Craftsman GT3000 "MUTT" Part I

Wheelers are quite a bit different than mowers though. You sit differently, they're balanced very differently, etc. Direct steering is just bad for big tires in general, I think.

Well, NellyBelle is going through lots of various changes, wait and see.  weighted totally different, completely new body, seat is going to be much lower, stuff like that.

Went out to the shop today. Found the old Snapper steering, Looked it over. Looks like it did need a bit of adjustment. Think I'll turn another steering shaft at school, I think I even have the material to make it outta here. Hope they get finished setting up there soon so I can do it, lol.

Your putting a mower steering box back in ? Man you must be desperate to go drive mutt

This is a good mower box though, none of that 1st gen junk that mutt has originally

Topic is now on the "Most active topics" list! Congrats Rich!

Hahaha yeah bud, just threw Mighty off the list!

It's ok...

Oh 'pologies mighty, didn't mean it like that. Im sure youll be back up here with your next build!

No insult taken, I'd like to see MUTT up there with AK's MTD.

Good news fellas! Got the mig welder back, we might see an exhaust come together soon!

Ooh, straight pipe?

I am really liking my muffled exhaust on the craftsman . never thought id say that

Cutout, hopefully. I'll have the option to be muffled or straight piped.

Yeah, I think you'll find yourself being muffled a lot. I did that, too, and I never take the mufflers off.

Naw, I think Rich should keep that oppy loud and proud as often as he can, hahaha. Of course it'd be nice to have the quiet option every once in a while, but a 2 into 1 straight pipe on an opposed sounds awesome.

2 into one does sound mighty nice... I can also see the benefit for Rich to have a muffler at times too. Wouldn't want to scare horses, etc.

My horses aren't actually easily spooked anymore. Been around loud stuff and guns for a good while lol. Couldn't say the same for some Amish horses though, lol.

Bottom rung of my hood was broken on one side and hanging by a string on the other, welded it up and ground it down.


I then proceeded to paint the front part of the hood matte black. Turned out kinda ugly.


Bolted the Snapper steering back in after tightening it up. Ended up using the original steering shaft with a lock collar, still going to make one at school though so I dont have a lock collar up against the bottom of the dash.


Drag link needed to be lengthened. Ended up threading a piece of U bolt that had the right thread into the hole on the drag link and then threaded another one of the things that these heim joints came from that I cut down over that, and then put the hiem joint in the end


Bolt holes happened to match up for this half of cable clamp thing I had, and it was just the right length to give just the right throw to work. With this Snapper steering a bit better geared than before I actually get 1-3/4 turns lock to lock, even better than the worm box steering.


Modded the hood to open a better way. By mod I mean, take all the bolts out except for two, tighten the original hinge bolts, and make supports lol.


One of these on either side. I made the hood side slotted so it's adjustable. Not quite adjustable enough but I'll fix that sooner or later lol.


I switched back to glass headlights too, but one doesn,t work, The one that does is still brighter than both LEDs though lol. Let me know what you think! I;m working on a front skidplate too, but I forgot to get pictures   oh well, there's always tomorrow I guess haha.

These are awesome improvements Rich. I hope you have a good first romp with the steering fixed. I like those struts you made out of flat stock to support your front grill. I was going to make up pieces just like that to hold the grill on my green machine, but then I got side tracked when I got the motor back from the machine shop for ol red.

Nice Rich! Hood mod looks pretty cool. So the Snapper setup has a lower ratio than the worm gear box did?

I can't wait to get out there with this thing lol, I found a nice spot in a creek bed that should be fun.

It definitely feels like a lower ratio. I can turn the tires pretty easily on pavement at a stop, should be even easier when moving. Unfortunately, the steering still has the ability to skip if you're really torquing on it. Might be able to fix thatthough, I'll look into it if it does prove to be a problem.

Glad you're getting MUTT fixed.  Definitely keep an eye on that steering skip.  It may prove to be more problematic on the trail.

Trimmed the front axle mount a bit. Didn't really need to, but the uneven edges from when i cut the channel iron were annoying me.


Finished the front skidplate. The tubing from the chair is a bit hard to weld, especially when the gas feed on the welder was going out.


Lotta warping, plus i had to hammer it a bit so i didnt have to fill all the gaps. Already looks used. Functional, though,


Sits just proud of the axle mount. I like it.


820 was leaking out of almost every seal...gotta do something about this.


Pulled her out, added a vent and seal on the shifter shaft. Vent isn't a taper fit, I used the O ring and a big washer to make the it fit. Used another O ring for the shifter shaft, and held it on with a washer and jesus clip.


Ran the trans vent up next to my fuel tank vent.


Got a start on my exhaust but then the gas solenoid died in the welder(I think). Drove her around like this a bit, she actually feels a bit torquier. That muffler must have been hella restrictive. Also I can get her to backfire with this exhaust, so that's cool haha. I really missed having a straight piped oppy.


Can't decide if I'm going with a cutout or just a plain pipe for the rest of the exhaust yet. We'll see what I decide to do what I get there, lol.

Holy, about time you finished that front skidplate!! Haha, just kidding haha. Looks good though! Should be plenty strong enough.

Only thing I'm worried about with it is tearing a hole through the sheet metal with a sharp rock or something.

Man..maybe I need to chill with the testing things to the limits by putting them through the harshest conditions possible