project CraftsmanQuad

....That's the original 30 year old paint lol

Took it for a snow romp today. Went back to moms with the wagon to get my weekend stuff, and on my way back I hit a snowdrift that was hiding in the glare. Stopped me real quick. Once I got back to dads and got the wagon unhooked I went back to try it again. Made it through, but stalled the engine in the high gears. Really needs that bigger 13 horse. Also needs new fronts, just gotta get funds together for that. Dunno what I’ll get just yet. I’ll get whatever the atv place has used with decent tread in about the size I want. I’m not too picky lol

My 12.5 has a shaved head, wide bore carb, no governor and a cold air intake and produces like 15-16 HP.  Might look into that.

I won’t shave the head, because that cuts flow. I’ll probably port it and shave the eyebrows, possibly an OHV Cam. That’s if I end up doing anything to it though. I’ll probably just leave it and look around for a vanguard if I can score one cheap. For now I’m happy with a flathead single because I don’t want to redo my exhaust lol

I have the solution CQ!



Hahaha, just kidding.

Lmao nah you guys have convinced me to stay away from oppys

Working on a bumper tonight. Got everything mocked up. Will get a good drill bit tomorrow at TSC. It’s nothing special, just a factory MTD GT bumper, but I think it fits the style I’m going for, or at least provides a base. I’ll get more pics tomorrow when it’s done

CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

Lmao nah you guys have convinced me to stay away from oppys

Say it ain't so!

All those starter gears and tempermental carbs. No thanks. Plus the weight and fuel and oiling difficulty. Those oil slingers are known for going out and the upper rod doesn’t really get enough oil for high rpm to begin with

Bumper looks good. Need something to protect the middle though, unless you want a stump to bash in the front of your frame.

Why screw around trying to get power out of a single when you can just get a good ol' bulletproof oppy with tons of power, right from the factory? You can mod the starter to save starter gears. Carbs aren't temperamental if you keep clean fuel in them and don't let them sit with ethanol. They don't weigh THAT much. They don't have a problem with oiling if you keep oil in them, plus overfilling them like 1/4" over the full line helps a lot. Or you can just get a pressure lube, no problems whatsoever then! Really don't get how anybody has these problems with oppys. I think people just screw things up themselves and just blame it on the engine. You can put minimal time and effort into these engines and they'll last you a lifetime, really. I sure as hell didn't oppy swap Orion because the single was a good engine.

You just couldn’t get the carb right

If i cared enough about it I would've. Thing had no power anyways, and was a freaking disaster to hook up a foot throttle.

Lol that’s why I don’t have a foot throttle. I like the cruise more

But you can't mash gears with the hand throttle bud. That's no fun.

Lol I can. Clearly I have a different driving style than you...and building style...and engine taste...hahaha

I'm tellin ya man, you're not gonna have a 30mph tractor with a fixed throttle, that just doesn't go. Gotta be able to shift on the fly lol

I actually don't notice all that much of a difference in weight between a flathead single and an opposed. Obviously there is a difference, but to me not enough to worry about. it. Also I think the starter gear stripping is only a problem on aftermarket starters.

Lol I still like the sound of a vtwin better. If this 13 horse is a dud or dies on me, I’ll go with a vtwin

They do sound nice.

I’ve got an idea for lighting finally. I’ll weld two tabs onto the top of the bumper and mount a roughly 12 inch light bar. This will be after I put on the wiring harness and have a battery lol

Hey guys. Progress report:

Pulled the motor tonight, cleaned all the crud off the frame (scrubbed with denatured alcohol and a towel). And painted. Starts swapping my pull start over but I have to swap the whole flywheel. The new one has the plastic fins. Anyway, pics of current state


Notice in the first pic you can see the mounting lines of the original oppy twin.

This thing had an oppy originally?!? Put it back! It'll be so much better than that little wimpy 11hp! Or don't i guess...do what you want...have fun stalling this thing every few seconds...

Bumper looks ok I guess. What size bolts did you use to mount it?

Huh, I never knew this thing had an opposed on it at any point
How come no electric start on this rig CQ?

It think it came with a 15hp opposed? Like this...

Rich: I had to take the oppy off because the guy that gave me the mower wanted to keep it for his pull behind mower. He gave me the 11 horse with it, and I’m upgrading to a 13. Should be a little better, but I really want a vtwin

AK: I don’t have electric start because I’m too cheap for a battery and I haven’t made a wiring harness yet. It’s just easy enough to pull start it. Plus I hate wiring, so I’m putting it off as long as I can. I hope to have functioning electric start and lights by haspin though

I can’t remember what oppy it had mighty, but I remember it wasn’t anything special. Only a 40 or 42 cube, very common and fairly low horsepower. It wasn’t a big deal to me. I did find a 21 horse 46 cube oppy at the junkyard with very good compression I thought about picking up. Just don’t know what I’d put it on. Was a newer one too. Like 2001 or something. It was at least 2000