Craftsman GT3000 "MUTT" Part I

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Nice. Gonna have a couple braces from the front of the axle mount to the frame? With your driving habits I'd advise as much bracing as possible hahaha!

I'll put it like this: I'm using the sh*t out of my tote full of random metal scraps. lol

Progress! At this point I'm only tacking stuff. Gonna wait til tomorrow so i can use the generator and not deal with the stupid worn out 30a breaker. Dad said I should run it anyways to clear out the old gas in it. I'm gonna add more bracing along the inside of the frame too but I haven't got there yet. I'm gonna pull a beltran and grind down some of the welds on the outside of the frameto make them look decent too.



A view from my lap as I take a break and wonder where I went wrong (right) in life to end up modding tf out of a lawn tractor

Got some more welding done. Enough to throw it together to see how things look.


Dad brought this beauty home from work for me today...



5/8" input



3/4" output



I was gonna use it for a winch but I didn't know how I'd unwind it so I kinda scrapped that idea. I have a much better idea for this beef...gonna outbeef the hell outta your little box alliskid...

Hahaha, I have been wondering if it there was some friendly competition going on here! That should do the trick for sure, how easy is it gonna be to fit it in?

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Hahaha, I have been wondering if it there was some friendly competition going on here! That should do the trick for sure, how easy is it gonna be to fit it in?

I dont think itll be too bad. I gotta figure out which way does where and stuffnthings still but it shouldnt be too bad i think. I gotta weld some 5/8" shaft to 3/4" shaft to get it reasonably straight. I think I'll have to cut a sh*t ton of frame out of the way to make room for the steering arm. Maybe. I really don't know, I gotta check it out lol. It's about a 10:1 reduction so I have to have a maximun of 1/4 turn on the output shaft to allow for a decent steering ratio. I'm thinking like 2-2.5 turns. Hopefully.

Yeah haha. Too bad you couldn't make it into a winch though, that'd be cool. Could make like a free-spooling clutch out of a re-coil mechanism or something.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Yeah haha. Too bad you couldn't make it into a winch though, that'd be cool. Could make like a free-spooling clutch out of a re-coil mechanism or something.

Something like that might work for a while but I'd prolly end up trying to pull a tree over or something and break it lol, just my nature

Yeah, that's true. We don't want to enable ya now do we? Haha.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Yeah, that's true. We don't want to enable ya now do we? Haha.

Don't worry I plan on getting a cheap Hazard Fraught 2500# winch and putting it to the test lol. Someday.

Also I forgot to mention i might be getting a parts 820 to put mine back together with. But now that I mentioned it I prolly wont haha

I just realized the three of us have been tearing our rigs back down and redoing stuff on them this summer.  LOL

mightyraze wrote:

I just realized the three of us have been tearing our rigs back down and redoing stuff on them this summer.  LOL

We're pretty much the new generation of ATLTF. Being that Red and people from when the forum first came around are pretty inactive now, we gotta take up the slack and make our builds the new kings of the forum and ATLT world. We have the technology, we must build them better, stronger, faster, than before (lol). Gotta be ready for the one perfect romping day...when you get just the right amount of mud, water, and rocks to create the best romping conditions possible. Maybe one day...

Also I've pretty much got the box in where it's gonna be. Gotta trim a little bit of the mounting plate (where it mounted to the motor). As it turns out, the steering shaft from the Snapper steering has a place on it turned down to 5/8", woohoo! I ground a keyway into it and it should work nicely. Fits right in. Gotta put a clamp in somewhere though to keep it from pulling out. No biggie. Mounting shouldn't be that bad. Just gotta find some 1/4"UNF bolts. Unless the holes are some metric thread, if so I'm just gonna tap em to 1/4-20

On a somewhat related side note...the drill press let the smoke out...I had a piece of 5/8" bar in there I was cleaning up with some emery cloth and it started smoking. Still runs, it just smokes under load. Sounded sorta like the bearings were going bad too, idk. It doesn't look good for it

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

 We're pretty much the new generation of ATLTF.

I have gathered that too. Too bad each of us are so far apart unlike the old majority. We'd be the ones with current romp videos.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Also I've pretty much got the box in where it's gonna be. Gotta trim a little bit of the mounting plate (where it mounted to the motor). As it turns out, the steering shaft from the Snapper steering has a place on it turned down to 5/8", woohoo! I ground a keyway into it and it should work nicely. Fits right in. Gotta put a clamp in somewhere though to keep it from pulling out. No biggie. Mounting shouldn't be that bad. Just gotta find some 1/4"UNF bolts. Unless the holes are some metric thread, if so I'm just gonna tap em to 1/4-20

On a somewhat related side note...the drill press let the smoke out...I had a piece of 5/8" bar in there I was cleaning up with some emery cloth and it started smoking. Still runs, it just smokes under load. Sounded sorta like the bearings were going bad too, idk. It doesn't look good for it

Nothing wrong with re-taping. As long as you have the threads that won't pull out, sounds good to me.

