Craftsman Lt4000 mild off-roader

Picked up 2 of these craftsmans for a screaming deal. Only missing a deck on one and front wheels on the other. They are my favourite mowers and I have been looking for them for a while. Only one is at my house right now and I am going to get the other soon. I pretty much did a complete detail on it and now i am trying to get it running. it has a smaller engine but I have no plans for it. I want to keep it pretty stock because I like the look of it. the other one i am planning on using it as a parts mower. I got them both for a trade of just a shovel and a rake. IMO its the best deal I have ever had. What are some minor things I can do to the mower to keep it fairly stock but still do stuff to it?
Also, is this a lt4000?

pictures

12.5 is a pretty decent engine. plenty for a mild offroader. That's a 28 cubic inch Briggs there, GOOD SNAG!!

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

12.5 is a pretty decent engine. plenty for a mild offroader. That's a 28 cubic inch Briggs there, GOOD SNAG!!

Thanks! ya its not bad I guess, I'm just used to looking at my 19.5 Opposed twin I guess...
what would you do to it?

Probably port, eyebrow removal, governor delete, and different carb. if you have one lying around, I think an OHV cam is more aggressive and will work. What transaxle?

Umm.......Hmmmmm.....SUSPENSION!!!

Hahaha, I'm just kidding. For a mild off-roader I'd say the first thing should be better rear tires. Most mods depend on what you plan to do with it.

I'd just drive it and see where it goes from there. Driving things is how you break them, fixing them is how you end up modding them to be better lol

And get that battery off the ground. Sitting on the ground like that drains them.

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Probably port, eyebrow removal, governor delete, and different carb. if you have one lying around, I think an OHV cam is more aggressive and will work. What transaxle?

Just a crappy old spicer, isn't a governor delete dangerous and can blow your engine? i aint got any carbs lying around but the guy said it was having carb problems si it might need a very good clean. there was algae in the carb bowl after all. what is eyebrow removal? never heard of it before. and how to you put a oh cam in a not ohv engine?

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

I'd just drive it and see where it goes from there. Driving things is how you break them, fixing them is how you end up modding them to be better lol

And get that battery off the ground. Sitting on the ground like that drains them.

That is the battery it came with. i think its dead but i will try to charge it. how does it drain them by sitting? i am currently in a situation where i share 1 battery with 3 mowers.

All the things CQ mentioned can be great for getting extra power, but to me they are definitely not the first things I would do especially just for a semi-stock mild mod tractor. If you ever find yourself short of power though, get the dye grinder out! Haha.

The eyebrows are pieces of casting that jut up between the valves and cylinder. An OHV cam will go right in place, we aren't swapping the whole valvetrain lol. The OHV cam will just have more lift. Yes tires and pulley swap are the first things (unless youre AK) but I thought those were too obvious...clearly AK didn't get that memo when he built ALL of his machines....

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

The eyebrows are pieces of casting that jut up between the valves and cylinder. An OHV cam will go right in place, we aren't swapping the whole valvetrain lol. The OHV cam will just have more lift. Yes tires and pulley swap are the first things (unless youre AK) but I thought those were too obvious...clearly AK didn't get that memo when he built ALL of his machines....

More lift on the cam making more fuel get in the cylinder? yes tires and a pulley swap is a good start. Thanks

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Yes tires and pulley swap are the first things (unless youre AK) but I thought those were too obvious...clearly AK didn't get that memo when he built ALL of his machines....

Hey, that was harsh... Gotta have cool suspension and steering stuff...........

AllisKidD21 wrote:

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Yes tires and pulley swap are the first things (unless youre AK) but I thought those were too obvious...clearly AK didn't get that memo when he built ALL of his machines....

Hey, that was harsh... Gotta have cool suspension and steering stuff...........

ya but maybe not on this mower. with lawnmower suspension you either go all in or not.

My preference for simplicity and reliability is to run larger tires than you need at a low pressure front and rear. Nice cushy ride. The tread will wear a bit faster on pavement but I think the ride is worth it

muckmudd wrote:

AllisKidD21 wrote:

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Yes tires and pulley swap are the first things (unless youre AK) but I thought those were too obvious...clearly AK didn't get that memo when he built ALL of his machines....

Hey, that was harsh... Gotta have cool suspension and steering stuff...........

ya but maybe not on this mower. with lawnmower suspension you either go all in or not.

I was talking about my machines........

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

My preference for simplicity and reliability is to run larger tires than you need at a low pressure front and rear. Nice cushy ride. The tread will wear a bit faster on pavement but I think the ride is worth it

yes! tires is pretty much first on the list.

So I took the carb apart for the second time today because it was only running on choke. this time i took the needle out and as you can see in the picture its like a friggin forest. how to you clean out the holes and will it solve my problem? Also how far in does the needle go in the carb I forgot to see how far in it was.

oops forgot the picture.

I think you coulda left the jet in the carb and tried to clean it out. You can use carb cleaner, compessed air, and a very very fine piece of wire to clean out the jets usually. On the needle I'd say start with 2 turns out from lightly seated and then tune it from there.

Thanks Allis, it came out fine and I actually used a piece of .035 and a piece of 0.30 welding wire to clean it out. Now for some reason its leaking gas all over the place when i put it back on but that might be partly because the bowl bolt's gasket is bad.

It’s not usually the bowl gasket, that problem is caused by either a bad neddle and seat or your float is full of gas because it has a pinhole leak in it

If the bowl gasket is bad it still shouldn't leak gas because the float should stop it from filling up too much. I'm thinking there's something holding your needle valve slightly open.

Thanks Allis and Carl. I will check the float and the needle valve. The funny thing about this is that it was working so well 5 days ago with no problems and all of a sudden it started acting weird.

I did a carb swap on the mower today. I put the carb that was on the mud mower on it because I know it works and I thought that it would solve the problem. Sure enough with my luck it didn't, so then I tried bypassing my safety switches by following what I did on the race mower. When I started it back up after that, It just turned over a bunch and didn't start. Now my stupid battery is dead because it doesn't charge well and only has enough juice for a few starts. Tomorrow I will try again when its not dark.