Craftsman off road tractor

motorhead45102 wrote:

tomarow im going to use it to grind the pop rivets on my ball joint on my car cause its bad and about to come out.

Wow, sounds just like my truck! is it a GM? lol Its like they build them so u CANT work on em...

i really like your shock moiunt idea feerlesss, any updates

Northern tools is awsome- i buy alot of stuff for my tractor mods there. And TSC.

ok, good news, i have the spindles welded up with the extension mod with the bolts welded to it, it worked out great, im going to wait till tomorrow during the day to get good pictures of it. I also straightened my axle and welded it all the way across so its not going to bend any more unless i ram the shat out of it. I also have the new pulley welded up to the old hub and it worked out great but i noticed when i buzzed the hub short i kinda cut it at an angle so the pulley is going to wobble a little, not to much to worry, i wonder how fast im going to go? from 7 or 8 in down to 5 on the rear? with 23in tires, probably pretty fast, also im going to take pics with the wheels mounted and create a video, but i will probably need to weld in steering stops as well, also i don't have to worry about cutting the hood for as im not going to put on the side parts but i am going to put on the hood. also i notice i really need to beef up the frame, it flexes too much for me. I'm also going to cut out the back of the mower frame and put in bars so i can access the pulley when i get the battery plate back in.
well thats a short update for now.

ok this is some picture updates of the mower, now on the front axle i cut too much up into the frame that its now weak so im going to brace it back up to be nice and sturdy.

ok starting off with, the welded bolt on the spindle, it worked out really nice.
[img][/img]

the next pic is, were i cut WAY too much, oops, ill fix that though, weld in some angle steel or somthing.
[img][/img]

the next picture is the fully welded front axle, its much more stronger than it ever was, though i didn't use my grandpa's welder cause i was at my freinds house using his welder, same voltage but no cover gas, but it was that flux crap, but it works though better than nothing.
[img][/img]

the next picture is the spindle mod going through the big wheel, which were the bolt comes out at is perfect.
[img][/img]

the last but not least pic is the front view of the craftsman with the new front wheels and tires, looks pretty good with that wheel base setup.
[img][/img]

ok tomarrow im going to get a size or few smaller of a belt so i can drive the thing with the smaller pulley. Then whenever i get my mower out at my freinds house or grandpa's im going to sturdy the frame all the way around.

Wheels look too close to the spindles- with the extra long bolt added onto the spindle - id put some washers or a bushing to move them further out .

Nice job so far!

yeah they set the front off nice- beefy wheels for a beefy tractor.

you should see my welds with the gas mig, its awsome, im sure you seen it on my picture with the rims welded. and funny thing is i only used the welder about maybe a max of 10 times idk but i havent used them much but im using them alot now, but my uncle showed me how to weld pretty good, sometimes i can stack dimes but the key to welding is, know your welder and be calm and comfortable. But thats pretty good for not using a welder all the time, idk when but i will buy me a gas 220 mig, with out a doubt. im now saving some money to get a smaller belt, and when i do that i need to cut and weld the shifter a different way cause the belt will hit it with the smaller pulley.

This really sucks, big time, ok my craftsman mower is dead just now, i can no longer drive it or anything . Ok here is some hurtfull pictures
part of the trans axle explosion
[img][/img]

more
top part of the trans blown out, ALSO i didn't get more pics but the trans busted all the way around the case, and i have a bunch of shattered metal all over my yard now,
[img][/img]

ok good news, i have this spicer trans but, i need to put it to gether and im going to leave this one in a diff. state until i can get another trans, cause i don't want to blow another one, but my foote trans blew cause the welds broke free and caused ultimate distruction, or the gears themselves snapped.
[img][/img]

THIS REALLY SUCKS CAUSE I HAVENT EVEN GOT ONE MUDDING RIDE IN IT. MAN IF I HAD THE MONEY I WOULD PUT A TRANS IN FROM A 4 WHEELER OR SOMTHING AND HAVE A SOLID AXLE. SO IM NOT GOING TO UPDATE THE MOWER FOR A GOOD WHILE CAUSE IM IN THIS FORD/AAA COMPETITION AND I WONT HAVE ANY TIME TO WORK ON THIS BEAST, ILL TRY WHAT I CAN DO, BUT I HAVE TO PUT THAT SPICER BACK TO GETHER. AND I AM PROBABLY GOING TO START WORKING SOME TIME SOON AND I WON'T HAVE TIME DURRING THE WEEK. IDK THIS JUST SUCKS, BUT I WILL TRY TO GET HER GOING AGAIN.
but enough with my ranting on, im just really upset that this didn't work out for me, but im going to work on the spicer trans on putting it back to gether, i may be able to get it done before i start working over the summer. but the trans blew apart once i put that small pulley on. but i think the welds broke off the spider gears

I know a few of the gears in my craftsman's trans broke off several teeth - it jammed and locked the whole thing up.

