Free Lowes Mower

Got this for free in some Craigslist shenanigans.
18 horse opposed twin lowes mower. Everything is almost identical to a craftsman I used to have.

I got it to mow with but blew the deck to pieces as soon as I got in some taller grass so that came off and I decided it was time for another project mower after my hiatus from the forums.



The frame was cracked behind the front axle.



Cleaned up the metal, somebody had attempted to repair already



I used a ratchet strap to hold the front of the frame level.



Some of my uber excellent totally beautiful professional welds.
I stuck a small piece of angle Iron behind the crack and drilled a hole at the end to keep it from spreading.



Eventually I plan to fully reinforce the frame.
After the frame repair I dug through my stash of parts and replaced the spark plugs, fuel filter and airfilter. I gave the carb a good cleaning as well.
It still doesnt run quite right but it's a work in progress.
I found a 5 inch pulley in my parts bin and replaced the huge 10 inch pulley on the trans axle.
I threw the shorter belt from the deck on it too.
Top speed is now around 10 mph, about as fast as I want to go with the anemic brakes and sloppy steering.

I decided I needed a stronger hitch than the factory mower hitch.
I had this reese universal hitch off of an old van. I cut it down to the same width as the rear plate of the mower frame. There are 2 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts holding the main frame of the hitch to the plate and 2 more behind the chain hooks.




Future plans include new steering system, better brakes, bigger tires, locked diff, 6 inch engine pulley, lights and potentially a lift.

Welcome back! Always nice to see member from the past sticking with the forum!

Cool tractor, I love me an opposed twin. Looks like an AYP built unit, what kinda transaxle does it have?

AllisKidD21 wrote:

Welcome back! Always nice to see member from the past sticking with the forum!

Cool tractor, I love me an opposed twin. Looks like an AYP built unit, what kinda transaxle does it have?

Definitely an AYP unit, it's a 6 speed, not sure of the make but I will be crawling under it again soon and I'll be sure to look.

Putting the trailer hitch to good use. All those trash bags are full of beer cans. I built the trailer as well.

i would think it's a spicer, most ayp tractors i've seen have spicers in them, though i have seen 1 that had a mst206 factory

All my spare MST transaxles came out of AYP craftsmans. I think they were LT1000’s

every ayp i've worked on but one had a spicer 6sp, the one we just sold had a mst206, maybe it depends on the year, most i've dealt with were older models, mid 90s up to around 2003, i think the one we just sold was a 2006 lt3000 not totally certain, my brothers 2003 lt1000 had a spicer,

Nice find, definitely a good start for any build you wanna do. Those frames have a tendency of cracking there, although I've never had that problem myself. Only on an MTD with similar frame design. Either way it's not a big deal to fix.

I think that's an MST tractor. I've never seen a Craftsman/ayp with a spicer myself.

I've never seen a craftsman with a MST. The LT1000's may have MSTs but the Craftsman 2 style ones have spicers. I'm betting it's a spicer.