The clean 92 craftsman racer

My plan with this is to make it look unmodded to the untrained eye. Stock tires (but on the small side) lowered and solidly mounted front axle, stock transaxle, 6" engine pulley, 3.5" trans pulley, stock shifter. It was modded with two switches in place of the key switch, so I will leave those. (they have black boots so they aren't that noticeable) I have the stock throttle hooked up to the choke and a direct throttle hooked to the 12hp briggs. I plan to replace all bushings and stuff in the steering, and may do direct steer if needed.

1997 Murray wrote:

My plan with this is to make it look unmodded to the untrained eye. Stock tires (but on the small side) lowered and solidly mounted front axle, stock transaxle, 6" engine pulley, 3.5" trans pulley, stock shifter. It was modded with two switches in place of the key switch, so I will leave those. (they have black boots so they aren't that noticeable) I have the stock throttle hooked up to the choke and a direct throttle hooked to the 12hp briggs. I plan to replace all bushings and stuff in the steering, and may do direct steer if needed.

Depending on the top speed, direct steering is probably your best bet. I've stripped out a few of those Craftsman steering gears before and if/when I get another Craftsman that's the first thing being replaced.

I made a steering box out of peerless 930 input bevel gears, and it is a lot quicker now. it is a little over half a turn lock-to-lock. I also lowered and welded the front axle in place, re-installed the transaxle with new shift keys, and put on stock turf tires. I need to get the engine pulley off, the key somehow sheared but it is still tight as can be, and all the hammering i have done on it hasn't budged it. I guess I will have to heat it up with a torch and then try to get it off.

Worked on this a bit the other day. first ran a 3.5" rear pulley with the stock front, and after about 15 min of riding I hit the clutch and the engine pulley fell off (I couldn't get it off which is why I left it) So I grabbed a 6" pulley off the shelf and a belt that almost was perfect. Drove it like a mile in 1.5 minutes! should go 35 mph.

No it should go 45 or 50. At 60 mph you are doing a mile a minute so a mile in 1.5 minutes is like 45 or 50.

Nice! Could we have some pics and some detail on how you made the steering?

MathewD I can not find any pictures of the setup, and I sold this rig last week . I ran a peerless splined shaft and the input bevel gears from a peerless 930 transaxle (any vertical shaft input trans gears will work.) I mounted a bushing about 1 inch from the side of the stock steering box by welding a 1/2 inch piece of steel to the side of the box and welding a bushing onto the side of that. I then ran the splined shaft with the larger bevel gear on it in the same holes the shaft with the arm that hooked to the drag link went through, and installed stock peerless bushings to support it (since the stock box had a larger shaft.) I welded the smaller peerless input bevel gear onto the shaft the steering wheel goes on, and then installed it and used the stock Allen head screw to hold the shaft in the box. I have circled and pointed to the parts I used from the transaxle for this box.

Thanks! Pity you sold it, I was looking forward to it being finished