Craftsman Garden Tractor

This summer I was gifted with a 26HP V Twin Kohler powered Craftsman GT.  Have not opened the engine but it seems a rod is broken.  It came with rims but no tires.  Rear tires showed up later.  Not sure what that was about.

Today I tried mounting the rear tires and failed.  Have one on the rim but have not gotten it to seat.  I put stretchers in the other to move the bead further out.   It has worked in the past.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

The stretchers worked.  Yesterday I managed to get both rear tires on and inflated.

















Today I washed up the front rims and mounted 18.5 x 8's.  They are a bit on the large side but I like that.  The front wheels have brass bushings instead of plastic.   One of them was missing so I borrowed one from another wheel.  Found it when I put the front wheels on.  Seems the wheel turned on the bushing.  I wacked the rim to get the bushing to stay put.

I will have to move or remove the frame mounted muffler.  I like the look of it maybe just move it up to clear the front wheel.

The back tires have 4 of 5 lug bolts each.  There should be a 9th lug bolt but I imagine its on the ground under the tractor.  The front wheels need the clips to hold them on,



For kicks and giggles I set the hood in place.

I am toying with the idea of using the briggs 21HP single that is now in the silver LT1000, It is overkill for a yard tug and it came off a 50" deck yts so it should be ok for this tractor.  That would let me get this going without digging into its twin 26HP Kohler.

If it fits I have a little 7HP from a RER that would work well in the silver LT1000 yard tug.  Not sure about the crank shaft.



So the next step is to drag out the little 7HP and check then shaft size.  I suppose I could always use a different pulley.  Which leaves the question of does it still run.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

I borrowed and cut down a motor mount plate from the first YTS3000,  It still needs to be adjusted a bit to allow the engine to sit where the clutch will work with the existing belt.

Pulled the little RER motor and it looks like the shaft is too short to work on the LT1000.    Its also smaller.  Maybe too much work to do this.  So the silver LT1000 will either go into storage unless I can find a motor for it.

Put the retainer clips on the front wheels and pushed it back around to the front of the garage.  It will be easier to mount the engine plate there.  I need to pull the front axle to remove the remaining kohler engine mount.

Saturday, September 30, 2017

The engine plate has been notched to allow it to move further back on the frame.   The Kohler front mounts are holes drilled in the plate that supports the rear of the front axle.  They will have to stay put if I ever want to put the Kohler back on.

I'm a little shy of wiring in the briggs engine but heck that is something I should be able to do.

I don't want to pull the engine out of the LT1000 till I feel confident that I will get the GT working.    I've located the pulley for the engine.   At least I think I have.  I'm also fretting about running out of space to store tractors.