Craftsman Gt6000 M.U.T.T

Why hallo, and good day to you.
This is the build to speak of today!
Meet M.U.T.T., no not that one... this one! Silly Goose... Psh


The backstory on this is we got this for free in nonrunning form. (Arn't they always?) We got it to fire, and it ran... okay. But it did run enough to drive and they the mods started! (After a quickie carb clean!) Still has a miss it seems but idk

It still got the original 18 HP Oppy. She runs good and starts even better but she's a little on the smokey side but that's just bug repellant... All she has had done is a general tune-up. Spark plugs air filter oil changes ETC...


Then there is a (Edit friend said extremely.) controversial amongst our group:
A Truck Bed! (I like it myself.)




Its been pulley swapped from like a 7 or an 8 inch pulley to a 4 inch.


We also put a winch on it for recovery as it doesnt have good tires yet. (Hopefully to come!)






I do hope to post as new stuff come also with some accessory's for this build which i hope is ok as it wont be exactly for the build if not i wont but I would love to see what you guy's think!

Looking good so far! My Mutt was not the first tractor here to bear that name, and certainly won’t be the last. Keep oil in that oppy and it will treat you well. 1/4” above the full line is ideal.

So I was driving my friends tractor and decided "I wonder if we can fix the steering so its not like a water buffalo?"
It was pretty bad. Like a 1/4 turn of play before any movement.

So we tore into it and found the main cause of the play.


The main gear had tons of flex so we tore it apart and found that where the metal bushing slid up into this plastic housing


and it has some wear in it but I thought if we could shim somethin up in there to take up the room we would be good. So looking at how much room there was and thinking of somethin that would slide and not cause rubbing probs down the road so we shoved a ziptie up there and it fit perfectly and then we put it back together and most of the slop was gone.

We also got it to run better by enriching the mixture and then lowering the idle.
Next we need to see if we can adjust the clutch as there is some seious belt slippage. If not we have a smaller belt, but if anyone knows if these GT6000 clutches are adjustable we would apreciate it as I couldnt see one but I am no expert on this gen of craftsman.

I don't think they had any adjustment in the stock form. Maybe a stronger spring?

Minor Update: Foot Throttle


This is the engine side!

More info on Putt Putt's or Scraptors thread.
Mutt was the only one who had problems.
Problem A. The biggest prob was he kept flooding out. It happened after he hit a bump so i think the bowl float needle is no longer seating.
Problem B. Belt Slip but we have already discussed that one and have the fix for it we just need to do it.


Still had fun and I foresee M.U.T.T getting some TLC soon!

Well 2 step forward, 1 steps backwards...
First off it got new tires! It got 23 10.5 12 ag tires.
(Will get pics of tires later sorry)
Also a full service, an oil change with a can of engine restore in it. I saw the Project Farm vid on it and it really helped his tractor with compression, so we are going to try it, besides that it is just running 5-30 which is what was laying around. Then got a greasing and new fuel filter and fuel line from the filter to the carb. Also got a carb clean to try and fix the flooding problem.


Then the bad part.
On our test drive we lost a coil. We didnt even made it like out of my yard area to our trails we ride! I have a spare one off of "Scrappy" MTD 18/46 14 Speed Grass Cutter (See what I did there Brianator! Thanks so much for telling me how to do that btw) when I got my parts engine, I ended up using its coil as it looked better but the one on him did make some spark. I just need to clean it up as it sat in the rain, and I was wondering can I use like sandpaper or a wire brush to clean it up? It has some flakey spots of rust on it, and I just wanted to make sure it would make good contact. Is that a good idea or not? Thanks everyone for reading!

Way I see it. If it doesn't work now, what is it going to hurt? I've wire wheeled them back to life before. Mostly cleaning the ground contact area to the engine.

Look at you making links like a pro!  Lol.

I've cleaned up many old rusty coils on old motors that had little to no spark and most of the time it's worked! The most important spots are where the coils touch the mounting posts (plus the tops of the posts themselves where they touch the coil), the faces that face the magnet on the flywheel and the magnet itself. I use sandpaper most of the time as it doesn't take long and I've had the wire wheel catch the laminations on the coil and peel them apart...

