My 1967 Sears/Craftsman Lawn Tractor Projects....

1967Craftsman's

Tractorologist
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Hey Y'all,

I been wanting to create a thread for my Craftsman power unit lawn tractors but I am not really on here much and been busy working on them and other projects lately. Before I tell everybody what I am doing to these tractors, let me give you the history on both if you have not seen my tractors already. Here is the history.....

Pull Start Power Unit- Although not officially mine yet, this tractor has now been 3 generations owned since new. My stepfathers grandfather bought it new in 1967 then it was passed down to my stepfathers father, then it was passed down to my stepfather. In 2018 it was resurrected and brought back to life after sitting for 25+ years under a tarp in the backyard. Not finished yet, and still not 100% finished to this day 2 years later in 2020 I brought it to my local fair and it won the "Most Original Tractor" award in 2018. It is a 10 horsepower Tecumseh engine.

Electric Start Power Unit- I am now the 3rd owner of this mighty fine machine, and I actually bought this on August 9th 2020. It was for sale in Cheshire Connecticut not too far from me. I was coming home from my grandfathers house on my mothers side one day from a visit with him since I hardly see him anymore, and I spotted it on the side of the road. I had to pull over to look at it since it looked exactly like the pull start Craftsman I have already, little did I know it was for sale and that said I HAD TO have it and it is one of the main reasons. Well that and the electric start . I went back 2 times to "look at it" and negotiate before finally striking a deal with the 2nd owner. The 2nd owner told me that the original owner was a farmer who used it then put it for auction. the 2nd owner bought it at the auction and started a restoration before he retired in about 2007. It did not come with a mower deck but did come with an owner manual. I otherwise have no other history on it, but I would like to find out more. It has headlights, electric start, and also has a 10 horsepower Tecumseh engine. I been putting alot of work and money into it lately to make it better and how I like it.

Here they both are on August 11th 2020
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Lets start with the electric start power unit, and please keep in mind I am NOT restoring this tractor as it already was done when I bought it. I am just fixing things the previous owner did wrong or incorrectly and making it the best it could be and to my liking. My personal goal although maybe too optimistic is to hopefully win a Best In Show trophy with it when complete. August 17th 2020......Got the battery box, and front nose off and sanblasted them.

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August 25th 2020..... scrapped bubbled paint off the right side by the front of the frame and the foot rest and primered it, and primered the left foot rest as it was hardly painted. I also took the dash board off to redo it. Anybody know where I can get something like rubber to make the dashboard not scratch the hood with yellow paint when I put it back on?? If anybody can give me a tip on what to use or where to find it, it would be much appreciated

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August 27th 2020...... Steering wheel is off and getting fixed as well. A huge crack in it, it was filled with fiberglass filler. See next reply below.

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August 29th 2020, filler time for the steering wheel. The filler was put on and I let it sit for about an hour then used a little wheel to get the access crap from the filler off to smooth it out......
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September 13th 2020..... After further inspection I noticed that something else was wrong with the paint on the hitch. It was lifting so I took it off sandblasted it, I unfortunately do not have pictures of it blasted though.

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Onto the engine now, September 14th 2020. I took off the air cleaner cover and some part on top of the motor but not sure what you call it to blast and paint them........

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The tractors present state as of September 29th 2020...... Painting the spindles also because they were a very dark yellow that looked orange. More to come on this one at a hopefully soon but later date, stay tuned for more. Now onto the pull start power unit........
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Now onto the pull start power unit, this is my stepfathers tractor and HE is honestly doing the work to this one. NOT me, since it is currently his and I am working on my own. I was the shower last year with it, anyways September 4th 2020...... the engine was taken off of the tractor and cleaned. I unfortunately do not have many pictures of the engine just before and after.

Before-
motor 1.jpegmotor 2.jpegmotor 3.jpegmotor 4.jpeg
 
September 15th, 2020...... All painted and ready for the motor to be put on. This is all that has been done to this one since this date, please stay tuned for more soon......

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Not an update BUT I forgot to add this..... the pull start power unit August 20th 2020. My stepfather got the original deck out to fix a giant whole that his father blew through it. My stepfather said that he believed it was a big rock.

Just dug out and partially apart...... deck 1.jpegdeck 2.jpegdeck 3.jpegdeck 4.jpegdeck 5.jpeg


Fixing that hideous hole. We put filler on top of the metal piece.....
deck 6.jpegdeck 7.jpeg

Paint time, looks pretty damn good...... deck 8.jpegdeck 9.jpeg
 
I used to have one of those decks. It blew out in the same spot. Plus diagonally opposite, right behind the discharge chute. Someone had done the same kind of repair on it. Looking good! :thumbs:
 
Hey Y'all,

I'm back and I got an update on the Craftsman builds for everybody. Let's start with the pull start power unit.......

October 4th 2020- The engine was put back on the tractor after a months time, and the deck was also put back on the tractor after about 25 years. These pictures were taken a couple weeks later on October 17th.

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Very nice machine. Good job restoring. I did not realize there were aluminum decks for these tractors, so obviously some pros and cons to aluminum.
 
Hey Y'all I'm back with a bit of an update, lets start with the pull start power unit.....

Now that the tractor is done here are a few pictures of it with the deck on it. The first picture was taken November 5th 2020, and this is the day we actually took it out for the first time for a ride since reinstalling the deck and the engine. We actually mowed the grass with it too for the first time in about 30 years too.



Now that this one is done, lets move onto the electric start power unit.......

20201105_162858.jpegtractor 2.jpegtractor 3.jpegtractor 4.jpeg
 
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