Craftsman GT3000 "MUTT" Part I

Sort of looked like a craftsman box to me. Never had any snappers so i wouldnt know what a snapper steering box looks like lol. And a little car battery is awesome for starting a twin. Also makes it possible to run stuff like lights winch etc. Without worrying about a dead battery

Well she's pretty much all back together, I moved the solenoid up from the frame to the top of the metal part of the dash (like just below waist heightish) Steering is great, no problems there. Only real thing I gotta work out is a bad connection in the starting circuit, causing it to turn over slow. And I think what caused that was the ground for the battery, I kinda chipped off some paint and bolted it So tonight with chat bein lit and all I didnt get much done, but I did work out an idea for a better pull start- a booster fan off of a blown horizontal oppy that was shaft drive, and an idler pulley with a bad bearing. The bolt is just holding it in there for mockup, it's going to be bolted on with the 2 bolts where the driveshaft bolted on when it's done. So i will have a pull start that will stay centered, and extra cooling!

Nice man! Not a bad idea for an air-cooled engine!

Found out last night that the booster fan only works on the engines with metal cooling fans, and I don't think the 40ci horizontal flywheel will work with a 42ci vertical engine . Oh well, the one I have works just fine. Anyways I was going through my wiring last night looking for bad connections and found that there wasnt any, the battery is dead. Although I cant blame it, that thing is a year younger than me (i'm 14)and has been through a car crash and a few tractors, It doesnt owe anybody anything. Also when I was doing my steering I put a foot peg on the gas pedal, tightened up the gas pedal cable (actual full throttle now ), moved the cable stop for the brake (doesnt lock down anymore but braking power is good). Don't know what I'm going to do for a battery, of the two I have one has a hole punched in the side of it and leaks and the other one is like 325 cranking amps new, not near enough to spin over this thing. I dont have any dollars for a new one either...

Nice foot throttle. Are you still running the governor? You could just pull start that oppy everytime Be hard on the arms lol

Yeah, still governed. However, if I had a set of billet rods and a pair of model 28 or 31 pistons that would be a very different story....

Thunderdivine wrote:

Nice job, good she wasn't to bad hurt lol. - wasn't there another MUTT on here?

Yeah there are a few -
https://www.atltf.com/t1532-lifted-mudder-build-project-mud-mutt?highlight=mud+mutt
https://www.atltf.com/t2692-mud-mutt-off-road-build?highlight=mud+mutt

Both by GearheadMike.

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Yeah, still governed. However, if I had a set of billet rods and a pair of model 28 or 31 pistons that would be a very different story....

Wuss. Dont need no stinkin billet parts.

MatthewD wrote:

Thunderdivine wrote:

Nice job, good she wasn't to bad hurt lol. - wasn't there another MUTT on here?

Yeah there are a few -
https://www.atltf.com/t1532-lifted-mudder-build-project-mud-mutt?highlight=mud+mutt
https://www.atltf.com/t2692-mud-mutt-off-road-build?highlight=mud+mutt

Both by GearheadMike.

Wonder what Mikes up to.

Had a minor electrical fire screwing around in the cow pasture today, due to a hot wire getting pinched between the battery tray and something else. Luckily it went out quickly, and i just disconnected the battery and charging system and drove home . Definitely doing away with all of these wire nuts while I'm at it. (i didn't put them in the freakin po did)

Ouch man, lucky it was only a small fire. That's why I don't like putting the battery beside the fuel tank.

I fixed the wire, threw in some gas and took off back to the woods. Spent a good 2 hours back there romping around, having a good time and then all of the sudden crawling up a hill I noticed I only had left wheel drive. Drove back to the shop thinking I had split an axle key and found that i had SPLIT BOTH OF THE RIMS AT THE KEYWAY . Like fug. I'll prolly weld them back up, and get the 820 a guy has with 5 lug hubs. Really wasnt expecting this. But do we ever?

What a pro. Just hose clamp it and get back to it.

Hose clamp is obviously too weak. Ziptie ftw

Twist ties like on bread bags would be pretty good too.

So, in the ~2 weeks I've had to mess with the rim, this is as far as I've got. Cracked it in another place and bent the rim part it's welded into (huib is now crooked lol). Whoopdefrickindo. I think I'm gonna mickey mouse this back together the best I can and buy a pair of used atv rims that I can make or buy hubs for.

Should be ok, not like its a speed build. Weld it, sleeve it, weld it up again.

