Will a Craftsman LT1000 work for an offroad mower? Want to use it on my farm.

Hi y'all. I'm new here. I have a question. I recently helped a friend out this past week taking care of their small farm while they were gone for the week. This week, he asked me, if I could finish fixing his fence, I could have his 8hp generator and riding mower, which both I dragged out of the woods with his ATV. I was able to get both running. The mower ran great, once I got it started. I had to jump start the battery. I also got the generator to run too. Now to my main question. I would like to put it to good use on my farm. It needs some work, but it works. It is a Craftsman LT1000 with a 17hp Briggs. Here is one identical to it. I'll get a real picture of it tomorrow. Will this work for an off road deal? I don't think it is a hydrostatic. I hope it isn't. Any input here for a newbie? I got the inspiration from Fearless front.

Is it an automatic/hydro or a standard transaxle? To put it bluntly, anything can work with enough work.

I don't know. How do I tell? It is still at my friends house so I can't look at it now. I'm going over there this afternoon to return a tool and take pictures of the mower.

Not sure on that model, but a staandard should have a gear shifter on the right fender. As long as it has numbers, like 1-5, it should be a standard. If it has a pic of a turtle and rabbit, or some other crazy illustrations then it's probabl an automatic. I've never messed with an auto craftsman before though, so I'm not sure exactly what they look like.

It's a 6 speed with a shifter on the right and a clutch pedal on the left. I think it has a peerless rear end and tranny. Which tranny is the best and most stout? I've heard it is a common thing to break the tranny. I won't be rock crawling or mudding with my mower. I just wan it to have bigger wheels and go faster. The most I'll ever do with it is drive it down the multiple cleared logging trails on my farm. Basically for trail riding, as well as pulling a small trailer for use on the farm. What are the limits ,tire and pulley wise, that the tranny can handle?

I just got some pictures. You can now see the bent tie rod and how it rubbed on the main pulley. It ain't in too bad shape. It's all there. I just hope it will work.

I would modify it and make it into a cheap mudder and get some new tires for the back and use the backs on the front and sell the fronts, sell the deck, etc. then you will have some money to put back into the tractor and you would have hardly anything into it(a pulley swap doesnt cost much and if you can get some ATV tires to fit a pair of rear lawn tractor tires you would be all set)

It looks like its in real good shape. If your going to use it for more of a work horse I'd get some good back tires nothing real huge 22 to 24 for front depending on what size your stock rear tires and the shape their in might run with them to keep it cheap (I myself would find some 18x 8.50 to 9.5 wide knobby for front )
For the pulleys I'd only drop rear down 1 or 2 sizes, gotta keep some power for pulling. The biggest thing we find that comes in handy when it comes to farm work is a good heavy duty front and rear bumper and skid plates. We always seem to be pulling, pushing stuff around or plowing over brush.
You could always lift it up some to but depends on how much work you want to do.

Yeah I'm looking for more of an ATV equivalent. Just something to trail ride and pull a small trailer for hauling feed and some buckets of water. See I don't have much mud to mud bog in. Plus, I really don't want to destroy the tranny. I don't want anything more than four wheeler sized wheels and maybe a small body lift. All the tires are rotted pretty bad. I'm not having much luck finding some cheap ATV wheels. I personally think the hood looks a little weird. I want a hood, but something that looks a little more square. Any ideas? I wish I could see another mower like mine converted to off road. I do have a stick welder, so I can do some fab work.

Start out with small mods- cant find cheap tires, I had good luck when I was younger takin a little propane torch and a small puddy knife (metal one) heating up the end and cutting off some of the tread like every other one, or blocks of them ( just go flush with bottom of tread most of those turf tires are only 2 ply, do it out side it a stinky smoky mess). It takes a while to do but helps the tread bite the ground better. Tubes are cheap to get you by.
Most of these frames have the same width so it could be easy to switch it over to a different year or brand. You could always cover the hood up alittle bit with a bumper that has a brush guard on it, (makes a good welding project ). Just don't block to much air flow

It isn't the tread that's rotted, it's where the tire meets the rim. I'm wondering if some ATV tires will fit on the back rims. Anyway, I'm going to try to bring it home today. I can take more pictures than.

Like muddstir said, tubes in the rears will get you by for a long time if atv tires are out of your price range. I'm still running the original turf savers on mine after something like 15 years thanks to tubes, and they are dry rotted, scraped, and cut to heck on the side walls.

I just might try that. That is a good idea. I'll keep my eyes peeled. If I do get some ATV wheels, I'll have to fab some hubs. Not that big deal. I just got back from looking at the mower. I got it running again. Had to jump it. The gear shifter is really stiff. I almost can't move it. Nothing a little PB Blaster can't fix.

Atv tires, 22-11-8 should fit the rear rims, and for the front find some 8" MTD front rims and mount up some 18.50-9.50-8 tires and you will be ready to go. You can always get radical later.

HAHA. I like That. That's a little to big for me. I don't want anything bigger than what's on an ATV. I did find out today that three of the tires on the mower hold air. The one back tire broke the bead. I'll see if I can reset the bead and get air in it. I found some ATV tires and wheels that are in my price range. They should work great. I got a new battery today. Now it starts by itself, however, if the engine is right before the compression stoke, it won't turn the motor. I have to turn the engine back a little so the starter can get a "Head Start". At least I know it has good compression.

The engine looks very similar to my old 14.5 hp briggs... if it is anything like it, the starter really grunts on that first rotation and then it is fine.

if you have to turn the engine back, i think that means the valves are out of adjustment. you may want to take a look by taking the valve cover off. that is why i hate over head valves

as for the bent tie rod, straitin it out and weld a piece of rebar on the bottom of it, mine never bent again after i did this.

Yeah, I was going to reinforce the tie rod when I got it straitened out. The engine runs and sounds fine. What do I look for? It has very tight compression. I can turn over the engine with my hands, but it is very tight when it reaches the compression stroke. Once over the compression stroke, it will keep cranking.

I ran mine like that for years... it always had wicked compression.

More power that way. Interestingly, my truck has the ole IH 6.9L IDI diesel V8. It has more compression than the bigger 7.3L V8 diesel. I don't know why, but the newer 6.9L is more robust than the 7.3L. I don't know if that means anything.

Ok guys, I found a matching set of 4 ATV rims and tires not far from me for $60. For $50 bucks more, he would throw in an ATV frame with some valuable parts. Sure sounds like a good deal. Now if I can just figure out how to get the mower in the back of my truck and get it here.

I got the tires and frame. Now I think I'm set to start. All I need to do is get the mower here. The frame is a hi performance ATV frame. It had: 4 point suspension, 4 lug hubs, disk brakes on both front hubs, and all steering consonants. All for $50 bucks.

That's basically the same as my LT1000, except I don't have a hood or grill.

Yep. Well, I got her home and have already taken the rear fenders, seat, and mower deck off. I'm going to rap it up here in the discussion area and start a build thread.