My first Redneck Mower Build

its far from over, i have many plans, but i dont got a big budget so its going to take a long time to build, i can barly keep up with me breaking things on it. i got it for free with non functional wiring, starter kinda works(shattered farrite magnates) no front tiers, transmission was jammed in 1st gear, and fule line was ready to fail at any minit (got 1 month out of it, witch is how long i had mower)


i guess this thing is just called the CRAFSTMAN II
either way i figured i would show you today pics of what both mowers i have to work with look like, second one i was letting a friend build up but he was only destroying it so i took it away from him. he lost all but the tranny pulley as well.

you can easily tell witch one i have been putting my time in to here

the motor that must be used! also it runs and it has the carb, i just put it on my mower so i could wait to rebuild and clean mine, i have rebuilt and cleaned mine. the carb was actually pulled off of a 20hp briggs any way.

this is the real nightmare right here, a mower that has a single speed and uses belt slip for speed control now has no pullies.

This is my pride and joy, i blew out my tranny last week and the green paint is covering up spots from me welding so it dont rust.

Heart of the beast! also that fuel filter sucks, it has no rubber seal on it and it drips gas out the threads.

wled

next 2 are welds to pach up what i broke in the wallmart parking lot wreck 2 days before my tranny died.


and my tranny i keep talking about


video on second mower before i handed it off to be doomed.


the start of a so far 7 video series were i video document everything i do to my mower.


wheely test


my last but of fun with damnaged tranny.


transmission final runs.

Whoa that MTD has a pressure lube opposed! I wish I could find one of those... What are your plans for the Craftsman?

well i failed to find any body able to deliver selling a mower (have no car) so i forked over my overtime money and bought a 300$ peerless 6 speed. it came in the mail after dinner yesterday, after i get home from work to day i plan on cracking it open, and jamming my extra 2 spider gears in as well as welding the ones already there for a easy and hopefully reliable differential lock. i well keep the rest of my old transmission as spare parts in the hopes that if i break it agin it breaks differently.

i cant believe i sunk 300$ into a mower i got for free. its about once a year i sink that much money in one thing thats not a bill, i still think i made the wrong choise, i hope this trans axle holds up to its price.

I've probably got over $350 in the MTD, most of that was the trans and tires.

I have easily that much in Red.

for me its i cant believe i did that since im 23 and have never saved up enough money to get my fist car. although since i got the mower i do drive it around town taking it to stores and stuff (when it runs), i slapped one of those farm triangles on it and i figured of a cop pulls me over i will BS my way out, say its a farm vehicle for a poor farm or something.

it sucks my state has inspection, so something small like rust will make you faill driving up the cost of inspected/ easily ready for inspectable cars. when i was a teen i would of taken any thing i could get my hands on, now im older im not getting stuck with some small thing, hoping my tax returns are big this year then im getting a suburban from the 70's and my project will be getting it ready for inspection.

i was expecting the last year to be my big tax return year as i had way more hours at my job at 1$ more an hour, i some how got back much less(under 400$) but since i got full time in the union going into overtime every other week i just might be on my way there. then i can work on getting out this house were it seems the more money i make the more money my job less dad and his wife seem to need from me.

but thats another problem for another day, for now, i welded my differential and im installing it tomorrow.

oh, something cool is happening to, when i work over time its in a different department, and one of the the guys who would be a co-worker then had a tractor collection and hes getting 2 more and wants rid of some, he offerd to sell me one of his tractors for 100$ at first i wasn't sure if i should be throwing money around like that until he showed me a picture of the tiers on it and i changed my mind fairly fast. its got big meaty off road tiers on it witch make the sale worth it on its own, on top of that it works and is ready to go, i think he said it had a 9hp Briggs on it. but i got an 18hp motor that might find a new home. ile sucks i blew all my money on that transmission, i dont get payed again for a week and a half.

im working on a video of my poor transmission job were i stumble on my feat almost messing every thing up, but untill i have time to install it, here is a pic of my transmission ready for reassembly. also i hope that random gear oil i had laying arround aint gonna be a problem, i spilled a bit of the old oil and atleast half is that gear oil, wich felt alot thinner then the stock oil.

one more YAY thing, no grease on the inside to clean out!

What trans is that? MST 206? 900 series? The 900 is grease filled from the factory and doesn't have oil seals on the axle shafts. The MST series is factory oil filled and bolts right in place of a 900. I replaced the 920 on mine with an MST after the 920 blew up and it's working great!

i will have to check when i get off work, i have 2 days of overtime this weekend so if i forget i froget.

there you go... i have a 56 hour work week this week, if i wasn't lazy it would be 60, but i dont feel like doing work outside of my department.

also my differential lock failed in about 5 min, so i think i need to make my axle solid.

i feel like i deserve a metal for this!
i pulled off getting my mower in my friends small SUV thing!
my only day off was my first deep woods mower trip, video comming soon.

my steering completely stopped working, there is alot of play in the hole system and the gears are rounded out on the arm.

so i used my chop saw and cut the mount out for the steering on the white mower, then i got suck because i needed an angle grinder and it decided to get cold and rain forever. i guess this weekend i will find out if a 30$ angle grinder and cut mower frame unless i can get some one to bring one over for this job.

also my head gasket went hard(no compression) crank case gasket is leaking, carb clogged up on me, inner tube is bulging out holes in my tiers, welds on hood fell off, and as i said steering went from bad to worthless.

Don't worry about the money man because the way I see it. A decent four wheeler is going to cost you at least a couple grand. I've got about a grand into both my mud mowers so far and I've had way more fun for the money building and riding them than I ever did when I had my Polaris Sportsman 800.

I like the way that opposed twin sounds with that exhaust setup. That's cool.

i would be able to say i put under 100$ in my mower including getting it, but that damn transaxle was 300

so i got a new tractor for 100$ my old one is half way ready to go, but im trying to extend the frame but the weather and lack angle iron has slowed me down.



https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/326182018419392514/380555040206618648/DSCN7415.JPG

ag tires and a cupholer? Awesome where can I get one lol

there was 1 catch, guy who owned it has had trouble keeping it running for 2 years, said he had to jiggle the pto lever to make it run, he could not get it to start at my house. i did a walk arround the motor (never actually seen a single in person) found the kill wier, unpluged it, turned the key and it fired right up. he was regreting selling it to me at that point and was dissapointed on how simple the problem was.
after a week i took the black wire off the key and ran it straight to kill.

video from same day i got mower

getting it to sound good

gas pedal

getting it to run fast

The small crafstman is now called "Dinky" and its changed a bit, and it finally got to see some deep mud!
if any one cares here is a short video i threw together.


after this things i need to do in order of importance
1. re weld and brace upper hood mounts
2. put bigger wheels in the front that just dont bury my axle in the mud.
3. get a belt thats 1" smaller and really scuff up my pullies.
4. make a dock locker without the rear end exploding under torque.
(i have tried and failed at this last one. suck at cutting keyways)

Wow that's some deep water there.  Looks like a fun time.  You came really close to getting that nice sounding oppy under water.

Welcome back by the way.  I haven't seen you around in a while.

yeah, i mostly post in the ALTF discord.
also glad the stock air box did not fit under the hood, or i would of got water in my intake.

Man o man, I would be nervous in that water.  One unknown dip and gurgle gurgle.  

Meh . The oppys handle water fine. I've submerged a few lol . Never had any issues once I dried out the cylinders and spark plugs and cleaned the carb some.