Craftsman stretched, lifted, pickup junk....

Crazy_Carl wrote:

I totally agree.  That's not good for an engine if that much gas gets in the cylinder.   Once the engine is started a lot of the excess fuel get pushed past the rings and into the oil.  That's not good.

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what mrshaft696 finds wrong or does to fix it.

Haha right on, I ordered a carb kit, which includes all the gaskets & needle things.  I didn't want to pull it off and inspect it until I tested the new solenoid that should be arriving today. When I take it off I want to clean it really good, and I know the gaskets are gonna get messed up ....& I want to try and run it one more time before the weekend.  I only have a trickle of gas in the tank so it stopped making a mess.


Last night I mostly stripped down my donor frame, allot of stuff attached to it.... I plan on stretching the middle section of the tractor around 2ft.  What do you guys think I will need for a belt to run to my transaxle? Do they sell belts long enough to make it all the way back?  Or will I have to run a pair of stacked pulleys to extend back that far?



This is sort of the parts I might use to set up my direct steer.  The shaft is a steering shaft from my Cherokee , it has a u joint at each end but I guess I only need it at the one end.  Also I am going to cut off that triangle thing with the gear teeth & just use it as a pitman arm & rig something for the steering shaft to turn it.

So craftsman belts are around 86 inches on a manual transmission, so the hydro could be around 80 inches then adding 4 feet of belt ( 2ft + 2ft) would make it a 128 inch belt roughly. i am guessing you would be able to get a B belt that would be long enough but if you want an A belt its going to be a tough thing to find. Double stacked pulleys are interesting because it either raises or lowers one of your belts, so the engine belt would need to be higher than the tranny belt or the same way with the tranny belt. it could get complicated

biggasmowers wrote:

So craftsman belts are around 86 inches on a manual transmission, so the hydro could be around 80 inches then adding 4 feet of belt ( 2ft + 2ft) would make it a 128 inch belt roughly. i am guessing you would be able to get a B belt that would be long enough but if you want an A belt its going to be a tough thing to find. Double stacked pulleys are interesting because it either raises or lowers one of your belts, so the engine belt would need to be higher than the tranny belt or the same way with the tranny belt. it could get complicated

Its already complicated, I mean if I stacked them I would just move the transaxle down the distance of the offset. Just messing around looking at prices https://www.jackssmallengines.com/Products/Belts  It is pretty much the same cost to get a really long belt as it would be to run two belts so its just preference.  I don't know if it will be really floppy and I will need another idler or tensioner pulley further back.

There might be some play in it on the long stretches of belt that do not have idlers on them , but simply putting in a double clutch pulley and a slightly stronger spring would take care of that issue.

Ah so it wasnt just my computer that wasnt loading them ! Would like to see them , i am also planning a utility build eventually

mightyraze wrote:

@mrshaft696 just FYI, your images from google are not showing up.  Not sure you can share to the public?  Feel free to upload images here.  Check the bottom of my signature below for the how to page!

Ok I uploaded them to this site, have to go back thru the thread and fix the others.

Need any help with the site let us know.

Well pics are working now. Lookin good!

so i got the tractor solenoid & new ignition switch and it cranks no problem turn of the key now, so I am happy considering the engine was sort of stuck & I had to free it by cranking the flywheel with a breaker bar, after filling the crank case with pb blaster....

my 17hp briggs tractor is not doing as good, the carb was full of trash & it looks like stuff was living in it.  The governor & choke linkage is really gunked up.  I just want to try and start the engine before i put anything into it.  This tractor had a engine fire & all the wiring is trash, but i can tell it has great compression..  I guess I can just hook the magneto and fuel solenoid up to 12v and jump the starter to see what is up before i waste any time....

Wowzers! Gunk everywhere! My GT had a bunch of Gunk too.

yeah its really nasty, the throttle springs are both bitched up so they all need replaced, I might try to hit the junk yard this weekend see if I can get some new ones....

I think I will just try and start it tonight to see if it turns over before cleaning it up etc etc. Im a little nervous that gunk or stuff is in the carb though... The tractor it is on really needs to be stripped to the frame. Id kind of like to buy a interesting tractor and use this motor on it if it runs.

so i drove the kohler motor tractor for the 1st time, runs and drives awesome... just wanted to make sure before i bring it back in the garage and cut it in half....

So your carb is fixed then?

biggasmowers wrote:

So your carb is fixed then?

it ran really well, but im going to rebuild it any way because I have no idea the history to it, and it is still leaking a bit., I just wanted to drive the tractor to verify that it operated correctly....

So I made it to the junk yard to day, it was around 15-20 deg.....

lot of junk, this yard the stuff is pretty beat up & most of the tractors are smaller in size but, it was enough to get what i needed....



So i am not 100% on this yet but im thinking of ditching all the craftsman body and using this.... I like the round lights they are allot brighter & it is made out of real heavy metal...



I got some 12" wheels for the rear


I got this motor for 25 bucks on CL from a local guy...He said it runs fine, but it doesnt have a carb or I am not sure where the starter mounts yet so Im just keeping it for another project....


I got two other 8" rims to weld inside my 12" rims so i can get them mounted up....

Wow that’s a lotta good stuff they got there! I’ve never seen a forest green Briggs oppy before. I thought they were only red or black

Nice haul! That opposed musta come out of a Bolens. I could use another oppy or two, I have a few singles but not enough twins haha.

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Nice haul! That opposed musta come out of a Bolens. I could use another oply or two, I have a few singles but not enough twins haha.

you are probably right, they guy i got it from had a 6 or so bolens tractors 1960s vintage.....

I couldn't find a serial number yet on the motor though...

I got a ton of other little crap, probably spent 3hrs messing around with junk..... Got a wiring harness for my tractor that has melted wires etc. etc...

Number will be stamped on the edge of the blower housing somewhere. Do you know how to read Briggs codes?

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Number will be stamped on the edge of the blower housing somewhere. Do you know how to read Briggs codes?

on my other briggs it is....a silver plate on top of the motor, where exactly should i look?

Near one of the spark plugs or in behind the air cleaner. Stamped into the shroud itself, no plate

Unless you have the head tins you might be outta luck, that's where the I.D. numbers and stuff for that twin will be.

Damn. I just assumed based on where they are on singles. Thanks AK for clearing that up. Being an 18 horse, it’s probably a 42ci, somewhere in the 80s if it doesn’t have the plate. That much I do know lol

Yeah I'm assuming it'll be an 80's model or somewhere in that range.