Ol Boxy’s Build

Well not sure how this is going to go or turn out. This is the first time building a tractor and it’s a joint effort with my 11 year old son. What we have is my dads old mower he bought when I was a kid that has been sitting for probably close to 20 years outside at my uncle’s house. It came with a 14hp vanguard v-twin and a 6 speed with 36” cut. I took the deck off when I was about 13 or so to play in the woods with it. Now at 39 that thing is long gone. But that’s fine since this thing is now destined for playing in the woods and going to the nearby lake hauling fishing gear and an occasional dog or two.

Found a Briggs opposed twin 18 hp on Craigslist that runs good so went and scooped it up. Also stripped everything off to the frame to clean it up and hit it with some rustoleum. Opened up the transaxle to see what was going on inside. Over all it seems like it’s in pretty good shape. For what we are doing I think it should be fine. I guess. But I am open to suggestions on anything to help it not break and be able to handle a little more speed. Not sure if I should use grease or oil inside it when we put it back together. I plan to not lock it and run more aggressive tires.
This is about all the progress we’ve made on her so far. Any suggestions are more than welcome. I’m especially interested in beefing up the front end, some stronger steering of some sort and what kind of tires to run. I’m not sure what sizes I can get away with and it has tiny wheels currently. Was kind of thinking about welding some 4 wheeler wheels to the centers of the tractor wheels but again not sure if that’s the best thing to do. I have been reading over so many different builds on here it’s all becoming a blur haha.

for the axle id put a small bit of engine oil and marine grease and for the chassis id add frame bracing and you also have the PERFECT tractor for speed builds my tractor had grease and oil and the axle kept cool and took my abuse now its a factory grease filled foote and it seems fine but im going to add oil anyway because it keeps the wheels from seizing to the axles. also ive gotta build me a axle brace anyway.

That’s what I was thinking of doing. Grease and some oil too. Thank you for the tips! So are you saying I should make this one fast and the MTD more off-road oriented? I didn’t post anything about it yet but was planning to make it a low and fast tractor and this one the woods toy. But I can definitely swap plans if this one is better suited for speed. Here is a pic of the MTD. I haven’t touched it since bringing it home the other day.

lower the MTD and do a speed build the craftsman can do either but are better for offroad. mtds have belt slip issues but you can make it one speed and run a jack shaft or something like that im working on designing a use for those mtd single speed axles

Perfect! That’s what I was planning to do with them both.

I'd personally off road the Craftsman and the MTD looks like it would make a great racer! Looks fast standing still! Lol. You should be able to toss new tires on your original front wheels without issue, what size are they?

Haha I agree the MTD does look like a Ferrari in comparison to the craftsman! I believe they are 6” wheels but not 100% sure and not home but will report back when I am there. I know the rear tires are 15x6.5-8.

Well I was wrong about the tire size. The fronts are 15x6-6 and the rears are 18x8.5-8. Haven’t made any progress. Actually going to pick up a non running Deere 320 tomorrow. Not sure what’s wrong with it but for 100 bucks I can’t pass it up.