Well, last night I welded her all up (had to relearn stick welding, mig was outta gas). Right wheel has a little bit of in and out wobble when driving, but oh well it works. Pull started her this morning in like 30*, wasn't actually too bad. i noticed she was kinda sluggish, as in the governor wasnt working but I didn't think much of it. Took a few laps around the yard drifting in the ice and then went for the pond to have some fun. I dropped into like 6" of mud in 4th gear full throttle, went through easily enough and came out the other side, but the throttle had stuck wide open so i killed her. It seems that something in the governor has seized. I managed to pry the governor linkages back enough to maintain about 1/2 throttle and drove back to the shop. I'm kinda stumped on what to do now

I remember reading somewhere that the Briggs oppys have an issue with grenading the governor gear in the bottom of the crankcase, even in stock form. I don't remember where I read it though...Maybe someone else on here knows

Put oil in it.

That was the first thing I checked when it happened, and it's also the first thing I check before every time I go out. Weird thing is, the oil level has been just above full since August, when I changed it. It never seems to change.
And it's kinda funny that both of you are talking about going ungoverned....and suddenly i have to go ungoverned

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Well, last night I welded her all up (had to relearn stick welding, mig was outta gas). Right wheel has a little bit of in and out wobble when driving, but oh well it works. Pull started her this morning in like 30*, wasn't actually too bad. i noticed she was kinda sluggish, as in the governor wasnt working but I didn't think much of it. Took a few laps around the yard drifting in the ice and then went for the pond to have some fun. I dropped into like 6" of mud in 4th gear full throttle, went through easily enough and came out the other side, but the throttle had stuck wide open so i killed her. It seems that something in the governor has seized. I managed to pry the governor linkages back enough to maintain about 1/2 throttle and drove back to the shop. I'm kinda stumped on what to do now

I have owned 12 opposed twins and they usually had governor problems. I had my throttle stick wide open a few times, which is why you want a good easily accessible kill switch. I have gone direct throttle with all my opposed twins except the ones I do work like rototilling and mowing with. Other than that, direct is the way to go. Only problem is you have to set the idle speed high enough to keep it running if you have to step away from it and want to keep it running. I think it is well worth the effort to change to direct though.

1997 Murray wrote:

RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Well, last night I welded her all up (had to relearn stick welding, mig was outta gas). Right wheel has a little bit of in and out wobble when driving, but oh well it works. Pull started her this morning in like 30*, wasn't actually too bad. i noticed she was kinda sluggish, as in the governor wasnt working but I didn't think much of it. Took a few laps around the yard drifting in the ice and then went for the pond to have some fun. I dropped into like 6" of mud in 4th gear full throttle, went through easily enough and came out the other side, but the throttle had stuck wide open so i killed her. It seems that something in the governor has seized. I managed to pry the governor linkages back enough to maintain about 1/2 throttle and drove back to the shop. I'm kinda stumped on what to do now

I have owned 12 opposed twins and they usually had governor problems. I had my throttle stick wide open a few times, which is why you want a good easily accessible kill switch. I have gone direct throttle with all my opposed twins except the ones I do work like rototilling and mowing with. Other than that, direct is the way to go. Only problem is you have to set the idle speed high enough to keep it running if you have to step away from it and want to keep it running. I think it is well worth the effort to change to direct though.

Did you remove the governor inside the engine also? I'm going to.

I have removed them and plugged the hole with a 1/4 or 5/16 bolt and a lot of gasket maker and a nut to hold it in to plug the hole in the block.

Got a set of 18x6.50-8 Carlisle Snow Hogs for Christmas and was pretty excited to put them on! So after a brief bag of twizzlers I went out to the shop and pretty much beat the old tires off of the rims and threw the Snow Hogs on. The old tires came off really easy despite being on therecfor 20+ years. I pretty much beat them down off the rim with a hammer and a big chisel thing. The rims still had pristine white paint! The snow hogs went on without a hitch and hold air! (i kept them tubeless, it seems to work just fine) Also, some pics of my front axle

Been doing some stuff to her today, I cleaned the crap out of the sump(dad called it paraffin or something like that, wax that came out of the oil). I cleaned the mating surface on the sump for the gasket that I have not aquired yet and fixed the timing. (The crank gear had come out of place when I removed the sump) Also, I looked the over possibilities of putting a Briggs model 31 pressure lube I was given for free a few months ago. The mounting holes are there but I don't feel like scabbing an intake, carb, and bunch of other things off of the 14.5 I have just to take them back off later. The shroud you see in the pics is to a Briggs model 31 splash lube that the rings went out of.