1976 Sears Craftsman Eager 1 RATROD/HOTROD

So this is my new project. It's a 1976 Sears Craftsman Eager 1 lawn tractor that is going to be a ratrod / hotrod. This tractor was bought by my grandparents new in 76 and they mowed with it for a while then it was given to my great grandparents and my great grandfather mowed with it for a long time. Now I'm the new owner....well I've had this for about 3 or 4 years now and all I did is pretty much pull it out of a shed and stuffed it into a barn till recently But it has an 8 hp Tecumseh engine and a Peerless 600 transmission (I think).

Pretty cool, I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. I wonder if they still offered any of the heavier models by 1976 or was everyone pretty much starting to go to stamped steel by then. Well not that the older heavier duty frames were not stamped out also but you know what I mean. The transition from Garden Tractor to Lawn Mower must have been in there somewhere I guess.

That one looks a little bit sized down from most machines, hard to tell without it being next to something but sort of like the simplicity broadmoor's in the 70's are a little smaller than a full size tractor. Just by a smidge. Cool!

mr.modified wrote:

Pretty cool, I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. I wonder if they still offered any of the heavier models by 1976 or was everyone pretty much starting to go to stamped steel by then. Well not that the older heavier duty frames were not stamped out also but you know what I mean. The transition from Garden Tractor to Lawn Mower must have been in there somewhere I guess.

That one looks a little bit sized down from most machines, hard to tell without it being next to something but sort of like the simplicity broadmoor's in the 70's are a little smaller than a full size tractor. Just by a smidge. Cool!

Thanks! Yeah I'm not really sure where the transition is but I'm guessing this was one of the first cheaper built "lawn mowers" of the time. I've seen quite a few that look to be the same just alittle different like the dynamarks and AMF's...I guess people figured that they didnt need a garden tractor just to mow an acre. As far as being small its definitely smaller than a standard riding mower but it might be alittle bigger than a broadmoor but not much.

Is it chain driven or does it have a transaxle? The only reason I ask is that looks similar to a dynamark I’ve got that had a foote transmission. Basically an H pattern peerless 700. If it’s chain driven, it’s a foote. If it’s a transaxle it’s a peerless 600 like you said

I have been trying to get this thing running but I cant seem to get spark. I suspect the condenser is bad or the coil because the points look good and I did clean and gap them but still no spark. I did however take the head off and clean the carbon out and the cylinder bore looks really good compared to everything else suprisingly. Another thing that's a MAJOR issue is that when I was trying to get the wheel off the whole axle came with it. Also found out that there is a LOT of play up and down on the same axle shaft so I'm guessing a bearing grenaded itself. I'm getting flashbacks from the wheel horse. But also the mower deck turned out to be junk so that really sucks cause I actually wanted to mow the grass with this one for once lol....hopefully I can find a deck. I did figure out craftsman used this 36 inch deck through the 80s plus dynamarks and Murrays used almost identical decks as well.

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Is it chain driven or does it have a transaxle? The only reason I ask is that looks similar to a dynamark I’ve got that had a foote transmission. Basically an H pattern peerless 700. If it’s chain driven, it’s a foote. If it’s a transaxle it’s a peerless 600 like you said

Its a transaxle. Cool so I was right! I've seen another 3 speed transaxle that was for a vertical shaft but I dont know what it was but it wansnt a peerless.

Thought I'd fill everyone in on my plans so far.

-Get the engine running
-Take apart the trans and figure out what all needs to be replaced
-Find a seat or get this one re-upholstered
-New tires (probably just stock size and turf tires)
-Paint the rims
-Find some baby moon hubcaps to put on it
-Fix the steering (it's pretty wore out)
-Figure out the wiring issues
-Make some sort of cool exhaust
-Wet sand and clear coat the whole rig
-Find a mower deck and MOW THE LAWN !!!
-Add some hot rod and rat rod touches. Luckily enough I have a bunch of old school parts for hot rods and stuff that came off of different vehicles.... I'm a hoarder

That deck is in pretty decent shape for what it is... Could definitely be saved. Other than that iffy spindle fix I'd say it's pretty much good to go even with the big hole in the rear. It may rust more with time, but for now it looks decent.