I like to wipe a thin film of dielectric grease on everything before reassembly to prevent future corrosion and use a piece of cigarette pack, a business card or a piece of paper double/triple folded to set the air gap between the coil and magnet. Been doing it this way for years with much success!

@Brianator I did get the coil cleaned up today and had the wheel catch it and did some damage but I have some epoxy on it and a vise grip holding it so it might come back to life. If not no big deal. I hope tommorow we will get the new coil on it.

Refurbished coil installed and we have spark!
Now just to reinstall everything and hit the river!

Almost done!
Got it to run and test drive but we forgot to put the engine pulley belt keeper on, and the belt comes off and bounces so doesn't release the belt very well if at all. Once that is on its ride time!

Slipperz wrote:

Well 2 step forward, 1 steps backwards...
First off it got new tires! It got 23 10.5 12 ag tires.
(Will get pics of tires later sorry)
Also a full service, an oil change with a can of engine restore in it. I saw the Project Farm vid on it and it really helped his tractor with compression, so we are going to try it, besides that it is just running 5-30 which is what was laying around. Then got a greasing and new fuel filter and fuel line from the filter to the carb. Also got a carb clean to try and fix the flooding problem.


Then the bad part.
On our test drive we lost a coil. We didnt even made it like out of my yard area to our trails we ride! I have a spare one off of "Scrappy" MTD 18/46 14 Speed Grass Cutter (See what I did there Brianator! Thanks so much for telling me how to do that btw) when I got my parts engine, I ended up using its coil as it looked better but the one on him did make some spark. I just need to clean it up as it sat in the rain, and I was wondering can I use like sandpaper or a wire brush to clean it up? It has some flakey spots of rust on it, and I just wanted to make sure it would make good contact. Is that a good idea or not? Thanks everyone for reading!

How did you mount this pulley on the fan side?

@TractorDaddy
This is actually factory. It has this little 4 bolt mount that bolts to the flywheel fan. Then the pulley can be bolted on this. I personally think a belt setup like a old Wheelhorse or Sears tractor is just an easier system but it works just fine!

@Slipperz can you tell me the engine model number? I want to see if i can fit on on a engine of mine that looks similar to yours

@TractorDaddy it may be best to try and look it up first as this is not my tractor so I can not take a pic right now if you are willing to wait a few days I can. @MightyRaze might be able to help you as he owns a GT6000 as well but I am not sure if it has the original motor.

Sadly I do not have the original motor. It was scrapped. Knowing what I know now vs then. I think the original engine was just fine. Sometimes you kick yourself for past decisions.

@TractorDaddy
The Motor is a 18hp Briggs I/C Oppy 
Any motor like that would be able to use such adapters. I think.
@MightyRaze I did know the TGM had a vertical but didnt know if the other motor got junked. Sure is a nice machine.

Slipperz wrote:

@MightyRaze I did know the TGM had a vertical but didnt know if the other motor got junked. Sure is a nice machine.

Nope, had the same engine and setup as yours.  I still have the flywheel fan with the mounting for the flywheel side pulley.  I did swap it for about a year to a vertical, but back to horizontal clocked 90 degrees clockwise from factory taking out the belt bend.

Well got the oil burners out!

These tires are amazing! I even finally remembered to show you guys them! lol


It also runs so much better with the carb rebuild and "refurbished" coil!
It had a small fiddle but it was just the throttle cable came loose and a little twist nut was bouncing around the coil ground wire killing it randomly!
Sorry for the lack of updates on a lot of things!

Well after a ride the foot throttle was stuck at full throttle and with found out that the cable hold down pinched the cable so my friend did some designing and came up with this!

Just a chunk of flat stock with 2 mounting holes in it and a very small screw and washer to hold the cable tight but not enough to damage the cable. If you look a little down the cable you can see the damaged part, but it was still savable.

Just a small little repair!