Craftsman rally project

> JUMP TO LATEST UPDATE < (August 19th 2020)

Hey all! I'm new to the forum, so I figured the best way to introduce myself was to show you my project. I started late last summer and it's been a little slow going since I don't have any kind of shed or garage to work in and it tends to be somewhat wet here in the Pacific Northwest.



This is earlier on in the build after I installed two 6" light bars in place of the original bulbs. I think I already had the pulley swap done at this point as well. I replaced the rear 9" pulley with a 3.5". (The front is also 3.5", so now the ratio is 1:1.) I hope to upgrade the clutch to a double-pulley setup at some point to make room for a larger pulley up front.




This is pretty much where the project is now. I installed bigger, more aggressive wheels on the back and swapped the fenders out for some that had more clearance since the wheels rubbed the original fenders and I didn't like the idea of cutting them to make room. I'm currently in the process of making a battery tray so I can have the battery up front. (The new fenders are designed to have a gas tank under them, rather than a battery.)


Here's what I have done so far:

• Rear pulley swap
  
• Engine swap (15hp Kohler Command)
  
• Bigger rear wheels (Thinking I may want to get some that are just a bit smaller. Maybe 23" or 22" instead of 25".)
  
• Fender swap
  

My to-do list:

• Finish fabrication and painting of the battery tray
  
• Figure out a foot throttle (I don't want to use the bicycle break-lever solution)
  
• Larger wheels for the front
  
• Repair cracks in frame next to the front axle (both left and right sides)
  
• Front pulley swap?
  
• Double-pulley clutch?
  
• Paint (thinking maybe Cub Cadet yellow and black)
  

And finally, my "wish" list:

• Find someone to help me fabricate some mounting hardware to install the suspension, a-arms and hubs (basically the front end) from a parts ATV
  
• Replace the steering assembly with the handlebars and stem from my parts ATV (also considering using the thumb-throttle that's on it?)
  
• Strengthen the frame
  
• Make it street legal (I think it'd be fun to drive it around town on errands. )
  

One of the things I want to avoid doing is making permanent changes to the frame or body, as I'd like to be able to easily revert any changes if I don't like something or I want to make a modification.

I recently got a Briggs 18hp opposed twin that I want to put in it, but I'll need to find a way to raise the hood so that it'll clear the larger engine.

Welcome to ATLTF!! Looks like you got a great project going on here!

Welcome and nice project!

@AllisKidD21 wrote:

Welcome to ATLTF!! Looks like you got a great project going on here!

@MightyRaze wrote:

Welcome and nice project!

Thanks guys!  


Got a bit of progress to share with y'all.  Since my last post I've swapped in an opposed twin and just yesterday I finished putting together and installing my custom-made battery tray.  No paint on it yet (other than what was already on there), but it was kind of quick and dirty to begin with so I may just leave it as is.





I took it out for a quick top speed run and got about 15 mph, but it got a bit too tippy for my tastes so I think I'm going to get some smaller tires for the back and use the larger ones for another project. (I have a red '89 MTD that I want to start on.)  I want to lower the seat as well, but that would mean switching to a smaller gas tank and relocating it.  Just gotta figure out what I can do with the resources I have.

Looks good! Took me a while to realize you swapped the fenders before I read your post, lol. Maybe you could go with a lower height rally type build, those usually turn out pretty well. How much of the hood do you have to cut to make it fit?

The current plan is to find some metal that I can make a riser bracket out of to raise the front of the hood about 2", then I need to make some kind of spacer to lift the back.  I also plan to cut out a hood scoop at some point. (I know I'd be permanently modifying it, but I think it'd be worth it in this case.)

Craftsman actually made a modified version of the hood that's meant to fit a twin under it.  Woulda made things a lot easier if I had been able to find one of these and just start out with it...

But yeah, as far as ride height, something closer to stock wheel size would be preferable.  I've been looking at tires on Amazon, but I'm having a bit of trouble deciding which one would be best for a rally-style build.  Here's what I'm looking at:

SunF A003 19x9.5-8
SunF A051 Power.II 18x9.5-8
AR DONGFANG 18x9.5x8

These ones are a bit bigger, but not as big as the 25-inchers I have on now:
SunF A032 22x11-8
SunF A030 22x10-8

Thoughts?


Also, I just realized that I failed to mention that this is my first time building a mower.  Been watching lots of YouTube vids by folks like Doc Sprocket and chud327 (just to name a couple) and wanted to get in on the action.

It's a fun hobby, but can get costly. It will teach you patience waiting on that right part to show up. It will teach you frustration when you decided to go a different direction with the build and the parts show up after you have reached the point of no return. Just remember to have fun with it, be patient, and the first one will have some nostalgic vibes to it, but it will give way to many more projects.

@MightyRaze wrote:

It's a fun hobby, but can get costly.  It will teach you patience waiting on that right part to show up. It will teach you frustration when you decided to go a different direction with the build and the parts show up after you have reached the point of no return.  Just remember to have fun with it, be patient, and the first one will have some nostalgic vibes to it, but it will give way to many more projects.

Well said!


Pretty neat build you got going on here! I've seen the modified version of your hood, but they never really looked right.

@Murraymountain wrote:

Pretty neat build you got going on here! I've seen the modified version of your hood, but they never really looked right.

