My Craftsman Garden Tractor fleet is growing somehow...

[rangerfredbob]

When I got my place I started with a used Montgomery Wards riding mower with big wheels (and a sweet two blade deck with a timing belt, mowed great) and I apparently broke a tooth off the transmission input gear, so I got the other mower I got in the deal going which was another monkey wards but with the MTD belt drive variable speed setup... I limped that thing along for a couple years until I got tired of going through belts.

I found a roller GT16 on craigslist at one point without engine I was going to put the original monkey wards mower together with but they were WAY too different but already had it...

Last year at an auction I got a newer green version of the Craftsman GT (no stickers for model, other than the model/serial tag) with 12" wheels, 3 speed high/low, 18hp Kohler, great mower.

Last weekend there were two older 12" wheel Craftsman's with the 3 speed high/low trans, both with 18hp briggs most likely (they say 18IC on the hood, I think Briggs is the only one to use that) and both for $120... one with deck, one without. Both look kinda rough but simple enough.

Now to setup a couple for different things, one with a bigger drive pulley, ag tires, we'll see where this goes...

 

[tomplum]

Great project tractors for the winter! Post some pics.

 

[rangerfredbob]

If I only had any indoors space to work on stuff I'd be set! , getting close to having the shop done, should be able to start moving in mid January I'm hoping...

Here's a couple pictures of the new additions, haven't looked yet but I'm guessing early 90's or late 80's. The one rear tire leaked out in the last week and the sheet metal is a bit tweaked but not bad. The one with a deck the spindles don't move, haven't looked into that yet, my brother had turned the engines so they might run if the carbs are salvageable.

There's a mower deck for one of these on craigslist, I'm tempted...

 

[tomplum]

If you've got good bones to work with, these are worthy to restore. Or at least make functional again. I saw one this year that a guy had done a complete restore. He painted it a deep emerald green. It really looked sharp. I have one with Kohler MT at another property. I know better, but I haven't run it in over 2 years. It's inside though. 50" deck. I used that to mow the lanes. The guy I got it from said he could go through about anything with that deck.

 

[rangerfredbob]

My current rider is a Green version of that with the same transmission and a 46" deck with a I think 18.5hp Kohler. It does pretty good, the high/low 3 speed is pretty fool proof, in some areas of my yard that flood I end up using low range for the first go and for some loops I switch between first low to first high in the middle with the drastically different grass thickness...

I need to make a front mount mower for one one of these days, something NOT OSHA approved, reed canary grass is obnoxious and being marshy makes it even worse, I have a slew of brush blades for weedeaters, a disc mower in front of a rider should do the trick!

 

[tomplum]

That seems like a working idea. This one probably won't work out on the old Sears, but it shows just about anything can be done. I saw this guy on youtube a while back that made a flail for the front of his old cub. Looked like it worked out really well. Homemade Brush Cutter 4" - YouTube

 

[rangerfredbob]

That guys tracked cub is more impressive than the other one but the front mount flail is indeed interesting though... His logic in getting the one unstuck with the other was interesting though... myself I pick something heavier in a higher traction area pulling anyway but just up...

Apparently getting reed canary cut before it goes to seed is key, problem with my place is it's usually submerged at that point and my tractor is too heavy to drive on the stuff, if I got something else light enough it won't have enough power to chop it up but if I could just get it knocked over that should be a start... I have a David Bradley sickle bar mower but I'm not sure it's set up for what I need, self propelled riding disc mower should be better

 

[rangerfredbob]

Here's some pics, last weekend I got the GT up on ramps and a jack stand so I could fix the steering bushing, got that all reassembled but now the starter is rusted up so I need to get that out, which will have to wait until I get some shop projects done so I can get ready for a slab...

 

[tomplum]

Yes, the shop will be a good thing. The David Bradley could be a nice project too. I see you have one of those Billy Goats for when you get bored. Maybe a cart? All kinds of good stuff.

 

[rangerfredbob]

Oh, yeah, all sorts of good stuff, just need the shop to get it all working... the two Snappers would be nice at times, the DB needs a thrust bearing so the wobble box works better but the little Predator engine on it seems to work well, billy goat was a good $200 find , there's a DR string trimmer back there too