Well for now I'll try to find another deck. It's too far gone for me. The only thing holding it together is the braces underneath. I guess 40 years is pretty good for a crappy stamp steal deck. I like the welded deck on my dads hustler, you can pretty much use it as a bushhog and it just doesnt care....nice 3/16 plate!

While I'm waiting for parts I've just been fartin around with some old hubcaps I've got. On the back is just some old Mercedes hubcaps I got off of a 1967 Mercedes...they are way too big but had to try.



On the front are the American Racing center caps that came with rims I got for my truck, they were all dented when they came in so they sent me new ones. Again not really what I'm looking for but I had to try.



I'll have to look for some baby moons cause that's really the look I'm going for.

So I need help. I replaced the points and condenser and it now has spark but will not fire on carb cleaner directly spraying it in the spark plug hole. Any ideas??? EDIT: I think I might have weak spark but I'm not sure.

Well I made a youtube video of it. I'm not good with filming and editing. Normal kids my age know everything about technology and stuff but unfortunately I'm am not one of them.

Nice machine, I think it's pretty cool looking. So the spark, if it looks really thin when you crank it, it may be a weak spark issue for some reason. If it's pretty decent looking, has a blueish or white look then it's probably good. Kinda hard to describe without looking at it. Did you gap the points close to where they recommend? (I have only set points maybe twice in my life) But everyone used to say a match book cover is pretty close. Do you think you've got good compression? If you've got spark try cranking it and spray some carb cleaner right into the carb with the air filter off of course. It really should fire with carb cleaner sprayed into the plug hole too though.

Also, if you end up having too much trouble with the points, you can swap the electronic ignition coil and flywheel from a newer engine and it will all bolt right on. I think the flywheel needs to be swapped too because the magnets are different on the point flywheel vs electronic.

Keep us posted!

I'm pretty sure I have weak spark. It's more yellow than blue so I figured I'd go ahead and order a coil. I re-gapped the points alittle closer to .20 and that helped but still not enough. I also figured out that a mouse had chewed the plug wire and it would escape to the block and ground out so I taped it off. I've got it to hit a lick or two but that's about it. New coil is supposed to arrive tomorrow and if that doesnt do the trick then I'll check the timing.

Well I got it running! My coil arrived today so I slapped it on and put a new plug in it and it fired right up. Carburetor is full of junk and is all froze up so I'll have to take it all apart and clean it out.

Oh that looks like a tecumseh I guess not a briggs. Same diff tho. Good to hear you got it running! Minus the carb, but that shouldn't be too big of a deal. If you end up having any big issues with the carb, sometimes knock off ones on amazon can be pretty cheap and I've had good luck with them. Sometimes they are exact and the rods all line up no problem. There's a bit of guess work involved with getting the correct one but I just go by the pictures.

Dang it bobby!!!

Boy, can't imagine that'll float very nicely anymore.

Well I've looked around for a carburetor but the only replacement carb I can find is 89 bucks. I've looked on Amazon but they dont seem to have any with the same choke shaft as mine. I did think about just swapping choke shafts out but the head of the screw snapped that holds the butterfly to the shaft. I do know my grandfather has probably 6 or 7 tecumseh carburetors in his garage so I'm hoping one of those has a similar choke setup or atleast enough that if I have to drill holes I can make it work. Part number for my carb is 631774.

So I decided to clean up the intake and leave it aluminum so it gives it that old school hot rod look. I havent decided if I'm going to paint it this nice aluminum color I have or just leave it bare and role with it.


I'm gonna have to come up with an air cleaner for this thing so I'm thinking I might steal an idea off of mr.modified's GTR Four Zero build.

So I finally got around to doing a part 2. I've been pretty busy building a garage and haven't had the time to work on anything else. Good news is the new garage is going to give me alot more space to work on stuff INSIDE for a change instead of in the driveway.

So my gas tank strap is pretty rotted and the other one is missing so I just bent up some rod and used some springs and BAM! new gas tank straps.

Cool project blake! Hope you find a carb, I'd love to see this one running and driving.

Thanks Rich! I think I can come up with something for a carb.

On a side note anyone know a trick to getting rusted rims off of the axles? I'm thinking about just taking both axles out and just setting them in a press, little heat and some penetrating oil should come out but anyone have a better way?