How good are the older craftsmans?

i found an older craftsman (the ones with the all metal and silver hoods). How good are the for offroad and mudding? I was thinking of getting this one to replace my newer one. and since this mower has been sitting on its side for quite a while now the engine is probably bad, how hard is it to put in a working engine.

dude you just hit a jackpot man!! Those things are one of the best for modding/ off roading!! There very easy to mod! Im just about to upload a video of putting huge tires on my buddys tractor and its an older cratfsman.

Im guessing a 5 speed foote trans with a 12 hp? I say pulley swap that 5spd (there pretty good trans) and put a 12.5 I/C gold briggs in. very easy to change.

good luck with her and hope too see more.

thanks, Arild

when i get the lawnmower hopefully i can find a good engine. i might be able to find an engine , my grandma has a few lawn tractors sittting around . i will have to take a look at the cubcadet she has sitting next to her house. thyat one i think has a good engine.

well it turned out that the craftsman had a bad trans-axel. so i got a White lawn tractor. its a 7 speed and has a 12hp briggs and stratton

MTD's dont have a transmission - they have a transaxle - a single speed trans. The gear ratio is in a variable pulley in the center of the tractor.

MTD transaxles are simple- it could be easily locked, however using oil in them is not an option- itll leak right out, only option is using grease- i did that in my mod MTD- drilled it for some zerk fittings.

On the other hand, a manual could be swapped into a MTD, they have plenty of room in the chassis.

So they can't be pulley swapped?

I swapped pulleys on my mod MTD , trying to get it faster - did a 6" on the motor and a 4" on the trans ,
i didnt see much improvement in speed and had belt issues ( due to a pulley allignment issue) . However, on my stock MTD, the thing goes like a banshee- im thinking its due to too short of rear belt.