Craftsman Offroader

I just picked this old Craftsman lawn tractor up from a local small engines shop here on vancouver island for $50. Dont know what year it is its got an 11hp Briggs & Stratton that Im starting to believe has a few internal issues involving the valves but it runs, and tractor's along. Steering is dickered Im finding its mostly due to where it goes through the gearbox so Im planning to put a direct steer on it.





The plans are as follows:
-Swap front pulley for one slightly larger than the rear, transmission linkage is in the way to sway the rear pulley
-rebuild trans-axle, with synthetic gear oil
-18x8.5" front tire swap, and Im gonna find a nice set of rear paddle tires
-front axle will be moved around 3" forward, and lowered so the hubs front-rear will be level
-direct steer mod
-drop my gokart seat onto this thing, probably lowering it down into the battery tray
-possibly a quad rack as well

Nice find. Those are my favorite. Should make for a nice, solid build.

forgot to mention a gas pedal!

got to work tearing it down, I dont know if my trans-axle is an oil or grease but I plan on breaking it down and cleaning it out and either repacking the gears or oil.

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after that I plan to put a 2-3 inch pulley on the trans axle due to the clutch pulley being in the way of putting a larger motor pulley and Im raising the linkage to the trans-axle out of the way of the pulley

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Nice find. Those are my favorite. Should make for a nice, solid build.

yeah same, I was happy to find it

Just like the one i sold fun tractors and that transaxle is grease filled if your going to split it to add gease u should add some grease fittings this way id be easy to add to it.
Haha idk y but it looks like the steering shaft is long a hell

If the transmission has a drain plug visible , its filled with oil , altho the 6 speed in my 94 murray has a fill plug and no drain plug ( under the drive pulley) .

Typically theyre filled with a thick permenent grease called 'bennonite' grease - nasty sticky black goo - id suggest cleaning it out, then adding fresh grease - to fill with oil itd need axle seals and seals around any other side openings . You can add zerk fittings easy enough - i did that with a couple MTD transaxles.

I have a 85 LT12 i added pulleys on, left the crappy old grease in it and locked it up after breaking some gears in it - so its best to start fresh.

Ok well right now Im calculating the speed, Im shooting for around 35km/h. from what Im finding I wont get any wheres close to that without being forced to change the motor pulley to a much larger pulley however the clutch has a pulley spring mechanism in the way if I were to go any bigger that a 5" (factory is around a 4.75") the rear pulley Im gonna plan for a 3" pulley (stock is 9.50). by my calculations that wont land me any wheres close to 35km/h with 18" rubber @ 3600rpm

Hey,nice mower i like that body style.

3" is about as small as you can go on the trans - any smaller and the belt wont have enough grip on the pulley.

Changing tire sizes will net you some more speed , also swapping to a hand/foot throttle will give better response/more power.

With the 6" motor pulley, 3" trans, stock wheels on my LT12 - it ran around 20mph - my mod murray with a 6 speed , 18HP twin briggs same 6-3 pulleys and 8" wheels - 3rd gear netted me 30mph - thing was too wobbly over 30mph .

Its possible to get a lil more using a jackshaft with different pulleys - use an old deck mandrel with pulleys on each end.

If the clutch is in the way, you can reverse the action. It'll take a little fab, but who ever heard of a tractor modder afraid of a little fab?

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If the clutch is in the way, you can reverse the action. It'll take a little fab, but who ever heard of a tractor modder afraid of a little fab? Wink

haha, yeah I figured it out. I think Im just gonna put a 3" rear pulley to start see how that goes. steering is more of an issue. has about 3/4 of a turn of play

was having issues with the 11hp briggs. wouldnt stop backfiring through the carb no matter what I did. Picked up a 15.5hp Kohler OHV engine for $80, runs good.



as for the rest of the build, Im waiting to get my damn welder working to fix my transmission linkage so it isnt in the way of the belt

Long time since my last update, transaxle is re greased. motor is in, pulley swap done, seat dropped, exhaust built

kohler 15.5hp 426cc OHV

4.25" drive and a 3.5" axle pulley, added an idler trying to figure where the best spot to put an adjustable idler as well

shows the new exhaust

the dropped seat

this is looking great i can wai to see the finishe product

Looks good.
I like the exoust.

Looking good! Get some skinny ATV tires for the front, build a front and rear bumper, speed it up a little more, and you'd have a rally tractor similar to mine

I like that army looking craftsman, nice build.

update:

pedal set is complete

my dad took a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1JtB3w2U9DU

I like it

Lookin Good.

Right on! Maybe add some pedal pads for grip?

They look like they will do the job.
Looks good.