98 craftsman lt1000 Mudder/trail rider

Finally got the time to do a mock-up on this, gotta paint the frame and finish the trans skidplate and lift and then it’ll be ready to be assembled

Been a long time and kinda forgot about this place, I’m starting to assemble the tractor now. Got a test run in and I gotta tune the slide carb. It’s crazy looking back on this thread and seeing how far it’s come

Welcome back!  I see some nice carb and snorkel mods there!

you should stretch the hood, it looks a little odd with the axle way out in front and would provide some extra protection for the battery

I'm going to guess that is not the battery location since it has no cables and the protector cap is still on.  Hood's fine.  Should he do a bumper and a winch it would be perfect.  

Mightyraze is correct, I plan on a bumper and winch front and back on this rig. On the back im gonna add a bar to use to tow other machines and to lift and move stuff around around the house. The battery will be mounted between my legs and Im gonna attempt to put it inside of an ammo can

Oh, thank you! Ammo can battery box. A Fat 50 would hold the battery and a few tools and a pair of gloves. Hmmm…

I need to understand how in the world that front end isnt just gonna crumble it looks so weak

Common sense will tell you, it’s 1/4” by 3” flatstock for the extension, 1 piece on each side and each is 3ft long with 2ft of it welded to the stock frame and 1ft past it to make the extension. After doing this I braced it with 1/4” angle iron and some flatstock here and there. Axle mounts are also 1/4” angle iron but they’re boxed on the end. Now compare that to a stock craftsman frame made from thin sheet metal bent and bolted on the corners and tell me how weak this is. Also every inch of the frame from the front to back is braced with 1/4” flatstock or angle iron. Also the axle is the stock axle from a John Deere 165. I have way more faith in this than a stock craftsman axle and at some point it’s going to get other braced up or swapped for front suspension and a better steering system

I was talking about the axle not the frame those spindles look like they are just gonna bend and fall apart at the slightest bump and the axle explode into peices. My stock craftsman gt axle exploded to peices when i dropped it out of the back of my truck

I didn’t trust them either at first but time and romping has proven them to be good enough