Ross' 1993 Craftsman Lawn Tractor

My future In-Laws gave me a 1993 Craftsman LT4000 I/C Gold 12.5 HP Lawn Tractor or riding mower or whatever. They drove it up here from Ohio and it fit inside their minivan!

I haven't even had a chance to look at it yet. They said it's all rusty... yeah right, maybe for Southern Ohio, but this is Wisconsin.

It hasn't been used in about 10 years.

There is a good independent small engine place a couple blocks from my house, but incase their prices are high, where online should I look for parts?

Does anyone know anything about these lawn tractors?

I guess before I try to fire it up I'll change the oil, try to clean out the gas tank, replace the battery, change plug(s?), check the belts, and....? Any suggestions?

There will be no LSx swaps or drag racing with this puppy, just boring ol' lawn mowin'. Maybe if I find a plow or snowblower attachment, it'll get to use it in the winter, but that's it.

-Ross

They drove that up from Ohio?

This place usually has whatever you need: Jacks Small Engines

You have the right idea before trying to run it. Mine needed new brake pads as well. Tiny little things! I got them from:

Tulsa Engine Warehouse

Enyar wrote: They drove that up from Ohio?

Yeah. The future MIL was on the hood while the FIL did the steering and what not.

Re Pinchvalve: Thanks for the websites.

A little update.

It's alive! I did some simple stuff to it. I changed the spark plug, oil, air filter, fuel filter, and the battery. I left the new spark plug out at first and sprayed WD-40 in the cylinder, and turned it over. And repeat. Reinstalled the spark plug. The gas tank was already dry so I dumped in some new fuel.

After a little bit, it sprang to life! I went for a joy ride around the yard. The transmission works in all the gears (6 forward and one reverse), but when I tried to engage the mower it would die. Tried it a couple more times after some more carb cleaner was sprayed. No luck. That was Wednesday night.

Yesterday. Write down all the Briggs and Stratton engine information and run down to the local mower shop. 6 different versions of carbs came on this damn engine. Some of the prices were $60-100 for just a rebuild kit! On the Jack's Small engine website from the above link, the kits were much more reasonably priced. But I can't wait for shipping, the dandelions look like sunflowers.

I've never opened up a carb before, but I know the basics. How hard could it be? I'm an mechanical engineer for berkeley sake! Well after the first squirt of carb cleaner and the following eye wash at the kitchen sink, I put my safety glasses on. I normally have them on to turn a screw driver, habit, but my enthusiasm got the better of me.

I got the carb removed from the engine. Got the grim off the outside... Hmmm doesn't look too bad on the inside. Ok. Take the bolt off the bottom of the bowl and get the bowl off. For the next 10-20 minutes, I, with extreme prejudice, hose down every passage way. There was quite a bit of varnish on some of the parts. I took a wire brush to the bowl to remove the layer of varnish there.

Finally after all of the carb cleaner seemed to come out of all the different orifices with ease, I reassembled the carb and reattached it to the engine.

The moment of truth. Will my 4.5 years of college and PE license overcome 10 years of sitting gasoline? It did! I mowed my lawn almost immediately.

I was damn near done before I realized I never cracked a victory beer. I took a sip and took a picture:

I need to get my yard rolled before I can drink a beer and mow. Plus the steering linkage is a little loosey goosey.

There will be more to come.

-Ross

That's a lawn mower. The Garden tractors have bolt on wheels in the rear.

Bobzilla wrote: That's a lawn mower. The Garden tractors have bolt on wheels in the rear.

Bob, repeat after me.

"Good job getting it running again!"

Bobzilla wrote: That's a lawn mower. The Garden tractors have bolt on wheels in the rear.

Please review the first line in the thread over again. I clearly call it a 'or whatever'.

Thanks Tuna!

oooooohhh - a PE in Wisconsin. I am always being asked for somebody to stamp prints (pipe expansion/seismic).............LOL

I do pipe stress analysis.

