My Tractor Build

hey guys! new here ive been following arild365's videos on youtube and i decided to join ive been building tractors since i was about 12 just to get around cuz i didnt have my lisence hahai am now 19 and building my best one yet it is awesome. its a MINT 1995 craftsman II and i bought it for $50 because it had a seized motor with a hole in the crankcase. i had some old ATV tires lyin around and i friend was parintg out a quad so he gave me the front end out of it. ive locked the rear axle and i wish i got pics of it but i didnt all i did was went to my old high schools metal shop and i machined a piece of metal to fit exactly inside of the ring gear and then i drilled a 3/4" hole thru it, put a solid piece of 3/4" cold rolled steel bar and welded it all up. i made some hubs with some stuff bought from princess auto. anyway i dont wanna write an essay here but this is current progress im gonna lift the rear end this weekend and get started on my input shaft extension. i also got plans for a rack and pinion steering out of a golf cart. oh yea and its name is "13 horse" long story lol

those shocks off a polaris scrambler?

damn I wish I could weld!.. thats tight!!..

theyre struts off of a 2WD polaris 335 magnum

holy shit man!!! that is a sick ass friggen tractor!!! welcome to the forum! I love what you did with the front end. Is she driving yet? id like to seee a pic of that rear end and how you set it up!

thanks for posting pics! that was a treat

nope she aint driving yet the front end is done except for the steering i gotta find a rack and pinion for it. im doin the rear and hopefully the motor swap this weekend and if im lucky ill get the input shaft extension done too.

product wrote:

nope she aint driving yet the front end is done except for the steering i gotta find a rack and pinion for it. im doin the rear and hopefully the motor swap this weekend and if im lucky ill get the input shaft extension done too.

HOLY SHIT THAT IS CRAZY, I am building something somewhat similar to that just not quite as lifted, nice work man can't wait to see more of this beast!!! I think mine sits about 3 inches shorter from looking at the pictures and about running the lifter shaft right on the transmission input shaft, that did not work for me maybe you will have better luck but what I did was make a drop shaft in front of it with a belt running to the rearend, heres a pic of how I'm doing mine and a pic of the tractor

nice man! cant wait to see how you set up the steering!

yea ive been checkin out your tractor for some time now (craftsman30mph) and i was contemplating the same idea u got there but wait till you see my rear end once its done my plan is solid. i should have the rear done this weekend so if anyones interested ill have progress pics throuout the weekend

That thing is retarded, and I love it/want it! Can't wait to see it mobile now!

give it a couple weeks cuz im going to college 4 hours away from my home and i work on it everytime i go home which is holidays and random weekends and since its thanksgiving comin up ill be home to work on it!

product wrote:

yea ive been checkin out your tractor for some time now (craftsman30mph) and i was contemplating the same idea u got there but wait till you see my rear end once its done my plan is solid. i should have the rear done this weekend so if anyones interested ill have progress pics throuout the weekend

yeah really the only reason I changed my idea was because it was really hard to get it completely straight on the input shaft and if I had to change the rearend I wanted to be able to with out having to weld the shaft on the new rearend too.this way I can just adjust an idler unbolt the rearend and put a new rearend in..simple as that

my extension doesnt get welded to the rear end thats the best part! i can put it on any tranny with a 5/8" input shaft! its got a keyed coupler at the bottom thats the black thing ill get some pictures of it once i build it

product wrote:

my extension doesnt get welded to the rear end thats the best part! i can put it on any tranny with a 5/8" input shaft! its got a keyed coupler at the bottom thats the black thing ill get some pictures of it once i build it

oh ok that will be cool man can't wait to see pics

That is a wicked tractor - it almost looks like it came that way.

I like the way you trimmed the hood around the shocks and used edging around it - gives it a cleaner/finished look.

dangeroustoys56 wrote:

That is a wicked tractor - it almost looks like it came that way.

I like the way you trimmed the hood around the shocks and used edging around it - gives it a cleaner/finished look.

yea i always go over board with everything but in the end my stuff doesnt break and looks awesome my teacher in college also said the same thing you did he thought i bought it like this

some updates!


got the wiring done


also got the motor in! fits mint! she also runs

dude I got to ride mine today It is really fast!! lol it does like 20 in 2nd gear its a five speed lol

craftsman30mph wrote:

dude I got to ride mine today It is really fast!! lol it does like 20 in 2nd gear its a five speed lol

thats sick man! im just gonna put a 5" pulley on the front cuz id rather more low end torque then speed lol. i just need enough speed to drive me around haha but anyway things r goin so well and smooth that if they stay this way i should have this thing driving this weekend

product wrote:

craftsman30mph wrote:

dude I got to ride mine today It is really fast!! lol it does like 20 in 2nd gear its a five speed lol

thats sick man! im just gonna put a 5" pulley on the front cuz id rather more low end torque then speed lol. i just need enough speed to drive me around haha but anyway things r goin so well and smooth that if they stay this way i should have this thing driving this weekend

that will be badass if you get it done this weekend mine is ready to go and rideable and I'm gunna change my oil tomorrow and make my pully so it can't fly off anymore and then go tractor mudding with my friend!!! then we have the tater run on saturday so my weekend is going to be fun!!

craftsman30mph wrote:

product wrote:

craftsman30mph wrote:

dude I got to ride mine today It is really fast!! lol it does like 20 in 2nd gear its a five speed lol

thats sick man! im just gonna put a 5" pulley on the front cuz id rather more low end torque then speed lol. i just need enough speed to drive me around haha but anyway things r goin so well and smooth that if they stay this way i should have this thing driving this weekend

that will be badass if you get it done this weekend mine is ready to go and rideable and I'm gunna change my oil tomorrow and make my pully so it can't fly off anymore and then go tractor mudding with my friend!!! then we have the tater run on saturday so my weekend is going to be fun!!

lucky you man and yea should be done everything BUT the steering lmao stupid steering haha

product wrote:

craftsman30mph wrote:

product wrote:

craftsman30mph wrote:

dude I got to ride mine today It is really fast!! lol it does like 20 in 2nd gear its a five speed lol

thats sick man! im just gonna put a 5" pulley on the front cuz id rather more low end torque then speed lol. i just need enough speed to drive me around haha but anyway things r goin so well and smooth that if they stay this way i should have this thing driving this weekend

that will be badass if you get it done this weekend mine is ready to go and rideable and I'm gunna change my oil tomorrow and make my pully so it can't fly off anymore and then go tractor mudding with my friend!!! then we have the tater run on saturday so my weekend is going to be fun!!

lucky you man and yea should be done everything BUT the steering lmao stupid steering haha

yeah I had to mess with my steering alot to get it right but it's there now just need to tighten up all the steering stuff and my rearend pully keeps popping off because there's no bolt hole in the top of it to keep the pulley from moving upward so I'm going to make something tomorrow morning b4 I go mudding

another update!

got the main support of the rear lift done!

Sweeeeeet....lol

Only thing i see that might give you trouble is the 3/4" axle - being that far out and those big wheels itll bend pretty easy - could probably make some sort of sleeve( with a grease zerk to grease it up) with a gusset to the frame to support the axle ends.

Cool setup tho.