'86 Craftsman MowKart

Hey everyone. This is my first post, and mower, so bear with me. I've been modding stuff as long as I can think, so I know alot about mowers and small engines. Anyways, this is my custom lawnmower. It's a 1986 Craftsman 11hp 5 speed. I got it for free about a year ago.

Looks great!

Looks cool.

Looks pretty close to ours, same base tractor, and I see you dropped the rear fenders and seat.

Thanks for the positive replies. I've lowered the front end about 3 inches by cutting, and welding the axle to the side of the frame. The fenders were also lowered about 2 inches. It has a 5in pulley on front, and 5in on back. I've had it up to ~30mph, but the steering get squirrely at about 20pmh. I plan on dropping in an opposed twin, and rebuilding the steering so it doesn't have so much slop.

More than likely the caster and camber angles are what makes it squirrelly at speed. For Stretch and I, our tractors are set to 0 degrees camber (lots of stock lawn mower axles have severe camber), and 10 degrees positive caster.

Thanks for the info. I'll see what I can do to get that fixed. After I lowered the front end, I was looking at it, and the left whell(as you're sitting on it) was pointed out slightly on the bottom.

I did a speed run with a friend on our atv, and it clocked out at 17 mph. I ran out of running space, so I couldn't get up to top speed. I would estimate top would be about 25pmh. It might hit 30 if I had a larger engine in it.

Ok, so it's been a while since I've been around. I had a friend over the other day, and we went wheeling with the mower and honda. I was driving the mower, and we clocked it at ~20 mph flat out. It cruises comfortably at 18 mph. It would most likely hit 25 if I had more than an old worn out 11hp Briggs.

Whats your ratios on it? Hell of a lot faster than mine. Mine tops at 15.

Even a tired 11hp will push you to 30mph+. I had an old 10hp that ran 35.

Different engine won't go any faster, all stock engines are governed to 3600 rpm. If you want more speed, going to have to make the transaxle spin faster. Bigger pulley on the engine, or smaller on the transaxle. We like a 4 to 3 ratio, gets you 30-35 mph on most transaxles.