Craftsman stretched, lifted, pickup junk....

That’s almost identical to the simplicity I have. Yours just would’ve had a bigger deck. Very well put together frame. I’d build it as an off roader and tear down another craftsman honestly. The steering is very beefy, thick frame, should have a heavy peerless 801 rear end, cast iron front axle and is just a great base to start with. Also a huge gas tank at 3 gallons. Hood latches itself down so it doesn’t rattle around. Man. I need to get the belt sorted on mine....

And the storage trunk under the back. Jeez I just keep thinking of more and more good things about it lol

CQ stop going on about the simplicity!  You're making me regret selling the one I had  lol.

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

That’s almost identical to the simplicity I have. Yours just would’ve had a bigger deck. Very well put together frame. I’d build it as an off roader and tear down another craftsman honestly. The steering is very beefy, thick frame, should have a heavy peerless 801 rear end, cast iron front axle and is just a great base to start with. Also a huge gas tank at 3 gallons. Hood latches itself down so it doesn’t rattle around. Man. I need to get the belt sorted on mine....

And the storage trunk under the back. Jeez I just keep thinking of more and more good things about it lol

cool that is good news, I have only seen them in the junk yard in pieces, sounds like it will be worth more than 50 bucks to me then.... I Have another junky craftsman sitting with a 17hp and the 18hp opposed motor, they might be fun if this motor is no good.

Dont part the mower out! it looks like a good design .

got it home and in the garage, 50 bucks, probably cost me more in gas and time hooking up the trailer etc....  I couldn't move the motor by hand but with the breaker bar it came loose right away, check out the awesome mouse nest... It was dirty as hell too still scrubbing.  So i will see if it runs and decide what i want to do....

Looks real good, should make an awesome build!

Build it build it build it!!

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Build it build it build it!!

Gotta get it running & get the mouse stuff out of it, really dirty as fawk right now... It seems to be more clearance under the running boards and front axle than any of my craftsman tractors, might be good to drive around in the woods. It is cool that the entire back end with the seat flips back.

That’s what I was saying about the trunk lol. Take a piece of sheet metal and just lay it in there to cover the hole in the frame. Makes a big trunk

@mrshaft696 Dude, in your video at 0:20 when you dropped the breaker the mouse that owns that apartment on the engine jumps out of the engine compartment onto the foot rest.  Better set you a trap!

mightyraze wrote:

@mrshaft696 Dude, in your video at 0:20 when you dropped the breaker the mouse that owns that apartment on the engine jumps out of the engine compartment onto the foot rest.  Better set you a trap!

HOLY CRAP I thought I saw that in the vid, I totally missed it in real life, that little bastard....that nest is insane..I didn't have time to remove it last night, guess I will go after it later.

nice! shoulda fired it up first them you would have a pre cooked meal !lol

biggasmowers wrote:

nice! shoulda fired it up first them you would have a pre cooked meal !lol

I cleaned it up a bit, threw in a new plug & it fired up. It only runs for a few seconds and stalls, I am 99% sure its not getting enough fuel, because when i spray in some carb cleaner it runs for a bit again. So hopefully cleaning out the carb will fix it...
The fuel lines are junk & the ignition wiring is messed up too....all the mouse stuff is gone though....

That takes me back to when I had my simplicity.  I had to do that same stuff and mice made nests inside the dash under the fuel tank.  You really need to re-name that video on youtube to something like: Mouse Sneaks out of Engine while I'm not Looking.  I didn't see it the first time I watched it but when I new to look for it the video really made me laugh.

Here's the simplicity I had.  I should do a thread for it so I have a record of it on here.

Crazy_Carl wrote:

That takes me back to when I had my simplicity.  I had to do that same stuff and mice made nests inside the dash under the fuel tank.  You really need to re-name that video on youtube to something like: Mouse Sneaks out of Engine while I'm not Looking.  I didn't see it the first time I watched it but when I new to look for it the video really made me laugh.

Here's the simplicity I had.  I should do a thread for it so I have a record of it on here.

nice, I like how the whole frame is orange on that one...

Do you know how the two "U" channels under the front axle are used? Is that for a  plow or snow blower? Or both?

that is also 100x cleaner than what I am working with.....Im gonna do a little testing over the weekend after I see how it drives. I am considering putting the 18hp motor in it, doing a pulley swap & making a offroad rocket,  I think there is room.

I think the back bolt of those u-brackets is the front deck mount. I *think* so anyway. Then the rest I’d assume you can mount whatever to. My simplicity is my work tractor, so I’ll use them to make a plow.

@Crazy_carl, your simplicity hood is the same as mine, but I have the black frame. It’s a 1990 4212

I never had a deck or any attachments but I assumed that's what those brackets were for. Neither the simplicity or my Wheel Horse started out this clean but after a good pressure washing both of those tractors looked like new. I thought the simplicity was built pretty well for a tractor its size so I think it would be a great platform to build an off-road rocket. You should start a build thread on it.

What kind of tranny does the simplicity have in it ?

Mine has a 5 speed 801. I assume that’s what he has, but I could be wrong

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Mine has a 5 speed 801. I assume that’s what he has, but I could be wrong

yes, Ill have to make a thread for it & get back to the regularly scheduled program this weekend. I'm still messing with the 17hp motor I have on a real junky LT1000 & the 18 opposed.
....
http://www.tractordata.com/lawn-tractors/002/6/4/2645-simplicity-5212-transmission.html

Mine was a five speed with reverse as well, that's all I know.