Its possible the combo of the large wheels n small pulley couldve made it come apart.

well im still going to use the big wheels and small pulley cause that wasn't the cause, i remember i didn't do so good with the welds cause i was using the gasless welder and i didn't clean the welding surface clean enough so it probably weakend the weld, but im going to construct a design where there is no spider gears at all. i have 3 versions of one method, 1 is put the shafts in the housing as if it was installed, weld with the 220 gas mig a steel rod or tube to the ends of the shafts and drill a hole threw the rod or tube for the pin, 2 have a solid axle made for it with the hole drilled for the pin, my grandpa could do that at work, he has machines and what not, or have my grandpa make a solid shaft that will fit the whole inside of the big ring gear and have no pins nor gears, which means i will never break the pos. rear, but then idk about the other gears, they seem to be fine, also on the spicer trans im going to seal it and oil fill it, just cause i hate dealing with that grease and if im going to be putting speed on it i want the gears to be lubed all times without the sluggishness of having thick grease in the trans. idk ill post what idea im going to use and post pics of the proggress but i need to talk to my grandpa to see if he could construct a solid axle for it. it would be for free too, like i did on my go kart. and the idea on why it blew, probably the crap welds broke and lodged between the case and the gear, mean it is a tight fit in there. idk ill tear her down to see what really happend. if it was stress related or the weak welds

whats kind of funny is that my old lawn scout riding mower had a 3 speed trans with fill and drain plugs all over it, i wish i new what kind of trans it was cause i put it to some hard abuse and it still worked just fine.

Dude, thats a real bummer! Thats not the fun stuff to break! It sounds like the solid axle idea would work well! Keep us updated on it, my tranny migt be next to die!
Do you know what blew apart in there yet?

i beleive it was the welds that broke off and lodged between the gears and the housing, but when i tear it down ill see if that was the case.

also fearless how is things going with your craftsman?

ok here is some pictures with the foote trans, now the pictures may be slightly blurry cause i got too close for the image but i wanted you guys to see up close what happened.

ok pic 1, is the lower housing with the one axle still in plus a hole next to it, also when i tore her down, i was actually surprise d that my left axle didn't come out cause the retainer also got eaten off, i got lucky on that.
[img][/img]

I don't know if you can tell but, heres what happened, the welds them selves were fine, but were the welds were on the gear broke off, so it was actually the spider gears couldn't handle the big tires, the gears themselves snapped like a tooth pick, and the ring gear and the next 2 set of gears from it was coated with metal chunks, so pretty much everything is destroyed in it, but the 6 speed gears are fine cause the grease kept it from going over there.
[img][/img]

ok this is the upper part of the housing with of coarse more holes.
[img][/img]

Now the next two pictures are going to be quality comparison from the foot and the spicer, and i actually like the spicer better already, ill tell why after the pics. now on these two pictures before you scroll down to the next set of text, try to decide which one is the foot and the spicer, the pics are the , what you may call shift forks, though they aren't really shaped like forks but, i will just call them that.
[img][/img]
[img][/img]
now if you didn't get it, well the greasy pic is the foote, and the one im holding is the spicer shifter do hicky. so the spicer trans has two sides to pull and push on the shift keys wile the foote only had on side to shift, which may of been my hard shifting when in a bind and even while driving.


now the next set of pics is the spicer trans, here is me in the middle of cleaning the nasty black grease.
[img][/img]

this is the other half im cleaning.
[img][/img]

this is the almost cleaned 6 speed w/revers gears, which i think these are the drive gears
[img][/img]

and these are the 6 speed w/revers driven gears or shift gears, whatever they are still driven by the drive.
[img][/img]

the last pic, the shift keys and the ring thing, on the right, is what moves them with the shift forks.
[img][/img]

now the spicer trans has a better shift fork, and it is also a completely sealed trans, which means its case covers the ends of the gear shafts, but the one for the brakes has a rubber o ring, for it and the axles have o rings, and it already had some kind of silicone sealant, so im going to clean it, fill it with gear oil( now on the GEAR OIL WHAT TYPE OR THICKNESS SHOULD I USE?) seal it, then drive it, but im getting a special hub made for the axle, im going to use the stock axles but im making a special hub to weld them,(with a really good welder) to with a hole in the middle for the pin for the ring gear, and then it will be a true possi. rear, and will handle a lot more stress. but there is a spot on the spicer housing which is cracked, which is below the gears, all im going to do is make sure the gears are clear from hitting the damaged spot and use jb weld to seal the crack on the inside and out. but the housing cracked cause the mower it was last on hit something against the trans, so im going to construct a skid plate for it to protect it from future damage.
ill have more pics as usual later on.
and any comments or questions feel free to say........

The original trans couldve been on its way out before you modded it - my original craftsmans trans had some issues shifting as well- even before i modded it breifly to go fast.

Only issue with gear oil is even as thick as y can find, itll still leak out . sealing the case halfs with RTV helps, but even filling it halfway , itll still leak unless oil seals are put in.

On the mild mod ive noticed even just grease will leak out over time- so its a constant battle refilling it - id add some zerk fittings as well for extra protection.

Id use as heavy grease as i could find- i used Lucas oil engine additive in my modded murray- stuff was thick n sticky- i never had a shifting issue or breakage ( and i cranked that thing up to over 35mph) . I havent checked it to see if any leaked out.

well the trans is a completely sealed trans, like everything is covered and sealed, but the 3 shafts that go externaly, the breaks and two drive shafts, thats the only thing that goes outside the trans case, but those 3 things also have ring seals., i will get new seals though, and i have ultra black hi-temp rtv silicone gasket maker. and i will find a spot to fill the trans up when needed. but i would probably pack a little bit of red wheel bearing grease for the input shaft bearings cause i don't see the oil getting up in there so well. but i need to repair that crack on the spicer, were it hit something on the ground, jb weld will fix it, its not really a high stress area either. but when i do fix it, im putting on skid plats or somthing to protect it.

yep mines done with a mig (gas) got my uncles one, ill comment on this page if it breaks