Yeah, I kinda worry that it may look a bit too weird and I won't like it. I've seen vids where people have a v-twin under the style of hood that I have without any apparent fitment issues. It's part of why I wanted to make the riser bracket bolt-on instead of welding it so that if I get a hold of a v-twin somewhere down the road I can easily take it back down to stock hood height. (It'd be a win-win too, since I'd be able to swap the oppy onto the MTD.)

Those 19.5s might be a bit on the big side, could interfere with the hood. Although I bought a set of 18x6.5-8 carlisle snow hogs once and they were only like 16.5" tall. So maybe the 19s would work just fine with the hood riser.

@RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Those 19.5s might be a bit on the big side, could interfere with the hood. Although I bought a set of 18x6.5-8 carlisle snow hogs once and they were only like 16.5" tall. So maybe the 19s would work just fine with the hood riser.

Oh! I thought you were talking about cutting the hood to make the engine fit! I'm waiting on buying front tires 'til I can find some 8" rims since the ones on it now are only 6".  The tires I linked are ones I'm considering for the rear.

Oh alright, lol. Yeah, 8" front rims seem hard to come by til you get a set and don't need any more, then they're everywhere. I think 20s on the back and 16s on the front would come out not much taller than stock height. I had a Murray widebody set up like that, it was alright to run around on trails and stuff. Would've been better with a locked diff though.

@PlasticMechanic wrote:

@Murraymountain wrote:

Pretty neat build you got going on here! I've seen the modified version of your hood, but they never really looked right.

Yeah, I kinda worry that it may look a bit too weird and I won't like it.  I've seen vids where people have a v-twin under the style of hood that I have without any apparent fitment issues.  It's part of why I wanted to make the riser bracket bolt-on instead of welding it so that if I get a hold of a v-twin somewhere down the road I can easily take it back down to stock hood height.  (It'd be a win-win too, since I'd be able to swap the oppy onto the MTD.)

The grey ones I have had (w/opposed engine), use the same hood as yours, the the hinge brackets or mounting is just longer & the hood sits up about 2.5" higher, there is a plastic panel that fills in the gap.

Now I know what good to look for for the mk2, I never knew there was a difference. Thank you!

A hammer makes everything fit! Or nah maybe not...

Making it street legal would be cool. It depends on the state your in and if you can register it for the road too easy. In a lot of states, people register mini bikes and stuff like that no problem. You'd have to do some research on that and see what the best way would be to go about it. I know that in upstate new york for example, ATV's/UTV's can be used on back roads if registered. (I think)

Front suspension makes a huge difference too. Even with the back end still solid, the front suspension keeps the machine from hopping all over the place as much. When I did mine, I was surprised at how much better it handled. I just did a mono-link setup though with a straight front axle. Independent would be even better.

@mrshaft696 wrote:

@PlasticMechanic wrote:

@Murraymountain wrote:

Pretty neat build you got going on here! I've seen the modified version of your hood, but they never really looked right.

Yeah, I kinda worry that it may look a bit too weird and I won't like it.  I've seen vids where people have a v-twin under the style of hood that I have without any apparent fitment issues.  It's part of why I wanted to make the riser bracket bolt-on instead of welding it so that if I get a hold of a v-twin somewhere down the road I can easily take it back down to stock hood height.  (It'd be a win-win too, since I'd be able to swap the oppy onto the MTD.)

The grey ones I have had (w/opposed engine), use the same hood as yours, the the hinge brackets or mounting is just longer & the hood sits up about 2.5" higher, there is a plastic panel that fills in the gap.

That's the one I was talking about.

Hey, just popping in to say I'm still alive.  Sadly haven't made any real progress on the tractor, but I do have some minor updates to share:

First is that I ended up getting rid of the red MTD that I previously mentioned.  The front axle looked a bit worse for wear and I decided that I didn't want to deal with it.

I have since acquired three other mowers.  The first is a green Craftsman with a 17hp Briggs that seems to be leaking oil from up front somewhere (hoping it's just the valve cover), while the second is a green MTD that I bought for the engine.  The goal for these two is to keep what I want for my project and get them running and cutting to then sell.

The third is a gray Craftsman from just before they switched to green for their riding mowers.  My plan is to make this my new primary project as the hood is large enough that I feel I could fit pretty much whatever engine I wanted in there.  I'll need to swap the trans-axle over from the old project, and I'll probably swap over the wiring since I already trimmed out most of the extra wires that I didn't need.

Hopefully I'll be able to take some photos to share soon.  Hadn't thought to take pictures before and now we've got rain in the forecast for the next few days.

Not a photo of the actual mower, but looks just like it:



Thinking I'll likely set up the old project with a single-cylinder motor after I find another manual trans to replace the one I'll be taking out.

Still need to get some better wheels for the front, but it's back together and driving!



Though it's nice to finally have a hood over the engine again, I already have another engine swap planned.  I picked up another running Craftsman mower with a (20hp?) Briggs v-twin in it and am looking forward to that v-twin sound.

Nice little minibike!.

So are you going to put the original hood back on over the v twin?

Whew, it's been a while.  'bout time to get this project going again...

@RichieRichOverdrive wrote:

Nice little minibike!.

So are you going to put the original hood back on over the v twin?

Maybe if it fits, but I have my doubts.  I have another frame I can test it out on before doing the actual swap.