welding on the frame.











Pics of the new axles.









Clutch setup. Had to reverse the action, and put a flat idler pulley on it.

Transmission mounts welded in, and tie rods installed. Added stops to the steering, and reinforced the where the tie rods hook up. Steering boxes installed. Rear belt guides.

Tie rods are 1/2 pipe, with 1/2 fine, grade 8 nuts welded on the ends. Tie rod ends are 1/2 heim or kart style ends.

Steering all hooked up. Still need shaft support for the steering column, and steering wheel.



Tie rods installed



Steering stops



steering box in.



Transmission mounts and belt guides.

Got the brake caliper bracket installed on one tractor, still need to do the other.

Got some more work done. Brake calipers and pedals on done on both. Upper steering column supports are in. Battery is relocated, with tray and hold downs done. Engines bolted down, and front pulleys on. Front tires on. Also made a temp rear axle to push it around.

Upper steering support.



Temporary rear axle.



Brakes all done.



Engines on.



Relocated battery. Steering gear won't hit, just the angle of picture looks like it.

These 3 tractors are done, just got busy and didn't take pics. Bumpers, headlights, fenders, hoods, transmissions, belt guides, and tires are all done. One is waiting for the high speed gearset for the transmission, it has a top speed of 18mph right now.

Added some ammo can's to the back of two of them. One will be a cooler, and one will be a toolbox. Had to extend the bumpers 4 inches, and added some bracing.

We did some tweaks preparing for our annual mower racing party ...

1. Replaced the reverse chains with a heavier duty chain of the same pitch

2. Reduced the shifter keys from 4 to 2 (to hopefully make shifts quicker and reduce wear on them)

3. Reinforced the brake brackets which were bending a bit under load

4. Reinforced the spindle mounts on the front axles where they got a little tweaked during jumps at Haspin

4. Reinforced the spindle mounts on the front axles where they got a little tweaked during jumps at Haspin




Kinda shocked ya had to do that I just looked at how ya all built them and the hole frontend and steering setup looks tough and professional (I like it)

Taking them on the motocross course tends to identify the spots that need reinforced.

It was a very little tweak, easily fixed. I need to take a pic to demonstrate.

Taking about a day on average to get them back in tip top shape for the race. Mostly tweaking the transmission, and replacing shifter keys.

The 820 peerless transmissions have 2 different style shift keys and shafts, one is a bit bigger shaft,and the keys are a bit bigger. Trying to switch all the transmissions to the better one.

We have broken 2 reverse chains. Original chain was a 41, a 40 fits with no modification, and is twice the strength. May have to peen the master chain link on, instead of using the clip, for clearance.

Shifter keys have been our downfall, they are failing after 20-30 hours of use. Main reason, the high speed gear set puts a lot more load on the gears and keys. One transmission we speed up using pulleys instead of gears, and it's keys were in good shape. I did not want to speed it up anymore, it is already whining at 30mph top speed. So I installed a mild version of the high speed gears to get the speed up to 45, and left the pulleys sped up. It should have less of a load on the keys, will see how it does.

Also, top gear in these transmissions is not hardened like the lower gears. Not sure why, maybe because it is so small, it would snap if hardened. That means where the shifter keys engage, the corners are rounding off, causing the keys to slip. I have been filing the notches inside the gear to get them repaired, see how that works.

Where did you get the parts for the disk brakes?

I realized while in conversation on the chat room that we never went over the grille / hood mounting on these.

Hood is cut down to reduce chance of snagging legs. Edged the raw steel with cheap windscreen trim. Grille is placed in factory location and pinned with a couple bolts. Original hinge mechanism is removed and discarded.
Yellow arrow points to where we mounted hinges from the instrument panel / steering support to the hood.
Red arrow points to where the short bungee is bolted to the hood.
Green arrow points to slot cut into grill for bungee to hook onto.

TheEquineFencer wrote:

Where did you get the parts for the disk brakes?

I'd have to ask Stretch, he ordered them.

Stretch44875 wrote:

Also, top gear in these transmissions is not hardened like the lower gears. Not sure why, maybe because it is so small, it would snap if hardened. That means where the shifter keys engage, the corners are rounding off, causing the keys to slip. I have been filing the notches inside the gear to get them repaired, see how that works.

Chances are the high speed gears aren't hardened because they don't need to handle the torque of the lower gears.

Lower gears are all torque. the higher the gear, the less torque and more horsepower required.

That could be.  They are still wearing faster than the other gears.

Brake disk was ebay, 1 in bore, 1/4 in keyway, 25 bucks shipped.  Think we used a 10in dia.

Brake caliper was 25 bucks, here is a link

http://shakyparts.com/11125_heavy_duty_disc_brake_caliper_with_pads.html

Replaced the headlights on my tractor last night.



Also replaced the failing hood hinges with a length of piano hinge.

I have a question...can you go a little more in depth on your shifter because I'd like to make one on my rally too.