Heres My craftsman rider 14.5hp i/c gold ohv

Hello i'm new here, i'm from Indiana, iv been mudding mowers for a couple years now, heres my craftsman rider 14.5hp i/c gold ohv, 6 speed tranny, i haven't done any mods to it, want to pulley swap and make it faster, and im going to be doing the bicycle break handle as a gas pedal soon. and theres pics of something i just discoverd today.. broke tranny mounts..

You can weld and reinforce those front bars - they keep the front of the trans from flipping up tward the top of the chassis.

Ive said it before - its not possible to make a stock tractor faster w/o proper mods , unless you enjoy expensive trips to the ER or possible morgue.

This is speaking from 2 prior builds that failed miserably - yeah i built 2 tractors, nearly bone stock and pushed them past 20mph - the first ( craftsman) broke its trans while taking off ( i did nothing to prep it- no brakes, no trans prep ) - luck was on my side that it didnt happen at full speed. Second one( murray) was way faster, but was way too unstable to push past 30mph ( was capable of higher speeds) - in the couple years it was together i nearly crashed it a dozen times, flipped it more then once - i had enough and took it apart- wasnt worth killing myself over going faster.

My 3rd one was a total improvement ( MTD) - i bolted the seat to the chassis, raised the front axle to the top of the chassis ( bolted solid) lower profile tires in back and had way better brakes - it handled tons better then the original two ever had. I couldnt get any faster speed from it, so im redoing that one, in its final setup itll have larger tires, lower stance ( 4" ride height), twin cylender, 1" straight axle - not sure wether ill use a peerless 700 or a RAGB, custom built spindles , direct steering and disc brakes.

When i put the hammer down - itll handle like i want, stop when i need to and generally be a whole lot safer then anything prior.

My goal is to use a stock twin cylender motor, using the governer to push it to near 50mph , which should possible , considering its the same motor from my murray.

Welcome to the forum! and ^ pretty much covered what i was gonna say. but he has more exp

btw danger. a guy on youtube did a 2.5in pulley in the back and a 9 in the front and they clocked him at 55. i think it was a 20hp

Usually you dont want to go smaller then 3" on the back- the belt wont have enough 'wrap' around it - itll work breifly , but just eat up belts because it slips too much.

Alot has to do with other factors also - tire size, gear ratios - my murray had a briggs opposed twin 18.5HP , 6" motor pulley , 3" trans pulley, 6 speed shift on the fly trans and ran 4 8" wheels - i was hitting around 30mph in 3rd gear. If i had it set up better , i wouldve seen just how fast it wouldve gone.

Originally with stock tires, same pulleys and the stock 14.5HP OHV motor - it wouldnt go past 15-20mph in 6th - motor just didnt have the powerband, the twin has power to spare .

Id like to change the motor pulley size to at least 7-8" and see what that nets.

Thanks guys! and thankyou for that info! i dont plan to act crazy on it at all, just want some more speed, so i plan to just leave the front pulley alone which i think is a 6"? im not positive and make the back a 4" but i need to figure out what size belt is needed, right now i got the motor off and all electrical, doing toggle switch for kill & to turn on the carb solenoid, & push button start of course, i need to get that welded back up soon as well, i also would like to try to mount the battery under the gas tank inside the steering column area beind the motor - not sure if it will work tho, but i got the engine off at the moment so i can tighten up all bolts and make the steering stronger because it tends to slip somehow, i think its be cause the steering colume is missing a bolt which allows it to move when i turn to much. but once again thank you

Say on my Dynamark I have a stock pulley in the front and a 3-1'2 on the back. Now if I went with a bigger pulley in the front would that give me more torque? The tractor wont go up a hill in hi 1st gear// lol

Oh and if you are going to swap out the front pulley how do you go about doing so? My drive pulley is attached to the mower deck pulley. Do I cut and weld?

Got 4" on back, and i think its a 4" on front as well, 90" belt, shes fasttt i love it!, got my gas pedal, and a custom exhaust stack! woohoo!! Oh,and i am now a new owner of a welder! finally!! love having one, next is side bars for protection and then hope to lock the rear end soon, need to look at more vids tho so i dont screw up. Tell me what you all think

DUDE that exhaust is so cool looking. Do the fumes bug you?

So far no they do not, and thank you, it is pretty cool huh? and now i can go thru deep water with out the exhaust hittin water and killin the engine woohoo

fenders on front now, and bumper, paint job over summer i hope

Youll want to add a snorkel for your carb also - water will just pour right in and kill the motor - you might also want to use dielectric lube on the electrical connections or seal them - eventually water will get in and youll have electrical issues.

she wont be that deep, but thankyou for the information, the exhaust was gonna go straight out the side but decided that would look cooler, i just go thru water that is maybe just hardly as deep as my front wheels, the exhaust used to sit in the front and was super low so thats why i re-done it, and does anyone know how i can do my belt so she wont slip in the water as bad?