RossD wrote: I do pipe stress analysis.

DUDE, me too, you use Autopipe or Ceasar?

tuna55 wrote:

RossD wrote: I do pipe stress analysis.

DUDE, me too, you use Autopipe or Ceasar?

Neither . I use what's basically an updated DOS excel spreadsheet. Triflex. It works, but clunky as hell.

We have a building scanner and use the point clouds in Revit to construct whole building models. Can Autopipe or Ceasar get piping information out of Revit? I'm looking to import the data into Triflex so I don't have to remodel the piping.... My boss said look for other pipe stress analysis programs that can.

RossD wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

RossD wrote: I do pipe stress analysis.

DUDE, me too, you use Autopipe or Ceasar?

Neither . I use what's basically an updated DOS excel spreadsheet. Triflex. It works, but clunky as hell. We have a building scanner and use the point clouds in Revit to construct whole building models. Can Autopipe or Ceasar get piping information out of Revit? I'm looking to import the data into Triflex so I don't have to remodel the piping.... My boss said look for other pipe stress analysis programs that can.

I use Autopipe, which is fairly retarded when it comes to import/export, but awesome for analysis. Not familiar with Triflex or Revit. What formats can Revit export?

Revit is an Autodesk product and is the 'next step up from AutoCAD'. The 3D model will have all the architectural, structural, electrical, and even site work (trees) along with piping and other mechanical components. It can export most of the generic cad formats (dwg, dxf, dgn, sat, dwf) or to some databases: gbXML and OBDC. And whatever a 'IFC' file is...

In reply to RossD:

Autopipe can import:

.pxf .cii .n .adi *.pcf

So that doesn't sound good. Our CAD software, UG, can export in terms of a "neutral file" which we have built a converter on top of to bring into Autopipe to stop us from having to re-model. That may be the option to explore.

We don't design new products, we design buildings and their systems. So I don't think UG would really be the best program for us.

RossD wrote: We don't design new products, we design buildings and their systems. So I don't think UG would really be the best program for us.

UG sucks, I mean that your CAD system may have the capability to export a neutral file.

I've seen threads go off-topic here before, but this is something else

Also, I'm a little relieved. Sometimes I get a little worked up over what I see as my mistake in studying CS instead of ME, but it sounds like neither fork in the road leads to playing with fun things... Unless the pipe analysis is more fun than it sounds like, which I hope is true for both your sakes'!

ransom wrote: I've seen threads go off-topic here before, but this is something else Also, I'm a little relieved. Sometimes I get a little worked up over what I see as my mistake in studying CS instead of ME, but it sounds like neither fork in the road leads to playing with fun things... Unless the pipe analysis is more fun than it sounds like, which I hope is true for both your sakes'!

Not fun, not by a B31.3 approved displacement!

At least, if OT, I am participating with the OP.

In reply to tuna55:

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest there was anything wrong with the topic wander, especially given the OP's involvement. I just thought it was hilarious to go from riding mower to pipe stress analysis software that quickly

tuna55 wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: That's a lawn mower. The Garden tractors have bolt on wheels in the rear.

Bob, repeat after me. "Good job getting it running again!"

I was just explaining the difference between the two. I've had more than a few craftsman mowers over the years and they all performed perfectly fine.

EDIT: I've always wanted to put a GM AIR pump onto one as a supercharger....

So I was day dreaming about summer stuff on this wind-chilled (-35°F) day, and my thoughts crept back my lawn mower. When I cleaned out the carb last summer, the o-ring for the bowl turned out to be shot but I didn't notice how bad it really was until I lost a couple of gallons of gasoline to the garage floor. The re-build kit for this specific carb was kind of expensive, IIRC, so can I replace it with a different one? Any thoughts? Just replace the o-ring?

Just replace the o-ring

Well, what fun is that?

What fun is working on a lawn mower carb?