CraftsmanQuad Mark II

Yes, you can weld stainless steel with your flux core mig with the mild steel wire. They are the same metal, only stainless steel has nickle added to the mix to make it stainless steel. Stainless steel exhaust pipe, when made, they add only a little nickle to the steel, so not that resistant to rust. When they make stainless steel, it is done by a certain percentage of nickle added to the steel. So, like silverware (spoons and forks) has the highest amount of nickle (20% nickle) then the rest is steel. Exhaust pipe that is stainless steel has I think 5% nickle mixed in the steel so it doesn't rust too bad or quick. Welding stainless steel exhaust pipe would be, the welds will rust and the pipe would stay little to no rust on it. The welds will rust real bad first (being raw mild steel) so painting the welds would be ideal to combat the rust.

If you want to ever test stainless steel to see how much nickle is in it, You use a magnet. Compare how strong the magnet sticks to mild steel first, then put the magnet on the stainless steel and see how strong the magnet sticks to it. A light percentage of nickle means the magnet will have almost the same grip pull off compared to pulling it off mild steel, being there is alot of steel in the mix. Then test a fork or spoon which is the highest grade of stainless steel and the magnet will not even stick to it, you would feel the magnet very lightly try to stick to the silverware, since there is a very high nickle content.

Ah, very interesting. Honestly at first I thought it was titanium or something because it is in very good shape. Almost looks new

The ends of the muffler are probably aluminum while the center wrap of the muffler could be stainless steel.

I've not had a problem mig welding a stainless nut to cast iron. Just had to preheat it lol.

Just been clearing out the garage and getting some more money together lately. Making some big tool investments. Got into the Milwaukee m18 cordless platform, picked up a better compressor, and some more pneumatic tools. I’m feeling very confident about this tractor being entered in the build off and being complete.

I actually finished the original CQ to the standards of the buildoff, but I’m really not happy with it and it is nowhere near where a lot of the entries are. Man some of those builds are on another level!

Not sure if I mentioned this, but I have an oversized AYP fuel tank that came off the weed eater I parted out several years ago. That will be going on so I don’t pull a Stretch!

I kinda disappeared the last couple months, just been focusing on school, football, and work. I’ll be back in a little bit more but I don’t see myself being quite as active as I used to be, just too much goin on.

In the meantime, I’ll keep making space in the garage, acquiring currency, and investing in some more tools that I can’t believe I used to live without lol

I am excited to see this build come together, and yea every dollar Ive ever spent on tools was a dollar well spent, its amazing how much nicer good tools make working on stuff

I got a couple other ideas too. Gonna make a support under the hood and the dash like redzz02 did on his build. I like that look much better than the big hoop on the bumper of the mowron rigs. Functional, but not visually appealing imo

Got the engine pulled out tonight. Mainly just to get it out of the garage lol. Whole engine reeks of mouse pee

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Here are more pics as promised. My exhaust I got, the current hood, as well as the Murray hood. The issues I have with the Murray hood are that it has the hole for the gas cap, but isn’t centered, and the hole for the exhaust (had a briggs single) in the side of the grille.

Found your Thread a bit late LOL
I do like your Build! I would go for the Morray Hood that's right next to this hood, they look very nice and should barely fit a Vanguard twin I measured.

I think for now I’m gonna run the factory craftsman hood. At least until the rest of the tractor is sorted out. 820, front axle/suspension, shifter, belts, pulleys, frame reinforcements, etc. the hood is an easy final touch lol

@CraftsmanQuad19 i really hope you stick to your guns and finish this one, hopefully you have it built by time haspin comes around, would love to see itfinished in person and hopefully no swapping parts at haspin this time lol

Hey it was only a tire! @redzz02

Really small update, but I got the stock pulley off the 820. Usually I have to resort to cutting them off but I was able to get it off without damaging it with just a little heat.

Small update, but progress is progress

Your 820 input turned down to 5/8" like most Murray ones are?

I’ll have to measure when I head back down there. Out of town for the weekend. I suppose I could just get a craftsman input shaft and the bearings that go with it if I want the bigger one. I don’t see myself having an issue with 5/8 though

Now that the buildoff is over, back to this thread! Got a new oem hood and is cut to fit, but needs moved forward and up a couple inches, I think I’m going to cut a couple inches off the end of another craftsman frame and keep the stock style hinge. Should fit something like this:

I think that look with the angled down craftsman hood is pretty cool. That's kinda the look I'd like to go for with the Broadmoor RS project. Looks fast!

Looks much better

I second that. I've always loved those style hoods. They're probably one of my top 3 favorites. Always wanted a Craftsman like that one but I ended up with Murrays. Have too many projects now to ever do real build with one. Either way, it looks a whole lot better.

Been piddling a little bit, bout to really start focusing on this tractor for haspin. A while back I broke a tab on the suspension that effectively does the same job as a lower ball joint on a car. So I made some new ones of those, they’re a bit long so it’s got some camber to it. I’ll see how it drives but I’ll probably shorten them before haspin. Never cared for that cambered look.

I’m finally starting on the rack and pinion today, I really hope it holds up at haspin, it seems really flimsy. It was the shortest one I could find though. Planning on mounting it with some u-bolt exhaust clamps.

After the front end is worked out, I need to find a detent ball for the shifter, and figure out why it won’t go into reverse. Hopefully I won’t need to order some shift keys, but it may come to that. Luckily the local mower shop should be able to order them in for me. I may try regrinding them just to get some life out of them. Anyone know what peerless shift keys are interchangeable with the 820? I know there’s long and short keys, so transaxles with either one would be helpful

What rack and pinion do you have? Is it like the golf cart one I got off amazon for the RS? Mine seemed a little bit on the light side too but not too horrible.

Mine I think was a yerfdog off Amazon

I think I’m abandoning the rack. I’m going to use the original bellcrank I was using with a second gen craftsman steering box. The most play was in the shaft adapter I made and in the box itself. Using factory craftsman steering would helpful finding parts and should take most of the play out of the wheel. If I can find a first gen steering and beef it up like the mowrons I may go that route. Just depends on what I find

I've got first gen steering for ya.

I found a nice second gen steering. Got the plate cut out to weld into mine. I cut a lot of my factory frame to make the cub cadet steering box work so the simplest way is to just weld in a new plate. Got some new heim joints ordered at the local mower shop too, they should be here Friday. I expect this steering setup will be much tighter than the last version.

New steering box is mounted. It’s tight underneath, but everything clears like it should. Dash is getting put back together now, I’ll be using the amperage gauge that came off the steering donor tractor as well, definitely liking this setup better already.

Once the steering and wiring is 100% done I’ll pull the transaxle and figure out why I don’t have reverse