Craftsman Mud/Light speed mower

Brianator wrote:

Your rear tires are holding you back in the mud for sure but there is all kinds of different mud too! Lol. I find that JUST enough wheel speed to clear the treads gets me through mud better than alot of wheel speed above that point but for sure a locked rear is great in mud! Nothing in regards to a name is jumping out at me yet but I'll let you know if anything does!

Part of the issue is I don't have much in the way of tread in the middle, only on the side which is better for trails anyways.

This is true but tires are replaceable and I've seen good used pairs of ATV tires that would fit on Kijiji in my area for as low as $100 so keep your eyes open!

Don't give up the mud hole diving dream! Just put it on hold for a bit!  Lol

Brianator wrote:

Your rear tires are holding you back in the mud for sure but there is all kinds of different mud too! Lol. I find that JUST enough wheel speed to clear the treads gets me through mud better than alot of wheel speed above that point but for sure a locked rear is great in mud! Nothing in regards to a name is jumping out at me yet but I'll let you know if anything does!

Back when it was my machine we used to jump it all the time, we called it "Jesse Owens" lol, now it has a new frame, and a new name.

More like needs a new name. lol

PizzaKitty26 wrote:

More like needs a new name. lol

Mudslinger 2000.

MightyRaze wrote:

PizzaKitty26 wrote:

More like needs a new name. lol

Mudslinger 2000.

Lol, not a bad idea, will be in consideration!

Finally got around to taking some pics of it, will explain a lot of what I was talking about hopefully.
As you can see the tires do not have alot of tread,   they were free


A better look at the front hood, I used a pair of old door hinges to make it open, I do plan on making a push bar/winch mount, I'm just out of welding wire  so I do need to go pick some up.

I have these weird bars keeping the front axle in place made by someone before me, they act as torsion bars, also they keep it from rolling
The steering has a new metal bushing that I added because I broke the old plastic one. 
This is the new belt setup, it's great.

As you can see I have used the stock exhaust pipes with the muffler taken of, it sounds like a flathead ford, it's pretty great also because the pipes are pointing down so it's not to loud when you are on the mower.

One issue I do have with this belt setup is that it keeps falling of that one pulley that you can see in the second to last pic, I just forgot to make a belt guard for it.
One more thing to note is the back tires do have a lot of side bite

Nice. Also, if your belt is sagging in the middle, you can make some J guides that your belt can rest on when clutched. It will help with a smoother clutch and sometimes help the belt stay on the pulleys sometimes too.

Thanks, J guides would work but I think I will just put a belt guard right up agisnt that idler.

J guides or just flat guides for the belt to rest on is a great idea. Belt sag is bad, you want to centralize that slack around the engine and trans pulleys for the best clutch release.

Took it out to the field on Sunday, the belt didn't fall of, but the cords of the belt started coming out the back   I no longer have a 96' Kelvar belt. The possible cause for this is the belt guard on the clutch has things that could rip the back of the belt up possibly. One thing I noticed is that the clutch spring is not strong enough.

If you have a Home Hardware (NOT Depot) near you they have really good utility springs, I've used them before they look like this

Theres a number on it something like "TL80" which I think would mean it's an 80lb spring and has worked well for me but they have other strengths as well

[quote="Brianator"]If you have a Home Hardware (NOT Depot) near you they have really good utility springs, I've used them before they look like this

Theres a number on it something like "TL80" which I think would mean it's an 80lb spring and has worked well for me but they have other strengths as well[/quote
Princess auto has those as well I believe

TechnoChicken wrote:

Brianator wrote:

If you have a Home Hardware (NOT Depot) near you they have really good utility springs, I've used them before they look like this

Theres a number on it something like "TL80" which I think would mean it's an 80lb spring and has worked well for me but they have other strengths as well[/quote
Princess auto has those as well I believe

Ya, that's something to think about.

More pics of the new highback seat

This mower is pretty much dead now, it ate another belt (3rd one) because the frame flexs way to much, I am considering putting the engine and trans in a different/stronger frame. Also the starter snapped two gears so it now has a pull start. Might build it for 2024 build off.

Also the steering gear is pretty much destroyed.

PizzaKitty26 wrote:

This mower is pretty much dead now, it ate another belt (3rd one) because the frame flexs way to much, I am considering putting the engine and trans in a different/stronger frame. Also the starter snapped two gears so it now has a pull start. Might build it for 2024 build off.

I would say those big a$$ tires might have been a bad idea in retrospect