I hate when things let out the magic smoke.

Keep forgetting to check what those threads are lol. Dad said they were 1/4-20

Original trans pulley from MUTT



Cut rivets in center. Got lazy, didn't wanna cut the outer rivets and have to drill the spot welds so I just cut it out. Wasn't welded at all, just fit in a square thing in the pulley.



So I have two options for mounting the arm. Using the pulley hub...



Or using this drive shaft/flex plate adapter from a Snapper LT16. I'll prolly end up using the pulley hub for spacing reasons.



Can finally put the original plug back in for steering access. Surprised I still had it. I bolted the plate on back when I did the original steering swap. I gave it a little bit of paint when I was done with my bumper. Didn't take that nut off lol. Or prep it at all.



Finally got a good pic of this sticker. Wonder where to get Klubersynth oil? LOL I think it has some in it anyways, I'll prolly find a grease fitting to stick in the fill plug if I'm ever not lazy enough.

Yeah that's gonna be a pretty near indestructable setup Rich. But I know you seem to have a talent when it comes to breaking things, so we'll see what happens hahaha. I think a grease fitting would be a good idea for this since it's being used as a steering box, I've always figured since it's gonna be turning so slow the oil wouldn't really get flung around like it would at normal operating speeds. Grease would probably be better.

Yeah, with me nothing's indestructible. It's all terms of *should* be indestructible. The reason this box was replaced is because the output shaft was somehow snapped off. My dad welded it back together the best he could and ran it till a replacement came. My main concern is those welds breaking, but i think if I do, I'll press the shaft out of the wheel and have a new once machined and pressed in.

I've been fiddling around with different setups in the shop. I tried turning the front axle around. Wouldn't be able to turn left well because of the placement of the steering arm on the box. I think I'll have to flip the shaft around in the box(I think i can do that) and turn the box around so I can steer with the axle the way I had it. Man, this is already getting to be a headache.

That sux, you're pretty resourceful. I have faith!

Get 'er done Rich!! The sooner you get it done, the sooner you can put it to the test and eventually have to fix it haha.

I just realized.... Is that MUTT up there on the top of the page? Oh, why I do believe so.

mightyraze wrote:

I just realized....  Is that MUTT up there on the top of the page?  Oh, why I do believe so.

It's actually MUTT's evil cousin, lol. Its the same but the firing order is reversed

Switched output sides on the worm box today...

You can see dat nice bronze gear and dem nice Timken tapered roller bearings. Can see where dad welded the shaft



Case side plate, still has seal



Case side plate with seal removed



This really is a well made gearbox. You can see how well the wheel was machined, it even has a convex shape to add more contact between the gears. It'd really be a shame to break this one. Can also see the plastic/nylon plug my dad turned on a lathe to replace the welsh plug that was there. This plastic/nylon piece switched places with the shaft seal.



Shaft turned around in case, popped in with no trouble



All done



A closer look at something I added that I prolly wont use for a few years at least, lol



An excellent video explaining these gearboxes-

Ooh, mine definitely doesnt have tappered roller bearings
in it for the shafts hahaha. Ah, it still works good though.

So this is gonna work in ol' MUTT now?

Don't have that steering done yet? LOL

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Ooh, mine definitely doesnt have tappered roller bearings
in it for the shafts hahaha. Ah, it still works good though.

So this is gonna work in ol' MUTT now?

Should lol.

mightyraze wrote:

Don't have that steering done yet?  LOL

Not quite yet...actually I've barely started I gotta quit slackin lol. Not having a drill press is definitely hindering my fabricobbling ability. I either gotta fix one drill press or rewire another...ehhhhhh

Just use a pnematic hand drill. Thats what I do and it works great! Unless you need the hole to be, y'know, straight. Hahaha

Oh my goodness.... slacking off.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Just use a pnematic hand drill. Thats what I do and it works great! Unless you need the hole to be, y'know, straight. Hahaha

PNEUMATIC HAND H'WHAT? THAT'S SORCERY! I'll stick to my angry wall pixie operated wrist breaker, thanks!