Craftsman LT1000 Project

Okay guys I have had this mower for a couple of months now. When I first got the thing it wouldn't run, I had to do some carb cleaning and a few other things but its been running and I have been driving it around a little the past month or so. I've been wanting to do some upgrades and put some work into it to turn it into a mud and trail mower. List of things I want to do include:
Locker the rear( pretty sure its a peerless transaxle) 6spd
Pulley Swap Front and Rear. 5" on both I think is what I want
Separate the Brakes From Clutch (put bicycle brake handle on gearshifter for brakes) idea from fearless front
New Belt
Make better foot pedal for gas throttle
Paint
New and bigger tires all around

So today I started tearing her down and hopeful to spend a little time and money on it as I get the time and money. lil here and a lil there. This is where it sits at the moment. Will try to update as I get stuff done on it.

As you can see on the last pic the transaxle pulley is pretty rusty and id say is seized to the shaft but I haven't done anymore to it since those pics other than pressure wash everything so I can paint frame and cab and all.. Was wondering if anyone out there may have some tips or advice for me when I go to tear out the trans and lock that thing and pulley swap from a 9" to a 5" pulley.. any info I would appreciate it.. hopeful to get going on this build pretty soon. time and money are hard to come by these days..but hopeful I will eventually get there and it will all be worth it. I have never locked a transaxle but have watched Fearless Front's very helpful video on how to do so but everyone does things a little different so any advice on the rearend of this thing will be awesome.. Thanks for the info ahead of time guys.. I know a lot of you on here are far more experienced than me..

lt1000mudder wrote:

As you can see on the last pic the transaxle pulley is pretty rusty and id say is seized to the shaft but I haven't done anymore to it since those pics other than pressure wash everything so I can paint frame and cab and all.. Was wondering if anyone out there may have some tips or advice for me when I go to tear out the trans and lock that thing and pulley swap from a 9" to a 5" pulley.. any info I would appreciate it.. hopeful to get going on this build pretty soon. time and money are hard to come by these days..but hopeful I will eventually get there and it will all be worth it. I have never locked a transaxle but have watched Fearless Front's very helpful video on how to do so but everyone does things a little different so any advice on the rearend of this thing will be awesome.. Thanks for the info ahead of time guys.. I know a lot of you on here are far more experienced than me..

Go to You Tube and look up Fearlessfront he has a video showing how to lock them.

Doug did a really good write up on how to lock them I'm all ways possible.

https://www.atltf.com/t3217-how-to-transaxle-locking-methods

Thanks guys I have seen some of the videos on youtube by Fearless and redneck computer geek and I think I have decided to go with fearless' way of locking the thing. don't look to hard. im not a good welder so im prolly going to take it to a shop and pay someone a lil to weld the thing up for me. Also if anyone has any tips or ways of removing the transaxle pulley on one of this things I would love the feedback. I can tell by looking at how rusty the thing is that its going to be trouble getting it off. It has a 9" pulley on it right now and im wanting to put a 5" pulley from tsc on it to give me some more speed. Appreciate it guys.

lt1000mudder wrote:

Thanks guys I have seen some of the videos on youtube by Fearless and redneck computer geek and I think I have decided to go with fearless' way of locking the thing. don't look to hard. im not a good welder so im prolly going to take it to a shop and pay someone a lil to weld the thing up for me. Also if anyone has any tips or ways of removing the transaxle pulley on one of this things I would love the feedback. I can tell by looking at how rusty the thing is that its going to be trouble getting it off. It has a 9" pulley on it right now and im wanting to put a 5" pulley from tsc on it to give me some more speed. Appreciate it guys.

Get a plumbers torch and candle, Heat just the pulley at the collar, then take a candle and put it to the metal and melt some wax in the area of the pulley and shaft mating surface. let it cool then try gently using a hammer or pulley puller. If needed use a impact to help.

thanks man. I really appreciate the info. I have seen redneck computer geek do something similar to that to get one of. the only thing I have at the moment is a lp torch. one of those that goes on the lil 1lb disposable bottles. do you think that would be enough heat? and im going to wait until I have the money to get the new pulley and get the locker welded up before I even tear it apart. do most machine shops do welding like that. I know they do exhausts and things on vehicles but would you think that they would do something like that for the money?? thanks for all the info? also do you think 5" pulley on front and back would be good for lil more speed but still good for climbing and mudding?

Ok guys. Got to work on the tractor a little today. Mostly painting. Decided to go with Cat yellow on the frame and got most of it done. Tomorrow hope to get all the painting done on the frame, cab, and hood and get the motor put back on and wired up. Hopeful to do test fire tomoro make sure motor still fires right up. also hoping to get hood put back on. Next thing will be tearing the trans out to lock and change pulley size. Few other little things to do. Work in progress
Let me know what you think about the yellow..

nice man love the paint looks good together