The 89 Craftsman big quad

This is another project I picked up yesterday. the plan is to build a little quad that goes 15-20 and has the characteristics of a mini quad (50 cc) so I have 20" atv nobbies for the front and 21" for the rear  I plan on keeping it stock appearing, (paint wise) and  have a push mower engine to power it. It should get good fuel consumption, and it will be used primarily for driving around trails or roads that I don't need to have much power. (parades) so I am probably making a stack for it or maybe a rear exit behind the rear fenders. It will have a foote transaxle (6 speed) and gas pedal, and a hand break using the deck lever.





I need lots of projects so if I get stuck on one I can work on another for a while.

EDIT!!! It is a big quad now, not mini quad! See page 4 for update!

Nice! Something to look forward too!! I like the idea of having a tractor crossed with the consept of a mini quad. I`d love to see how that push mower engine turns out, it will be really easy on gas!

Is that a Tecumseh push mower engine? Pic is kinda grainy, but the tin work has that rounded look to it... Anyway, looks neat. You can probably pick up almost free replacement engines of that size pretty easily, so no problem if you blow it up. Even new stock parts are a lot cheaper for those small engines.

its a briggs 9 ci and I have another thats an 11 sitting around, so yeah I don't really care. Sorry for the bad pics, the camera is almost 11 years old so it an't the best.

Alright! Another kick at the can! Good luck!

This whole mower used to be mine LOL but sometimes thing s have to go... I did a bunch of work to that motor when I has it, I dicked the head, and poterd and polished it, and removed a lot of restrictions in the head itself.

Got the engine running and put in transaxle tires and belt. drove around, no power whatsoever, so I am going to try a different carb/gas tank combo cause it ran out of gas every 15 min so it sucked. may try the rear mount tank. but I got it up to 25 mph. fixed the hood. need to figure out the shifter.



the engine

AwesomE! I would put a head gasket on first, that might help... LOL... But cool! That shifter was a pain when I had it... I couldn't figure it out

Why does that look like a old 3 hp or is that like a 7hp rear engine rider engine?

Carshowkid wrote:

Why does that look like a old 3 hp or is that like a 7hp rear engine rider engine?

Well I think it is a 3.5hp Briggs because he said he was using a push mower engine

I installed an 8hp briggs in this cause the push mower didn't have enough power for me. could barely take off in first gear, and finally it stopped running, so I upgraded.

put on a quad muffler.



and little bumper to protect the plastic hood.

I got a vid of the exhaust sound with the engine running.

Is that 8hp briggs motor the one that caught fire in your Montgomery wards?

MatthewD wrote:

Is that 8hp briggs motor the one that caught fire in your Montgomery wards?

Sí. and it just seized. 3 times. so a 12 hp tecumseh ohv is next...

TBH I'd try and repair the 8hp, I've one in the garage with a missing throttle assembly that I can't get anywhere but I'd love to have it running, they are such nice little engines!

It just seized 3 times?

Lets back up a second. In the video it sounded like you said, "let's see if it starts". If so, it sounds like that is the first time, at least in a while, that you have tried starting it up.

Yet, once started, you took it up to max revs, and kept it there. Then kept revving it.

Then the vid stops suddenly. Is that one of the 3 times it seized up?

Was that pipe aftermarket because i have a 1987 suzuki lt230 and it don't have that pipe

My throttle hsa a locked setting and as soon as I could I released it and wen to idle. my camera was acting up and I don't know why it stopped. I released the throttle as soon as it started. no, it did not seize in the vid. it seized, I put some oil in the cylinder and drained and replaced the oil in the crankcase, and I turned it over with a pair of locking pliers and it started spinning freely, so I started it up and it ran for 10 min and then seized. repeated the above steps, and it was instant repeat, only now it is completely seized and i can't unseize it. the pipe could be aftermarket, the previous owner of the qud was racing it and had an aftermarket carb on it.

1997 Murray wrote:

My throttle hsa a locked setting and as soon as I could I released it and wen to idle. my camera was acting up and I don't know why it stopped. I released the throttle as soon as it started. no, it did not seize in the vid. it seized, I put some oil in the cylinder and drained and replaced the oil in the crankcase, and I turned it over with a pair of locking pliers and it started spinning freely, so I started it up and it ran for 10 min and then seized. repeated the above steps, and it was instant repeat, only now it is completely seized and i can't unseize it. the pipe could be aftermarket, the previous owner of the qud was racing it and had an aftermarket carb on it.  

OUCH!!

Have you taken the bottom off the engine yet, to see if maybe the governor has broken and a piece of it got stuck somewhere?

I have not. will do tomarrow.

the oil slinger broke. whatever I got a 12 hp now. I put on a mikuni fuel pump and now it goes up hills without dieing. I guess the next thing is put direct steering on it so I can use big front tires without stripping out the gearbox.

1997 Murray wrote:

the oil slinger broke. whatever I got a 12 hp now. I put on a mikuni fuel pump and now it goes up hills without dieing. I guess the next thing is put direct steering on it so I can use big front tires without stripping out the gearbox.

All is not lost!

You learned something. It's always a good day when you learn something!

Could we have some pictures of the engine damage? Doesn't that have one of those plastic paddle style dippers that runs off the camshaft gear? I've heard people say they can go bad but never saw one that did. What happens to them, just wear out and strips the teeth off?

ok I got a short corny video of me starting it and backing up and going forward lol I had to get to school so no time for a romp vid.