Craftsman mudder brakes

Hey y’all. What’s everyone running for brakes on their machines? I really tried to make the stock one work but it’s just not gonna do what I want. Right now my top choices are a single band brake inside the wheel or a hydraulic caliper and rotor on the input shaft of the transaxle. Problem is that the diff has to be welded for either of those to be effective. Currently I’m running stock cut tires and an open diff and traction is limited. I think I’m going to run some sport atv tires and I would like to leave the diff open because I know once I weld it the chances of blowing it up are higher. I also ride it on the road sometimes and use it as a tractor around the yard so I would rather not leave tire marks everywhere.

Please post info on your machine and what rear diff it has in it if you know/can find out. Pictures of both would also be helpful.

If properly adjusted, the factory brakes will stop you... if not much more than 20mph. You can put a rotor and hydraulic caliper on the existing brake location. I've seen this on youtube but can't recall who.
If you dont want to lock the transaxle, you could put a rotor/caliper on each axle half (rear) and actuate them together. This would really give breaking power. I cant speak from experience about band brakes but I'm following @MightyRaze https://www.atltf.com/t6531p150-li-l-red-3-0-growing-up-to-be-red#117306 where he is removing his band brake. I think its not as effective as was expected, but hopefully he can explain.

For the record, lawn destruction happens from repeated laps on the same area whether or not the rear is locked. I cruise around the yard with no problems and its been pretty wet here lately. Drive responsibly when you want to save the turf from damage and no problem.

As long as your not doing hard clutch drops on the road, the locked rear will be fine. wheelies and hard clutch drops are whats destructive to transaxles locked or unlocked. A Doc-locker (Doc Sprocket) with bearings is very strong and requires no welding, just some grinder work. Locked will provide much more traction and will grab on unstable terrain where unlocked would sit and spin. Just food for thought. Whatever you decide, it only needs to make you happy and serve your specific needs, but keep us posted on your progress. We all learn from this and there are great people here who will help brainstorm

My bad, after further review, MightyRaze has a drum brake... sorry

Dr Bob wrote:

My bad, after further review, MightyRaze has a drum brake... sorry

You were right... it is a band brake. I mistakenly say drum all the time.  I should know better by now.  It's not effective because since the 820 doesn't really have oil seals... the oil that weeps out collects in the band brake making it ineffective.  If I were to do it over, disk would be best.  oh and washers up next to the transaxle to direct any weeping.  LOL

MightyRaze wrote:

You were right... it is a band brake. I mistakenly say drum all the time.

The band runs on a drum so don't beat yourself up over it! Lol

Beat your drum!

Boombadaboombadaboombadaboomboom. Lol

I have a Spicer 6 speed. I think the stock brakes aren’t working very well because the seal leaks grease all over the rotor. When they are clean they kinda work. I thought about replacing the stock rotor and running a hydraulic caliper but say I run a 6” rotor, it’ll leave me less than 6” of ground clearance. I like the idea of the input shaft mounted rotor but I’m not sure if I’m going to weld the diff.

I would personally replace the seal, get/install new pucks and roughen up the surface of the rotor before conceding defeat. It could potentially work better than expected and save you a bunch of time and money! If it doesn't work out to your liking you haven't wasted much time or money and know you don't have a leaky seal anymore.

I may try again at the stock. Another thing I noticed with it is that it gets hot easily because the rotor is so small. One time when I cleaned the grease off I noticed that it was kinda purple as if it had gotten really hot. Also my handbrake linkage makes it so you push and I really want it to be a pull, which I would be able to do with a hydraulic master.

MudMachine95 wrote:

my handbrake linkage makes it so you push and I really want it to be a pull, which I would be able to do with a hydraulic master.

You could cheaply and easily build a "bellcrank" to make your push lever a pull lever. If the rotor is getting THAT hot though that's definetly not good! Lol