Craftsman stretched, lifted, pickup junk....

Yeah I'm assuming it'll be an 80's model or somewhere in that range.

That junk yard is mower heaven!!!! i would spend all week in it if i lived near it lol

I vote do the hood swap. It's a great way to make your tractor unique.

mrshaft696 wrote:

I got two other 8" rims to weld inside my 12" rims so i can get them mounted up....

Don't do that, it will put a lot of strain on the transaxle, if you go to my youtube I have videos showing how I make my hubs to mount mine like that, makes it a lot easier

Yeah, don't do them like that. Seen a lot of transaxles snap right half in two with that mod. You can still make hubs out of them though, I did.

richie thomas wrote:

mrshaft696 wrote:

I got two other 8" rims to weld inside my 12" rims so i can get them mounted up....

Don't do that, it will put a lot of strain on the transaxle, if you go to my youtube I have videos showing how I make my hubs to mount mine like that, makes it a lot easier

Thanks, I think you guys misunderstood my intention... I am going to cut the entire 8" rim apart just for the center section so that I have a flat plate with the 3/4" keyed part of the wheel & a flat disc (hub).  I am not going gangster style and welding the entire rim inside of the other, would be too wide for what I want to use it for.....

When I was at the bone yard there were a few good hubs I saw & wanted them but I couldn't get them off with hand tools....

Crazy_Carl wrote:

I vote do the hood swap.  It's a great way to make your tractor unique.

Yeah I think I will, because I plan to throw away all that craftsman body , or chopping it up to unrecognizable... I don't like that particular body style at all really. I am going to fab some running boards & get or adapt some fenders. Not sure how im going to do the seat.


Do you guys have any simple write ups or explanations of cleanly removing the safety switches from the wiring?

depending if your solenoid is one or two wire, it is easier to just gut all the wiring and start afresh. the most important wire is the kill wire and you can just run a off/on switch for that . i can post pics of my murrays wiring that i rigged up if you want cause its a Kohler command 14cs , which is really close to your model

biggasmowers wrote:

depending if your solenoid is one or two wire, it is easier to just gut all the wiring and start afresh. the most important wire is the kill wire and you can just run a off/on switch for that . i can post pics of my murrays wiring that i rigged up if you want cause its a Kohler command 14cs , which is really close to your model

yeah I hear you, I don't mind the factory wiring, I have seen people just cut the switches and just wire nut them together & that works, but id rather remove that wring & still use the stock ignition.,..

I don't see the issue with the solenoid, the black wire is ground & the white is hot. My impression is that as long as the ignition receives 12v from the battery it can turn everything on & off. I am by far a wiring expert but it seems simple.. any diagrams would help....

Using stock ignition is tricky but doable , i just prefer a simple wire job so i just use switches. i will draw up what i did on my murray if that would be helpful

Or finally just go wire up my LT 4000 and document it , which i should do cause i want it running soon.

biggasmowers wrote:

Using stock ignition is tricky but doable , i just prefer a simple wire job so i just use switches. i will draw up what i did on my murray if that would be helpful

Or finally just go wire up my LT 4000 and document it , which i should do cause i want it running soon.

Got ya, I have diagrams how to do the wiring from scratch so don't worry about it.

I am about to cut the tractor in half so, going to put it on some kind of jig, maybe out of wood or something. I think I will have to buy the large belt I want to run & fully decide the length of the stretch with the belt installed. Gonna start getting rid of craftsman sheet metal later...

ok . well i got my craftsman wired up anyway so you gave me motivation to do it finally.

biggasmowers wrote:

ok . well i got my craftsman wired up anyway so you gave me motivation to do it finally.

nice get sh*t done... this is a funny one from the web....

I got a little bit done tonight, up on jack stands, battery & wiring pulled back, cleaning dirt etc..  Spent a bit of time just thinking and trying to decide how I want to do the shifting. I think I will make something work with the existing pto engagement lever, similar to how my cub cadet and simplicity shift, on the "dash".

I always modified the deck hight lever for my shifter, makes it closers to the center so limbs don't hit it. Yet leaves more room on the dash

That’s a sweet shop and toolbox!

Crazy_Carl wrote:

That’s a sweet shop and toolbox!

right on, made a short corny video of all my junk....& the project. Got my carb kit today, so drained the tank and took off all the lines...

I like your jeeps ! I need a fridge in my shop ! oh never mind , i had a monster out there while i was working today and i ended up drinking a slush instead.

biggasmowers wrote:

I like your jeeps ! I need a fridge in my shop ! oh never mind , i had a monster out there while i was working today and i ended up drinking a slush instead.

It was like that up here the last two weeks, put any drink down outsize and it was slush in minutes. It just snowed 4" here this morning....

still stripping parts, I don't know the right way to take these lift deck handles are but I couldn't figure it out & just cut the handle & pulled the rest out....Probably fill the ugly hole with a patch panel at some point....

It is easier to just pull it out in pieces than take it apart . there are slide pins and clips . the shafts slide into eachother and get rusted together i think.

Cleaned up a few more things and measured up for where i am going to cut the frame in half...need to get a few more jack stands to get everything supported.

Nice, I think Craftsmans look better without the dorky fenders.

well , the new fender style is crappy, but i love the look of my LT 4000.

Yeah, the garden tractors look great

Any older mower looks great as long as its not an mtd..... Like the simplicity hood he got at the scrap yard, it looks great !