the "MISTRESS"

well here's the first of many pics of the "mistress". my girlfriend calls her that cus i am down in the shop a lot with her. lol. anyway, she is a mid 80's Craftsman 11hp. i started making her a flat-tracker after 2 years of the kids riding her around the yard. i originally saved her from the neighbors trash. i started by the pulley swap. then quick return throttle mounted on the steering wheel. then mounted deck to running boards. then straight exhaust. removed all the useless junk that i didn't need. i even took the main bracket that connected the deck to the frame and made it into a real heavy duty battery box. bolted right in. then put the project away till my divorce was all done.

so now i removed the mowing deck from the boards. lifted the rear end and welded the rims to some S-10 rims i had. the pic you see is just mocked up on jack stands. i made the lift kit and am looking for 4 good tires. there will have to be some trimming of the running boards and real fenders. plus i like the idea of direct steering. it will help me lose all that slop. i will post in depth pics of the lift kit and other mods as they were in progress.

Looks cool. Got any plans on bigger brakes?

to be honest i have no brakes on anything i have, i know its stupid specialy with no brakes on my racing mower, but its a hastle sometimes and its expensive to put breakes that actualy work on stuff

redzz02 wrote:

to be honest i have no brakes on anything i have, i know its stupid specialy with no brakes on my racing mower, but its a hastle sometimes and its expensive to put breakes that actualy work on stuff

Should really have brakes on your mudder, jsut to comply with the rules of the forum.
Even if you get the stock brake working somewhat, it's better than nothing (:


The Mistress looks good, not sure about the colours though it'll all come down to tire choice really.

actually, i revamped the old brakes. haven't tried them out yet. but they were siezed up solid till i took them apart and cleaned everything on the bench grinder and wire wheel. if they don't work all that well, i will figure something out. here's a few pics of what i did in the last couple days. [img][/img]this is my front end stock.

[img][/img]this is my new foot throttle. it was on the steering wheel.

[img][/img] how i welded the wheels.

[img][/img]rear lift. if i like it i will add more re-enforcement.

[img][/img] throttle on carb

Cool build- i actually like the low profile wheels on those rims.

Yeah direct steering will make it steer on a dime- craftmans dont have the tightest steering . My murray didnt either - had the same style drag link - at slow speeds it was fine- over 30mph it was scary. That thing never had brakes either - which doubled the scariness. I took it apart, and itll get rebuilt sometime properly. My mod MTD has stock steering - surprisingly steers awsome, specially since i raised the front axle to the top of the chassis - it steers super tight.

Brakes can be expensive - look for an old go kart on CL - or ebay - i bot a disc and a drum brake setup for my mod builds from northern tools- they werent exactally cheep but im not taking any chances. Even my go kart wizard will have brakes. My mod wizard has stock working brakes - i had to tighten them up pretty good - im thinking when the twin goes on it and the eventual 6 speed manual - itll get aftermarket brakes as well.

I have mentioned about checking with a auto or motorcycle junkyard- im sure anyone could find small enough hydraulic brakes to fit on a tractor with some modding. I plan on heading there sometime after the first of the year to see what i can find.

Foot throttle/hand throttles are definitly better for throttle response , and its a lil safer ( let off the throttle and goes back to idle) - its not stuck on like a stock lawntractor throttle.

I used my old wheelhorse's clutch pedal for a foot throttle on my MTD- recycling at its best:



On a few of my mod projects ive tried to build them on stuff ive had lying around - my wizard go kart build has been alot of new stuff, my eventual wheelhorse mod will also be alot of new stuff as well- mainly because those will be serious speed machines and need to be built properly .

that thing is huge but yah you should get some more aggresive tires for it. will that 11hp be able to power it

actually is all goes well, i will be getting a set (4) of 33x10.5x15 Goodyear AT's from my father's jeep.

looking good MAn! i hope it all works out good! that 11Hp engine shall take anything you can throw, the only dissapointment with my (11hp Coincidently) is the it cant tackle an incline above, id say 45% because of the gravity feed as soon as the tank gets lower than the carb BOOM No fuel, and one last piece of advice DONt BREAK THE STARTER, i've got mine to a nice tuning point where it starts (Nearly) first pull every time, lets just hope the winter weather wont kill it XD GOOD LUCK

What do you mean about breakimg the starter? I just replaced it with one that i took off an old carcass. Mine kinda froze up. But it DID kinda sit outside for 2 years. I have to replenish my salvage supply soon. Lol. But that's waht its all about for me. A hobby collectin partsand a hobby buildin stuff.

i mean mine got smashed, so i bolted a pulley on top of the engine for a pull start although if it slips it can really wrench your hand!

gotchya. maybe i oughta fab a cage around the starter.

