Craftsman Lt2000 Project

Hey I'm just posting this to see what kind of ideas i can get for my project
The mower is a early 2000's Craftsman LT2000 with a Kohler 17 hp command 1 backed by a 6 speed peerless.
List of current mods:
-pulley swap
-22" atv tires back 17" front
-exhaust with a mini quad muffler
-front end lifted to level the tractor
-full rewiring system
-front bumper made from tht same mini quad (not in picture)
-steering reinforcements

The locker is coming this spring, i want to see how it does without a locker
Feel free to comment with any ideas that wont put a hole in my wallet
thanks,
jamcco

any idea on what tires youre gonna get? i think you got a good plan going

willis923 wrote:

any idea on what tires youre gonna get? i think you got a good plan going

currently i have these on the back
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/hi-run-knobby-atv-tire-at-22-x-11---8
it does pretty decent in the snow but i cant wait to test it in the spring
all the stuff i listed above s currently on the mower and the project will never end....you can never have to many mods

it seems like them knobbies would load up in mud, i would go for bear claws or something along that line, if you do get new tires.. err- i read that wrong, you ALREADY have tires.. lol. completely mis read your first post. sorry.. lol

willis923 wrote:

it seems like them knobbies would load up in mud, i would go for bear claws or something along that line, if you do get new tires

i completely agree with you on that one, for now im running them someday i will upgrade. Anything is better than turf tires thanks for the input though

this is a picture of the bumper ive added a couple weeks ago, its from a mini quad.... i am going to wire brush the chrome off and paint it black.....im also going to add some sort of accesories to make it urrrrrr... blend in better
i also feel tht when i titled this thread i should of called it a craftsman romper or something of tht range, i feel that this just going to be something for me mess around with, to learn how to do certain skills

jamcco wrote:

https://i.servimg.com/u/f56/18/77/13/61/00212.jpg  
this is a picture of the bumper ive added a couple weeks ago, its from a mini quad.... i am going to wire brush the chrome off and paint it black.....im also going to add some sort of accesories to make it urrrrrr... blend in better
i also feel tht when i titled this thread i should of called it a craftsman romper or something of tht range, i feel that this just going to be something for me mess around with, to learn how to do certain skills

leave it chrome!!!

richie thomas wrote:

jamcco wrote:

this is a picture of the bumper ive added a couple weeks ago, its from a mini quad.... i am going to wire brush the chrome off and paint it black.....im also going to add some sort of accesories to make it urrrrrr... blend in better
i also feel tht when i titled this thread i should of called it a craftsman romper or something of tht range, i feel that this just going to be something for me mess around with, to learn how to do certain skills

leave it chrome!!!

i was thinking about it but theres some surface rust on it, i have been able to remove rust like this with aluminum foil and WD 40 but i bet it would look real cool either way ill try to fix it
i also have some pics of the front end.....its a simple mod I did to it that allows it to articulate more... at the moment I have an open rear so i found that the articulation caused more hurt to the machine. If i were to add some shocks to the front (perhaps from that same mini quad, then i think this problem may be fixed. The way I fixed it now was sinched the front end up to the point where it cant bend that well


(pictures showing the articulation, it can bend more, just dont have a picture of it doing so) ps this was before tires

I fixed a small problem i had with the exhaust......heres a couple pictures of my mower by the way

mower without hood (shows exhaust system)

The pipe i made for the craftsman. Uses stock flange, elbows, and mini quad muffler the holes are to make it louder lol

how i lifted the front end (if you look all i did was lower the mounts down to 2 bolt holes)

end of the day romp, cant wait till mud season

Locking the peerless this weekend, planning on going with the fozzy locker design. any tips, warnings, ideas tht you guys think i should know

I suggest changing the grease or oil, whatever it has. Make sure you grind the welds up, not much else I can think if

yah im planning on refilling the case with diesel oil (15w 40)tht should be thick enough....im going to fix the input shaft too, busted it out when doing the pulley swap. i dont think i can put a c clip back on it though so im just going to weld a washer to the end of the shaft. something tells me theres a better way of fixing that....

jamcco wrote:

yah im planning on refilling the case with diesel oil (15w 40)tht should be thick enough....im going to fix the input shaft too, busted it out when doing the pulley swap. i dont think i can put a c clip back on it though so im just going to weld a washer to the end of the shaft. something tells me theres a better way of fixing that....

