1966 sears craftsman build

Hi guys, im new to this forum and so far have found it awesome!

well i found this 1966 craftsman sitting in some guys backyard he was going to restore it and make it a ride on for his daughter. i picked up this little mower for $50 and a brand new 10hp tecumseh for $60

i was just wondering if anybody has any ideas on how i can make this a good offroading mower my old mower was a massey which i cracked the front axle on and the guy screwed me when he was welding it so i never got it back.

well anyway if you have any ideas let me know the pictures are vague but you can get the general gist of the tractor
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Haha neat little tractor, kinda similar to my very first tractor. Although I am not sure what make mine was, but they have similar frames.

Edit: I also love the seat on your BMX!!

haha thanks i was trying to do some simple mods but idk where to start aha


and thanks its a new seat aha just came out

anybody got any ideas?

Well, looks like a chain drive unit on the craftsman? Should be able to swap a straight axle and lift it some more using pillow block berings - larger front tires ( weld bolts on the spindle ends for the wider rims).


You could make a new front axle for the massy- get some box steel wide enough,drill a hole in for the swivel , make some spindles from 3/4" bolts , use 3/4" steel nipples for bushings - guarentee itll be stronger then the stock axle.

Im going to build some drop spindles for a couple mod projects from 3/4" bolts i scored from my dad ( retired plumber- has all kinds of stuff) .

You might also want to search for a welder- harbor freight carries a cheeper brand , or invest in a good welder, specially if youre doing plenty of mods....

yup chain drive things awesome no slip

thanks for the advise im going to look now about lifting it

Youll need to extend the chain as well - for some speed changes, you can swap sprockets - TSC carries weld in center sprockets of different sizes.

Id get a larger set of front tires, then base the rear lift on that so it sits level - the front can be lifted by changing the swivel point lower, most times when lifting the front, people use either gas hatch lift shocks or automobile shocks to dampen the side to side motion.

the wheels are weird they are tubeless and valve less and also have keyways holding them in place i would like to extened the axl;e but have no idea how

You sure they don't just have old twisted tubes that pulled the stem out of the rim? Or do you have those ancient solid rubber tires? And extending axles is as easy as finding a spare trans with longer axles that fit. (which can be hard lol) Or making some rim spacers. Many different ways. Or wait. You have a chain drive. I think dangeroustoys56 had the idea of the strait axle, which would be best.

Sounds like the wheels on my 70 toro tractor - front wheels were a hard plastic - rear wheels were actually air inflated. At one time i had a set of regular LT sized tires on it .

nope they are the solid rubber tires haha they are heavy as hell and i really need to get a welder any good ideas from harbor freight?

vpk wrote:

nope they are the solid rubber tires haha they are heavy as hell and i really need to get a welder any good ideas from harbor freight?

Yep those solid tires suck. I had a set of some old front end, I hacked keyways in them and did a burnout on one of my old Rally racers till they caught fire.
I'd say just look for some bigger, normal tires, or even some the same size for starters.

Ford Boi : - i bet that wouldve been a cool video of that burnout.

You could probably get a basic model MIG welder pretty cheep , i would use a better wire- i bot some there for my hobart and welds terrible - more then likely youll need a flux core wire because using a gas kit isnt cheep ( i have the guages and setup for solid core wire - tank is like $250 tho- i just use flux core) .

Or watch sale ads around black friday- might come across a good deal on a decent welder from Northern tools, TSC - places like that.

i was just looking at some from harbor freight but i dont know which to get a wire one is good?

The wire at Harbor freight is a cheeper brand - id look for a good brand of wire from miller or hobart - it should work in a cheeper brand welder- depending on what size wire you get, you need to get different tip ends also- keep that in mind.

I run the HF wire in my mig cause I'm cheap. Plus the welding I do is usually not anything high quality or good looking. Just need to stick two pieces of metal together. If I hade the extra cash and was welding nicer projects I'd run better wire though. I'd also get the tank and actually have a mig rather than fluxcore, haha.

Yeah itll work- its just not a very good looking weld is all - next spool i get will be a better one.

Do any of you guys use a stick?? I've had my Lincoln 225 for 8 years or so now, never given me any trouble. Cost me around 300$ new. Rods are cheap. I prefer it over a MIG for anything but bodywork or exhaust work.

i have a couple stick welders and a couple migs and i used pretty well all of em. I like stick for bigger stronger welds and i seem too get nicer welds from stick anyways, i use my migs fer thin stuff and quick welds cause its easy. They all have there uses and work well. I pree much like any welding really, just something im good at.

I use my flux core mig for every thing. I have built cat0 implements for the 195 and havent broke a weld yet.
I dug about 2 dump truck loads out of the mud pit with a box blade/ripper and hauled it off with a rear scoop.
made them out of 1/4 steel and the hobart 140 did a hell of a job