Bigblueboy: could fix that with a small displacement electric fuel pump inline - flip a switch before hitting the hill. Being a oil splash motor, it shouldnt really bother anything on the upper end ( not like OHV where itd starve the rockers) .

Probably wouldnt hurt to make some skid plates for the trans/front axle - Fearlessfront made a set out of old craftsman footrests for his trans/front axle.

took the "Mistress" for her maiden voyage last night. now i see first hand why you HAVE to drill and bolt the axles. lol. i did it to the rear axles. i have been putting off doing the front ones. so last night i fired her up. made sure the drive belt was gonna work and not launch me outta the garage.

i knew the front wheels were gonna hit the runnin boards but i figured i would weld on some stops on the front as soon as i fixed my welder. so i left off the hood and grill. sat in the seat and hit the gas pedal a few times. stepped on the clutch and threw her into gear. i let it out kinda fast and rode a wheelie outta my garage and stalled her in the drive way. Fired her up again and rode a wheelie all the way up the driveway. only this time i managed to keep her running and rode her up the street. i even rode her to the mailbox and checked the mail.

then i turned her around and ventured into third gear. but that's when "IT" happened. i sheared the clip off the right front axle. the wheel went for quite a roll down the street. and the "MISTRESS" came to a grinding hault. managed to limp home and get her in the garage. so now i am gonna drill out the fronts and swap the pulleys. i gotta 6"on the front and 4" on the back. but with the big tires i gotta re-gear this thing.

WHEW!!! whatta night !!!

And you mentioned going up to some 33's too, haha. With tires that tall you may need to regear back to something near stock.

still gonna put them on...just gotta work out the wrinkles. on the flip side, i took the factory brake apart and thoroughly cleaned and wire brushed the parts. put it all back together and they work great.

Biscuit: at least drill the front spindles for a 'key pins' - cotter pins are too weak. For those wheels id bolt and use a pin ( just weld a normal bolt on the end of the spindles) and lock nuts.

I ran 8" rims on my murray with taller profile tires using a 6" engine pulley on the 18.5 opposed twin and a 3" on the stock 6 speed 'shift on the go" trans- that thing was scarey fast.

Id try what Jamus said- go a lil closer to stock gears because of the large wheels.

ok just welded bolts to the end of my spindles. heck, while the welder was hot, i welded bolts to the top of the spindles where they connect to the frame. not gonna have any more of those stupid clips anymore. gonna fit them on tomorrow. pics will be taken.

Chunk wrote:

redzz02 wrote:

to be honest i have no brakes on anything i have, i know its stupid specialy with no brakes on my racing mower, but its a hastle sometimes and its expensive to put breakes that actualy work on stuff

Should really have brakes on your mudder, jsut to comply with the rules of the forum.
Even if you get the stock brake working somewhat, it's better than nothing (:


The Mistress looks good, not sure about the colours though it'll all come down to tire choice really.

well, my daughter picked the colors a couple years ago. i was gonna put orange and yellow spots on it and it WAS gonna be called the Magic Mowchine. but i went in another direction with my plans for it.


actually, i took her for another freeeeeeeezin ride a while ago. musta done somethin right, cuz i drove her back. didnt stay out too long. it's like 1 degree out there. but all went well. tomorrow when it hits a tropical 12 i will take her for a longer cruise.

if it were a darker purple and more neon green, itd look like a gen 1 transformer ( constructicons).

took "the Mistress" out for a spin last night in the blizzard. didn't wanna go too far cus both my lights popped from me dropping the hood when i took it off to paint it. gonna take some pics today of the new paint. looks good. gonna have my son airbrush the name on her. man did that thing haul some serious a$$ goin around the block. those S-10 rims and tires handled great. still was too chicken to take her out of 3rd gear. way too fast.

took her for another ride last night. was flyin down the road and the exhaust pipe/stack rotated forward and catapulted me about 2 feet in the air. my buddy was watching me and said it was kinda funny watchin me do a 2 foot wheelie with all the sparks. guess i gotta make a bracket with my new welder.

fired up the mistress yesterday. she was runnin rough. weak spark. so i pulled the cover off and revved her a little. she shot out a spark and died. i thought i popped the engine. but actually it wasn't that bad. the magnetic piece on the flywheel flew off. but i got a friend that has a small engine repair shop just down the road. he's gonna give me a flywheel and get this.....he has 3 twin cylinder engines that he is gonna give me. OH BABY, let the buildin begin.

dang - id like to score a couple more twins- horizontal shafts . Ive thought of trading my 20HP onan in for a briggs or honda horizontal.

well, i'll tell ya what, i'm not even sure what they are. but for free i'll take 'em. when i get 'em, i will post what they are.