Craftsman off road tractor

arild365: 1. Any type of heavy duty wheelbering grease is fine- i just get high speed/temp grease for packing front wheel berings.

2. Yes id clean it out as best as possible - as i recall the grease in my craftsman was pretty nasty looking- the grease from my kleen kut looked like baby crap....


motorhead 45102 : I bot most mine on craigslist in my area- some i got for free from people i know - i go after dead n junk ones - going after runners will be a whole lot more.... surprisingly most my 'junkers' arent really that bad- lil work and they run, mow n drive fine. I did get a few on the local online freecycle- only stipulation is you need to give something away to get something free tho....

well i got the trans cleaned, repacked, and put back to gether but sorry i forgot to take a pic of it repacked but i can show you pics of it together and putting back in, also i found some pretty thick steel plates im going to use to lift the rear end and move the trans back since im using a smaller pulley, eventually i am going to raise the front as well but not at the moment, also the pulley i have on the pic is bigger than 5 in but i got the idea of the pulley off the cutting deck, its way smaller than that one, i should pic up a good amount of speed but still have some torque for whatever. but i will upload some new stuff once i get over this cold, it sucks, but its that time of the year.

The pulley on my craftsman has like a 5 or 6 on the back, I can't remember. It goes pretty good, but not as fast as the murray, which is what I wanted.

well im kinda wanting about what fearless has on his, also does the 5 in pulley get it moving pretty good or is it way faster than stock?
also im going to leave my trans in a diff. state untill i get another parts trans, but if the wheels are spinning faster i should be able to move alittle better.
but what would really be nice if i had a 220 mig welder, my grandpa has one and its nice and a grinder, i only have a dremel and thats not big enough to do what i want to do. also fearless when you moved the trans back how did it affect where the shift nob would be?

I modified the shifter because when I put on a smaller rear pulley, it would contact the belt when you would shift into 4th gear. Im about to upload a vid that probably has all the answers you need.. lol.

C'mon fearless im waiting for the vid i have a 4 inch pulley on mine and man wat a difference. It still has stock on the front. it goes about 20 km/ hour and a nice crawl for off roading. The foot throttle really helps. bike brake handels are the best. Im thinking of getting a 20 hp motor for my beast.

hey i got a good idea, i was thinking about taking rims that fit my tractor and cut out the center of them and weld them to my other rims or make a circle out of the rims and drill holes and bolt them on. idk what do you guys thing would be better, weld or make holes and bolt them up?

but not my current rims another set that fits, lol forgot to say that

motorhead45102 wrote:

hey i got a good idea, i was thinking about taking rims that fit my tractor and cut out the center of them and weld them to my other rims or make a circle out of the rims and drill holes and bolt them on. idk what do you guys thing would be better, weld or make holes and bolt them up?

Thats what I was thinking about tdoing to the craftsman. I want to cut the centers out of the 2 shitty rear wheels I have and weld them right to the axleshaft. Then drill holes and bolt new 4 lug honda rims onto the welded on wheel centers... I'ts basicly the same thing I did to the murray.

I just dont trust that little keyway and c-clip. You would still be able to remove the wheel and the axle speratly.

I say, It's a good Idea! Great minds think alike!

Ive never seen e clips on front wheels- always have been a cotter key- i usually replace those with the clips that hold mower decks on- best one ive ever seen is a bolt that holds the wheel on - from my wheelhorse.

Ive never had an issue with a keyway on an axle- that mustve pulled down some serious torque to break it.

The axles /hubs i have for the wheelhorse mod use lock nuts- as an additional measure im drilling the axle/spindle for a clip .

hey dangereroustoy, would you weld spider gears, mean would that work? i have a spare trans now so if i fck it up i can use it.

i just asked almost the same question to fearless on youtube, lol i just want to get opinions

motorhead45102 : You can- the gears have to be super clean tho for a good solid weld- grease will contaminate the weld n cause it to fail eventually.

Id use Chunks idea of adding extra gears to lock it- in case you dont like it locked - the bad part about welding em is once it breaks youd need to replace it.

The absolute best way to go is with a straight rear axle 1" or up - if you break that then youre in trouble......LOL!

ok some more pic updates,


ok this is the FOOTE trans which its basicly the same as a peerless trans, very little difference.
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next is the spicer trans which if you notice, HAS BRAKES which im going to swap that to my other trans once i weld the spider gears up nice and tight.

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ok this is the piece of flat stock thats just about the same thickness and the bracket, that im going to use to lifter the mower and lower the trans.
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ok this is my new start push button thingy, i will later one, install a teatherd shuttoff switch case i fall off, which may happen.
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ok well that is all for now, i will upload some more pics after i weld the gears the way fearless did it, and when i install my brakes, which i will love to be able to stop.

also like i said i have a spare trans, but ill will make sure they don't break, mean im not going to be really rough with the thing since i can't do a hole lot where i live, but i will go threw mudd holes and stuff, but i don't think i would bust the trans unless i got her in a bind and revv the engine and dump the clutch, but i am going to love pos. rear, you wouldn't belive what i got stuck in with a diff. just a little water and i was stuck

also i don't know how to use extra gears, the extra spiders i have from the spicer trans won't allow the axles to drop in, the teeth were slightly off or somthing, but it will be nice if someone can show me. the two methods, welding and extra gears,
i don't work on trans to much, im more of an engine freak than a trans guy, i know about engines so much if i sneeze i would have gears and valve comming out, lol, lots of exaggeration, lol.

Ive welded 4 transaxles and a golf cart, none have broken or anything. I beat the piss out of the murray, and sometimes i think my friend is trying to break his tractor, both are fine, and he has 25" tall 10" wide tires.... If it was gonna break, it would have by now. My guess is you'd blow the case apart before it broke internaly.... Just my opinon.

I don't have a broken trans to take extra spider gears from, they all still work.

yeah this trans axle is actually the biggest annoying part of this project, hopefully after i get it back in everything should be smooth from then on, also i went to a freinds house and im helping him with his mower to make it off road, his mower is of course way more rough shape than mine so its going to take some little more work, we are working on getting the engine running the carb is all fckd up on it but it does start a run, but the rust got to the carb bowl, and once we get it running we need to see if the trans will move or not, or if the brakes are froze. , and he has grinders and welder so i brought the trans and welded the gears, i got the gear welds pretty hot so they should be fused, also my axle kinda but just barley has a small sorta bind in it but not bad enough to lock her from moving or anything, but will test her once i get it put to gether, then i need to figure out the shift nob and brakse since the trans is going to be further back. my freind is getting the hub cut out of the old pulley then im going to weld on the new one. also the stock mower rims fit perfectly in the new rim, im going to weld it to them too. I also have a job offer at walmart and pro tech auto care, hopefully one of them go well so i can get some money to do some major mods. lol well i guess that it for now

motorhead45102 wrote:

also my axle kinda but just barley has a small sorta bind in it but not bad enough to lock her from moving or anything, but will test her once i get it put to gether

This happends to me all the time... It will work itself out in abut 10-15 mins of driving, and should go back to normal.

oh ok and im sure you done this alot so ill add some grease to the gears that still do moving work and regrease the axle shafts so they don't bind up in the case. and a few more things and shes back to gether i hope this weekend or the next im going to take my mower to my freinds house and do some cutting and welding stuff and take her out for a spin, he also has quiet a bit of trails, that are hilly, rough and full of water. my kinda fun on a mower, the trails are more for a atv but my rider will make it.

I have a few spare carbs lying around that have the adjustable needles - couple are in pretty bad shape tho, i keep em for parts .

I really dont like those non adjustable carbs - nothing y can really do with em.