Craftsman GT 6000 Build

Well judging by these pictures you'd think "GT" stood for "Greenery Terminator"





Hahaha. Yeah me and Carter decided to make a bit of a trail in the woods, so we just used the GT to push over the small trees and such. I definitely put it through much more abuse than it has ever seen before, but everything held up just fine! Pretty nice to know that she can handle some work, haha.

That's a very stout front bumper you made which can push things all day long.

Ah, a battering ram tractor. I think you built yourself a tank. Then rode in comfort doing it!

Be careful with trees and stumps, once in a while you'll find one thats just a bit too solid and it'll stop you dead in your tracks...

Crazy_Carl wrote:

That's a very stout front bumper you made which can push things all day long.

Haha, thanks Carl.

MightyRaze wrote:

Ah, a battering ram tractor.  I think you built yourself a tank. Then rode in comfort doing it!

Yeah it did a pretty darn good job. Also it was a pretty comfortable ride considering, hahaha.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Be careful with trees and stumps, once in a while you'll find one thats just a bit too solid and it'll stop you dead in your tracks...

Yeah pretty much if it doesn't fit between the spring shackles I don't try and push it over. Haha

Pretty good test of those welds. I didn't have any doubts.

Haha, thanks Mighty.

Speaking of bumpers I actually decided to make a stinger looking thing off the front of the current bumper, just so I don't have to worry about smashing the leaf spring shackles into anything.

Tacked in place:



Made some supports peices outta the same box steel:



All welded up!





Added a little hook thing for the winch strap:



Also I angled my clutch pedal back a bit as it wasn't super comfortable to push it in all the way.





Much better!

Put some paint on the bumper and took 'er outside!





Should work nice and I definitly like the look! Let me know what ya think!

Nice work! That bumper certainly sets off that front end 

Looks good! Man i need a winch...

Thanks fellas! Yeah I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, haha.

Nice job! Looks good. Now go smash some stuff!

Thanks Mighty! Also don't worry, I've already been using it a bit:



Hahaha.

HAHA..... Lovin it.

You’re real handy with the steel...if ya know what I mean

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

You’re real handy with the steel...if ya know what I mean

Not at all. But, thanks I think. Haha.

Nice stinger.  I like the angles you used on it a lot.

Well thanks Carl!

Did you ever figure out what was up with 3rd gear on her?

Heh, no I haven't. I probably should soon, although I'd like to get the MTD running again (finally have a new coil ordered) before the GT gets tore apart. That way I could still have a crawling rig in operation, haha.

That might be a good idea lol. You should lock the diff while you're in there, eh?

I suppose I could, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. Haha.

Well I recently put a couple little dings in my oil filter while wheeling with this thing:



You can see a nice scratch in the exhaust pipe too, haha. Well I didn't wanna risk that happening again and poking a hole in the filter so I decided to make a heavy duty guard for it.

Here's what I come up with:



The nut holding it on it still fairly easy to get at, but a gear wrench helps. Haha.



Should work good! Probably a little overkill but it's more reassuring that way, haha.

Then I had to paint it up and try and make it look factory too.



Hahaha. Let me know what ya think!

Very good idea!!! Nice!

I like the cover a lot.  It looks like you have some kind of oil leak near it or above it.  I see a lot of schmoo there.

Thanks a bunch fellas! Haha. Yeah I think it leaks a little bit where the block split in half, the engine was covered in gunk when I bought it but I've noticed some on the frame too so she must be leaking a bit every once in a while.

Found a pretty cool wheeling spot today and stuck the GT on it.





Crawling in ruts and stuff is my favorite, so I had some good fun for sure.

Then I came wicked close to tipping it over, haha.



Had to shut 'er down and I felt it try to tip as I was climbing off, so I had to kinda just get it outta there by hand. Wasn't too bad, just glad I didn't have to flip it back on to it's wheels at any point. Hahaha.



The leaf spring setup is taking the abuse in stride, all though I'd really like to find a rack and pinion because the play in the steering bothers me a lot, haha. Hopefully somteime soon I'll find a good one that'll work on the ol' GT.