Craftsman GT 6000 Build

Careful with hitch weight to counter it in the front or steering may be a challenge!

True, but I get the mamoth of an engine up front will keep 'er down, hahaha.

Front end still holding up well on the ol' GT.



I think next I'd like to add a brake handle. I did some fairly steep hill climbing with this rig a while ago and since I disconnected the brake it was a bit skeery, haha. So now I think I'm just gonna rig up a simple handle and attatch it to the original band brake. Should work well once I get to it, haha.

All I see is that open output shaft that could be used for something.

Okay. I'm sure it could but I don't have a use for anything guy. There's no room for an alternator, and I have an electric winch so I don't need to make a mechanical one.

Belt driven hydraulic pump could be cool. Like a power steering pump. Have power steering and maybe some sort of a lift on the back

Yeah that's true, but then I'd have to rig up cylinders, a pump, a reservoir, a control valve, and lines. And that's a bit too much for me, haha.

Oh cmon, too much for the great AllisKidD21?? You canucks can do anything!

Hahaha, I think you're greatly overestimating my capabilites here CQ.

Full hydraulic steering would be even easier. Just a hydraulic ram with one end on the frame and the other on the tierod. That would save room in linkage and give you much stronger steering

Yeah I have thought about that, but that way you could only steer if the engine was running. Might not be an issue, but ya never know. I would like to do a rack and pinion swap for this rig if I can get my hands on one, I think that'd be a pretty reliable setup.

A chevy power steering pump wouldn't require a separate reservoir. Just some lines and a cylinder, at least for the power steering.

Well yeah, but I meant for the power steering and the rear lift setup. Haha.

Actually, I was thinking one of those old style crank starts would look cool up there should the battery die.

Haha, actually that'd be kinda neat.

I don't know about a crank start.  That brings back a lot of bad cold start memories of my family's Farmall Cub.  Looks like you could fit some kind of pull starter up there that you could use if the hood was opened.

Heh...call starting that Cub in the cold hard...ever tried restarting a warmed up John Deere A by hand? You dont get the extra compression to kick it over when you get past TDC, gotta give it all yourself...ugh....

I'm with the other guys on the power steering pump. Maybe hydraulic lift front/back blade? If you can't find a hydraulic steering controller(those are cool, actually mechanical computers) from a loader or something. Maybe you could use the ol' GT as a mobile hydraulic power pack out in the field, that'd be cool as hell!

So I decided to do the muffler re-location today. I wanted to move it to under the footboard so the right tire wouldn't hit it.

Here's the basic mockup:





Got some pieces welded up:



Modified the support bracket so it could bolt to the underside of the foot board



All put together!





Took 'er in a bit of water too.



Exhaust outlet makes a bit of a splash show, haha.



Doesn't look too bad in my opinion! I can steer sharper to the right now without crushing the muffler, which is nice. Haha.





Might try and get the brake setup figured out as well, but this is still nice to have done. Let me know what ya think!

Nice exhaust setup. I like it!

Thanks Matt! I would still like to throw some paint on it though, maybe just flat black high heat paint would look alright.

Wait till that white paint burns off first. That would be like painting over flaky paint, it ain’t gonna do much lol

Well I could either do that or wire wheel it all off. Knowing me though it'll probably never get painted anyway, hahaha.

What better way to solve the problem of a tire hitting the factory style exhaust than to build a custom one! nice!

Thanks Carl! Yeah I figured it was the easiest way to go. Actually a straight pipe would've been easier, but I like that sound of this one with the muffler, haha.

Lookin good AK! Great job!

Looks good! How's the ground clearance? Be careful not to crimp it shut with a rock or stump or something.