Depending on what kind of pulley you have you may have Allen screws in the sides.  If your pulley has an Allen screw or two then you can use those instead of a c-clip.

when i was removing the stock pulley from the transaxle i accidently ripped out the input shaft. i think tht i may have messed up the end of the shaft tht sits inside the transaxle. the c clip might not have a channel to sit in anymore. so the only way to fix this is too weld a washer to the shaft. well there may be other ways that i just havent thought of yet. idk i havent checked out the input shaft since july so i may be able to use another c clip... i guess ill find out this weekend

got the transaxle out today and opened it up, after looking for a bit i've decided that the fozzy wont work so well for this, i would have too much play. so I'm going with FearlessFront's method. First im going to clean out the entire transaxle and make it look like new....sorta. then put down a heavy hot bead on the spider gears

A peerless mst 206, soon to be locked

ok got some more work done today.....i locked the transaxle. i dont know if my welder was strong enough but theres only one real way to find out. by the way this is my first time ever opening up a transaxle, they are simpler than i thought they were.
excuse my ugly welds... im just getting into welding. also this picture was taking before i removed all my slag

cleaned the case... it think i did pretty good for a beginner

just some of the parts that came out of the peerless
i put the two halves together, shifted threw all the gears and spun the pulley with my hands, spins as good as it always did i just need to get some gear oil for it, seal it, bolt it back in and break it in

difs locked, its working at the moment. It's funny to be riding a mower around your snow covered field and get thumbs ups from random people driving by, they cant imagine a mower being able to do this kind of thing  

jamcco wrote:

difs locked, its working at the moment. It's funny to be riding a mower around your snow covered field and get thumbs ups from random people driving by, they cant imagine a mower being able to do this kind of thing  

you should see the looks i get going down the highway with my lifted in the bed of my truck lol

richie thomas wrote:

jamcco wrote:

difs locked, its working at the moment. It's funny to be riding a mower around your snow covered field and get thumbs ups from random people driving by, they cant imagine a mower being able to do this kind of thing  

you should see the looks i get going down the highway with my lifted in the bed of my truck lol

i cant imagine what looks you'll get with the duece,   

jamcco wrote:

richie thomas wrote:

jamcco wrote:

difs locked, its working at the moment. It's funny to be riding a mower around your snow covered field and get thumbs ups from random people driving by, they cant imagine a mower being able to do this kind of thing  

you should see the looks i get going down the highway with my lifted in the bed of my truck lol

i cant imagine what looks you'll get with the duece,   

yea i know....ima have to borrow a trailor to move it tho, it wont fit in mine nor my dad's long bed truck

richie thomas wrote:

jamcco wrote:

richie thomas wrote:

jamcco wrote:

difs locked, its working at the moment. It's funny to be riding a mower around your snow covered field and get thumbs ups from random people driving by, they cant imagine a mower being able to do this kind of thing  

you should see the looks i get going down the highway with my lifted in the bed of my truck lol

i cant imagine what looks you'll get with the duece,   

yea i know....ima have to borrow a trailor to move it tho, it wont fit in mine nor my dad's long bed truck

true...man that things going to be nuts when its done, i really like how its looking right now

im liking it! keep up the hard work!

jamcco wrote:

richie thomas wrote:

jamcco wrote:

richie thomas wrote:

jamcco wrote:

difs locked, its working at the moment. It's funny to be riding a mower around your snow covered field and get thumbs ups from random people driving by, they cant imagine a mower being able to do this kind of thing  

you should see the looks i get going down the highway with my lifted in the bed of my truck lol

i cant imagine what looks you'll get with the duece,   

yea i know....ima have to borrow a trailor to move it tho, it wont fit in mine nor my dad's long bed truck

true...man that things going to be nuts when its done, i really like how its looking right now

thanks, im sposed to be getting the second tranny this friday

i hope my locker holds up, i think the next mod im going to start is getting the brakes hooked up to a hand brake sort of like fearless did. i also want to make it so the deck height lever acts as a e brake. pretty simple mod in my mind

DANG IT! ok so im driving around in the field enjoying the fact that i can go anywhere with a locked dif. I notice its getting late so i pull onto the paved road (alot smoother than a frozen field) and floored the new gas pedal i made yesterday. I need to clock the speed on this thing it is fast. but anyways i pull into the driveway....go to park it and notice only one wheel spun when i got onto the snowbank.... so at first i though "how the #$^% did this break already." then i thought "you idiot you just drove it back to the house in 6th the welds just spun off"....... so in other words i need to crack the case back open and lock it again...im going with the fozzy seeing my welder isnt strong enough for fearless's method
i need to get this thing working before mud season