Craftsman LT4000 utility / mower build

Well got this guy for 45 bucks . Needs a deck and 1 new tire . Engine is currently frozen but it's been setting for 4 years and needs some tlc. Some rust penetrant in the cylinder should free that up.

Wait a cotton pickin minute. I might as well enter it in the build off as a utility build as I need it to run and mow before summer.

As long as Doug thinks it will need more than 50% I don't know why not.

It's going to get AT tires and a rack , engine swap, small pulley swap, and maybe paint touch up. Defiantly more than 50 percent incomplete lol

I love a good utility build.

If i could get it mowing then it would also be really useful for more than just hauling.

hot it running. Disconnected the kill wire , freed up the cylinder with a pipe wrench , cleaned the spark plug and filled the cylinder with oil over night then turned it over for a while with the spark plug out and then put it in and added some gas in the carb and she fired right up! First start in over 4 years.

Nice job. That's just about what I had to do to get my Green Machine running.

Well. Got alot done on it this afternoon, most of which was not intended , and the unintended too much longer than wanted . Rear tires leaked air worse than I thought so I started taking them off and blew an axle out. Started to take off the tranny and busted a bolt off in the case for one of the front mounts, then when I pulled off the pulley the input shaft came out with it, then once I got it all welded up internally the shift detent spring compressing screw (one came out fine) decided to get stuck and I almostbdrilled it out for a extractor but somehow it loosened up enough to get it out. Put the tranny back in and threw on some 2w inch atv tires. Took it for a trail ride and went through some mud without getting stuck ! Same mud that I took a video of with the other LT 4000 . I am really liking this little machine and am planning on keeping it and making it a dual purpose off roading / light utility vehicle and take off the deck mounts and speeding it up to about 12 mph. Not sure about entering it as I want to just do small things to it and have fun , and I also have another build off project in the works.







Yes I did weld the spiders to the axles, but I did not lock it as it is a foote spicer and I want it to last. And I did also weld the input gear to the input shaft to bypass any other trouble with spring clips. I still have an exact model of this tranny just a year newer that is mechanically sound but has a broken case so if I ever need replacement parts I already have them on hand

Well nice machine for what you have into it. I can see you're officially addicted now. I thought you were already set with your murray, craftsman, and snapper death trap, but it looks like your collection is just going to keep growing.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

Well nice machine for what you have into it.  I can see you're officially addicted now.  I thought you were already set with your murray, craftsman, and snapper death trap, but it looks like your collection is just going to keep growing.

I was addicted long ago, just did not have so many mowers then! Well I guess I did, but they were junk and never turned into anything and I didn't habe a welder so that greatly impeded my creativity.

She screwed boys. Plastic timing gear is shot.
Next up , engine swap

Time for a big block Briggs opposed? Hahaha

Yeap. Sad tho, I was liking this engine. Oh well, MORE POWWA!! And a pulley swap. Not staying stock I guess

More power will be nice, but you can always go back and fix that one too.

I'd like to see you rip apart that engine and take pictures of the cam damage. We'd all find that pretty interesting. And if it's worth it to put it back together (it might not be)that'd be really cool to see too.

Yeah, i will take it apart today and mabye make a video about it, idk. i would like to fix it but the new part would be more costly than just putting in a good old durable engine that i know runs

That's when I move on from an old engine.  When the cost to repair outweighs a repower.

I have an oppy, a Briggs 12 flat head already off and ready to bolt in, then I have parts mtds that the engines supposedly run. I would really like to get this kohler running again but I might put it on my other build off plans if I fix it. It was pretty under powered with the governor on it .

Yeah I never liked the Idea of the plastic cam gears in some newer engines. It probably it a bit quiter but I still don't know if I'd trust it. How many hp is the opposed you have?

I think it's 18.5 hp. It's a pretty good upgrade.