Craftsman 10/38 11/38 12/38 builds

I have a question...can you go a little more in depth on your shifter because I'd like to make one on my rally too.

I used the deck lift adjustment shaft, welded a new, shorter handle to it. Welded a tab to it and attached the tab to the shifter arm on the transmission with a cut to length tie rod. Pretty simple really. I'll try to remember to take pics later, but right now the tractor is loaded in the truck for our Haspin trip!

Note: Stretch actually did the welding because I suck at it.

If you still have the stock deck handle, you can use it. You can even weld up the notches, then cut a new notch where neutral is, so it locks in neutral. We did this to one tractor.

A old steering tie rod works well, to go between transmission and deck handle. We've done 5 of them now, once you figure it out, not hard.

Here ya go, fearless did a good video on it.

Nice high quality builds!

If you wouldn't mind could you go a little more in depth as to how you reinforced/modified you steering boxes I would like to do something similar.

Post 3, pic one, shows a pic of a modified gear box, and a empty steering box.

Where the shaft goes sideways through the box, we drilled out to 1in, then welded in 1in OD x 3/4 ID bushings. Installed a lock collar against the large gear to tighten it against the small gear. Welded a short piece of 3/8's rod across the gap to keep it from spreading apart. Drilled and installed grease zerks on the new bushings.

Later on we welded the large gear to the shaft, keyways were getting loose on them.

@Creepycrawler wrote:

Nice high quality builds!

Thanks man, it took us a long time to solve all (or most anyways) of the breakage problems. They are very reliable compared to the ones we used to run, where we would work on them for 2 or 3 hours for every hour of play.

@TheRainbowBoxer wrote:

we would work on them for 2 or 3 hours for every hour of play.

That's a nasty work-to-play ratio. I'm glad you've got the major bugs hammered out now.

I've finally found the time to read through this thread completely. I think you've done a fantastic job of putting these machines together and making them work for you. I particularly like the alternative of swapping in a live axle instead of welding the diff. What's not there, can't fail.

I also appreciate the methods you used to address the shortcomings in the factory stock steering system. Guaranteed to take the ambiguity out of it, and it'll go where you point it.

Cheers!

Thanks for the props, you got some pretty nice work also.

Ratio was closer to 1 to 1 on the work/play, but still way more than we wanted. Not counting build time, new ones are much better. 5 tractors were ran 15-20 hours during haspin, and we had about 5 hours of repair time. Most of that was blown engine, and repairing a whoops inside of a couple transmissions. Also about 8 hours of work getting ready. So 75-100 hours of runtime to 13 hours of work. Not perfect, but getting much better.

Some have asked about the mods to improve the craftsman steering box.  I took the pic in the thread and added some pointers. I goofed up on the pic, the lock collar is still there actually, the weld is on the other side of that gear. Oops.

Also a bushing with grease zerk next to lock collar... Sounds like we need another pic!

So I see that you guys lowered them I can understand how you lowered the front, but how did you lower the back?  Was it just by smaller rear tires?

We notched the rear fender piece so it would sit down over the frame, removed the framework that holds the seat up higher, and bolted the seat assembly right to the frame.

Since pics are worth many words...

LOL okay derp on my fault, I thought you raised the trans up into the frame to make it sit lower.       LOL
                                                                             

I really like the brake idea is it just a floating rotor? help in place by the caliper? Or it is welded to the axle or by a set screw or something.. Just curious

The rotor is held in place by lock collars. The caliper floats on rails welded to the tractor.

@Stretch44875 wrote:

The handle with the ball as a shifter knob to the right, is that a shifter? If so how do you like it? im thinking about the same set up...

All three have the side shifter, and work well. Fearless did a video on it, for the craftsman's, that was the basic idea we followed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vVST9WD5YQ

Do you guys run regular ball bearings or high speed bearings on your rigs?  How do they hold up?

They are a high speed ball bearing, from Ebay. Even so, they do need replaced about once a year.

dude this tractor of yours is really cool. I'd love to have a crack at a craftsman

It took us years to make them relatively dependable. Now I can romp the crap out of it, jump it, race it, run it into things, etc, and it just keeps going.

Not to be a gnat but do y'all have a picture of how you routed your throttle cable to the gov?

We bypass the governor on all of our engines. We hook direct to the throttle. Stretch might have a pic of exactly how lying around...

I see how you notch the rear fenders and mount them directly to the channel frame but how is the seat mounted to the fenders? Does it just flap and not have the rear springs anymore? is the rear even held down?