1976 Sears Craftsman Eager 1 RATROD/HOTROD

Thanks Rich! I think I can come up with something for a carb.

On a side note anyone know a trick to getting rusted rims off of the axles? I'm thinking about just taking both axles out and just setting them in a press, little heat and some penetrating oil should come out but anyone have a better way?

If you want to save the rim... yeah heat is the best.  If you don't want to save the rim, you can carefully cut them off.

Like mighty said, angle grinder never fails. If you're driving them out, make sure the end of the shaft doesn't mushroom. That's the important part.

That is very important...

I having a great time.
These transmissions are weird as heck!

That a peerless 600?  @AllisKidD21 knows a lot about them.

Yeah it's a 600. Once I got it all apart it actually is alot simpler than my wheel horse. Definitely a pretty weak transaxle but I guess I'm use to the 85 pound cast iron pure bread MERICA! Transaxles. But I do appreciate how light it is.

Yep, the good ol' Peerless 600! Those things are great, definitely my favorite vertical input transaxle.

Well I dug out what use to be a snap ring and a needle bearing....the rest of it was just mush. Some of the gears are pretty worn but they're good enough for me so I'm gonna run em anyways.

The carnage

The mowrons ran 600s in their first batch of tractors. Don’t know what exactly broke, but they said they broke them a lot. It be ok for lighter off roading but a big pulley swap and a vtwin or oppy would probably kill it pretty quick.

AK is kind of the 600 guru, so he is the one to ask about weak points and where to find parts

Will do!    I found everything I need on searspartsdirect suprisingly.

I did polish the input shaft because I heated it up to get the pulley off. Basically I just do it the old school way and use some 400 grit and spray it down with oil (I used WD40) then hand sand it till it's not gritty anymore, then I used some mother's mag polish to polish it up. You dont have to use mothers just any ol metal polish will work. I've used brasso in the past but that stuff smells like pure cancer in a bottle so I used mother's this time around.....plus it's way better anyways. (This also works on crankshafts but use some sort of string to wrap around the sandpaper so you can work it from all sides.)

Before


After

Wow, that's pretty good! I'll have to try that on some stuff!

@CraftsmanQuad19 wrote:

a big pulley swap and a vtwin or oppy would probably kill it pretty quick.

If prepped right a pulley swap and big engine isn't gonna kill it, just the same as any other lawn tractor transaxle. Not like there are any shift keys to wear out or anything, and they are already oil filled.

Lots of racers use the ol' 600's with good luck but there are a couple things that need addressed before running the high speeds that they do.

Well I knocked out what's left of that bearing. I'm not sure how the heck these get lubricated because there is a seal on the outside of the aluminum case and there is no gasket between the case and the axle housing so I'm not sure if you're supposed to fill up the axle housings with oil or what.

Did some work on one of the case halves. Inside it was chewed up from those peices of bearing and snap ring floating around in there. So I just plugged up the bearing and the bushing, then took a dremel with a sanding wheel and just smoothed it all out.

Well I need some opinions on clear coat. I'm not sure which to do either satin or gloss. Gloss really brings out the color and also makes it easier to clean but it gets too glossy and I kinda want my rust to look like rust. Satin just kinda fades away and you really cant tell you even painted it....cant feel it either but it keeps it the way it looks now. I dont know which one I like and honestly I could just go semi gloss but I dont know what that looks like. Just need some opinions.


On the left side of the yellow line is gloss and on the right side is the satin.

Seen the black frame on a craftsman. That is semi gloss.

Well I managed to get a bunch of carburetors that my grandfather had for spare parts so hopefully I can make one good one out of these.

Carb kits are pretty reasonable and give you parts that may need.  I use to cannibalize, now I get kits.  They work out so much better.

I'm getting a carb kit but I just needed a float bowl, needle, the float bowl shaft, and spring for the idle adjustment screw. I know I can just buy all of that new but I'm cheap and I'm also cheap.

@BlakeGroce wrote:

I know I can just buy all of that new but I'm cheap and I'm also cheap.

I mean why buy it if you don't have to!

600s have always seemed stout to me. I've seen plenty around here. Usually the first thing to break on a vertical input trans is the case, and it seems to me that would one of the last things that would break on a 600.

Yeah it's pretty thick! I really had low expectations of it since its aluminum and only having 3/4 inch axles but it's a nice little transaxle.

Also got my bearings ordered for it today and my carb kit. Gotta order my seal kit next so I can get this thing back together!

Well I just realized that theres a bunch of stuff that I've done but havent mentioned.

First off my dad took the rear rims to work and pressed the axles out. Waiting on getting them sandblasted. I'll probably paint them white.


I also painted yhe axle shafts satin black.

Also does anyone know what type of steering this is? It has SO MUCH play in it that it wont even turn left and turns to the right just a little bit. The front axle is also wore slam out so I'm sure that's not helping.

That joint there on the drag link looks awful loose. Might be a big part of the slop