Craftsman GT 6000 Build

Had the GT out doing a bit of off-roading this weekend.



Afterwards I decided to go underneath and check over the steering and suspension as it's seen quite a few hours off-road without any inspection of that stuff.



A few nuts loose in a couple spots, but not too bad. The main thing I noticed was with my upper universal:



The shaft going into the universal isn't being clamped by the pinch bolt very well and is quite loose. I cut the square into the shaft myself when I did the rack setup so I probably just cut it a bit too small. I'll probably just do a few tack welds on one side of the square and grind it smooth again so it clamps in there better. That should fix it.

Pretty glad I noticed it, haha. Other than that she's doing good!

Grinding squares by hand is a pain. Really gotta be careful to get it the right size, the one on Mutt's shift shaft has been bothering me since I did it. I think I have it under control now though, here's for hoping at least lol.

Those pizza cutters doing well in the mud? And are you ever gonna clean up that winch wire

Maybe you could file the square shape better?  You did a nice job on that keyway for the JD so I know you can do it.

glad to hear its holding up good

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Grinding squares by hand is a pain. Really gotta be careful to get it the right size, the one on Mutt's shift shaft has been bothering me since I did it. I think I have it under control now though, here's for hoping at least lol.

Those pizza cutters doing well in the mud? And are you ever gonna clean up that winch wire

They don't seem to be too bad, not much for flotation though obviously. Haha. They're definitely pretty nice for crawling, they are a good size for getting the front end up on top of objects.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Maybe you could file the square shape better?  You did a nice job on that keyway for the JD so I know you can do it.

I think it's just that the square is a bit too small to be clamped properly. A couple welds and some work with the angle grinder should fix it though.

Creepycrawler wrote:

glad to hear its holding up good

Thanks! Yeah it's been working pretty good, just needs a little maintenance now, haha

the wheel horse is down for some maintenance as well, never had a problem other than a belt and idler bearings every couple years or so but last handful of rides it has really let me down, doing a major overhaul of a few components, new belt system etc. Ill have to grab some pics and update its thread.

Yeah I've been keeping up with your lastest videos on the engine swap and stuff, haha. Pretty cool. Definitely looking forward to seeing that update!

Well over the weekend I managed to fix the loose steering shaft issue, I didn't get any pictures unfortunately, but basically I just did a few tack welds on the one side of the square and ground it down a tiny bit 'til it slid in. Perfect fit now!

Another thing I managed to do was get it quite stuck in the garden:





Haha, yepper. I actually tried to winch it out this time, but the winch wouldn't budge it. We got 'er out with one of the farm tractors eventually, but it was quite a show up 'til that point!

Looks like you sat it down on the axle! Great getting stuck job!

That's the mud pit I need right there. The mudlot outside the barn isn't soaked enough and will probably freeze soon, so its not much of a challenge.

Looks like a good time!

MightyRaze wrote:

Looks like you sat it down on the axle!  Great getting stuck job!

Haha, definitely. The drawbar was actually under the mud, you can kinda see it in the second picture.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

That's the mud pit I need right there. The mudlot outside the barn isn't soaked enough and will probably freeze soon, so its not much of a challenge.

Looks like a good time!

This spot is actually fairly easy most of the time, but there are a couple certain spots that will stop you dead in your tracks. As you can clearly see.

I'm always intrigued by every one else's definition of mud. Get that heavy machine down in my bogs and she ain't coming out unless you have a tractor with a 100 ft tow chain.

biggasmowers wrote:

I'm always intrigued by every one else's definition of mud.

Your ability to judge the difficulty of a terrain through only a picture is quite puzzling.

Anyways, today I got an upgrade for this rig I've been wanting to get for some time now:



Finally picked up a fairlead! Haha. Should be a welcome upgrade for sure. Now I just gotta fab up a mount for it and get it bolted up, should be pretty straight forward.

Hey man I have this idea for a horizontal shaft GT6000 like yours. You should consider rotating the motor 90 degrees to the right and running the belt off of the crank and running it straight like a sears or wheel horse. Just an idea but I think it would be cool and simplify the whole belt system.

You're not the first guy to suggest that lol.  One thing I know about @AllisKidD21 is that he hates messing with belts so I don't foresee him doing that.

That definitely would simplify the belt setup, and probably would be a pretty straight forward mod. Although I like having the engine sit with the crank parallel to the frame. Makes it pretty easy to work on that way and I also like the look, Haha.

I'll probably leave 'er the way she is. Thanks for the idea just the same though.

Minor update here, got the fairlead mounted today.

Just made up some simple angle steel brackets and drilled two holes for the mounting bolts.



Welded up:



Installed!



Perfect! Seems like it's in a good spot for sure.

Oh I also had to to do a pull test at a bit of an angle, haha.



Should work good. Can't wait to actually use it, haha.

Love the bracket mount for the fairlead. Love how your rigs have purpose and will get used.

Looks good!

Thanks fellas. Yeah I'm liking having it so far. Used it a couple times this weekend and it's quite handy to have!

Hey buddy im a bit behind on this just looking through your build, with the issue with your steering shaft why don`t you drill for a carter pin or bolt. nice set up for the winch its a tool that i cannot go without

Thanks Buck! The steering shaft actually hasn't acted up since I fixed it a little while ago, but if it ever does come apart again I'll probably give one of your ideas a try.

Well the ol' GT saw the sunlight today for the first time in a while. I've had issues with a couple bolts coming loose in the front end on me, so I put red Locktite on them and really torqued 'em down. I have jam nuts on them as well.

Anyways a did a bit of mild wheeling for a bit after I tightened things up:







Cool water ripple shot:



Also I made this neat chain holder for the back rack a while ago but forgot to post a picture of it:



Pretty simple as you can see, just pull the pins and take the chain off. Very handy to have!

It's starting to warm up here now so I have some plans for this o'l girl I'd like to try and work out soon. I'm gonna do a bit of work to get some 10" rims on the front and upgrade my front tires. Then I'd like to make a few gussets for certain front end parts, maybe add some grease fittings for the leaf shackles, then finally blow the front end apart and give everything a nice coat of paint.

Hopefully start on some of it relatively soon, it can be my break from the Build-Off tractor when I need one

Looks great man. I think a front tire upgrade would be nice. I'm not sure what your spindles are like but if possible you should go to 4 on 4 hubs with tapered bearings. It will really keep your possibilities open of what size rims/tires you wan to run.

Thanks MJ. Yeah I'm looking forward to the new tires. Also I do have trailer hubs on the front with tapered roller bearings and 1" spindles. They're 4-bolt but I'm not sure what the spacing is, so they could be 4 on 4.

Either way I have some 10" front ATV rims lying around that I'd like to try and modify for use on these hubs.

Well, this is what stuff being frozen to the ground, and one too many reverse gear clutch dumps will get ya:





Yep, LOL. Whoops. Broke the mount.

So I cleaned everything up and welded it all a bit better. Then I figured the front mount bar could use some support underneath:



Just a couple pieces of flatstock:



Not the best overhead job, but oh well. Hahaha. Either way it should be stronger now for sure.

Added a couple braces up top too for the bumper, while I was in the bracing mood, haha.



Had to learn the hard way this time, but she's all fixed up now and ready for action! Maybe I should quit abusing it a little bit now.

Let me know what ya think!